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In Egyptian mythology,
Sopdet was the deification of Sothis, a star considered by almost
all egyptologists to be Sirius. The name Sopdet means (she who
is) sharp, a reference to the brightness of Sirius, which is
the brightest star in the night sky. In art she was depicted
as a woman with a five-pointed star upon her head.
Just after Sirius appears in the July sky, the Nile River
begins its annual flood, and so the ancient Egyptians connected
the two. Consequently Sopdet was identified as a goddess of
the fertility of the soil, which was brought to it by the
Nile's flooding. This significance lead the Egyptians to base
their calendar on the heliacal rising of Sirius.
Sopdet was regarded as the consort of Sah, the constellation
of Orion, by which Sirius appears, and the planet Venus was
sometimes considered their child. The noticeably human figure
of Orion was eventually identified as a form of Horus,
the sky-god, and thus, together with her being a fertility
deity, this lead to her being identified as a manifestation
of Isis.
After Sirius' appearance, the scorching heat of summer arrives,
an aspect that was referred to as Sopdu, meaning (one who
is) with Sopd, Sopd being simply the masculine form, and stem,
of Sopdet. Since the heat arrived after Sirius' appearance,
it was said that Sopdet had given birth to it, thus Sopdu
was seen as being a child of Sopdet, and thus also of Sah.
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