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I've been an Egyptian mythology buff since I was a kid, and because of that, I tend to have opinions on how Egyptian mythology is adapted in Western media (tl;dr is almost always bad) and nobody gets it worse than Anubis. Despite being a mainstay of Egyptian religion, Anubis has almost no presence in the mythology, and what little he does have tends to present him as a passive people-pleasure, such has giving up the rule of the underworld to Osiris. On top of that, he was the psychopomp (meaning he would be the first thing you see when you die,) and would advocate for the dead and tip the scales in their favor when their hearts were weighed. When he manifested amongst mortals, he tended to favor non-threatening shapes, his favorite being an adolescent dark-skinned boy. Moreover, when the Egyptians associate one of their gods, they're telling you something about that god's personality. People tend to remember Anubis as jackal-headed, but that's mistranslated; a better translation was "wolf" or, even better, "dog."
So, when the Egyptians depict Anubis, they wanted you to know that he was a very good boy.
Knowing all this, it gets really irksome when Anubis gets presented as a Satanic figure, especially when Egyptian mythology already has one. It's partly because of racism (the Egyptians were absolute Not White so all their gods must be evil while ignoring Zues has he impregnates everything that can't outrun him,) the heavily Hellenistic roots of our culture (the Greeks tended to seer at the animal-headed gods of Egypt as "barbaric,") and how post-Christianizing the myths tended to make any underworld figure pure evil (Hades is another notable example of this.) When you have to go to Rick Riordian for an accurate representation of Anubis, you're in a lot of trouble.
Anyway, I guess this counts as "vent art."
Oh, and it is perfectly alright if you start crushing on Sweetboy!Anubis. I started doing it as I was drawing that pretty, pretty hair.
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So, when the Egyptians depict Anubis, they wanted you to know that he was a very good boy.
Knowing all this, it gets really irksome when Anubis gets presented as a Satanic figure, especially when Egyptian mythology already has one. It's partly because of racism (the Egyptians were absolute Not White so all their gods must be evil while ignoring Zues has he impregnates everything that can't outrun him,) the heavily Hellenistic roots of our culture (the Greeks tended to seer at the animal-headed gods of Egypt as "barbaric,") and how post-Christianizing the myths tended to make any underworld figure pure evil (Hades is another notable example of this.) When you have to go to Rick Riordian for an accurate representation of Anubis, you're in a lot of trouble.
Anyway, I guess this counts as "vent art."
Oh, and it is perfectly alright if you start crushing on Sweetboy!Anubis. I started doing it as I was drawing that pretty, pretty hair.
Leave me a tip at Ko-Fi
Become a Patron
Posted using PostyBirb
Category All / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1280 x 960px
File Size 495.9 kB
i have no clue who that is but its accurate
but serious right anubis looks like he at one point said "pewese let me give you huggie wuggies.....oohwoo?"
and lets not forget about that time with the salad (<- actual part of egyptian mythology look it up)
i absolutely love that simp doormat anubis you made
but serious right anubis looks like he at one point said "pewese let me give you huggie wuggies.....oohwoo?"
and lets not forget about that time with the salad (<- actual part of egyptian mythology look it up)
i absolutely love that simp doormat anubis you made
This has always been an annoying habit of Western Media, that underworld = Hell and whoever's in charge of it = Satan. Even calling it an underworld and not an afterlife is something of an unfair bias as far as the Egyptians go.
Then you get stuff like Stargate, which dredged lightweights like Sokar to fill Big Bad roles and killed off relative villains like Set in a single goddamn episode, while you had 'More Narcissistic Than Narcissus' Zeus just sitting there.
Ahem, went on a bit of a rant there. Anyway, Good Boy Anubis is fantastic and the world needs more of him.
Then you get stuff like Stargate, which dredged lightweights like Sokar to fill Big Bad roles and killed off relative villains like Set in a single goddamn episode, while you had 'More Narcissistic Than Narcissus' Zeus just sitting there.
Ahem, went on a bit of a rant there. Anyway, Good Boy Anubis is fantastic and the world needs more of him.
Agreed on both counts. I see Anubis as more of a helpful guide kind of figure. "Yep, underworld is this way. Don't forget to see the view out of the left-hand window! Oh, and here's how you enbalm people so they don't rot in the afterlife!" Western culture did the same thing to Hades as well, who may be one of the only halfway decent male members of the Greek pantheon...
I noticed the opposite with my favorite deity, Sekhmet. A lot of modern spiritualist interpretations of her are very positive. Making her out as a motherly healer. In her mythos however, she nearly wiped out humanity in a fit of rage. And is mostly considered a god of conquest by scholars. Of course, the Ancient Egyptians *did* pray to her for healing. But it seems a lot of people tend to miss that first part of her story.
So it's nice to see a more corrective interpretation of Anubis. Well done!
So it's nice to see a more corrective interpretation of Anubis. Well done!
That's a little more complicated with Sekhmet (who is my personal fav, btw,) because in the Middle Kingdom, she and Hathor, goddess of motherhood and fertility, were considered aspects of each other, though this association was later dissolved.
This has also made me wonder if this association between a matronly woman and a hot-headed beast associated with bloodshed was a stealth menstruation joke.
This has also made me wonder if this association between a matronly woman and a hot-headed beast associated with bloodshed was a stealth menstruation joke.
There is a Hercules/Thor comic that has this exact myth used, where Sekhmet attacks them and they liquor her up and she turns into Hathor who is... a LOLcat, basically. She is still an anthro cat and speaks in LOLspeak, literally - and is also madly in love with Thor.
