. In very early
inscriptions the funerary prayers in the tombs are addressed to him
almost exclusively, and he always took a leading place in them. In the
scene of the weighing of the soul before Osiris, dating from the New
kingdom onwards, Anubis attends to the balance while Thoth registers the
result. Anubis was believed to have been the embalmer of Osiris: the
mummy of Osiris, or of the deceased, on a bier, tended by this god, is a
very common subject on funerary tablets of the late periods. Anubis came
to be considered especially the attendant of the gods and conductor of
the dead, and hence was commonly identified with Hermes (cf. the name
Hermanubis); but the role of Hermes as the god of eloquence, inventor of
arts and recorder of the gods was taken by Thoth. In those days Anubis
was considered to be son of Osiris by Nephthys; earlier perhaps he was
son of Re, the sun-god. In the 2nd century A.D. his aid was "compelled"
by the magicians and necromancers to fetch the gods and entertain them
with food (especially in the ceremony of gazing into the bowl of oil),
and he is invoked by them sometimes as the "Good Ox-herd." The cult of
Anubis must at all times have been very popular in Egypt, and, belonging
to the Isis and Serapis cycle, was introduced into Greece and Rome.

See Erman, _Egyptian Religion_; Budge, _Gods of the Egyptians_; Meyer,
in _Zeits. f. Aeg. Spr._ 41-97. (F. Ll. G.)

ANURADHAPURA, a ruined city of Ceylon, famous for its ancient monuments.
It is situated in the North-central province. Anuradhapura became the
capital of Ceylon in the 5th century B.C., and attained its highest
magnificence about the commencement of the Christian era. In its prime
it ranked beside Nineveh and Babylon in its colossal proportions--its
four walls, each 16 m. long, enclosing an area of 256 sq. m.,--in the
number of its inhabitants, and the splendour of its shrines and public
edifices. It suffered much during the earlier Tamil invasions, and was
finally deserted as a royal residence in A.D. 769. It fell completely
into decay, and it is only of recent years that the jungle has been
cleared away, the ruins laid bare, and some measure of prosperity
brought back to the surrounding country by the restoration of hundreds
of village tanks. The ruins consist of three classes of buildings,
_dagobas_, monastic buildings, and _pokunas_. The _dagobas_ are
bell-shaped masses of masonry, varying from a few feet to over 1100