What does the jackal mean in ancient Egypt?

Anubis, who embalms the dead and leads them to the judgment.

What the sign shows: A jackal lying down.
How Gerald Massey read it in 1907: A favourite example of his rule that the animal is a sign and not the god. He links the jackal with the judge, the guide of roads and the pole of the sky.
Where you see it today: The black jackal on its shrine guarded the treasury of Tutankhamun’s tomb.
Where it stands in Massey’s book: Massey names it 256 times across the book. Book VI, p. 322: “Seven steps of the moon”; Book XII, p. 855: “Two witnesses for Horus”; Book VIII, p. 512: “The Tale of Two Brothers”.
Signs that look like it: Lion, Cat and Hare. The app’s Symbol Trainer sets them side by side, so the eye learns to tell them apart.
In Massey’s words: “The jackal also is a type, not a divinity, and a type may be variously applied.” (Gerald Massey, Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World (1907), Book VI, p. 330)
In the app: Trainer › Symbol Trainer › Jackal. The app’s Symbol Trainer reads 42 signs this way, each with Massey’s own words and the page they stand on.

Last updated October 25, 2026.

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