Marco Zecchi
SOBEK, THE CROCODILE AND WOMEN
One of the peculiarities of the polytheistic
religions is that they have been able to ima-
gine divinities endowed with sexual desires,
which are often expressed without ambigu-
ity. From this point of view, the crocodile
god Sobek deserves a particular attention.
This study aims at clarifying a particular as-
pect of Sobek’s personality, and one which
has been until so far completely neglected;
this concerns aspects of his sexuality and his
relations with women.
The study of the sexual behaviour of an
ancient god might be based on and, in its
turn, lead to a historical analysis of the rela-
tions of that god with other divine or hu-
man beings. Through this kind of enquiry it
is also possible to see how some ideas on
masculinity or femininity with reference to
a particular god took form. Even though sex-
uality does not represent the basic element
of identity, it is however constituted by atti-
tudes and behaviours which express aspects
of one’s individual nature. But the questions
that I would raise here are: what is more
signiWcant, the acts of a god or his identity?
In other words, is the behaviour of a god not
connected to his divine essence or a god per-
forms some acts because these are dictated
by his essence? Sobek’s Wgure is rather inter-
esting, because it is through his sexuality that
he can express fundamental aspects of his
nature. As it is well known, Sobek is a cro-
codile, living both in the water and in the
earth. Because he does not belong to either
of these two worlds, he can easily pass from
the aquatic sphere to the terrestrial one. But
the advantage of having an amphibious na-
ture also caused him to be regarded as hav-
ing an ambiguous nature. 1
The majority of the available data on the
god Sobek come from religious texts and
documents. 2 In particular, information on
1. On the crocodile, see E. Brunner-Traut, Krokodil,
in LÄ iii, cols. 791-801.
2. On the god Sobek, see C. Dolzani, Il dio Sobk,
Roma 1961; E. Brovarski, Sobek, in LÄ v, cols. 995-1031;
the relations between the god and the femi-
nine world is oVered by texts dating to the
Old and the Middle Kingdom. Already from
the time of the Pyramid Texts, the attitude of
Sobek towards women can be deWned as
selWsh, violent and antisocial. In the Spell 317
of the Pyramid Texts, the dead king, in order
to take all his vital functions, appears as the
crocodile god Sobek. He «eats with his
mouth», «urinates (wssˇ) and copulates (nk)
with his phallus (hºnn=f )»; moreover, he is
the «lord of semen (nb mtwt), who takes (iti)
wives (hºmwt) from their husbands (hyw=sn),
whenever he wishes, according to his desire
(ib=f )». 3 Here therefore Sobek can be regard-
ed as a threat for married women.
In spite of the eVorts of the Egyptian theo-
logians to bestow the god Sobek with divine
attributes and prerogatives – however often
based on daring speculations – he remained
strongly attached to his animal aspect and
to his nature of crocodile. It is not surprising
that, in the Pyramid Texts, Sobek follows, in
the Wrst place, his instinct, which is one with
his sexual desire. To some extent, Sobek’s
behaviour also has political connotations.
Unlike that of other male Egyptians gods,
Sobek’s sexuality has a politically dangerous
aspect, because his desire does not respect
social rules, daring to rape women to their
legitimate partners. From this historical
moment onwards, in the ancient Egyptian
rationale, the crocodile, through which
Sobek shows himself, will be connected with
the idea of the refusal or incapacity to sup-
press individual sexual instincts.
During the xii dynasty, Sobek’s Wgure in-
creases his importance, above all thanks to
the interest shown by the ruling kings for
the Fayyum, the main region devoted to this
deity. Sobek achieved in this period new at-
tributes and powers: Wrst of all, he was asso-
M. Zecchi, GeograWa religiosa del Fayyum. Dalle origini
al IV secolo a.C., Imola 2001.
3. K. Sethe, Die altägyptischen Pyramidentexte, Leipzig-
Hamburg 1908-1922, §§ 510-511.
