Which traditions do they belong to?

Both belong to the Egyptian Pantheon.

Side by sideParent and child

Anubis vs Osiris

Anubis and Osiris are recorded as parent and child in the Egyptian Pantheon.

At a glance

Anubis and Osiris compared
	Anubis	Osiris
Tradition	Egyptian Pantheon	Egyptian Pantheon
Domains	mummification, death, cemeteries, embalming, judgment	afterlife, resurrection, fertility, agriculture, judgment
Symbols	jackal, black color, flail, crook, embalming tools	crook and flail, atef crown, green or black skin, mummy wrappings, djed pillar
Also called	Anpu, Inpu, Anup	Usir, Lord of the Perfect Black

Where they meet

Both are associated with judgment.

Where they part

Only Anubis

Associated with mummification, death, cemeteries, and embalming.

Only Osiris

Associated with afterlife, resurrection, fertility, and agriculture.

How each was worshipped

Anubis

Cult sites: Cynopolis; Embalming workshops attached to necropolises
Festivals: Opening of the Mouth; Mummification rites

The jackal on the tomb and the priest in the jackal mask. He weighs, wraps, and guards. Cult is the funeral industry of Egypt, not a city-god's procession first.

Osiris

Cult sites: Abydos, with the processional route to Umm el-Qa'ab; Osireion and temples throughout Egypt as the dead god
Festivals: Khoiak mysteries; Osiris festivals of the month of Khoiak

Death, grain, and kingship of the underworld. Khoiak grew his figure from grain and floated his neshmet bark. Every tomb needs him. Isis, Horus, and the justified dead share the same story.

The two figures

Egyptian Pantheon

Anubis

God of mummification and the afterlife. Guardian of tombs and guide of souls to judgment. He oversees the weighing of the heart ceremony.

Anubis's parentage varies across Egyptian traditions. In older myths, he was the son of Ra and Hesat, or of Ra alone. The most well-known version makes him the illegitimate son of Osiris and Nephthys. When Nephthys bore Anubis, she abandoned him in the desert, fearing Set's wrath. Isis discovered the infant and raised him as her own, and he became fiercely loyal to the Osirian family. This connection explains why Anubis assisted Isis in mummifying Osiris and why he serves as protector of the dead king.

Anubis is the jackal-headed god who presided over mummification, embalming, and the passage of souls to the afterlife. In the earliest periods of Egyptian religion, he was the supreme lord of the underworld before Osiris rose to prominence.

Read the full Anubis entry

Egyptian Pantheon

Osiris

God of the afterlife, resurrection, and fertility. First pharaoh and lawgiver who taught agriculture to humanity. Murdered by his brother Set and resurrected by Isis.

Osiris was the first mythical pharaoh of Egypt, who brought civilization and agriculture. After being murdered and dismembered by his jealous brother Set, he was resurrected by Isis to rule the Underworld.

Read the full Osiris entry

About this comparison

Comparisons pair figures that play a similar role across traditions, or that the myths connect within one. A shared role does not, by itself, establish a shared origin.