SeekingSolace[dot]Net

I’m getting a 12-inch iBook! W00h00! It comes in 2 weeks or so. I’m so excited I can’t get over myself. YAY LAPTOP! YAY MAC! YAY OS X TIGER! Okay, I’m done now.

Other than that, things are pretty cool. I totally dig all my classes except costuming, because it’s taught by a grad student who thinks the Egyptian symbol for life is spelled “ank”. Well, great. But it’s not. It’s “ankh”. She spelled Nefertiti wrong. Said Anubis was the god of the Underworld and weighed the souls. Yeah, maybe before Osiris came along, but still…

The jackal-god of mummification, he assisted in the rites by which a dead man was admitted to the underworld. Anubis was worshipped as the inventor of embalming and who embalmed the dead Osiris and thereby helping to preserve him that he might live again.

Anubis is portrayed as a man with the head of a jackal holding the divine sceptre carried by kings and gods; as simply a black jackal or as a dog accompanying Isis. His symbol was a black and white ox-hide splattered with blood and hanging from a pole. It’s meaning is unknown.

Anubis had three important functions. He supervised the embalming of bodies. He received the mummy into the tomb and performed the Opening of the Mouth ceremony and then conducted the soul in the Field of Celestial Offerings. Most importantly though, Anubis monitored the Scales of Truth to protect the dead from deception and eternal death.

Early in Egyptian history, Anubis was a god of the dead. This role was usurped by Osiris as he rose in popularity.

The god of embalming is probably associated with the jackal due to the habits of jackals to lurk about tombs and graves. One of the reasons the early Egyptians sought to make their tombs more elaborate was to keep the bodies safe from the jackals lingering about the graves. It is only natural therefore that a god of mummification would be connected with them. By worshipping Anubis, the Egyptians hoped to invoke him to protect their deceased from jackals, and later, the natural decay that unprotected bodies endure.

Anubis was the son of Nephthys: and his father was Osiris. One myth says that Nephthys got Osiris drunk and the resultant seduction brought forth Anubis. Yet another says she disguised herself as Isis and seduced Osiris and subsequently gave birth to Anubis.

- Ancient Egypt: the Mythology – Anubis

I mean, okay, she didn’t completely slaughter it, but there were a lot of, “Um…”s and “I think…”s and really, someone out in class yelled out that he was the god of the Underworld. Either way, Osiris weighs souls. She’s like, “Oh, here’s a picture of Anubis weighing souls.” He’s kneeling down and pretty much watching over a mummification. *blink* Also, she didn’t have a picture of the pschent crown (the crown of the pharaoh after Lower and Upper Egypt joined together). “I couldn’t find a picture.” Oh, look: Royal Regalia. I know teacher’s don’t trust the internet, but for Christ’s sake, there’s a lot of good research to be found, particularly because this class isn’t about specifics, it’s about general costume pieces. She didn’t have pictures for like…half this stuff. Grar. Yet, we’re supposed to find pictures to label for our midterm project…so…?

Tomorrow, we start on Ancient Greek costumes. Somebody hold me back.