150 marco zecchi
ciated with Horus and therefore was con-
nected to the royal ideology. He became also
the son of Osiris and Isis, and played a role
in the Osirian doctrines. Moreover, the theo-
logians turned the crocodile into a solar dei-
ty thanks to a syncretistic process of identi-
Wcation which led to the creation of Sobek-
Ra. 4
Sobek’s sexual behaviour grew softer. In
the hymns in honour of Sobek Shedety writ-
ten on the Papyrus Ramesseum vi 5 of the xiii
dynasty, he is represented as a sweet god;
he, for example, can carry the epithets of
«beautiful of shapes» (nfr irw) and «lord of
love» (nb mrwt). Moreover, his sexual pow-
er is enhanced by new titles which are bor-
rowed by other gods and which associate
Sobek with diVerent animals. He is described
as an «ejaculating ram» (b3 sty) or «ejaculat-
ing bull» (k3 sty), «the bull of the bulls, the
male» (k3 k3w t3i), «the phallus of the gods»
(mt ntrw). Sobek is also invoked as the «phal-
lus of the hºmswt-women», a word which
means the female opposites to the ka, 6 which
are possessed in a diVerent number by men
and gods. Besides, some goddesses, called
ntrwt hºmwt, feel an attraction for Sobek to
such an extent that «there is none who takes
away her person» from him. Nonetheless,
Sobek cannot forget his ambiguous nature,
often in contrast between his volatile animal
spontaneity and his supposed divine correct-
ness. And so, in another passage of the
hymns, Sobek is related to a group of wo-
men named smwt, a term indicating mytho-
logical women created by Sobek himself and
made as his concubines. These women ad-
dress the god with words which suggest awe
and uneasiness, rather than joy and pleasure:
«Come our Horus, our god, lord of fear,
great of terror, whose attack is not repelled».
4. On the god Sobek of Shedet, main god in the
Fayyum region, in the Middle Kingdom, see Zecchi,
GeograWa religiosa del Fayyum cit., pp. 25-30, 37-50.
5. A. H. Gardiner, Hymns to Sobk in a Ramesseum Pa-
pyrus, «RdE» 11 (1957), pp. 43-56, pls. 2-4.
6. The word hºmswt can be written or determined by
the shield crossed by two arrows, the symbol of Neith,
suggesting a possible association between this goddess
and these female Wgures. Cf. U. Schweitzer, Das Wes-
en des Ka im diesseits und jenseits der Alten Ägypter, Glück-
stadt-Hamburg-New York 1956, pp. 59 V.
These female Wgures appear also in the CoYn
Texts in a passage where the image of Sobek
is not very attractive; he is, in fact, the one
«who eats (even) when he copulates … who
makes for himself the smwt to the full extent
of his desire» (CT iv, 1-2). 7 In another pas-
sage of the CoYn Texts, Sobek is the one «to
whom are given his smwt and their hair …
who impregnates (sty) the smwt» (CT vii, 202-
203). 8
Whether created by the god himself or
simply given to him, the function of these
women does not change. They do not have
individuality but are a mere female group,
who must appease the sexual appetite of the
god. It is interesting to note the parallelism,
in the above-quoted passage, between the
act of eating and the sexual activity of the
god. For this god, sex with women and food
are on the same level; they are just neces-
sary in order to satisfy his hunger, his vital
and natural functions.
Moreover, the mentioning of hair, which
in the ancient Egyptian rationale have often
unfavourable connotations, and the hiero-
glyph of the man striking with a stick used
as determinative for the word smwt have
negative and unhappy connotations for these
female Wgures, doomed to yield to the sexu-
al power of their lord and creator.
Sobek stands out amongst the other gods
for the fact that for him the sexual inter-
course is selWshly conceived for the simple
satisfaction of his own pleasure. In religious
context, representations and references to
sexual acts occur above all in relation with
Osiris, 9 where his physical union with Isis in-
volves the conception of Horus, the legiti-
mate heir to the throne of Egypt, and in the
texts where goddesses and women are de-
scribed to welcome the gods of fertility, such
7. Cf. R. O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian CoYn
Texts, i, Warminster 1973, p. 203.
8. Cf. R. O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian CoYn
Texts, iii, Warminster 1978, pp. 99-100.
