In Egyptian mythology, Seker is a god of craftsmen, the dead and funerals. He was strongly associated with Osiris and Ptah. As Ptah-Seker, he was married to Sekhmet. Later, Ptah-Seker-Osiris was a popular god during the Middle Kingdom. Seker is further strongly associated to the sun and the Apis bull at Memphis.
His name means “Adorned One.” Some of the titles of Sokar were “He Who is on the Sand” and “Great Lord With His Two Wings Opened.” A god of light, fertility, and the souls of the dead, he signified the freedom of the bonds of death by those resurrected in the afterlife. A very ancient funerary god, Sokar predates Osiris by many years. A statue of Sokar was often placed in tombs, the bottom of it containing the deceased’s Book of the Dead.
Sokar was the patron of the royal cemetery near Memphis, and it is called after him, Sakkara, to this day. Sokar was also seen as a patron of craftsmen, specifically of metal workers. His dedicated festival was the Henu Festival, and was held every year in Thebes. The festival celebrated the resurrection of Sokar. It involved a huge procession with the image of Sokar being carried in a gilded boat. He was pictured as a greenish mummified man with a falcon’s head, or as a cat that walks at night without leaving a trace.
Other names
- Socharis (Greek)
- Sokar
- Sokaris
