File:Anubis (Musgrave).jpg

English: "Penates (Household Gods) Dug Up at Devises in Our Belgium in the Year 1714, Table 9.

"16. Anubis. Length: 3 Inches. Weight: 6 oz.

"XII. ABOUT "Anubus" the most obvious thing is that that Divinity is Egyptian. Concerning him, Virgil says
—"'The Barker Anubis.'
"And Juvenal on the Gods of Egypt,
"'The entire Town reveres a Dog.'"

Notes: "To the Most Noble Prince Frederick, the destined Royal Heir, Great Britain's hope, Delight, and most yearned for Spirit, son of the Most High George and grandson of the Most August George, William Musgrave, Fellow (?) of Exeter College, Oxford, of his own will and in Obedience to his Oath wished these here Penates, hidden by the Earth for 1500 years, to be dedicated.

"These Penates [found] by William Cadby, Gardener at Devizes, engraved on Brass and printed on Imperial Paper, are available for sale at the Booksellers Knapton in London, Clements in Oxford, and Yeo in Exeter. 1717."

The 1st figure from Musgrave's 6th illustration of the Southbroom Hoard discovered outside Devizes, Wiltshire, in 1714. This statue is now lost, while others from the hoard are held by the British Museum. Durham categorized it as #380. Musgrave, Moll, and Boon identified it as the Egyptian jackel god Anubis, but modern scholars have found that it is a Gallo-Roman figure instead, depicted as a great maned or furred canine that sometimes has human legs and feet protruding from his mouth and sometimes a long and wavy tongue. The Southbroom figure seems especially similar to the dog monster discovered with a hoard near a spring at Llys Awel in Wales.


See also:

• Emma Durham, "Depicting the Gods: Metal Figurines in Roman Britain", Internet Archaeology, No. 31, 2012.
• Emma Durham, "Style and Substance: Some Metal Figurines from South-West Britain", Britannia, No. 45, November 2014, pp. 195–221.