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Hermanubis (Ancient Greek:Ἑρμανοῦβις,romanized: Hermanoubis) is aGraeco-Egyptian god who conducts the souls of the dead to theunderworld. He is asyncretism ofHermes fromGreek mythology andAnubis fromEgyptian mythology. Hermanubis was possibly one of the ancestors of the dog-headedSaint Christopher – acynocephalus saint, who was, similarly to Anubis/Hermanubis, a powerful ferryman for travelers.[2]
Hermes' and Anubis's similar responsibilities (they were bothconductors of souls) led to the god Hermanubis. He was popular during the period ofRoman domination overEgypt.[3] Depicted having a human body and a jackal head, with the sacredcaduceus that belonged to the Greek god Hermes, he represented the Egyptian priesthood. He engaged in the investigation of truth.[4][5][6]
The divine nameἙρμανοῦβις (Hermanoubis) is known from a handful of epigraphic and literary sources, mostly of the Roman period.Plutarch cites the name as a designation of Anubis in his underworldly aspect, whilePorphyry refers to Hermanubis asσύνθετος (sýnthetos) "composite" andμιξέλλην (mixéllin) "half-Greek".[7][8]
Although it was not common in traditionalGreek religion to combine the names of two gods in this manner, the double determination of Hermanubis has some formal parallels in the earlier period. The most obvious is the godHermaphroditus, attested from the fourth century BC onwards, but his name implies the paradoxical union of two different gods (Hermes andAphrodite) rather than an assimilation in the manner of Hermanubis.[9]