9. R. B. Parkinson, ‘Homosexual’ Desire and Middle
Kingdom Literature, «JEA» 81 (1995), p. 57 has pointed
out that «explicitly sexual motifs seem to have had a
relatively limited role in art and in literature: both text
and representations oVer a high proportion of coded
images or metaphors, and the higher levels of repre-
sentational art are reticent about sexual activity».
 sobek, the crocodile and women
as Min and Amon, with exclamations of joy,
which aim at emphasising their beauty and
sexual power. With Sobek, this changes radi-
cally: this god is not interested in giving plea-
sure or in procreation. In my opinion, it is
no coincidence that Sobek is not surround-
ed by a cosy divine family. He does not have
a child or, more signiWcantly, a wife reco-
gnised as his own in the whole Egypt. Al-
though it must be admitted that at Kom
Ombo in the Graeco-Roman Period and in
the Fayyum in the dynastic period, the god-
dess Hathor can play the role of the wife of
the god. However, this seems due to the ne-
cessity to create, on a theological level, a fe-
male counterpart of Sobek. At this regard, it
is interesting to note that at Kom Ombo
Sobek is worshipped above all as a god with
solar connotations, while in the Fayyum,
when Sobek is accompanied by Hathor, he
takes up new and diVerent connotations. Ico-
nography oVers a way of expressing pre-ex-
isting thoughts about divinities. So, in the
temple of Medinet Habu, 10 the king Ramess-
es iii is represented oVering wine to Hathor
«of Shedet» (n Sµdt),11 preceded by Sobek, who
is seated on a throne and depicted, for the
Wrst time in the Egyptian history, with a hu-
man body and a ram head. It is possible to
state that, in this context, Sobek took the
look of a ram because he wanted to hide his
true crocodile nature to his wife, showing
himself under the appearance of an animal
which, like the crocodile, was connected to
the idea of sexual power, but a power that is
however less aggressive and lacking in nega-
tive implications.
The attitude of Sobek towards the smwt-
women and the fact that, in his role of
Hathor’s husband, his real nature is hidden
under the aspect of a ram are among the
most searching treatments in the Egyptian
religion of the real diVerence between sex
and marriage, desire and proper conduct.
10. University of Chicago. Oriental Institute.
Epigraphic Survey, Medinet Habu VII, Chicago 1964, 582
d.
11. On the goddess Hathor at Shedet, see Zecchi,
GeograWa religiosa del Fayyum cit., pp. 80-81.
12. For a discussion on adultery in Egypt, see C. J.
151
Sobek’s behaviour, however, lies beyond
the realm of ethics. In the religious texts,
there is no judgement, but only the descrip-
tion of a divine reality. The ethical factor gets
involved when Sobek, or better the croco-
dile, comes into the human sphere. Marriage
implies, from a social point of view, very
severe restrictions, imposed on sexual attra-
ction. And, in fact, Sobek, who is free to de-
sire even married women, is placed outside
the matrimony. Paradoxically, outside of the
divine world, the crocodile began to repre-
sent an admonition, a curb on the tempta-
tion and dangers inherent to a sexual life
which escapes from the social rules. If, on a
mythological level, the crocodile Sobek is an
external threat to matrimony, similarly mar-
ried women, who abandon themselves to the
call of passion for another man, represent an
internal threat to the same institution. It is
precisely in this connection that, perhaps, we
can Wnd the strained tie linking Sobek, the
crocodile to the feminine world. If, in the
religious texts, Sobek puts aside all scruples
and seduces married women just for sexual
purposes, it is not surprising that women
who yield to adultery 12 are envisaged to
cross, in the literary texts, the threshold of a
world of passion symbolised by the croco-
dile itself. The adulteress, but also the man
who unites himself with a married woman,
walk down a dangerous path towards the
realm of Sobek and the crocodile. As it is
been noted, many “literary” texts were writ-
ten for a male point of view and, some of
them, were used with a pedagogic intent for
the education of schoolboys and must there-
fore be expression of a certain mental atti-
tude towards women, an attitude which
should be to a certain extent part of the Egyp-
tian society. 13 The Egyptian attributed a high
value to the institution of the family within
their society. The so-called wisdom litera-
ture, biographies and art in general often
Eyre, Crime and Adultery in Ancient Egypt, «JEA» 70
(1984), pp. 92-105.
13. See L. H. Lesko, The Perception of Women in Pha-
raonic Egyptian Wisdom Literature, in L. H. Lesko (ed.),
Ancient Egyptian and Mediterranean Studies in Memory of
William A. Ward, Providence 1998, pp. 163-171.
