Crocodile mummy within wrappings

Late Period - Ptolemaic period

Sobek, God of Crocodiles, Power, Protection and Fertility...

Sobek (Sobeq, Sebek, Sochet, Suchos) was an ancient god of crocodiles, first mentioned in the Pyramid Texts. His worship lasted till Roman times, the people of Egypt worshiping him to gain his protection and strength, or reviling him and killing the crocodiles of the area because of the evil that they could do. To his worshipers, he was a god who created the Nile, a god of fertility and rebirth, and the symbolic strength of the ruler of Egypt.

Depicted either as a crocodile-headed man or as a full crocodile, Sobek was shown wearing a plumed headdress with a horned sun disk or the atef crown. In his hands he was shown to carry a was sceptre and the ankh sign of life. His sacred animal, the crocodile, was both revered and reviled by the people of Egypt - in some areas, a tame crocodile was worshiped as the god Sobek himself, while in other places the reptiles were killed. The Egyptians seemed to both respect and fear the power of the crocodile, and as the result of this, Sobek was seen as an ambivalent creature.

During the 12th and 13th Dynasties, the cult of Sobek was given particular prominence, as the names of such rulers as Sobekhotep and Sobekneferu indicate. Sobekneferu (1799-1795 BC) was the sister (and maybe the wife) of Amenemnhat IV (1808-1799 BC), was the last ruler of the 12th Dynasty - the first definite female pharaoh of Egypt. There were eight rulers of the 13th Dynasty with the birth name of Sobekhotep, including Sobekhotep II Amenemhat (c. 1750 BC), Sobekhotep III Sekhemrasewadjtawy (c. 1745 BC) and Sobekhotep IV Khaneferra (c. 1730-1720 BC). -- British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, Ian Shaw and Paul Nicholson The crocodile's power to snatch and destroy it's prey was thought to be symbolic of the might of the pharaoh - the strength and energy of the reptile was a manifestation of the Pharaoh's own power. The word 'sovereign' was written as crocodile determinative crocodile determinative hawk determinative yt. This way, the crocodile - and thus Sobek - was linked to the pharaoh, the sovereign of Egypt.

In times of need, he gives the pharaoh strength and fortitude so that he may overcome all obstacles. He also protects the pharaoh from all harm, especially evil magic.

-- Sobek, Tour Egypt Originally, Sobek was probably a dark god who had to be appeased to give the people his protection against crocodiles. Sobek had a dark streak that stayed with him for the time he was worshiped. In The Book of the Dead, he was showed as four crocodiles who were believed to attack the deceased in the underworld. This dark side sometimes put him in the camp of Set. In one version of the tale of Osiris, Isis had to place Horus into a little boat of papyrus reeds to protect him from a menacing Sobek. His form of a crocodile - one of Set's creatures - linked him closely to the enemy of Horus. It was believed that Set turned himself into a crocodile to escape from Horus, and Sobek was punished for allowing this.

Several by names of Set have the determinative of the crocodile*. Although crocodiles may be the baw bas of Sobek, they may also be regarded as the messengers of Set. Set may be called msh crocodile determinative msha [crocodile]. On the other hand, msha, the crocodile, is sometimes called the son of Set. It would be a mistake to deduce from this that Set is the father of a particular mythical son, in the way Osiris is the father of Horus. The intention is merely to express that a dangerous crocodile is a Setian product.

-- Set, God of Confusion: A Study of his Role in Egyptian Mythology and Religion, H. te Velde