Gods of Ancient Egypt - list and description. Why the ancient Egyptian god Sebek had the head of a crocodile

The temple at Kom Ombo was built under the Ptolemies from 180 to 47 AD. BC, however, it may have more ancient roots. The temple is located on the right bank of the Nile, 40 kilometers north of Aswan. Usually it is visited by tourists, who necessarily stop here, traveling along the Nile on a motor ship.

Sebek, a god depicted with the head of a crocodile, is considered a creator god and protector from evil forces. His wife (according to one version) is considered Hathor - the goddess of love and beauty, and his son - Khonsu - the god of the moon and wisdom. True, Hathor is also considered the wife of Horus. The main place of worship for Sebek is considered to be Fayum Lake in the north of Egypt, where the city of Crocodipolis (Shedit) was located, but practically nothing remained of it, except for several thousand mummies of crocodiles. Therefore, the temple of Sebek, and even in Upper Egypt, is the only one, and therefore unique.

However, the uniqueness of the Kom Ombo temple does not end there, it is a double temple, the right side of which is dedicated to the god Horus, that is, the god of the sun and sky, one of the main gods in the Egyptian pantheon. As in the case of Sebek, both his wife and his son found a place in the temple. According to some myths, Horus and Sebek are brothers, which explains such a filling of the temple.

After the construction of the temple, almost nothing is known about it, after the spread of Christianity in Egypt, Copts used it for some time, but then it was finally abandoned. Since the temple was located near the Nile, the river during floods destroyed the gate of the temple and part of the facade. And in 1893 it was accidentally discovered by a French archaeologist, the temple was covered with sand to the very roof.

On the other side of the temple, there is still a decent-sized dune

On the right are the remains of the gate

In the foreground is all that remains of the pylon

Just in case, I give you a drawing of the plan of the temple

From the courtyard with columns around the perimeter, only the bases of the columns remained

The entrance to the temple, as you can see, is double - on the left for Sebek, on the right for Horus

As you can see from the plan and the first photos of the facade of the temple - the temple is badly damaged, for Egypt it is a rather poor state of preservation, although the central halls, having lost their roof, are still more or less preserved. But what has definitely survived well is the drawings and images on the walls, some of them were carved as if yesterday.

Entrance to a part of the temple of Sebek

Corner Mountain

Sebek

The main part of the graffiti tells about the gods, and in some parts there is a listing of what was donated to the sanctuary

Corridor on the right

Hypostyle hall

To the left of the image of the goddess Sekhmet is a calendar, only a small piece got into the frame, and so there is a whole wall

The calendar

On some parts of the krum, mostly ceiling beams, there are traces of the original color painting

Lobby in front of the altar

View from the end of the temple

At the end of the temple there were, as I understand it, two altar stones. Only one has survived to this day. It is located in the part of Sebek

At the very end of the temple is a row small spacesclosed with an iron grating, but you can look there

As it should be for Egyptian temples, they were surrounded by a wall along the outer perimeter, here on the walls of the temple there are well preserved reliefs

Passage to the left of the temple

Passage behind the temple

Star. Similar adorned the vaults of the tombs in the pyramids 2.5 thousand years before the construction of this temple

Passage to the right of the temple

To the left of the main rear of the temple and behind the temple, some kind of excavation is being actively carried out, but if you cannot walk behind the temple on the hill, then on the site on the left you can. There is a small temple of Sebek (ruins), as well as two nilometers.

Nilometers played an important function in the life of the ancient Egyptians, firstly, a deep hole clearly showed the water level in the river, and secondly, taxes were levied on this basis - drought - less, spill - more.

Another nilometer, it seems, was at the entrance to the complex.

The purpose of these structures (steps) and the small house behind it is unknown, some believe that this is a source of water, others believe that sacred animals, that is, crocodiles, lived here.

Temple, left view

To the right of the temple, near the small temple of Hathor, the head of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and a headless statue were found

Mini temple of Hathor

View of the temple on the right

Of the interesting drawings in the temple, one can note the image of surgical instruments, but, unfortunately, I did not pay attention to them

But this animal got into my collection of interesting images - a mixture of a bee, a cat and a goat

The photo shows that several police officers and caretakers are on duty in the temple. But the one rare casewhen specifically they did not try to sell us their guide services.

Like all other sites in Egypt, the temple is open until sunset. The ticket price is 80 Egyptian pounds, for students 40 pounds. The ticket price also includes the Sobek Museum, a small hall where the mummy of crocodiles and a number of ritual accessories are exhibited. The price is £ 50 here, but no one really follows.

