Recent years have seen increased focus on the reception of ancient gods in contemporary popular culture, including ‘The Gods of Antiquity in Contemporary Popular Culture’ online seminar (June 2023), panels at the annual Antiquity in Media Studies (AIMS) conference, and Alexander Vanderwalle’s new monograph Characters and Characterization in Mythological Video Games (Bloomsbury 2026). Following from this work, the symposium ‘Anubis in Contemporary Popular Culture’ examines the reception of ancient Egyptian gods through the case study of the canine deity Anubis. By adopting a focussed examination of an individual god, the symposium aims to explore the different ways that gods are adopted and adapted in diverse media and by different communities.

Practical Information

Organised by Jenny Cromwell (Manchester Metropolitan University/Manchester Game Centre) and Arnaud Quertinmont (Musée royal de Mariemont).
Saturday 18th July, 10.00–15.00 BST.
Attendance is online and free. No registration is needed. Join us at: https://jitsi.lhoir.it/AnubisinContemporaryPopularCulture

Paul Spooner, Protoplasm (2025)

Schedule

10.00: Introduction (Jenny Cromwell and Arnaud Quertinmont)

10.20–11.15: Panel 1
10.20: A Lexikon der ägyptischen Götter und Götterbezeichnungen (LGG) of contemporary Anubis? Reimaginations of an ancient Egyptian god in popular culture (Abraham I. Fernández Pichel)
10.40: The Opener of the Way: Representations of Anubis in the work of Robert Bloch and Frank Belknap Long (Lawrence Webb)
11.00: Q&A

11.15–11.30: Break

11.30–13.10: Panel 2
11.30: Masters of the Jackal” – Crossing Boundaries between Science and Fiction (Roxane Bicker)
11.50: From God to Guard Dog: the Fragmentation of Anubis in Cinema (Sherine ElSebaie)
12.10: Anubis Lord of the Mummy-Wrappings: A case study of Paul Spooner’s automata (Nicholas Thorp)
12.30: Is Anubis the most metal of all gods? Contemporary depictions of Anubis in metal music (Jovana Marjanović)
12.50: Q&A

13.10–14.00: Lunch Break

14.00–15.15: Panel 3
14.00: Anubis the Flower Boy: alternative images of Anubis in East Asia (Tian Tian)
14.20: The Jackal’s New Mask: Reimagining Anubis in Japanese Popular Culture (Jose Manuel Alba Gómez)
14.40: Japanese Popular Culture and its Depic ons of Anubis as a Roman Partner (Deniz Meral Ardic)
15.00: Q&A

15.15–15.30: Conclusion and Close