Anubis Shrine

The Anubis Shrine from Tutankhamun's Tomb. Image Credit - Sandro Vannini.

Attribution:

Sandro Vannini

Key Dates

1340

The shrine is dated to the seventh year of Akhenaten's reign.

Key People

Akhenaten, during whose reign the shrine was made.

Tutankhamun, to whom the shrine belonged.

Key People:

Akhenaten

Tutankhamun

The Anubis Shrine is one of King Tut's most recognisable treasures, and held an important role in guarding the pharaoh into the afterlife. It also protected the king's tomb from robbers (with mixed results), acting as the fifth and most decorative magic brick in the tomb. It was stationed at the entrance to the treasury, which makes sense when one looks at the importance of Anubis in Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife. When discovered by Carter over 80 years ago, the 'super-jackal' (he was more than a mere jackal; watch our video with Dr Janice Kamrin) was still covered in a layer of linen, with a floral garland round his neck.

Anubis is one of Egypt's oldest guardians. His job protecting the dead in the afterlife is echoed in depictions in the Book of the Dead, where priests are seen wearing Anubis masks while carrying out tasks such as the opening of the mouth. Anubis also played a key role in the weighing of the heart ceremony, when the dead would be judged.

VIDEO: Tutankhamun's Burial Treasures: Animal Iconography

The shrine itself is a large gessoed and gilded wooden box, topped by the black gessoed Anubis, a steely glare fixed upon his face. Like many of the boy-king's treasures, the box is decorated with alternating djed and tjet symbols, representing Osiris and his sister-wife Isis respectively. The magic brick in front of the shrine has been used in years gone by to propagate the so-called 'Curse of the Mummy', having mistakenly been translated as saying, "I will kill all those who cross this threshold into the sacred precincts of the royal king..." Yet this was a deliberate mistake, meant to perpetuate the king's mystique even further (for financial gain, no doubt).

Carter actually translated the brick as reading, "It is I who hinders the sand from choking the secret chamber. I cause the path to be mistaken. I am for the protection of the deceased." This clearly appeals more to the havoc-wreaking effects of the weather, and the fear of would-be robbers, than the archaeologists who are said to have been struck down by the curse.

Origin & Collection

Discovered at:

Tomb of Tutankhamun

On display at:

Egyptian Museum Cairo

Physical properties

Width:

37.00cm

Height:

54.30cm

Lenght:

95.00cm