In the New Kingdom, the residence of totem animals at temples was a frequent tradition. In the case of crocodiles, they lived at the temples all their lives, cared for and well fed, and when they died, they were mummified and buried. Crocodiles from this museum were found in the Hathor temple at the main temple, as well as in the El-Shatb necropolis nearby

Bronze statuette of Sebek

Crocodile mummification devices

Crocodile mummies

Crocodile mummies - layout

Crocodile eggs

On the embankment, motor ships with tourists are waiting for crowds of merchants. One of me was actively trying to breed for a purchase. Offered a T-shirt for 5 pounds (30 cents), the price is great, I thought to get some hands on, said what size I needed and left to watch the temple. At the exit, the seller was waiting for me, only now he wanted 200 pounds (12 dollars) for a shirt. And about 5 pounds, he confessed that it was like British pounds. Such a divorce for simpletons in the hope that, like, I will appreciate his efforts and still buy. In the end, the last price he offered me was, I think, 80 pounds - 5 dollars. You can buy it if you need it, but I didn't need it.

The cruise ship is moored off the coast

Embankment in front of the temple

If you are staying in Aswan, I recommend a small hotel in the Nubian style for your stay

In ancient Egyptian mythology, a special place is occupied by the god Sebek - the lord of the water element, the god of water, on whom the flood of the Nile depends. Its zoomorphic form was a crocodile. There were 2 forms of his images: with the head of a crocodile and a human body, or vice versa - with a human head and the body of a crocodile. In hieroglyphs, he was depicted lying on an honorary pedestal. In terms of pronunciation of his name, there are also 2 options: Sobek and Sebek.

Crocodiles were considered the avatar of the god Sebek. To do this, the Egyptians massively caught crocodiles, chose the best, recognized him as the embodiment of a deity and decorated the reptile's paws with bracelets, and the ears with earrings. For this, silver and gold jewelry and jewelry were selected. There were cases when several crocodiles were chosen at once for worship. However, most often the Egyptians expected the natural death of one crocodile in order to re-select the avatar of the god among the young reptiles. The deceased crocodile was carefully mummified.

More than 2 thousand mummies of these sacred reptiles were found near Kiman-Faris (Crocodilopolis). If you calculate mathematically, taking as a basis the life span of an ordinary crocodile (which was often longer than the life of a person), then we can assume that the tradition of choosing and worshiping crocodiles-Sebek is about 20 thousand years old. All this may indicate a high veneration of this deity in Egyptian society.

In ancient Egyptian mythology, there is information about the veneration of the crocodile Petsuhos as a real embodiment of the god Sebek. The Egyptians believed that he lived in the lake, which was adjacent to the main sanctuary of the deity. They drank water from this lake to gain magical protection and protection from Sebek, and also fed the crocodile Petsuhos with various delicacies.

Good deity

Despite the frightening crocodile avatar, Sebek himself was not evil or even cruel to the Egyptians. This can be judged at least on the basis that he:

• bestowed life;
• watched the floods of the Nile;
• brought a good harvest;
• provided life for all river creatures.

Fishermen, as well as hunters who hunted in the reeds, turned to Sebek in their prayers. He was asked for assistance in transporting dead souls to the palaces of the god Osiris.

There is some evidence that Sebek was even addressed as a fortuneteller. And unlike other ancient Egyptian gods, he receives the title of attentive and listening to the prayers of the god.

Versions of origin

Among Egyptologists and other scientists, there is no consensus regarding the origin of Sebek. According to one version, he (like other primary gods) was born by the god Ra. According to the second version, Geb and Nut gave birth to him (like the god Ra himself). There is also another version that he is the son of Neith, who was revered as the great mother of other gods, the mistress of war and hunting, the water and sea elements, the mother of the terrifying serpent Apophis. However, nothing is known about Sebek's wife. This may indicate the secrecy and cunning of Sebek in the ideas of the ancient Egyptians.

Inventor of fishing nets

According to one surviving legend, egyptian god Ra once tried to find the two sons of the god Horus - Amset and Hapi. They hid from Ra in the Nile. The god Ra himself could not find these two sons of Horus, and therefore he instructed Sebek to find his own great-great-great-grandchildren. He began to sift through the Nile sludge through his fingers. So he found Amset and Hapi. And thus the idea of \u200b\u200bfishing nets was born.

There are other episodes when Ra instructed Sebek to find something in the Nile. So, one day Sebek went in search of the severed hands of the god Horus, which were thrown into the Nile. The arms lived by themselves and were very difficult to catch. But Sebek managed, after pursuing them as a fisherman, to fish out and return Ra. The god Ra made the second pair, which, as a relic, was kept for a long time in the city of Nehen.

