Depicted on a vast variety of media, the scene of Anubis anointing the mummy is one of the most popular scenes in the funerary repertoire of pharaonic Egypt since the New Kingdom. During the Roman Period, the scene remained in use, while keeping its main iconographic components: Anubis standing behind a lion-shaped funerary bed, anointing the mummy, often accompanied by Isis and Nephthys mourning, and by canopic jars placed under the funerary bed. However, the scene was now depicted among funerary ensembles bearing more and more Hellenistic traits, raising the questions of why this scene was still depicted, what meaning and function it could express for the deceased, and what the study of such pharaonic inheritances can reveal about the religion and funerary beliefs of Roman Egypt.
Anubis anointing the mummy; Roman period; funerary beliefs
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