I mean, I want to make the argument that the public myths aren't always what the common worshiper think. As a Hindu I think of her as being a lot like Kali and Durga, like she is legitmently a scary being but her priests and her devotees would not thought her evil. Kali if you just look at the myths you'd think she's a demoness but the people who worship her think of her as Kind and Motherly; while saying all the scary parts of her are true. Parvati is the Goddess as calm, Durga is the Goddess when fighting demons and Kali is all out. Hinduism is a religion that views destruction is not a bad thing as part of the life cycle of existents.
I am sure the New Agers defang her, but her positive aspects where real and more then balanced then her negative ones
I am sure the New Agers defang her, but her positive aspects where real and more then balanced then her negative ones
The (western) pop culture really has colored everything throughout the history; the way we see the afterlife in the western part of the world, is pretty much influenced by Christianity... Before Christianity came to my country, our people actually believed, that in death all people were equal: dead people lived in underground kingdom where no one was punished, though not retributed either for what they had done. Only after the Christianity influenced our beliefs, we started to believe, that if you've done bad things, you'll get a bed made of sizzling stones and a blanket made of vipers...
At least he didn't get it as bad as Hades from Greece.
While not a nice guy, he usually just does his job and because Western Culture equals the bad afterlife with hell which is ruled by the devil, he has become the titular bad guy in stories featuring the Greek Pantheon. Together with Ares, because you know, war is bad. No matter how many use- and senseless wars we fight.
In any case, thanks for the clarification. There were a few details I didn't know, but it made sense to me that he cared for the people that passed him even if it goes as far as making him a passive people-pleasure person.
While not a nice guy, he usually just does his job and because Western Culture equals the bad afterlife with hell which is ruled by the devil, he has become the titular bad guy in stories featuring the Greek Pantheon. Together with Ares, because you know, war is bad. No matter how many use- and senseless wars we fight.
In any case, thanks for the clarification. There were a few details I didn't know, but it made sense to me that he cared for the people that passed him even if it goes as far as making him a passive people-pleasure person.
Hell, from what I've read even Satan himself got fucked in this regard.
Satan is actually meant to only be one of seven Princes of hell, and isn't even the head one. And then he's also meant to be God's inside man, who condemns sinners on his behalf.
And yet because of Christian interaction with Zoroastrianism he got synchronised with Angra Mainyu and turned into "god but evil"
Also Hades too. In the original mythos he wasn't great sure, but he was among the least problematic Olympians. From what I've read regarding him it's because Hades was also used to refer to the underworld, which got synchronised into the Christian hell.
Satan is actually meant to only be one of seven Princes of hell, and isn't even the head one. And then he's also meant to be God's inside man, who condemns sinners on his behalf.
And yet because of Christian interaction with Zoroastrianism he got synchronised with Angra Mainyu and turned into "god but evil"
Also Hades too. In the original mythos he wasn't great sure, but he was among the least problematic Olympians. From what I've read regarding him it's because Hades was also used to refer to the underworld, which got synchronised into the Christian hell.
That'd be him with an oversized dick surrounded by all the ladies. I remember some old furry comic (Genus maybe) had such a joke with him. But hey, he cannot complain, at least he is remembered and worshiped in some form, while Bes or Tawaret get no love. If the world works like in American Gods, I bet Anubis would be quite a powerful god.
Ah poor Anubis, the most misunderstood of gods. (Though to be fair, poor Hades and to a lesser extent Pluto gets the same treatment too, as underworld gods - though the latter is mostly confused for a Disney cartoon dog or discussed on whether it is a planet or not).
Except for Hela. She was just as much of a bitch in norse mythology as she is in popular culture.
Dunno if you have seen Gods of Egypt, but I loved it for actually finally depicting Anubis properly as an impartial guide of the dead, whom even the other gods cannot sway from his task, but who will protect the world from Apophis with all his power.
Except for Hela. She was just as much of a bitch in norse mythology as she is in popular culture.
Dunno if you have seen Gods of Egypt, but I loved it for actually finally depicting Anubis properly as an impartial guide of the dead, whom even the other gods cannot sway from his task, but who will protect the world from Apophis with all his power.
It is a pretty good movie. It's like what Clash of the Titans was for greek myths, but somehow, more accurate. I loved that Set rebels not because he is evil (well, he is... just not the full reason) but because he gets fed up with how Ra does not seem to appreciate him and wants Osiris to rule. And then when he confronts Ra, he is surprised when he is told the reason he was not named king was that Ra planned to leave his task to him when he retires, aka guiding the sun-barge and keeping Apophis at bay. Set is of course, not thrilled at the prospect of an unending battle for his whole life...
You know, it came to me a while ago that a God of Death would be a very, very patient entity. All things are coming to him anyways.
And while I was thinking of that, I came up with the idea of such a god having an arena. In it, you cannot die. You cannot even suffer a severe injury. You cannot suffer anything more than abrasions, cuts, bruises, or surface-level pain or exhaustion. It's like you're in practice mode in a fighting game, aside from the face that you can eventually be in too much pain or too exhausted to go on.
This arena is reserved for rivals who want to beat the ever-loving crap out of each other but (for one reason or another) do not wish to kill each other. Sometimes, he even hosts a tournament.
This God is never in want of entertainment.
And while I was thinking of that, I came up with the idea of such a god having an arena. In it, you cannot die. You cannot even suffer a severe injury. You cannot suffer anything more than abrasions, cuts, bruises, or surface-level pain or exhaustion. It's like you're in practice mode in a fighting game, aside from the face that you can eventually be in too much pain or too exhausted to go on.
This arena is reserved for rivals who want to beat the ever-loving crap out of each other but (for one reason or another) do not wish to kill each other. Sometimes, he even hosts a tournament.
This God is never in want of entertainment.
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