23. Sokar below the Gurn
The deity Sokar is portrayed in the art in mummy form with the head of a falcon. Sokar is another form of Horus, who is the funerary god that protects and guards the dead and who possesses titles such as “Lord of the Mysterious Region’” and “Lord of the Necropolis.” One of the most convincing pieces of evidence for the acknowledgment of the mountain images is found in the Valley of the Kings. The mountain image of Sokar resides on a mountain cliff in the Valley of the Kings and appears to look to the northwest wadi entrance, where his guardian duties are fulfilled. Above him on the mountain is the primordial mound of the Gurn. Amazing depictions of Sokar in his position below the primordial mound are found in two separate ancient records. One is artwork from the Book of Going Forth by Day that relates to the time of sunset written about in the Papyrus of Ani, and the other is the fifth-hour depiction of the Duat from the Book of What is in the Duat.
Compare the artwork from the chapters of the Book of Going Forth by Day, as portrayed in the Papyrus of Ani, to the simulacrum of Sokar in relation to the Gurn. The two are nearly identical, with both depicting Sokar in locations below the Gurn. Even the geological details have been put into the ancient drawing to depict the differences in the mountain’s rock densities and colors. Above the Gurn, notice the seven cobras with sun disks, the number of divisions that make up the twelve months. There is, however, one slight difference between the artwork and the simulacrum. The proportion of Sokar is slightly larger in the art depiction.
The second comparison regarding the valley’s geological features is made using the fifth-hour depiction from the Book of What is in the Duat and, once again, the view of the Gurn from the valley entrance. The orientation of the Gurn, the Sokar simulacrum, and the sunset positions through the ecliptic are all portrayed in this one example of tomb art. The tomb depiction acknowledges and confirms the solar-boat symbolism as well as the Sokar image on the mountain. The location of the solar boat in art aligns with the cliff exposure below the horizon that is also somewhat boat-shaped. What is significant in regards to the boat correlation is that this specific cliff is the general area where the entrance to Thothmosis III’s tomb is located. The boat, in this case, marks the spot for the tomb in which this particular fifth-hour depiction is found. It places the pharaoh’s tomb in a position equal to the Amon-Re barge depiction.
Because the solar boat in art correlates to the tomb location of Thothmosis the III, the significance of the suns ecliptic path on the horizon is acknowledged as the soul’s eternal journey. Examples are found all over Egypt of the boat’s connection to the hereafter. In some cases, the deceased were literally placed in wooden boats and buried, a practice that can be traced back to pre-dynastic times, as in the case of the boat burial of Abydos. The Old Kingdom practice suggests that wooden solar boats like the ones found in the boat pits of the Giza Plateau were used for funerary processions. What was taking place in the New Kingdom was similar in that boat shrines were used in funerary processions, housed in mortuary temples, buried in the tombs, and used to represent the sun’s ecliptic range along the horizon.