Sebek and his veneration

The popularity of Sebek among the Egyptians is not only the mummification of crocodiles. This is evidenced by some facts:

• his name constantly pops up in the found ancient Egyptian correspondence;
• archaeologists find separate papyri dedicated to chanting individual items Sebek (for example, 12 hymns only to his crown in one of the papyri);
• sebek had a crown, which indicates a high role in the divine hierarchy;
• there are statues on which Sebek is carrying the mummy of Osiris on his back, and according to legend, a certain crocodile ate the missing genital organ of Osiris (which indicates the great role of Sebek in the life of Osiris);
• egyptians often attached magical and healing properties to the images of Sebek;
• the people believed that the more crocodiles there were on the banks of the Nile, the better the flooding and harvest would be;
• during the II millennium BC, the pharaohs often called themselves Sebekhotep, which literally translates as “Sebek is satisfied”.

Sebek and the water element

Sebek was called the one who forces greenery to grow on water banks. The main agricultural resources were located on the banks of the Nile. And it is not surprising that he, as the ruler of the waters, was worshiped and built numerous sanctuaries. This is how the city of Crocodilopolis (which literally translates as the city of the crocodile) arose. There are also many variations of the names of the god Sebek: Pneferos (fair-faced), Soknebtunis (ruler of Tebtunis); Soknopayos (lord of the island) and others. There are also many water religious rites associated with the god Sebek. So, at the beginning of July, ancient Egyptian priests threw wax figures of crocodiles into the river. People believed that thanks to magic, the figures came to life and crawled ashore in the form of living reptiles, which portended good luck and fertility.

Sebek's greed

Legends about his insatiability are also associated with the god Sebek. According to one story, he single-handedly attacked the enemy horde and devoured it alive. After that, Sebek demonstrated the bitten off heads to other gods, threatening them too. Then other gods offered to bring him a lot of bread to satisfy his endless hunger. According to another story, Seth killed Osiris, dismembered his body, and threw the pieces into the Nile. Then Sebek wanted to profit from pieces of the body and rushed into the Nile. For this impudent behavior, the other gods cut off Sebek's tongue as punishment. For this reason, crocodiles have no tongue.

There is also a mythological version about the shelter of the evil god Set in the body of Sebek to avoid retribution for the murder of the god Osiris.

Temple of Kom Ombo

The Temple of Kom Ombo is one of the most important evidences of the worship of the god Sebek in Ancient Egypt. It is located near Aswan and is dedicated to two gods at once: Horus and Sebek. It is very original in terms of architecture, since the goal was to please two great gods at once, while maintaining the typical architectural canons (sanctuary, courtyard, pylon, hall of offerings). In the temple, all parts were doubled, but the feeling of unity was preserved due to outer wall temple. Also, two sanctuaries were located in parallel to both gods: in the north - Horus, in the south - Sebek. By the way, this is another fact in confirming the importance of Sebek - the south was more important for the Egyptians than the north. Sebek was depicted on the walls of the temple, surrounded by his family.

Killing a sacred crocodile in the name of love

In special cases, men sought to prove their love to their beloved by killing the most dangerous and powerful crocodile. This was considered a feat. But at the same time, such a murder of a sacred animal was allowed only in the name of love.

Healing statues of the god Horus standing on crocodiles

The ancient Egyptians often turned to special statues for help, on which the god Horus stood on crocodiles and held snakes in his hands. The Egyptians believed that spells carved in stone could provide a person with magical power from the bites of snakes and scorpions. For such protection, you just need to pour water on this statue, then collect this water and drink. It was believed that magic force from the text goes to water through the stone. For this reason, the Egyptians made miniature stone amulets everywhere to provide themselves with magical protection.

Crocodiles and Egyptian mythology

Egyptian mythology could not pass by such an animal as the Nile crocodile. It is a large reptile, reaching a length of 6 meters; the weight of the largest individuals exceeds a ton.

The Nile crocodile evoked sacred awe among the ancient Egyptians - their whole life was connected with the Nile, and it was the crocodiles that were the real owners of the river. With one blow of its mighty tail, a hungry crocodile could knock over fishing boat and drag the unlucky fisherman under the water.

And on land, near water and swamps, it was impossible to feel safe - crocodiles, including the Nile, can even run in a kind of gallop, showing amazing agility for such, at first glance, clumsy animals outside the water.

