Sobek

The Crocodile God

The distinctive crocodile-headed god, a god of water - the Nile came from his sweat and he 'made the herbage green'.


His main centres of worship were in the Faiyum and Kom Ombo in Upper Egypt (the temple at Kom Ombo stood on a stretch of the Nile which was infested with crocodiles, descendents of these ancient crocodiles were still in this area right up to the latter part of the 19th Century.

When the kings of the 12th Dynasty began to build at the Faiyum they favoured the Sobek cult (something that would continue on into the following 13th Dynasty with some rulers taking the name 'Sobekhotep' - 'Sobek is merciful').


Sobek can be identified with many gods - the first would be its close relantionship with Seth (so much so that Horus was shown in some scenes in his temple at Edfu slaying crocodiles) - the name ' Sobek' can be identified with 'Seth'.
However Sobek also has ties with the royal god Horus - the are scenes with crocodiles wearing a falcon's head wearing the double crown.
A further identification is between Sobek and Re - another form may be seen with the solar disk on its head.

 The sacred lake of the temple of Sobek in the Faiyum was also home to a number of crocodiles, according to Strabo these crocodiles were decorated with jewels and fed by the priests of the temple.

After these crocodiles died they were mummified and buried in honour of Sobek: