A faint inscription inside a 3,500-year-old Egyptian tomb has revealed the name of a dog whose identity had gone unnoticed for decades. The animal was called “He-of-the-Underworld,” a name that likely alluded to Anubis, the god associated with death and the afterlife, according to a study by Chelsea Kaufman.
The discovery comes from the 18th Dynasty tomb of User, known as TT 21, at Sheikh Abd el-Qurna in the Theban Necropolis near Luxor. User served as a scribe and steward of Pharaoh Thutmose I. The vast burial area has also produced other evidence involving animals, including a mummified dog discovered in another tomb. The newly identified name brings the number of known dog names from ancient Egypt to 97.
Faded inscription reveals the dog’s name
The inner chamber of User’s tomb contains several offering scenes. Three surviving scenes show collared dogs sitting beneath the tomb owner’s chair. Earlier records identified two of the dogs by name: “Strong One” and “Trusty.” A third dog appears in an offering scene on the east wall, but its faint name was not recorded in the original publication of the tomb. A reexamination showed that an inscription survives behind the dog’s head. Kaufman enhanced photographs using the DStretch plug-in for ImageJ, making the faded writing much clearer.
The name reads “dwȝ.ty,” which Kaufman translates as “He-of-the-Underworld.” The phrase was also an epithet, or descriptive title, of Anubis. The god played an important role in ancient Egyptian beliefs about death and the afterlife. A version of the name is known for at least one person, but researchers had not previously recorded it as a dog’s name.
An unusual dog in Egyptian art
The painting shows a white, collared dog with a slender body, drooping ears and a curved tail. Egyptologists conventionally describe this type as a sloughi dog, which commonly appeared in New Kingdom art. Its reddish, rippled coat pattern is particularly unusual. The markings resemble the rippled clothing worn by User as he sits above the animal holding a floral bouquet. Kaufman said the coat pattern has no known parallel among other depictions of dogs in ancient Egyptian art.
The hieroglyph used with the dog’s name is also rare. Most dog names that include a dog determinative, a symbol used to clarify a word’s meaning, show a standing animal. This inscription instead uses a seated dog that resembles the animal painted below User’s chair. It is one of only two known examples of a seated dog determinative among recorded Egyptian dog names.
Preserving dogs for the afterlife
Nearly 100 dog names are now known from ancient Egypt, ranging from the Old Kingdom to the Ptolemaic Period. More than half were discovered in private tombs. Dogs were unusual among animals depicted in Egyptian art because they were sometimes identified by name. Kaufman argues that including both a dog’s image and name in a tomb may have helped preserve its identity and memory in the afterlife.
The idea fits a broader pattern in Egyptian funerary culture. Research into other ancient tombs has shown how relationships and identities could be preserved into the afterlife. The newly identified dog provides a rare example of that practice. Its distinctive appearance, unusual hieroglyph, and name linked to the underworld suggest the artist deliberately preserved the animal’s individual identity alongside its owner.
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