Terrible jaws with huge teeth, closing with great force, break the bones of large animals and split the shells of turtles. It is interesting that crocodile teeth change many times during their life - new and sharp teeth grow to replace the old and worn ones.

A crocodile can go without food for a very long time - up to a year, no mammal can compare with it. And one more feature - crocodiles do not have a tongue in the usual sense - its tongue is spread along the lower jaw and is tightly attached to it.

That is, unlike a number of animals endowed in many respects with fantastic features, crocodiles have such really existing qualities and properties that simply could not help but make them important characters in Egyptian myths, starting from ancient times.

The first mentions of Sebek

The Egyptian god with the head of a crocodile has been revered since ancient times.

In Kom Ombo, the temple of Sebek is unique in that it is part of a double temple built in the Greco-Roman era. The northern part is dedicated to the triad of gods headed by Horus (Horus, Tasenetnofret and their son Panebtavi), and the southern part is dedicated to the triad of gods headed by the crocodile god (Sebek, Hathor and their son Khonsu).

In addition to these large temples throughout Egypt, there were numerous shrines and smaller temples dedicated to the Egyptian god of water. Among them are the temples at Gebel el-Silsil and Gebelin.

An ambivalent attitude towards crocodiles

The Greek writer Herodotus noted that crocodiles were revered as sacred animals in some parts of Egypt. Temple complexes dedicated to the crocodile god included special pools in which sacred reptiles lived.

Their heads were decorated with earrings, and their paws were bracelets with precious stones... After death, their bodies were mummified and buried in a special cemetery (such a cemetery was found in Kom Ombo).

However, there were also areas in Egypt where crocodiles were hunted and killed.

This polarity has found its explanation and reflection in myths. The Egyptian god Sebek in them is very multifaceted and ambiguous. It can merge with image of Amun or sun god Ra, sometimes in the form of the god Sebek-Ra, can act as the hypostasis of the god Knum or Osiris, or can assimilate with the image of Set, the worst enemy of Osiris and Horus.

In other myths, Sebek shares with Horus the title of “King of Egypt” and provides him with help (in particular, he finds in the waters of the Nile and brings his hands cut off from Horus in a fit of anger by his mother Isis, which later Isis herself returns to their place with the help of magic) ...

Mythological consciousness does not obey laws formal logic and that one and the same god can be both good and evil, there is no contradiction for him.

Sebek - the patron saint of the pharaohs

When, during the Middle Kingdom, the pharaohs of the XII dynasty, descended from Fayum, began to rule in Egypt, Sebek began to be revered as the patron god of the pharaohs.

The legendary female pharaoh from this dynasty bore the name Sebekneferu - "Beautiful Sebek" (c. 1790-1786 BC). Its pyramid complex, built in Mazgun (4 km south of Dashur), is one of the last pyramids erected in Egypt.

The tradition of including the name of Sobek in their names was continued by the pharaohs of the XIII dynasty, many of whom were called Sebekhotep - “Satisfied Sebek” (Sebekhotep I, II, III, IV, V).

Some pharaohs of the XVII dynasty (c. 1650 - 1567 BC) also bore similar names - Sebekemsaf I and Sebekemsaf II. The inclusion of the name of God in the name of the pharaoh speaks of the great importance of the cult of Sebek at that time.

With the onset of the New Kingdom period, the Egyptian pharaohs no longer bear the name of the crocodile god. However, a statue depicting the relatively small ninth pharaoh of the 18th dynasty Amenhotep III (c. 1402 - 1364 BC) and a much larger Sebek sitting next to him (now in the Luxor Museum) suggests that god-crocodile during this period did not lose his functions of the patron and protector of the Egyptian pharaohs. The same features remained with him almost until the end of the era of the pharaohs, including the kings-pharaohs of the Greco-Roman period.

Kinship of the crocodile god

If Nate was considered the mother of Sebek, then with the rest family ties more and more complicated. The consort of the crocodile god could be Hathor, sometimes the goddess of the harvest, Renenutet.

His son from the goddess Hathor in the Kom Ombo triad was the god Khonsu, and in the Fayum oasis, from a conjugal union with Renenutet, his son was the god Horus.

In a number of myths, Horus himself appears in the form of a crocodile during the search in the Nile for parts of the body of his father Osiris, insidiously killed and dismembered by the cruel Set.

Why do crocodiles have no tongue?

And Egyptian myths give their answer to this question.

When Set killed and hacked Osiris to pieces, he scattered the body parts of his murdered brother throughout Egypt, and threw his phallus into the waters of the Nile.

Sebek, despite repeated warnings from the gods not to eat meat, neglected these words and, seeing the phallus, swallowed it.

