Wepwawet

Wepwawet originally was seen as a jackal, or, according to some, a wolf deity, with his cult center being at the Lycopolis, (meaning city of wolves in Greek). He is one of the earliest Egyptian Gods on record. Wepwawet was heavily seen in association with royalty and the Pharaoh (My face is that of Wepwawet, Pyramid Texts), symbolizing and protecting their rise to power, accompanying them on hunts (in which capacity he was titled [one with] sharp arrows more powerful than the gods alone) or in the pharaoh's ascent to the Duat, or afterlife.

Over time, the connection to war and thus to death led to Wepwawet also being seen as one who opened the ways to, and through, Duat, for the spirits of the dead. Through this, Wepwawet became associated with Anubis, a deity that was worshiped in Asyut, eventually being considered his brother.

The Pyramid Texts state that Wepwawet was born in the Peru-nu, the sacred shrine of the goddess Wadjet, while an alternative myth suggests he emerged from a tamarisk bush. Consequently, Wepwawet is often confused with Anubis. This deity appears in the temple of Seti I at Abydos.

In Egyptian art, Wepwawet was depicted as a black jackal, or as a man with the head of a jackal. In the temple of Seti I at Abydos, Wepwawet appears to have grey-colored fur, though this is likely due to loss of pigmentation, as elsewhere in the temple, black paint is almost entirely faded. In rare cases, he appears in fully human form.

He was sometimes depicted dressed as a soldier, as well as carrying other military equipment—a mace and a bow.

For what generally is considered to be lauding purposes of the pharaohs, a later myth briefly was circulated claiming that Wepwawet was born at the sanctuary of Wadjet, the sacred site for the oldest goddess of Lower Egypt that is located in the heart of Lower Egypt. Consequently, Wepwawet, who had hitherto been the standard of Upper Egypt alone, formed an integral part of royal rituals, symbolizing the unification of Egypt.

In later Pyramid Texts, Wepwawet is called "Ra" who has gone up from the horizon, perhaps as the "opener" of the sky. In the later Egyptian funerary context, Wepwawet assists at the Opening of the mouth ceremony and guides the deceased into the netherworld.

Etymology

In Egyptian hieroglyphs, Wepwawet's name is rendered as wp-wꜣwt, and translates from the Egyptian language as "opener of ways," with wpj meaning "to open/split" and wꜣwt being the direct genitive construction of the plural of wꜣt, meaning "road."

Though there are several ways to write Wepwawet's name in hieroglyphs, similar to other gods such as Horus, Wepwawet has a unique hieroglyph specific to him which resembles a jackal on a standard (𓃧). The hieroglyph which represents Wepwawet resembles similar ones used for Anubis (𓃣, 𓃢) due to their association with one another.