 Egyptian writings describe the gods ' bodies in detail . They are made of precious materials ; their flesh is gold , their bones are silver , and their hair is <unk> <unk> . They give off a scent that the Egyptians likened to the incense used in rituals . Some texts give precise descriptions of particular deities , including their height and eye color . Yet these characteristics are not fixed ; in myths , gods change their appearances to suit their own purposes . Egyptian texts often refer to deities ' true , underlying forms as " mysterious " . The Egyptians ' visual representations of their gods are therefore not literal . They symbolize specific aspects of each deity 's character , functioning much like the <unk> in hieroglyphic writing . For this reason , the funerary god Anubis is commonly shown in Egyptian art as a dog or <unk> , a creature whose <unk> habits threaten the preservation of buried mummies , in an effort to counter this threat and employ it for protection . His black coloring alludes to the color of <unk> flesh and to the fertile black soil that Egyptians saw as a symbol of resurrection . 
