Upuaut (god)

In this image, Pharaoh Den overwhelms the Asian captives, next to which is the standard with Upwout.

Initially, Uphout was considered as a wolf god, whose name was named Lycopolis, that is, the "city of wolves." It is also likely that the standard with Upwout was originally just a symbol of the pharaoh identified with wolf attributes. Later, he began to be deified and used as a talisman that accompanies the pharaoh. In addition, Uphoutout was to accompany Pharaoh on the hunt, in this capacity he bore the title "sharp arrow", more powerful than the arrows of the gods.

Over time, this connection of Uphout with war and death, led to the fact that he began to be seen as one who opens the way through the Duat to the souls of the dead. Owing to the outward resemblance of a wolf and a jackal , Uphout was identified with Anubis , the god worshiped in the city of Asyut. As a result, he began to be regarded as his son. The jackal was also considered the son of Seth , because of this Upuaout was often confused with Anubis. This god first appeared in the temple of Seti I in Abydos ^[2] .

Figurine Upuaout. British Museum .

In later ancient Egyptian art, Uphout was depicted either as a wolf or a jackal, or as a person with the head of a wolf or jackal. Even when he was depicted as a jackal, he had gray or white fur, which hinted at his resemblance to a wolf . Uphout was also depicted in the clothes of a soldier and with elements of military attributes such as a bow and a mace .

One of the myths about Upwawth says that he was born in the shrine of Uajit , in the sacred place of the ancient goddess, who was in the heart of Lower Egypt . Based on this, Uphout, hitherto one of the gods of Upper Egypt , became an integral part of the royal rituals symbolizing the unification of Egypt. Upuaut opened the way for the king, not only in life, but also in the path of the dead. One scholar, Frankfurt, suggested that Uphout had a connection with the first-born son of the king, and in the Pyramid Texts Uphout looks like a manifestation of a living king.

In the later Pyramid Texts , Uphouta is called the god " Ra " who rose above the horizon, possibly as "He who opens the heavens." In later funeral texts, Uphout helps in the “ Opening of the mouth ” ceremony and leads the deceased through the underworld ^[2] .

The lack of necessary knowledge in the species difference in the fauna of Egypt led European Egyptologists to erroneously compare Uphout with a jackal, while the ancient Egyptians confidently knew that he was a wolf.

The Egyptian wolf (Canis aureus lupaster), also known as the African wolf, is currently listed as a subspecies of the golden jackal, but molecular and osteological data have shown that this species is one of a kind. It is a natural animal for Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia, although in the late Pleistocene its range reached the borders of Palestine.

Its closest relatives are the Ethiopian jackal , also known as the red wolf or the royal jackal and the Indian wolf . The dogs of the ancient Egyptians were probably domesticated subspecies of one or more of these mysterious animals.

• Anubis
• Input
• Isdes
• Film cephals

• Yves Guerrini . Recherche sur le dieu Oup-ouaout, des origines à la fin du Moyen-Empire, mémoire de maîtrise d'égyptologie de l'Université Paris IV Sorbonne, 1989.
• Yves Guerrini . Recherche sur les caractères cynégétiques de la Fête-Sed, mémoire de recherche de l'École du Louvre, 1991.
• Dimitri Meeks et Christine Favard-Meeks . Les dieux Égyptiens, Paris, Hachette, coll. "La vie Quotidienne", 1993.

• Wepwawet (English)
• Egyptian Gods: Wepwawet