View source for Sopdet

{{short description|Ancient Egyptian deity}}
{{redirect|Sothis|the star|Sirius|the Fire Emblem character|Sothis (Fire Emblem)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
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{{Infobox deity
| type = Egyptian
| name = Sopdet
| image = Sopdet.svg
| alt = 
| caption = Sopdet in green dress, with star on her head
| hiero = <hiero>M44-N14-X1:H8</hiero>{{sfnp|Hill|2016}}{{sfnp|Vygus|2015|p=1774}}{{efn|name=hiero|Variant spellings of Sopdet include <small><hiero>M44-Q3:D46-X1:N14-B1</hiero></small>, <small><hiero>M44-X1-B1</hiero></small>, <small><hiero>M44-X1:N14</hiero></small>,{{sfnp|Vygus|2015|p=1222}} <small><hiero>N14-X1:H8-I12</hiero></small>,{{sfnp|Vygus|2015|p=1239}} <small><hiero>S29-Q3:D46-M44-Y1V</hiero></small>,{{sfnp|Vygus|2015|p=1872}} <small><hiero>S29-X1-M44-N14</hiero></small>,{{sfnp|Vygus|2015|p=1925}} and in [[late Egyptian]]: <small><hiero>N14-G7</hiero></small>,{{sfnp|Vygus|2015|p=1237}} <small><hiero>M44-N14-B7</hiero></small> (really B7E), and <small><hiero>M44-N14-X1:H8-B7</hiero></small> (really B7E).{{sfnp|Vygus|2015|p=1222}}}}
| cult_center = 
| symbol = [[Sirius]]; dog (Ptolemaic/Roman)
| parents =
| siblings = 
| consort = [[Sah (god)|Sah]] ([[Orion (constellation)|Orion]]); [[Osiris]]
| offspring = [[Sopdu]] ([[Venus (planet)|Venus]]); [[Horus]]
}}
{{Ancient Egyptian religion}}
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'''Sopdet''' is the [[Egyptian language|ancient Egyptian]] name of the [[star]] [[Sirius]] and its [[personification]] as an [[Egyptian pantheon|Egyptian goddess]]. Known to the Greeks as '''Sothis''', she was conflated with [[Isis (goddess)|Isis]] as a goddess and [[Anubis]] as a god.

{{anchor|Name|Etymology}}

==Names==
The exact pronunciation of [[Egyptian language|ancient Egyptian]] is uncertain, as vowels were not recorded until a very late period. In [[transcription of ancient Egyptian|modern transcription]], her name usually appears as Sopdet ({{Transliteration|egy|[[wikt:spdt|Spdt]]}},{{sfnp|Vygus|2015|p=1222}} {{literally|Triangle|Sharp One}}), after the known Greek and Latin form Sothis ({{langx|grc|Σῶθις|Sō̂this|label=none}}).

==History==
[[File:Ivory label with Djer name and Sopdet.png|upright|thumb|left|The tablet's engravings were believed to discuss the bull-formed Sopdet.]]
During the early period of Egyptian civilization, the [[heliacal rising]] of the bright star preceded the usual annual [[flooding of the Nile]].{{sfnp|Wilkinson|2003|p=167}} It was therefore apparently used for the [[Egyptian civil calendar|solar civil calendar]] which largely superseded the original lunar calendar in the 3rd{{nbsp}}millennium{{nbsp}}BC. Despite the wandering nature of the [[Egyptian calendar]], the erratic timing of the flood from year to year, and the slow procession of Sirius within the solar year, Sopdet continued to remain central to cultural depictions of the year and to celebrations of Wep Renpet ({{Transliteration|egy|Wp Rnpt}}), the Egyptian New Year. She was also venerated as a goddess of the fertility brought to the soil by the flooding.

