Episode 17: Sebek/Sobek Transcript
Transcript episode 17
Howdy and welcome to episode 17 of the plutarch project podcast. A bi-weeklyish podcast based on topics in the humanities: history, literature, mythology, philosophy, and more! I’m your host Josh Nieubuurt and today we will be traveling back to ancient Egypt to take a gander at the crocodile headed god Sobek and/or Sebek. So grab your best mud boots, bring some shiny jewels to adorn Petsuchos with, and click your heels three times were going waaaay back to early ancient egypt. Weeeeee!
Sebek first appeared in the Pyramid texts in the Old kingdom of Egypt. This time frame ranged from about 2686–2181 BCE. Now, Sebek is an interesting case of god-fluidity. His image changes throughout his long life in Egyptian religious thought. The first appearances of him on record were carved onto the subterranean walls and sarcophagi of pyramids. Unlike later pictorial Egyptian they were simply carved without illustrations. Also, they were only meant to help the passage of deceased rulers. The function of these writings were twofold, Sacerdotal texts and Personal texts.
The sacerdotal text laid out the rights and rituals. Basically they were an ancient algorithm laying out what priests did after the ruler died. What rituals were necessary, what spells were cast, what kinds of offerings and so on. The personal texts read as an instruction manual for what the soul needed to do after death. Essentially, they were some of the first how to guides of how to exit the tomb and begin a new life-including how they could travel, how to make demands of the gods, and even how to threaten them if they were feeling a bit unnerved.
It’s in these writing where Sebek makes their first appearance. Carvings were found in the tomb of Unas, an ancient pharaoh who ruled midway through the 24th century BCE. In the exit corridor on the southwall the link between man and the god Sebek is sealed. The carving reads as follows:
“Unas came today, out of the overflow of the Inundation. Unas is Sobek with green feather, with watchful face, with uplifted brow, rushing up, coming from the leg and the tail of the Great One, she who resides in the brilliant light.
508: Unas came to his water currents which are in the land of the flood of the Great Overflow, to the place of peace with green pastures, which is on the horizon.
Unas causes the grass to become green on the two banks of the horizon.
Unas brings the green brilliance to the Great Eye which resides among the pastures.
Unas takes his seat which is on the horizon.
Unas arises as Sobek, the son of Neith.
Unas eats with his mouth, Unas urinates, Unas copulates with his phallus.
Unas is the lord of semen, he who takes the women from their husbands,
wherever Unas wants, according to the desire of his heart.” (Spell PT 317)
By showing the transformation of a human pharaoh into a god the ancient Egyptians were able to display their rulers godliness in a human form; one that would be superceded in the afterlife.
The imagery of water and fertility present in the text played no small role in Egyptian society. Both were important to everyday life. Without the Nile and other waters Egypt simply couldn’t exist. Without a little hanky panky there would be no more Egyptians. As you can see Sebek had a link with fertility: The lord of semen is no easy title to bear. Scholars debate as to the etymology of the name Sebek and Sobek, though most agree that it relates to the verb “to impregnate” or if called “sobek” it just means crocodile. an alternative writing means, “to unite”, thereby meaning Sbk could possibly translate to “he who unites.” But unites what? To obtain this answer we have to look at the Coffin Texts. in spell 158 of the Coffin Texts Sobek plays a key role in helping Re-the sun deity and Horus-a falcon headed god that was said to be the pharaoh in the physical world and Osiris in the afterlife.In the myth, Re announces that Horus has been injured. His mother, Isis, has cut off his hands and cast them into a river. Re asks Sobek if he could retrieve them. Sobek accomplishes the task by creating a fish trap to retrieve the hands of Horus.Thus his name, pronounced slightly different, could be a reference to this myth of reuniting the hands of Horus.
Sebek was the son of the primordial goddess Neith. Neith was claimed to be the one of the original deities and central creator goddess of ancient Egypt. She created the universe and set the clockwork that governs how it functions. If looked at symbolically, she was the primordial waters of the universe: helping to give and take life in fury of chaotic creation and destruction. It’s interesting to note how Neith is rather comparable to Gaea who we encountered in episode 9 on the Greek Cosmogony. This is present in quite a few other origin myths as well. Perhaps it says something about how our ancestors mentally constructed the world before it existed- looking at what science has been able to show it isn’t shocking to see how ancient people could anthropomorphize events happening in the natural world to try and explain them. We can see further illustrations of this in how the deities are represented.
Neith’s anthropomorphic representation is often portrayed as a fierce goddess, a woman wearing the Red Crown, occasionally holding or using the bow and arrow or a scepter. It’s no far stretch of the imagination that her children would bear some of these same traits as well. Sebek was not only interested in fertility but also portrayed with a healthy dose of fierceness as well- I mean he is a crocodile after all.
