Sopdet

Sopdet (written Spdt) is the divine personification of the star Sirius. In Egyptian astral mythology she is paired with Sah (the personified constellation of Orion) as consort; their child is the hawk god Sopdu, described as 'Lord of the East'. From an early date she is associated with Osiris, and by the Ptolemaic period Sopdet's identity and functions were frequently conflated with Isis and presented in forms reflecting that syncretism.

In Egyptian iconography Sopdet is usually depicted as a woman with a five-pointed star upon her head and often shown wearing a horned hedjet crown similar in form to that associated with Satis. From the Middle Kingdom she is sometimes portrayed supporting part of the sky (Nut) alongside Hathor. In Ptolemaic and Roman-period art Greco-Roman notions of the 'Dog Star' led to occasional depictions of Sopdet as a large dog or as a woman riding a dog sidesaddle; in some Greco-Roman contexts a male Sopdet form is conflated with the dog-headed Anubis.

Astronomically, Sopdet's heliacal rising marked the Egyptian New Year (Wep Renpet) and was culturally linked to the arrival of the annual Nile flood; she is described as the bringer of the New Year and of the inundation and so is connected to fertility brought by the flood. In funerary contexts—notably in the Old Kingdom—she acted as a psychopomp guiding deceased pharaohs through the Egyptian netherworld. Over historical periods her roles shift: Middle Kingdom imagery emphasizes maternal and sky-supporting aspects, while Ptolemaic and later syncretism folded many of her functions into Isis and associated royal-renewal themes.