The Art and Science of Healing: From Antiquity to the Renaissance

The Art and Science of Healing: From Antiquity to the RenaissanceThe Art and Science of Healing: From Antiquity to the Renaissance

Two Jackal Gods

Two jackal gods

Coffin panel showing two jackal gods, Anubis and Wepwawet, and a goddess Painted wood 275 x 156 x 8 mm Hellenistic (late 4th–late 1st c. BC) Egypt David Askren, 1925. KM 88725

This wooden panel was originally part of the foot section of a coffin. In Egyptian art, two jackals displayed together normally represent Anubis and Wepwawet. We see these two gods sitting on pylons and facing a shrine with bolted doors. Below is a goddess, probably Isis or Nut, with her arms outstretched. The two images of Anubis and Wepwawet refer to their joint task in helping the journey of the deceased from death to afterlife.