Who is the Egyptian god of mummification and the afterlife?

The story behind the answer

Anubis is the jackal-headed god who presided over mummification and guarded tombs, ensuring bodies were prepared for eternity. In funerary scenes he guides the dead through the Duat and supervises the Weighing of the Heart against Ma’at’s feather, while Osiris delivers the final judgment.

His jackal form reflects the desert scavengers that haunted cemeteries—turning a threat into a protector. Priests wore Anubis masks during embalming, and his black color symbolized the life-giving Nile silt and the resins used in preservation. Remember it this way: Anu-“balm”-us—he’s the one with the balm, Egypt’s divine undertaker. By contrast, Osiris rules the underworld, Horus is the falcon-god of kingship and the sky, and Thoth is the scribe of wisdom.