Crocodiles in water lie in wait with most of their body concealed underwater, until their prey approaches, and then rush out in attack. Combining their appearance, size¸ weight, ferocity and speed and surprise element in attack leave even larger prey with no hope of escape.
Sobek, God of Crocodiles
Sobek, also known by a variety of names, was worshipped to gain protection and strength. Sobek has been depicted as either a man with a crocodile head or a full crocodile wearing a headdress and carrying a scepter, the symbol of authority, and an ankh, the symbol of life.
Ancient Egyptians were known to both worship and hate crocodiles, often killing them.
Sobek and the Afterlife
The preoccupation of the Egyptians with the afterlife is apparent in the amount of effort which went into preparing bodies for the grave and in the construction of tombs and the pyramids.
The Nature of SobekIn the Book of the Dead, he is depicted with a number of crocodiles believed to torment the souls in the underworld.
Sobek is a god whose nature is ambivalent. He was worshiped by some to gain his protection. He was a god of fertility and rebirth, creator of the Nile and through his depiction as a crocodile was a god symbolic of the strength of the Pharaoh. These worshipers must have seen some benefit in their supplications and therefore considered him a benign god
Other who feared and killed crocodiles must have felt him to be an onerous god, one only to be feared.
Perhaps, modern man cannot fully understand the true nature of Sobek in the cosmology of the ancient Egyptians. The fact that so many reliefs, statues, and writings include him just indicates an acknowledgement by the people of the pervasiveness of the crocodile in their world.
Sources:
Pope, Joyce (2001). Crocodile: habitats, life cycles, food chains, threats Austin : Raintree Steck-Vaughn. ISBN: 0739831275
Wilkinson, Richard H.(2003),The Complete Gods and Godesses of Ancient Egypt. New York : Thames & Hudson. ISBN: 0500051208.