She was long thought to be represented by the cow on an ivory tablet from the reign of [[Djer]] ([[Dynasty I]]),{{sfnp|Wilkinson|2003|p=167}} but this is no longer supported by most [[Egyptologist]]s.{{sfnp|Clagett|2004}} During the [[Old Kingdom]], she was an important goddess of the annual flood and a [[psychopomp]] guiding deceased pharaohs through the [[Egyptian underworld]]. During the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]], she was primarily a mother and nurse and, by the [[Ptolemaic Egypt|Ptolemaic period]], she was almost entirely subsumed into Isis.{{sfnp|Wilkinson|2003|p=168}}

==Myths==
[[File:Hubble heic0206j.jpg|thumb|right|280px|[[Sirius (star)|Sirius]] (''bottom'') and [[Orion (constellation)|Orion]] (''right''). Together, the three brightest stars of the northern winter sky—Sirius, [[Betelgeuse]] (''top right''), and [[Procyon]] (''top left'')—can also be understood as forming the [[Winter Triangle]].]]
Sopdet is the consort of [[Sah (god)|Sah]], the personified [[constellation]] of [[Orion (constellation)|Orion]] near Sirius. Their child [[Venus (planet)|Venus]]{{sfnp|Hill|2016}} was the hawk god [[Sopdu]],{{sfnp|Wilkinson|2003|p=167}} "Lord of the East".{{sfnp|Wilkinson|2003|p=211}} As the "bringer of the New Year and the Nile flood", she was associated with [[Osiris]] from an early date{{sfnp|Wilkinson|2003|p=167}} and by the [[Ptolemaic Egypt|Ptolemaic]] period Sah and Sopdet almost solely appeared in forms conflated with Osiris{{sfnp|Wilkinson|2003|p=127}} and [[Isis (goddess)|Isis]].{{sfnp|Wilkinson|2003|p=168}}

==Representation==
She was depicted as a woman with a five-pointed star upon her head,{{sfnp|Wilkinson|2003|p=168}} usually with a horned [[hedjet]] similar to [[Satis (goddess)|Satis]].{{sfnp|Wilkinson|2003|p=167}} In the [[Ptolemaic Egypt|Ptolemaic]] and [[Roman Egypt|Roman]] period, the European notion of the "Dog Star" caused her to sometimes be represented as a large dog or as a woman riding one [[sidesaddle]].{{sfnp|Wilkinson|2003|p=168}}

From the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]], Sopdet sometimes appeared as a god who held up part of [[Nut (goddess)|Nut]] (the sky or firmament) with [[Hathor]]. In Greco-Roman Egypt, the male Sopdet was conflated with the dog-headed [[Anubis]].{{sfnp|Hill|2016}}

{{gallery
|File:La tombe de Sethi 1er (KV.17) (Vallée des Rois, Thèbes ouest) -8.jpg|A stellar goddess, possibly Sopdet, from the {{c.|1300}}{{nbsp}}{{small|BC}} tomb of {{nowrap|[[Seti I]].}}
|File:Dendera Temple complex, Temple of Hathor - panoramio (3).jpg|Sopdet depicted in the [[Dendera Temple complex]].
|File:Isis-Sothis-Demeter.jpg|A [[Hellenization|Hellenic]] bust of Sopdet, [[syncretization|syncretized]] with [[Isis (goddess)|Isis]] and [[Demeter]].
}}

==See also==
* [[Ikhemu-sek]]
* [[Astrotheology]]
* ''[[Book of Sothis]]''
* [[Sothic cycle]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==

===Citations===
{{reflist|30em}}

===Bibliography===
* {{citation |authorlink=Marshall Clagett |last=Clagett |first=Marshall |title=Ancient Egyptian Science: Calendars, Clocks, and Astronomy |volume=2 |publisher=American Philosophical Society |year=2004 |isbn=9780871692146}}.
* {{citation |last=Hill |first=J |date=2016 |title=Ancient Egypt Online |url=http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/ |contribution-url=http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/sopdet.html |contribution=Sopdet }}.
* {{citation |last=Vygus |first=Mark |date=2015 |title=Middle Egyptian Dictionary |url=http://www.pyramidtextsonline.com/documents/VygusDictionaryApril2015.pdf }}
* {{citation |author-link=Richard H. Wilkinson |first=Richard H. |last=Wilkinson |title=The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt |contribution=Sothis |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London |year=2003 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/completegodsgodd00wilk_0/page/167 167–168] |isbn=0-500-05120-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/completegodsgodd00wilk_0/page/167 }}.

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[[Category:Egyptian goddesses]]
[[Category:Fertility goddesses]]
[[Category:Stellar goddesses]]
[[Category:Agricultural goddesses]]
[[Category:Isis]]
[[Category:Anubis]]
[[Category:Dog goddesses]]
[[Category:Sirius]]

[[ca:Llista de personatges de la mitologia egípcia#S]]