152 marco zecchi
stressed the idea of a family in harmony,
where the couple is united by true love. But
the Egyptians were of course aware of the
possible erotic attractions towards people
outside of matrimony. It is worth noting that
in the texts where a female sexual freedom
is described, the crocodile is involved in its
capacity of animal of destiny, agent of ju-
stice, evoked to punish or prevent a crime
associated with sex. 14
In a text of the xix dynasty called The Blind-
ing of Truth by Falsehood, 15 the son of a wo-
man, who had a sexual encounter with a
man, apostrophises his mother by saying:
“the members of your family ought to be
gathered together and be made to summon
a crocodile (mshº)”. 16 In this passage, the son
is suggesting that the mother should be
thrown to the crocodiles. 17 In other words,
the crocodile is here a potential instrument
of death for a woman who, without being
married, gave way to a sexual call.
The crocodile appears in another text of
the same period, the Tale of the Two Bro-
thers. 18 The story is well-known: Anubis was
married with a woman whose name remains
untold and who tried to seduce the young
brother of her husband, named Bata, who,
however, resisted the woman. The scared
wife accused Bata of having tried to have a
sexual intercourse with her. Anubis, to
avenge the insult, followed his brother with
a spear in his hands. But Bata called for the
help of the god Ra-Harakhty, who, in order
to separate the two brothers, created an ex-
panse of water infested with «crocodiles»
14. On the crocodile as animal connected with fate
and justice, see C. J. Eyre, Fate, Crocodiles and the Judge-
ment of the Dead. Some Mythological Allusions in Egyptian
Literature, «SAK» 4 (1976), pp. 103-114.
15. Papyrus Chester Beatty ii (British Museum 10682):
A. H. Gardiner, Late-Egyptian Stories, Bruxelles 1932,
pp. 30-36.
16. Papyrus Chester Beatty ii, 6, 1-2.
17. Cf. G. Lefebvre, Romans et contes égyptiens de
l’époque pharaonique. Traduction avec introduction, noti-
ces et commentaires, Paris 1976, p. 166 n. 25.
18. Papyrus Orbiney (British Museum 10183): Gar-
diner, Late-Egyptian Stories cit., pp. 9-29.
19. Papyrus Orbiney, 6, 7; 8, 1.
20. Cf. Eyre, Fate, Crocodiles cit., pp. 105-106.
21. A. Erman, Die Märchen des Papyrus Westcar, Ber-
lin 1890; A. M. Blackman, The Story of King Kheops and
(mshºw). 19 Bata, from the other side of the
bank, called his brother, saying: «As soon as
the sun rises, I shall be judged with you in
his presence and he shall deliver the culprit
to the just».
Bata claimed his own innocence, cut his
phallus with a reed knife and throws it into
the water. Anubis returned home, killed his
wife and cast her body to the gods. A part
from the terrible punishment inXicted to the
woman, the text is interesting because the
crocodiles are magically created by Ra-Har-
akhty not in order to punish Anubis’ wife,
but in order to prevent that Bata is killed
because unjustly accused for having seduced
a married woman. 20
In a tale of the Papyrus Westcar, 21 written
during the xvi or xvii dynasty, but whose text
probably dates back to the Middle Kingdom,
we encounter another woman for whom
marriage had, evidently, lost its gleam. The
story, told by the prince Khaefra, is another
literary example of what can happen to an
adulteress. The woman, wife of the chief le-
ctor priest Wb3-inr, fell in love with a towns-
man. In order to show her feeling, she sent
him, as a present, a box Wlled with clothing,
an act which is the prelude to their being
driven to an illicit liaison. The townsman
asked the woman to come down the green-
house in the garden. And so she did. They
spent a day together, drinking and making
love. 22 But, unfortunately, the caretaker in
charge of the garden informed of the aVair
Wb3-inr, who, to avenge himself, fashioned
a «crocodile» (mshº) 23 of wax and ordered the
the Magicians. Transcribed from the Papyrus Westcar (Ber-
lin Papyrus 3033), Whitstable 1988.
22. Cf. L. H. Lesko, Women and Priests in Two Egyp-
tian Stories, in J. Magness, S. Gitin (eds.), Hesed Ve-Emet.
Studies in Honor of Ernest S. Frerichs, Atlanta 1998, pp.