Sebek’s anthropomorphic representation was portrayed as a human having a crocodile head or just as a simple crocodile. Later, during the middle kingdom era, he came to be associated with Horus. Depictions of this time give him a head of a falcon, bringing him even closer to the pharaoh and the other high gods of ancient Egypt.
According to Edda Bresciani author of, “Sobek, Lord of the land and lake,” his attributes included, [quote] “`he who loves robbery`, `he who eats while he also mates`, and `pointed of teeth`” [unquote]. All of these attributes are undoubtedly taken from the natural world and placed onto the idea of a god or goddess. Making them less abstract to the common person.
Sebek’s role as a god was as an aquatic deity. Initially he was aligned with a malevolent god Seth “a god of chaos, the desert, storms, disorder, violence, and foreigners in ancient Egyptian religion.” Sebek was in a sense the anthropomorphised fear people felt when having to deal with the large quantity of crocodiles in the region. Though this association changed over the long life of Sebek as a god.
Sebek’s main domain was the Nile river. The coffin texts refer to him in spells 268 and 285 as, [quote]”Sobek, Lord of the winding waterway.”‘[unquote]. He governed the flow and fertility spawning from the Nile river. This In fact he was often hailed as the deity that could protect a traveler in the afterlife-being the deity of the river that existed there as well. He could be called upon to help them through the aquatic obstacle course that faced them in the afterlife.
For these reasons Sebek played a large role in the rule of Amenemhat III., Amenemhat III was a pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of ancient Egypt. He ruled from about 1860 BC to about 1814 BC. His reign is often regarded as a golden age of the Middle Kingdom. Amenemhat III was a big fan of Sebek. So much so that his daughter, a future ruler of Egypt, was named Sobekneferu. A little side note, she is the first confirmed female pharaoh of Egypt.
Amenemhat III saw the need for the grain supply of Egypt to grow and the Fayum Valley offered that opportunity. The work had been begun by his father Sunusret III but came to fruition under Amenemhat III. A huge canal project was created to connect the Fayum Valley to the Nile. As Historian Yuval Noah Harari writes,[quote] “An intricate system of dams, reservoirs and subsidiary canals diverted some of the waters to Fayum, creating an artificial lake holding 50 billion cubic meters of water. By comparison, Lake Mead, the largest man-made reservoir in the United States (formed by the Hoover dam), holds at most 35 billion cubic meters of water”[unquote]. This was by no means a small project. In a time when modern machines and chemistry-I’m thinking dynamite here- were unknown it took a whole lot of blood, sweat, and muscle power to complete such a feat. It completely altered the area, from a swamp swarming with crocodiles into lush land filling the bellies of Egyptians.
On the shores of this lake Sebek was given a very special place in society. They constructed the city of Shedet, which the Greeks would later call-Crocodilopolis. Sounds like a Sharknado spin off but Sebek was one of the cultural myths helping to bind ancient Egyptians together under a common identity.
In the Temple of Sebek in Shedet they kept watch over a crocodile named, Petsuchos. This crocodile was considered to be the living incarnation of the god Sebek. Being such it was treated particularly well. A lot of folks today treat their pets particularly well. Some people dress them up, groom them, take them to daycare, clean up their fecal matter, and maybe even give them a bit of swag. Imagine that but having an entire temple devoted to the worship and care of your pet crocodile.
Harari writes, [quote]”Just like the living-god pharoah, the living-god Petsuchos was lovingly groomed by the attending priests, who provided the lucky reptile with lavish food and even toys, and dressed him up in gold cloaks and gem-encrusted crowns.”[quote] When the crocodile died it was carefully embalmed, mummified, and buried with honors. Then they would choose another crocodile to take its place.
Today you can see these mummified crocodiles if you travel to Egypt to the Temple of Kom Ombo. The southern half of the temple was dedicated specifically to Sebek and currently about 22 of the 40 or so crocodile mummies are on display. According to Ahram online they also display the, “gold and ivory teeth and eyes that had been inserted into the dead crocodiles following mummification.” Indeed Sebek played a rather large role in Ancient Egyptian culture. mummified
As time went on his fluidity as a deity helped him to merge with Re. He began to be called Sobek-Re, Lord of Aswan and his image began to carry the sun disk on his head. His level of importance also grew. He came to be attributed with helping to make earth. The Tale of Sinuhe writes, [quote]
“O majesty of the twin lands, you whom Ra loves, whom Montu Lord of Thebes praises, as do Amon who establishes the throne of Egypt, Sobek-Ra, Horus, Hathor, Atum and the nine gods.” [unquote].
Sebek’s position as a god lasted into the Roman period of Egyptian history, ending at about 350 CE. At the tale end of his time as a worshipped deity one of the last texts written in Egyptian hieroglyphics, the book of Faiyum, was composed. If you check out our transcripts I was able to find a fascinating open source book on the subject and we’ve linked it in the transcripts.
