SEKER

Sokar (also known as Seker and in Greek, Sokaris or Socharis) was the Memphite god of the dead, but he was also the patron of the workers who built the necropolis and the craftsmen who made tomb artefacts and of those who made ritual objects and substances used in mummification.

The meaning of his name is unclear. It may be derived from the term "skr" (meaning "cleaning the mouth") mentioned in the Coffin Texts and in writings relating to the "Opening of the Mouth" ceremony (one of the funerary rituals). However, others suggest that it relates to the phrase "sy-k-ri" ("hurry to me") which was the cry for help uttered by Osiris to Isis, and others suggest it means "the adorned one". He was known by the epithet "he of Rosetau". This refers to the area around the Giza pyramids, but also related more generally to any necropolis and to the entrance to the underworld. He is also known as the "lord of the mysterious region" (the underworld) and the "great god with his two wings opened" - referring to his origins as a hawk deity.

Memphis was the primary cult centre of god. On the 26th day of 4th month of akhet (sowing), the festival of Sokar (Choiak) was held there. Egyptians performed the rituals of hoeing the earth and driving cattle, implying that Sokar was also an agricultural deity, and a huge statue of the god was carried around on a Henu barque (a boat with a high prow shaped like a horned oryx and a funerary chest). By the Middle Kingdom, the festival incorporated Osirian aspects of festivals in Abydos, and by the New Kingdom, the festival had expanded to Thebes, where it rivalled the great Opet Festival. It is thought that the festival celebrated the rebirth of Osiris and stressed the continuity of Pharonic power.

He was initially worshiped as a totem, and then as a personified hawk or falcon. However, during the Old Kingdom he was generally depicted on a throne with Was (power) sceptre and an Ankh (life), and by the New Kingdom he was depicted hawk-headed mummy with Was sceptre (representing power), a flail and a crook. He usually stands on a funerary mound (which may represent the primeval mound) and wears a sun disc, cows horns and the regal cobras (similar to the Atef-crown), although in certain situations he wears the White Crown. As a falcon deity, he is often related toHorus, and wears the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt.

From the middle kingdom he was merged with Ptah. Ptah-Sokar represented the soil and its power to create life. As Ptah was considered to be the patron of artisans, Sokar became specifically the patron of goldsmiths. Soon after, Sokar became associated withOsiris as the composite deity, Ptah-Sokar-Osiris. This composite deity represented the three aspects of the universe: creation, stability, and death. In the New Kingdom Period, in the Book of the Dead, Sokar unites the forms of Osiris and Ptah. Ptah-Sokar became Sokar-Osiris (the nocturnal sun during the fourth and fifth hours of the Amduat). The priests of Sokar retained the same titles as the Memphite priests of Ptah had used during the Old Kingdom, but now they almost always refer to the high priests of Heliopolis. Ptah-Sokar-Osiris is generally depicted as a mummiform hawk bearing the regalia of kingship. However, he was also represented as pygmy with a scarab beetle on his head (representing Kheper). It is thought that these images of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris were the source of the deity called Pataikos by Herodotus. Although Ptah-Sokar was married toSekhmet, Sokar was sometimes linked to Nephthys.