Sokar

[David19]

Does anyone know anything about Sokar like what type of god he is, what his personality is like, etc. I've heard he was a death god but i'm kind of confused since i aslo heard Anubis is a death god and so is Osiris, so do they take it in turns to rule the underworld or do they have different 'jobs' to do like does Anubis guide the dead, Osiris rules them and does Sokar cause death or something.

Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question but i'm just a bit confused and curious.

[Zephyrstorm]

Well, Yinepu (Anubis) isn't a Death God, he's a Psychopomp - a guide. He "opens the ways" before the Dead.
Wesir (Osiris) is the King of the Dead, and he's not Death either. :) He just makes the afterlife better for all.
The closest we have to a God of the Dead is a Goddess: Nebt-Het (Nephtys)

Sokar is sometimes found "blended" with Wesir.
Here are some links from reputable sources:
http://touregypt.net/featurestories/sokar.htm
http://www.egyptianmyths.net/sokar.htm
http://www.kemet.org/glossary/sokar.html

Have fun. :) And there are no dumb questions. It's easy to get confused when you are first learning about Kemet. The thing is that the answers to a lot of the questions about the names are not either/or but are and/and/and.

Polyvalent logic - meaning that paradoxes are acceptable. So Sokar can be seen as the husband of Sekhmet while she's also married to Ptah. (though Ptah and Sokar can be together as one God also).

I hope that's not too confusing. :-/
Neheti

[Ishtara]

Yep, those syncretic and double-aspected Names can really play tricks with your mind at first! :)

You will also find that contradictory myths can coexist without a hint of a problem (there are several creation myths, all involving a different Name and/or a different method to create the world), that the attributes of the Names can change depending on the city where They were worshipped, that there are at least four different deities named Hrw (Horus)... I have a feeling that dear old Descartes would not have fared very well in Ancient Egypt ;)

As for Sokar, I find Him very interesting because He is a very old Name (apparently from predynastic times) who was later assimilated to some extent with another Name, Ptah.
Sokar was mostly worshipped in Memphis, a major cult center during the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Memphis sounds like it must have been a fascinating city, but alas there is very little left of it. Its remains are buried under Nile silt and cultivated fields, which means that we will probably not be able to retrieve much of it. Sigh.