TYPE: Chthonic underworld god
ORIGIN: Egyptian
INFORMATION: Guardian deity of the necropolis at Memphis with possible fertility connotations and with strong links to Osiris beside whom he is also perceived as a restored god of the dead. He is also syncretized with the Memphis creator god Ptah in the Old Kingdom (circa 4500 BCE), where he may have originated as a god of various crafts associated with the manufacture of funerary trappings. He is depicted either as a hawk on a boat, or in human form with the head of a hawk and an elaborate atef crown (see Osiris). Sokar also enjoyed a major cult at Thebes where, in an annual festival celebrating the healthy continuation of the divine kingship, he was conveyed in an elaborate boat. Also Sokaris (Greek).