Egyptian art relief carving of Wepwawet ‘The opener of the ways’ Ancient Egypt

Wep-wawet fragment

Dimensions :-
Total height with stand - 30.5 cm / 12 inches
Stand length - 22.2 cm / 8-3/4 inches
Stand width - 8 cm / 3-1/4 inches

Available here is a representation of the Egyptian deity Wep-wawet - ‘the opener of the ways’.
Made of a limestone and quartzite composition stone, this piece has been given a realistic texture and patina revealing a hint of the traditional colour scheme.
This is a signed 2023 edition. It will be featured on Down under Pharaoh instagram and Youtube as a good example of one of my classic carvings transcending into the modern era.

Background information

Often confused with Anubis / Anpu - the most well known of the canine jackal gods of ancient Egypt,
Wep-wawet was historically, the first.
The title bestowed upon him as an ‘opener of the ways’ has many interpretations over the course of Egyptian history.
The principal one is ‘he who leads one into the afterlife’ thus characterising him as a veritable guide.

Funerary scenes show him leading the deceased into the hall of judgement which is presided over by Osiris.
This scene typically features Anubis who tends the scale of justice in the weighing of the heart ceremony.

Some of the ways to help distinguish the two gods when in zoomorphic form, especially in the absence of inscriptional evidence, is to note what he is carrying. If he is holding a bow, crook and flail or the ceremonial adze used to ‘open the mouth’ it is more likely to be Wep-wawet. Also, where paint survives on carved images, Wep-wawet is traditionally grey as opposed to a pure black head like Anubis or Duamutef.

Anubis more often holds an Ankh symbol and / or a staff when simply walking or standing.
In this representation Wep-wawet holds in one hand the crook and flail to aid the reigning monarch in his quest forward.
Early iconography speaks of a god who led the king into battle, a kind of scout. Again ‘opening the way’ so to speak. On the famous sandal docket of king Den of the 1st dynasty, Wepwawet makes his first literal appearance in pure jackal form and his influence in the realm of battle is called upon to illustrate a ‘smiting of the enemy’ scene.

In celestial mythology, Wep-wawet could be shown striding on the bow of the night boat of Ra - (Meseket).
The obvious connection again points to opening a way forward for the boat to sail safely through the 12 perilous gates of night so that the sun god could rise again at dawn.

A significant god is Wep-wawet who deserves much more recognition than he receives and that is why i first carved this image back in 1992.