Occasionally for political or dynastic reasons, queens assumed the kingship but, except for Hatshepsut, their reigns were usually brief. Throughout Egyptian history, the role of the queen as mother of the king, and therefore as a symbol of the powers of creation and rebirth, gave royal women considerable status and influence. Ideally, the successor was the son of the king by the chief royal wife, who, as a close blood relative of the king, provided a double legitimacy to the succession. The descent of kingship was usually from father to son, but the role of mothers and queens was equally important. One of their most ancient rituals was the Sed festival, or jubilee, at which the mortal king reaffirmed his fitness to continue as king. The living king was associated with the god Horus and the dead king with the god Osiris, but the ancient Egyptians were well aware that the king was mortal. It has sometimes been said that the ancient Egyptians believed their kings to be divine, but it was the power of kingship, which the king embodied, rather than the individual himself that was divine. This included ensuring peace and political stability, performing all necessary religious rituals, seeing to the economic needs of his people, providing justice, and protecting the country from external and internal danger. The king’s preeminent task was to preserve the right order of society, also called maat. Therefore, Anubis was a major part of the transition from life to death and back to life again.The ancient Egyptians regarded their king and the office of kingship as the apex and organizing principle of their society. Since the Egyptians believed in the concept of Ma’at, which meant order, peace, and balance, death was regarded as importantly as life. But if the heart weighed the same as the feather, the deceased would pass through the underworld (Duat) and into the Afterlife. If the heart weighed more than the feather, the person’s identity would essentially cease to exist: the hybrid deity Ammit would eat the heart, and the soul would be destroyed. The human heart was balanced on the scale against Ma’at’s feather of truth. In addition, as recorded in the Book of the Dead (better known as “The Book of Going Forth by Day”) Anubis’s other job was to stand in the Hall of the Two Truths and weigh the hearts of people seeking judgment. Therefore, by making Anubis the patron deity of jackals, the Egyptians hoped to protect the bodies from being devoured. Jackals were associated with death, because they lurked around cemeteries and would eat decomposing flesh. Black represented the fertile soil of the Nile that was needed to grow yearly crops, so the Egyptians believed that the color black symbolized good fortune and rebirth. Depicted with the black head of a jackal, Anubis helped mummify Egyptians when they died. Anubis was the deity who played an important role in this journey. Therefore, they conducted elaborate ceremonies and mummification processes to help the deceased pass smoothly into the Afterlife. As with any other culture or religion around the world, the Egyptians believed in paying respect to their dead. Anubis was the Egyptian deity of cemeteries and embalming as well as the protector of graves.
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