Sopdet
| Sopdet | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Goddess of star Sirius | ||||
 Sopdet in red dress, with star on the head | ||||
| Name in hieroglyphs |
| |||
| Symbol | star | |||
| Consort | Sah (constellation of Orion) | |||
| Offspring | Sopdu | |||
In Egyptian mythology, Sopdet was the deification of Sothis, a star considered by almost all Egyptologists to be Sirius. The name Sopdet means (she who is) sharp in Egyptian, a reference to the brightness of Sirius, which is the brightest star in the night sky. In art she is depicted as a woman with a five-pointed star upon her head.[1]
Just after Sirius has a heliacal rising in the July sky, the Nile River begins its annual flood, and so the ancient Egyptians connected the two. Consequently, Sopdet was identified as a goddess of the fertility of the soil, which was brought to it by the Nile's flooding. This significance led the Egyptians to base their calendar on the heliacal rising of Sirius.[1]
Sopdet is the consort of Sah, the constellation of Orion, near which Sirius appears, and the god Sopdu was said to be their child. These relationships parallel those of the god Osiris and his family, and Sah was linked with Osiris, Sopdet with Isis, and Sopdu with Horus.[1] She is said in the Pyramid Texts to be the daughter of Osiris.
References
- ^ a b c Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003). The complete gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson. pp. 167–168, 211. ISBN 0-500-05120-8.