Horst Beinlich, a co-author of the work, “Egypt’s Mysterious Book of the Faiyum” notes the importance of the book in the following statement, [quote] “The Book of the Faiyum is one of the last mythological compositions that the ancient Egyptians wrote in hieroglyphic characters. Based on the large number of preserved manuscripts of this text, it can be said without exaggeration that the Book of the Faiyum was one of the “best sellers” of its time.” [unquote]. The book was primarily concerned with mapping out the mythological elements of the Faiyum region. One of the more important elements is the journey the sun god re or ra would make everyday. In this book Sobek and ra have become fused and the journey is made by Sobek-Ra. In the earlier tellings of the story Ra grows older as the day passes, finally reaching old age as the sun set. Over the night he would rejuvenate in the underworld and be reborn with the rising of the sun.
The book of Faiyum alters the originally accepted story. Beinlich, interpreting the papyrus’ hieroglyphics notes, [quote] “Upon sinking into the lake, the sun god turns into a crocodile, taking on the form of Sobek. This transformation is shown by the figure of Amun Ra as a ram sphinx with a crocodile tail attached. This combination is not particularly attractive, but it was necessary. On his head, the god wears the hemhem crown, possibly as a sign of triumph, because he has suppressed his enemies on the western shore.”[unquote] (pg. 47). This edition of the myth places the overnight journey through Lake Moeris– the lake where Sebek’s grand temple was.
But what happens during this transition between day and night? The Book of Faiyum writes, [quote] “This swimming of Ra and of the Outflow. Hidden is his body in the meadow. There arose a chapel of willow in Shedet (Krocodilopolis). Sobek of Shedet is satisfied with his matters. ” [unquote] (pg. 48). Beinlich notes the differences between the stories writing, “it appears Ra unites here with his Osiride form, which is a crocodile, just as the sun god unites with his Osiride form in the Egyptian Books of the Underworld, in order to revive it, and, through this contact, it becomes energized.” [unquote] Just a brief note Osiride form meaning the form of the god in the underworld or afterlife. In a sense the lake becomes a metaphor for the great lake of existence mentioned in the story of Neith.
Over the course of the night the god is able to reassemble himself-in a sense he is given the power to re-create himself and is reborn only once he rises above the waves of the lake. This myth was accepted alongside other myths. It’s important to note that they were all generally accepted and not in competition with each other. Each region had their own discrepancies and ideas about the gods. Yet, they were all still connected under a common religious identity. Which is undoubtably a grand reason for their longstanding success in the ancient world.
Yuval Noah Harari comments on this stating, “Pharaoh and Sobek were imaginary entities that did nothing to raise or lower the Nile water level, but when millions of people believed in pharaoh and Sobek and therefore cooperated to build dams and dig canals, floods and draughts became rare”[unquote]. The power of myth is the power to bring people together for a common cause. Sebek, the pharaohs, and countless other people, deities, and ideas have done and continue to do the same. If you don’t think the ideas of fictional things still reign supreme consider how we reference the achievements of large groups of individuals under a collective imaginary idea. Disney made “the lion king”, Tesla built an electric car that go 0 to 60 in 3.2 seconds, NASA sends people into space. The gods of ancient times could just be considered ancient ideological brands- a trend that continues even into the 21st century.
Although his time as a worshipped god ended, Sebek is still referenced in contemporary culture. One of the more potent modern examples is from the Assassin’s Creed franchise. In the Assassin’s Creed: Origins installment Sobek is referenced in an almost entirely fictional way. Fandom.com describes the in-game history of his storyline stating, [unquote]”At some point before 48 BCE, a cult of Sobek arose in Krokodilopolis, but it was soon corrupted. The cult fed civilians to crocodiles in secret ‘parties’ held by the Embalmer, called Sobek’s Secret Feasts, they had the tame crocodiles at the Temple of Sobek, especially the great albino Petsuchos, poisoned by Melina the Hibiscus, and even slaughtered crocodiles and used their badly mummified corpses to smuggle gold and valuables. At the center of all these schemes was Sehetep, the High Priest of the Temple of Sobek, the leader of the cult. In due course, the Medjay Bayek of Siwa discovered the cult, and ended its practices, one after the other.” [unquote] It’s fantastic to see bits and pieces of the humanities finding their way into more and more modern forms of media-even if their appearance is even more fictionalized for the modern audiences they serve. Next time you play a video game, watch Netflix or Hulu, or even enjoy an old VHS tape take a moment to think about the myths being perpetuated through the entertainment medium. And if you find something particularly interesting shoot us an email or facebook message to let us know. Thanks for listening. Onward.
Howdy,
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