Underworld

Sokar

skr

The Memphite necropolisCraftsmen of the deadRegeneration

How it changed

An old Memphite god of the necropolis who ends up as the middle term of a triple god, Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, combining the creator, the necropolis and the resurrected dead into one figure that thousands of painted wooden statuettes were made of. Saqqara probably takes its name from him. His festival involved dragging his barque around the walls, and it survived for well over two thousand years.

Cult centre

Memphis and Saqqara

Best attested

Old Kingdom onward

Family

Merged with Ptah and Osiris as Ptah-Sokar-Osiris.

Epithets

“He of Rosetau”

How to recognise the figure

A hawk-headed mummiform figure, often on an elaborate barque with a prow shaped like an antelope head.

Worshipped at

Inbu-hedj

now Mit Rahina, south of Cairo

The Memphite necropolis

now Saqqara

Others in this group

Anubis

Cynopolis

Apophis

None; never worshipped

Wepwawet

Asyut

Ammit

None. Never worshipped