Ibiza hound

(by Pablo Burgués)

If you’re one of those poor mortals who go along Ibiza by car, you would have seen that at the beginning of the promenade there is a roundabout with a giant hand and seven dogs on it. Well, it’s a work by the sculptor Andreu Moreno and it’s a tribute to the typical dog in the island: the Ibiza hound. This breed is native to ancient Egypt and apparently the Phoenicians brought it to the island in the VII century b.C.

According to the legend, these creatures are sacred and they are directly related to the Egyptian god Anubis. This gentleman, who was represented with a human body and a hound head, was considered as the lord of the necropolis and his work was to determine is a deceased person was suitable to enter the heavenly kingdom or not. Moreover, he himself carried the soul of the lucky ones to the afterworld. All in all, Anubis was a sort of San Pedro with a taxi license.

But, let’s delve into his life a bit more deeply, because, as it happens with the big rock and roll stars, gods also have had difficult and bizarre childhoods.

All began with Osiris (god of fertility), who was happily married with Isis (goddess of motherhood). On a wild night Osiris got seriously drunk and snogged with his sister-in-law Nephthys (goddess of darkness and shadows). Both promised to keep the secret, following the motto that “what happens in Egypt, remains in Egypt”, but fate wanted that the girl became pregnant… To make things worse, her husband Seth (god of droughts and desert) was impotent, thus the infidelity was soon on the front pages of all the gossip papyrus of the times.

In this nice family context, full of sincerity and confidence, our dear Anubis came into the world, and step by step he grew up until he became a fully grown god. In spite of his high status, family troubles and infidelities never let him alone.

One day Anubis was sowing and, when he had no more seeds, he asked his brother Bata to go to his house and ask his wife for a sack of grain. When the boy got there, his sister-in-law, who had no TV, no Tablet or anything, and was quite bored, tried to take advantage of the boy. He managed to get out untouched, but she was quite devious and told her husband that Bata had tried to rape her. Anubis looked for this brother, willing to kill him, but he convinced him that it as a lie and finally Anubis killed his wife.