Sah (god)

Summary

Sah (sꜣḥ) was a god in Ancient Egyptian religion, representing a constellation that encompassed the stars in Orion and Lepus,[1] as well as stars found in some neighbouring modern constellations.[2][3]

Sah
Sah was "The father of the gods", which was a personification of modern Orion and Lepus Constellations.
Name in hieroglyphs
D61N14G1A40
Symbolstar
ConsortSopdet (star Sirius)
OffspringSopdu

His consort was Sopdet known by the ancient Greek name as Sothis,[4] the goddess of the star Sirius. Sah came to be associated with a more important deity, Osiris, and Sopdet with Osiris's consort Isis.[5]

Sah was frequently mentioned as "the Father of Gods" in the Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts. The pharaoh was thought to travel to Orion after his death.[5]

References edit

  1. ^ Shaltout, Belmonte (August 1, 2005). "On the Orientation of Ancient Egyptian Temples: (1) Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia". Journal for the History of Astronomy. 36 (3): 273–298. Bibcode:2005JHA....36..273S. doi:10.1177/002182860503600302. S2CID 54508592.
  2. ^ Belmonte, J. A (2003). Ad astra per aspera et per ludum: European archeoastronomy and the orientation of monuments in the Mediterranean basin - A map of the ancient Egyptian firmament (by Maravelia, A.-A. (BAR International Series, 1154) ed.). Oxford. pp. 31–38.
  3. ^ Belmonte, J.A (2003). Calendars, symbols and orientations: Legacies of astronomy in culture - The Ramesside star clocks and the ancient Egyptian constellations (Blomberg, M., Blomberg, P., Henrikson, G. (Stockholm, 2003) ed.).
  4. ^ "Sah and Sopdet (Sothis), the Egyptian Astral God and Goddess". www.touregypt.net. Retrieved 2019-04-14.
  5. ^ a b Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003). The complete gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson. pp. 127. ISBN 978-0-500-05120-7.