My copy of this book arrived today and having read through it, I can highly recommend it as worthwhile to own. It's a pretty good introduction to the main jackal deities and has loads of pictures, which is great. (It is a museum exhibit companion book, after all.) Lots of people have been asking after an accessible/affordable book about jackal deities - try this one! It might not be the biggest book, but it touches on loads of little details which are hardly ever mentioned elsewhere. (Said details limited to Anubis mostly.)
My recommendation is not caveat-free. There are a couple of things which stand out to me as less than ideal. Firstly and this is a big one, the Souls of Nekhen (the series of three jackal deities) are shown but not even named as such nor discussed in any detail whatsoever. In fact, the text strongly implies that the three are meant to represent Anubis, Wepwawet and Duamutef “working together” – Seriously? Way to completely disregard the Souls of Nekhen as their own entity/entities and the complexity of the role they play.
Second criticism: It is mentioned several times that when there are two unnamed jackal-animals facing each other on a stela, a coffin, etc., that they are meant to represent Wepwawet and Anubis. This isn’t really an accurate statement. They can be representing Wepwawet and Anubis, but they could also be representing Anubis/Anubis or Wepwawet/Wepwawet. (I’m not great at reading the cursive scripts, but I swear the author even describes one item as depicting ‘Wepwawet and Anubis’ when I think the inscription says Wepwawet/Wepwawet!) It may be that in regards to the particular function of those two jackals, it doesn’t matter because the job is getting done regardless. So it isn’t necessary to name them. But just from my experience looking at coffins and stelae from various periods, it is more common for it to be the same deity on both sides - typically with different epithets, reflecting different ‘modes.‘ On MK stelae from Abydos (which provides a good baseline, IMO, since that’s where the motif originates), the number of Wepwawet/Anubis stelae are really very rare. That group actually has the smallest number of examples.
Lastly, Wepwawet isn’t discussed very much or in any real depth. His section is very short, but I’m not surprised.
One excellent thing about this book (aside from the fact it draws heavily on Terence’s work and says so upfront): It acknowledges that divine jackals are black. There’s not a single occurrence of the word “grey” in connection with Wepwawet. It also talks about how the divine jackal isn’t any one modernly-defined species, but is its own thing.
So yes, not without its flaws but very admirable. So go forth and buy this readily available book!
A Worshipper Kneeling before Anubis
ca. Third Intermediate Period-Late Period (25-26th Dynasty); Temple of Amun at Karnak
Bronze statuette with gold inlay.
Source: art.thewalters.org
Anpu
He is the gatekeeper with knives of bone, the guardian who prowls the threshold between life and death, the artist who will carve the heart from your chest to hold it warm in his hands. He will eat your mortal flesh and show you immortality.
Set, Anubis, and Thoth, all commissioned from the awesome trows, who is still taking $20 commissions, by the way! :D
Here it is, finished, my crocheted Anubis MK I (had already on mind several improvements). You can see it on plenty of positions, from resting in his “coffing” to ordering a beer (*ahem*). It was a gif for a friend, including the box. Hope you like it!