218-219.
23. Papyrus Westcar 3, 2; 3, 5; 3, 12-13; 3, 22; 3, 24; 4,
3; 4, 6-7. It is worth mentioning that in this papyrus, as
well as in The Blinding of Truth by Falsehood and in the
Tale of the Two Brothers, it is used the word mshº for
«crocodile», which is the “classical” word to designate
this animal. This could be due to the fact that this term
does not seem to have any negative connotation. Cf.
P. Wilson, Slaughtering the crocodile at Edfu and Den-
dera, in S. Quirke (ed.), The Temple in Ancient Egypt.
New Discoveries and Recent Researches, London 1997, p.
194.
 sobek, the crocodile and women
caretaker to throw it into the water the next
time his wife’s lover went down to bath in
the pool. The wax crocodile turned into a
real crocodile of seven cubits long which
seized the lover, taking him away. Told of
this prodigy by Wb3-inr, the king Nebka stat-
ed that the crocodile, which in the meantime
emerged from the water, was indeed «fear-
ful». But when Wb3-inr caught the animal in
his hands, it became again a crocodile of wax.
The king, however, ordered the crocodile:
«take what belongs to you» (in.n=k p3y=k) 24
and the animal went down to the depths of
the water taking with him the townsman.
The king then set Wre to Wb3-inr’s wife and
threw her ashes into the river. As well as in
the Tale of the Two Brothers, the crocodile
appears magically because connected to a
man who is in relation with an adulterous
wife. Nonetheless, the presence of the ani-
mal has here an opposite meaning to the one
of the previous tale. Unlike to the story of
Anubis and Bata, in this context the reptile
does not rescue an innocent, but punishes a
guilty man. 25 The sentence uttered by the
king «take what belongs to you» is extreme-
ly signiWcant. The crocodile takes possession
of a man who has its own characteristics. As
well as Sobek, the lover of the Papyrus West-
car is indiVerent to women’s social position.
Moreover both Sobek and the lover prefer
to follow their instinct and disregard matri-
mony and family, which imply not a natural
relationship, but a social one. And it is per-
haps for this reason that the man who goes
out of the norm, is taken away from the so-
ciety by means of a crocodile, the animal
through which Sobek manifests himself.
Even though the available documentation
is perhaps scanty, this is suYcient to assert
that Sobek and the crocodile had strong as-
24. Papyrus Westcar 4,6.
25. Cf. Eyre, Fate, Crocodiles cit., pp. 106-107.
26. A. Volten, Demotische Traumdeutung, Kopen-
hagen 1942, pp. 86-87, 98-99.
153
sociations with those men and women
whose social position is at risk because com-
promised by adultery. In particular, the re-
lation women-crocodile-sex is destined to
continue in the centuries of the Egyptian hi-
story, as it is suggested by a dream book of
the second century AD in demotic and com-
posed for women. In this text it is stated that
if a woman dreams of having an intercourse
with a crocodile it means that «she will die
soon». 26 Besides, the idea of the aggressive
nature of the crocodile and its sexual appe-
tites, expressed in the Egyptian texts, is
reXected in Plutarch’s De Iside et Osiride 27 of
the i century AD and in Horapollo’s Hiero-
glyphica.
In this work, which is one of the fruits of
the last pagan circles in Egypt during the v
century AD, it is stated that the ancient Egyp-
tians used the hieroglyph of a crocodile to
designate a man with a furious and proliWc
nature. 28
Every god deWnes himself through his
diVerent aspects, which, in their turn, con-
stitute his nature. Sobek, who is a crocodile,
is a striking example in the Egyptian religion
of the Xexibility of manner which Wnds a
parallel in the Xexibility of manner of human
beings. Like other Egyptian gods, Sobek is a
vacillator. As well as men and women, Sobek
vacillates between what was regarded as
proper and improper. Sobek is a selWsh and
violent god, certainly: not only he is apt to
entertain cruel relations, but he is also sexu-
ally unscrupulous. However, his peculiar
behaviour and the realism of his character
are, to a certain extent, clear signs of his be-
longing more to the human world than to a
divine sphere.
Università degli Studi di Bologna
27. Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride, 75.
28. Horapollo, Hieroglyphica, 67.
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