The distinctive crocodile-headed
god, a god of water - the Nile came from his sweat and he 'made
the herbage green'.
His main centres of worship were in the Faiyum
and Kom Ombo in Upper Egypt (the temple at Kom Ombo stood on
a stretch of the Nile which was infested with crocodiles, descendents
of these ancient crocodiles were still in this area right up
to the latter part of the 19th Century.
When the kings of the
12th Dynasty began to build at the Faiyum they favoured the Sobek
cult (something that would continue on into the following 13th
Dynasty with some rulers taking the name 'Sobekhotep' - 'Sobek
is merciful').
Sobek can be identified with many gods - the first would be its
close relantionship with Seth (so much so that Horus was shown
in some scenes in his temple at Edfu slaying crocodiles) - the
name ' Sobek' can be identified with 'Seth'.
However Sobek also has ties with the royal god Horus - the are
scenes with crocodiles wearing a falcon's head wearing the double
crown.
A further identification is between Sobek and Re - another form
may be seen with the solar disk on its head.
