Dictionary Of God And Godedesses

290 Sodasicated to Sobek identifies him as the consort ofHATHOR and the father of KHONSU. Also Suchos(Greek).Sodasi (girl of sixteen)Minor goddess. Hindu (Epic and Puranic). Oneof a group of MAHAVIDYAS personifying the SAKTIof ŠIVA. Aspects include Divyaratri.SodzaSky god. Ewe [Togo, West Africa]. Propitiatedwith yams and the sacrifice of a white sheep in anannual festival and his priests pray to him weeklyto send rain. The priests wear white robes.SogblenMessenger god. Ewe and Hua [Togo and southeasternGhana, West Africa]. Considered torelay the prayers of devotees to the greatgods and to return with blessings or punishment.Generally benevolent, bringing the boonof fertile crops and children. He is propitiatedwith the sacrifice of a white sheep in an annualfestival.SogboStorm god. Fon [Benin, West Africa]. The siblingof the gods LISA and MAWU, he controls thunderand lightning and is a god of fire and rain.Sohodo-No-KamiGod of scarecrows. Shinto [Japan]. Identified asthe apotheosis of the actual scarecrow made byJapanese farmers and known as a kakashi. Traditionallyit is constructed from reeds and wears around peasant hat. According to the sacred texts,“though his legs do not walk he knows everythingunder heaven.”SokarChthonic underworld god. Egyptian. Guardiandeity of the necropolis at Memphis with possiblefertility connotations and with strong links toOSIRIS beside whom he is also perceived as arestored god of the dead. He is also syncretizedwith the Memphis creator god PTAH in the OldKingdom (circa 4500 BC), where he may haveoriginated as a god of various crafts associatedwith the manufacture of funerary trappings. He isdepicted either as a hawk on a boat, or in humanform with the head of a hawk and an elaborate atefcrown (see Osiris). Sokar also enjoyed a majorcult at Thebes where, in an annual festival celebratingthe healthy continuation of the divinekingship, he was conveyed in an elaborate barque.Also Sokaris (Greek).SokoSky god. Nupe [Nigeria, West Africa]. The namerefers specifically to the dark sky at the beginningof the rainy season which stimulates thegrowth of crops.Sol (1)Sun god. Roman. Known by the full title of SolIndiges, meaning “the indigenous Sol,” which maysuggest a purely Roman cult on the Quirinal Hill,but there are also inferences that this deity is ofmore ancient origin. Coins from southern Italydepicting the god with a radiate image date backto circa 200 BC but he rose to particular prominenceduring the republican period. His festivalwas celebrated annually on August 9. Nero had ahuge statue of himself, as Sol, erected in Rome