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In Egyptian
mythology, Sobek (also spelt
Sebek, , Sochet, Sobk, Sobki, Soknopais,
and in Greek, Suchos) was the deification
of crocodiles, and was originally
a demon, as crocodiles were deeply
feared in the nation so dependant
on the Nile River. His worship began
as an attempt to placify crocodiles
so as to reduce the danger they
posed.
Gradually, Sobek, as a major one
of its residents, also came to symbolise
the produce of the Nile, thus the
fertility to the land that it brought,
and so his status quickly became
more ambiguous.
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Sometimes, the ferocity of a crocodile was
seen in a positive light, Sobek in these
circumstances being considered the army's
patron, as representative of their strength
and power. When Neith
took on the characteristics of a goddess
of primal waters, Sobek became, as a watery
creature, of both good and evil, to be considered
her son.
Sobek's cult originally flourished around El Faiyûm,
where some temples still remain; the area was so associated
with Sobek that one town, Arsinoe, was known to the Greeks
as Crocodilopolis. In Arsinoe, they kept a tamed crocodile,
ornamented with jewelery, and hand fed with meat, which the
greeks referred to as Petsuchos, meaning he of Suchos [i.e.
Sobek]. The Petsuchos was seen as the current incarnation
of Sobek. Sobek-worship flourished in and after the Twelfth
Dynasty, with other major centres developing in Kom Ombo and
Thebes. However, in other areas of Egypt, crocodiles were
dealt with simply by hunting and killing them.
Sobek's ambiguous nature lead some to say he was a repairer
of evil that had been done, rather than a force for good in
itself, for example, going to Duat to restore damage done
to the dead as a result of their form of death. He was also
said to call on suitable gods and goddesses required for protecting
people in situation, effectively having a more distant role,
nudging things along, rather than taking an active part. In
this way, he was seen as a more primal god, eventually becoming
regarded as an avatar of the primal god Amun, who at that
time was considered the chief god. When his identity finally
merged, Amun had become merged himself with Ra to become Amun-Ra,
so Sobek, as an avatar of Amun-Ra, was known as Sobek-Ra.
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In art, Sobek was depicted as an
ordinary crocodile, or as a man
with the head of a crocodile. When
considered a patron of the pharaoh's
army, he was shown with the symbol
of royal authority - the uraeus.
He was also shown with an ankh,
representing his ability to undo
evil and so cure ills. Once he had
become Sebek-Ra, he was also shown
with a sun-disc over his head, as
Ra was a sun
god.
In myths that appear extremely
late in Egyptian history, Sobek
is credited with catching the four
sons of Horus
in a net, as they emerged from the
waters of the Nile in a lotus blossom.
This motif derives from the birth
of Ra in the
Ogdoad
cosmogony, and the fact that as
a crocodile, Sobek is the best suited
to collecting items upon the Nile.
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