Today I found a very interesting blog, The Basenji in Ancient Egyptian Art, investigating the relationship between dogs featuring in murals and other artefacts of the ancient Egypt – and the existing breed of the Basenji. The first picture shows the god Anubis.
“Anubis was a very old god of the ancient Egyptians, universally worshipped throughout the land. Typical of the deities from the Egyptian pantheon, Anubis is often pictured with a human body and an animal head—just what species of head is the subject of some debate. That so many of the Egyptian gods have animal heads or other “creature features” does not mean that this culture worshipped rams, ibises, hawks, beetles, hippopotamuses, or the like. Rather, the animal head illustrates “an attribute of the divinity that characterizes its being. Many proud basenji owners who are aware of their breed’s link to ancient Egypt will argue that basenjis were the inspiration for Anubis. Evidence does exist to support this claim.”
Now look at these photos of Basenjis:
To me the similarity with good old Anubis seems obvious!
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Hi! Well I stumbled across your blog and Anubis is not a basenji. Anubis is a pharoh hound. Before I came to get my basenji, Zoe, I thought the same thing.
http://hmdawg.blogspot.com/
Actually, you are both wrong. Anubis is a Jackal. A wild dog.
[…] breed is the one featuring in Yinepu’s black face. Most prominent contestants seem to be the Basenji, the Pharaoh Hound, and the […]
I prepared a whole post in reply but it seems trackback isnt working.
I think Anubis shows a Xolo.
I happen to stumble across your blog while doing some research for Ancient Egyptian artworks. Anubis was not a Basenji, though they are quite lovely dogs.
Anubis is also known as the “Jackle-Head God”. Therefore, he is a Jackle. His dark skin is to represent Death. The form of a Jackle was after Jackles tore up the graves. So the Egyptians started mummifying people, said to have been invented by the “Jackle-Headed God”.
The Egyptians thought the Jackles where a god trying to tell them the bodies shouldn’t be buried, see?
No… Anubis was no xolo… nor a Pharaohs hunting dog. Anubis was the JACKLE headed god of embalming, funerals and the dead. He helped guid the dead to Osiris, and weighed their hearts on the scale of Ma’at. And he also gaurded their tombs.
Do you know why Anubis is a Jackle??
I DO!!
He is portrayed as a jackle because, jacles were normally found in the necropolis’s of Egypt. (cemetaries). The xolo was not introduced to egypt untill the later dynasties. And why would the Pharaohs hunting dog be the God of the dead??
That was an interesting thought you had…. but i am sorry, i think it is false. Thank you, for reading what i have to say… have a nice day, and remember…
Anubis is a JACKLE!!
-Isis (future egyptologist)
Maybe so…
but tell me why is Anubis short coated? As far as I know coat of jackles is long.
Anubis’s body is same as a dogs.
And… there is no relationship between Anubis and Basenji.
Isis should know a lot about dog breed called Tesem who was a “model” for Anubis and ancestor of todays dog breeds who are still very similar to Anubis: Cirneco dell’Etna, Podenco Ibicenco, Podenco Canario, Podenco Andaluz, Podengo Portugues. Pharaoh hound is only 200 years old and it is mix of Cirneco dell’Etna and I think Podenco Ibicenco.
Cirneco dell’Etna – http://files.dogster.com/images/dogster/breeds/cirneco_dell_etna.jpg
Podenco Ibicenco – http://www.windhundwelt.de/images/!!podenco-ibicenco-kurzhaar.jpg
Podenco Canario – http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Podenco_Canario_2.jpg
Podenco Andaluz – http://pets-place.net/Breeds/PodencoAndaluzPhoto1.jpg
i’m doing a research paper on him he is a jackal because he would dig up dead things in the ground he was black to represent his role in death.
We could say the same think for dogs too. Most of the dogs at that time (we called them pariah) lived half wild life and they lived near vilages, towns, cemateries where they can find food.
I see much more similaraties between anubis and a dog like a podenco or a Cirneco dell Etna than between Anubis and a jackal.
i want a dogs life..!
Anubis is not a besenji he is a jackal
The Basenji came before the Pharaoh Hound and Ibizan Hound.
I think it is a Basenji. They were the original dogs of Pharaoh’s
Anubis is a Jackal as previously stated by Bear he was modeled after Jackals who dug up bodies which was the catalyst of mummifying the dead. A good way to tell that he is in fact a Jackal is by looking at the tail. Pictures of Anubis in full Jackal form feature a bushy tail such as a Jackal tail not a thin short haired commonly curled tail of a Basenji or thin tail of a Pharaoh Hound. Also both Basenjis, Pharaoh Hounds and other dog breeds are pictured in Egyptian artwork commonly with a Pharaoh or hunter and do differ from the images of Anubis. I know it may seem like quite a novelty to claim you have a dog whom the Egyptian God of the Dead was modeled from but its simply not true but that doesn’t mean dogs weren’t important or sacred to the Egyptians many dogs were actually mummified and entombed with their owners. Jackals have existed in Egyptian culture (as they are a native species of Egypt) LONG before any dog breeds where imported or domesticated for the Egyptians and Egyptian animal deities were most commonly taken from wild animals in Nature as symbolic representations of certain aspects of life and death based on observations of that animal and its behavior.
Basenji:
http://www.puppyfind.com/basenji.php
Pharaoh hound:
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/pharaohhound.htm
Jackal (note the tail):
http://www.kenyabeasts.org.uk/jackal2.htm
Anubis Tomb Painting (again note the tail) “Anubis is stretched out on a tomb waiting to greet Nefertari”:
http://www.luxor4u.com/archaeological/photos/valley_of_queens5.jpg
Pharaoh Hound in Egyptian wall painting out on the hunt:
3.bp.blogspot.com/-a6xRpbN7O2g/TinONUB-nOI/AAAAAAAAB1c/1MdIDtd4zBw/s1600/HASSAN-w.jpg
Egyptian Basenji statue with Basenji comparison:
basenji.it/images/_info/musei/_basenji_egipt_mix.jpg
As you can see the Egyptians were well able to depict Basenjis and other dog breeds to their actual likeness which quite obviously differs from the Jackal depiction of Anubis with a fluffy tail and longer thinner snout. Also a Jackal does not have an extremely long coat as it lives in a very hot climate it has more a short to medium coat especially in the facial region so I don’t think coat length is a vaild argument now if we were talking about timber wolves vs. Basenjis then you may have a point on coat lengths. Personally I find Anubis being a Jackal quite obvious both visually and because of the stories and myths about him and I don’t understand why people continue to claim dogs like Basenjis, which don’t even look like Anubis, are Anubis other then the bragging rights or novelty of it. I would be more apt to believing a Pharaoh hound or other breeds were Anubis over the Basenji because basenjis clearly are more stout and muscular, have shorter broader snouts and completely different tails then any depiction of Anubis I’ve seen. Some dog breeds argued to be Anubis weren’t even around till post-Anubis times but that’s just my personal opinion and to each his own! Hope this helped clarify things. Blessed Be and Namaste! 🙂