<P> In Egypt's Early Dynastic period (c. 3100--c. 2686 BC), Anubis was portrayed in full animal form, with a "jackal" head and body . A "jackal" god, probably Anubis, is depicted in stone inscriptions from the reigns of Hor - Aha, Djer, and other pharaohs of the First Dynasty . Since Predynastic Egypt, when the dead were buried in shallow graves, "jackals" had been strongly associated with cemeteries because they were scavengers which uncovered human bodies and ate their flesh . In the spirit of "fighting like with like," a "jackal" was chosen to protect the dead, because "a common problem (and cause of concern) must have been the digging up of bodies, shortly after burial, by jackals and other wild dogs which lived on the margins of the cultivation ." </P> <P> The oldest known textual mention of Anubis is in the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom (c. 2686--c. 2181 BC), where he is associated with the burial of the pharaoh . </P> <P> In the Old Kingdom, Anubis was the most important god of the dead . He was replaced in that role by Osiris during the Middle Kingdom (2000--1700 BC). In the Roman era, which started in 30 BC, tomb paintings depict him holding the hand of deceased persons to guide them to Osiris . </P> <P> The parentage of Anubis varied between myths, times and sources . In early mythology, he was portrayed as a son of Ra . In the Coffin Texts, which were written in the First Intermediate Period (c. 2181--2055 BC), Anubis is the son of either the cow goddess Hesat or the cat - headed Bastet . Another tradition depicted him as the son of his father Ra and mother Nephthys . The Greek Plutarch (c. 40--120 AD) stated that Anubis was the illegitimate son of Nephthys and Osiris, but that he was adopted by Osiris's wife Isis: </P>

Who was the ancient egyptian god of the dead