Hermes' and Anubis's similar responsibilities (they were both
conductors of souls) led to the god Hermanubis. He was popular during the period of
Roman domination over
Egypt.[3] Depicted having a human body and a jackal head, with the sacred
caduceus that belonged to the Greek god Hermes, he represented the Egyptian priesthood. He engaged in the investigation of truth.[4][5][6]
The divine name Ἑρμανοῦβις is known from a handful of epigraphic and literary sources, mostly of the Roman period.
Plutarch cites the name as a designation of Anubis in his underworldly aspect, while
Porphyry refers to Hermanubis as σύνθετος "composite" and μιξέλλην "half-Greek".[7][8]
Although it was not common in traditional
Greek religion to combine the names of two gods in this manner, the double determination of Hermanubis has some formal parallels in the earlier period. The most obvious is the god
Hermaphroditus, attested from the fourth century BC onwards, but his name implies the paradoxical union of two different gods (Hermes and
Aphrodite) rather than an assimilation in the manner of Hermanubis.[9]