Egyptian Faience Amulets- Sobek as Crocodile
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Sobek as crocodile 2019-07-26
Name/Title
Egyptian Faience Amulets- Sobek as CrocodileEntry/Object ID
03EG0883viiiDescription
Faience amulet depicting Sobek as a crocodile. The head of the depicted animal bears two grooves; four protrusions at its sides indicate its limbs; and the tail curves to the right. A suspension loop supports its raised head.Use
ProtectionContext
The Egyptians believed that misfortune and disease originated from malign spirits and the hostile dead. Maintaining health and prosperity was therefore achieved by providing protection against these forces. Amulets representing particular forces were worn around the neck for good luck and protection. They were also buried with the dead to ensure safe passage to the afterlife. The god Sobek, attested in the iconographic corpus as early as the Early Dynastic Period, was worshipped throughout the Dynastic history and was associated with the Nile River and other bodies of water, fertility, and royal power. It was his sweat which was considered the source of the Nile and the foliage of its riverbanks and adjacent fields were made green by him. During the New Kingdom, Sobek assumed the role of a cosmic creator deity, perhaps a consequence of his syncretization with the sun god Ra in the Middle Kingdom. His images take the form of either a crocodile or a man with a crocodile head, and in both forms he is sometimes depicted wearing a headdress with plumes, a sun disk, and horns. Amulets in the form of this deity served perhaps as apotropaic images or as a means of acquiring the patronage of Sobek.Made/Created
Time Period
UnknownEthnography
Culture/Tribe
Egyptian