THE GOA'ULD ORGANIZATIONAL TREE
This article takes into account episodes in the first four seasons of Stargate SG-1 only.
 Not many episodes listed on Showtime's official "Stargate SG-1" site feature production stills of the work behind the creation of the effects; for the episode "Seth," the official Web site features a few concept sketches. This article will focus on the concept sketch of the Egyptian organizational tree -- depicted in the episode as a Tok'ra hologram.
The sketch shows Seth, Hathor, Horus and Thoth. The opposing side of the hologram (pictured below) features Apophis, Sokar, Sobek and Anubis. For the most part, these figures are accurate in their pictorial renderings and it is not meant to be a family tree. Instead, quite possibly, it is meant to show a military structure under Ra's command, prior
to his death.
But before any discussion can be made on that theory, there is a problem with the depictions of the Goa'uld in the production sketch -- some of the images are inaccurately used and not everyone from this initial list of gods managed to make it into the final product. In the close up shots of what was shown in the small screen, the only images that are clearly visible are Ra, Sokar, Hathor and Seth.
Normally, Ra is not depicted with the all-seeing eye, the udjet. It is a carryover from one of the movie's fallacies, where everything from Egyptian history and religion is flawed to some degree. Historically, as suggested by R.T. Bundle Clark, the eye was often regarded as a symbol of the Great Goddess, in whichever name she may take.1 For the purpose of the Stargate series, the term "Eye of Ra" is used more literally.
As a way to identify his might in some myths, the most notable is the "Destruction of Mankind" myth where Hathor/Sekhmet, as one of his Eyes, was introduced.
 Strangely enough, the image used to represent Sokar is more appropriate for Ra. At first glance, an Egyptologist would say the image if that of a hawk-headed deity with a solar disc and serpent protruding from is Ra-Horakhty, not Sokar. This alternate form of Ra links him with Horus in order to identify him with the morning sun.2
A more appropriate image to use for Sokar is his full body form, wrapped in linen (i.e. a mummy's body), with the head of a hawk. To keep him true to his devil persona, as detailed in "Jolinar's Memories" and "Serpent's Song," a more accurate portrayal is to use the image in figure two. This image has been used in Egyptian depictions of this funeral god. At a more traditional symbolic level, the head of a goat -- the traditional motif for Satan -- is better.
 With Hathor, missing in the holographic representation is the solar disc that the concept sketch uses. The image looks nothing like her and is vaguely insectoid looking. A different image places her at the base of the pyramid and in her traditional role, as a bovine with a solar disc atop her head.
A more appropriate guess of the image is Atum, the insect-looking creation deity. To see him appear in the television series would be nice, and a later article will discuss his potential.
Appropriately enough, since the episode is meant to deal with the Goa'uld Seth, he is the only deity true in his pictorial representation, whereas everyone else has a fallacy.
 This leaves the Goa'uld depicted on the base of the concept sketch pyramid to be problematic. For Anubis, Thoth and Sobek, they have been mentioned in the Stargate novels by Bill McCay but not mentioned in the SG-1 series at all.
With Anubis, the guardian of the dead and soldier of Ra, a huge plot hole is introduced since he is not included in the final version of the organizational pyramid and even Daniel Jackson fails to mention him as a defeated false-god.3
For Thoth to be included in the series, he would have to be drastically modified from his mythological role. In art, he is rendered with an ibis-head or as a baboon. In legend, he was the scribe to the gods, a messenger. Also the god of wisdom, he was believed to be the inventor of hieroglyphic writing and a master magician.4
In the novels, he had a small but important role. He was second-in-command to Ra, the one responsible for awakening Hathor and for chronicling the legacy of Ra. To place him in the SG-1 universe, he would probably be described as a demon of the underworld and master bureaucrat -- basically another devil akin to Sokar and perhaps identified with Beelzebub. Given the general flow the series writers used to describe Seth and Sokar, Thoth would follow suit.
To make things interesting and keep him mildly faithful to legend, a future episode should establish him as the one who drafted up the treaty between the System Lords and the Asgard. For now, he is content to lurk in the lower echelons waiting for the right opportunity to take power.
 Historically, Sobek was worshipped as a crocodile god wearing a plumed crown. An Egyptian god who brought fertility from the Nile waters to the sun-baked land, he also symbolized the power of the pharaohs. In the novels (and perhaps reintroduced into the SG-1 series in a similar matter) he was a powerful lord who desired the power Ra had. In the books, he had plans to ascend to Ra's throne (i.e. to become a new Ra) - but he didn't, because of the intervention of Hathor.
With these new possibilities, the potential exists to introduce new "Egyptian" threats into the SG-1 series. As a growing military threat, each of the Goa'uld presented in the concept sketch are military soldiers. With Ra as the commander-in-chief, he made Anubis his bodyguard in the movie. In the television series, Apophis invades Earth ("Within the Serpent's Grasp"), Hathor successfully raises a new army after her stint within the SGC ("Hathor," "Into the Fire"), Seth commands partisans (i.e cult warriors) in his military compound ("Seth") and Osiris threatens death to all of Earth ("The Curse"). All of them desire to raze the Earth.
To stay mildly faithful to the legends that defined them, what the audience hasn't seen yet is a cold war against the Senate of Thoth or a fight with the deadly marines of Sobek.
At the rate the series is going, only one new Egyptian-named Goa'uld will be introduced per season. With the list of Goa'uld threats expanded to include twelve (excluding the apex) images in the screen version, there are only four possible new threats that can be hinted at.
Six are recognized: Apophis, Hathor, Horus, Ra, Seth and Sokar. Strangely absent are the gods Anubis, Thoth and Sobek. Theoretically, the inclusion of the Goa'uld from Season Four, Osiris and Isis, would be present on this pyramid. The only problem is that there are no clearly visible images of them on the shots of the organizational pyramid.
In the next article, a more appropriate representation of the organization of the Goa'uld will be suggested, based on the images that were used in the final product.
FOOTNOTES
1. Clark, R.T. Rundle., Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt, 218
2. Armour, Robert., Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt, 28
3. Stargate SG-1 : "The Curse"
4. Watterson, Barbera., Gods of Ancient Egypt., 183-184
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