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The goddess Sopdet from the Tomb of Seti I

Sopdet, Goddess of Sirius, New Year and Inundation


Updated: December 19, 2012


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Sopdet (Sepdet, Sothis) personified the 'dog star' Sirius. This star was the most important of the stars to the ancient Egyptians, and the heliacal rising of this star came at the time of inundation and the start of the Egyptian New Year. As a goddess of the inundation, she was a goddess of fertility. She also was linked to the pharaoh and his journey in the afterlife.


Sopdet, as a cow seated above growing plants, as depicted on an ivory lable of King Djer Sirius was both the most important star of ancient Egyptian astronomy, and one of the Decans (bakiu, star groups into which the night sky was divided, with each group appearing for ten days annually). The heliacal rising (the first night that Sirius is seen, just before dawn) was noticed every year during July, and the Egyptians used this to mark the start of the New Year (wp rnpt, 'The Opening of the Year'). It was celebrated with a festival known as 'The Coming of Sopdet'.

According to the Egyptians, Sirius was out of sight for about 70 days each year because it was too close to the Sun to be seen. The figure of 70 days most likely pertained to the latitude of Memphis or of nearby Heliopolis. For a comprehensive treatment of some of the Egyptian sources about the 70 days-especially the cenotaph of Seti I, the tomb of Ramses IV, and the later Papyrus Carlsberg I - see the work of Neugebauer and Parker.

Each July, Sirius would reappear in the eastern sky at sunrise. This was the heliacal rising of Sirius; the Egyptians called it prt Spdt, "the Coming-Forth of Sopdet." (The Greeks frequently referred to Sirius as "the Dog Star," but they are also the ones who referred to it as "Sothis," their rather loose transliteration of the Egyptian "Sopdet.")

For four years - an Egyptian-Sothic quadrennium - Sirius would rise heliacally on the same date of the Egyptian calendar and would then go on to the next date for another four years. At this rate, Sirius would move all the way through the Egyptian calendar in 1460 Julian years, which is called the Sothic period.

-- Lynn E. Rose (1994), The Astronomical Evidence for Dating the End of the Middle Kingdom of Ancient Egypt to the Early Second Millennium: A Reassessment, p. 241

Sopdet, from the Tomb of Seti I





In the Pyramid texts, parallelling the story of Osiris and Isis, the pharaoh was believed to have had a child with Sopdet:


-- Sopdet in the Pyramid Texts


Sopdet's symbolism and meaning were absorbed into the well-known national goddess, Isis, due to another legend about the star. Sirius happens to travel the sky just ahead of the large constellation of Orion. (His belt of three stars serves as an easy pointer towards Sirius, the unmistakable bright star that is one of the few visible even in city lights' glare). Orion was identified with the dying-and-resurrected god Osiris, in Egyptian mythology, who was one of the most well-known gods of the pantheon. His wife and sister Isis was Lady of Magic, who brought her husband back to life, and the bright star his constellation followed naturally came to be associated with her. The function of Sirius as herald of the life-giving inundation of the Nile added another layer of metaphor to this age-old story.

-- Ellen N. Brundige, Inventing the Solar System: Early Greek Scientists Struggle to Explain How the Heavens Move

Anqet and Sopdet, from the Roman Period temple at Dendara

She was also given a masculine aspect, and linked with Horus as Sopdet-Horus during the Middle Kingdom. She was also linked with Anubis during Greek Times as Sopdet-Anubis, probably because of the iconography of her as a dog, or riding on the back of a dog. She was also linked with other goddesses such as Hathor, Bast and Anqet.

She was venerated in Per-Soped (Saft al Hinna), in the 20th Nome of Lower Egypt. She was the goddess who helped the pharaoh reach the realm of the gods, who heralded the innundation, and the goddess of the ancient Egyptian New Year. She was the personification of the most important star of ancient Egypt, so important was she that her worship lasted through Egyptian history, from predynastic times, through to the Graeco-Roman period.

Further Information about Sopdet

Video of Sopdet

A video filled with images of Sopdet (and other deities), by Egyptahotep:

© Caroline 'Kunoichi' Seawright 2004 - present


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