Although he did not know at that moment who this part of the body belonged to, the punishment of the gods was cruel - Sebek's tongue was cut off.

That is why, as the Egyptians believed, crocodiles have no tongue.

Egyptian god with the head of a crocodile

Since many mythological images are associated with Sebek, his images differ significantly.

Traditionally, Sebek was depicted as a man with the head of a crocodile, with a headdress that includes a disk of the sun with high feathers, an urey (sometimes two), often pretentious horns.

A characteristic of this image of the crocodile god is the presence of a three-sided wig.

Slightly less often, the crown-atef (a high, pin-shaped crown with two feathers on the sides) or the combined crown of Upper and Lower Egypt is depicted as a headdress.

The Egyptian god of water could also be depicted in a zoomorphic form - in the form of a crocodile with a similar headdress.

In the image of Sobek-Ra, he is depicted as a crocodile with a sun disk and ureus on his head.

As such, Horus could be depicted as a crocodile with a falcon's head.

In addition, the Egyptian god Sebek could be depicted with the head of a ram, lion or bull.

Protective amulets in the shape of a crocodile were widespread in Egypt not only among the nobility, but also among ordinary people.

In the Greco-Roman period, the solar aspects in Sebek were so significant that the Greeks often identified him with Helios - greek god sun.

The deification of animals and the forces of nature - common feature all ancient civilizations, but some cults produce on modern man especially strong impression. In the era of the pharaohs Ancient egypt the role of sacred animals was assigned to perhaps the most repulsive and terrible creatures on the planet - the Nile crocodiles.

Sebek - god-crocodile, ruler of the Nile

The role of the Nile in the development of the culture of Ancient Egypt cannot be overestimated - this river determined the very existence of the peoples who settled along its banks. Stretching almost seven thousand kilometers from south to north, the Nile fed the Egyptians, the floods of the river provided good harvests in the fields adjacent to the river, and the absence of spills doomed people to starvation. Since the time of the pharaohs, there have been special structures - nilomers, whose purpose was to determine the level of the river to predict the next harvest.

It is not surprising, therefore, the desire to earn the favor of such powerful forces, giving a special ritual character to interaction with a permanent inhabitant of the Nile and, to some extent, its owner - a crocodile. By the behavior and movement of these animals, the Egyptians, among other things, determined the arrival of floods.

God Sebek (or Sobek), who was portrayed as a man with the head of a crocodile, is one of the most ancient and main gods of the Egyptian pantheon. He was recognized not only as the ruler of the Nile and the lord of its floods, bestowing fertility and abundance, but also as a deity, personifying time, eternity. Sebek was portrayed with the head of a crocodile and in a magnificent crown.

City of Gadov

The cult of Sebek was especially vividly manifested in Crocodilopolis, or the City of Reptiles, located southwest of the ancient capital of Egypt, Memphis. The name "Crocodilopolis" was given to the settlement by the Greeks who came to these lands in the 4th century BC with Alexander the Great. The Egyptians themselves called this city Shedit (Shedet).

Located in the Fayum oasis, a wide valley famous for its fertility throughout ancient Egypt, near Lake Merida, Shedit became a place of worship for the god Sebek and his living incarnations - crocodiles.

In the 19th century BC, the pharaoh of the XII dynasty Amenemkhet III built a pyramid for himself near the city of Shedit. Adjacent to the pyramid was the Labyrinth - a sacred structure that has not survived to this day, a temple complex where Sobek's son Petsuhos lived. Which of the crocodiles will be honored to become a divine offspring was determined by the priests - according to rules that are currently unknown. The crocodile lived in the Labyrinth, where, in addition to the pond and sand, there were many rooms located on different levels - according to ancient sources, in particular, according to the stories of Herodotus, the number of premises allegedly reached several thousand. The estimated area of \u200b\u200brooms and passages of the Labyrinth reached 70 thousand square meters.

Serving the crocodile

The priests offered Petsuhos meat, bread and honey, wine as food, and the one who accidentally became a victim of the crocodile's mouth acquired divine status himself, his remains were embalmed and placed in a sacred tomb. Drinking water from the pond in which such a crocodile lived was considered a great success and provided the protection of the deity.

After the death of "Sebek's son", his body was mummified and buried nearby. In total, several thousand of these mummies were discovered, in particular, in the Kom el-Breigat cemetery. The crocodile, chosen by the same priests, became the new incarnation of the god.

The information about the crocodile cult in Shedite that has survived to our time is extremely scarce and is based, as a rule, on the notes of the Greeks who visited here. The ancient scientist Strabo, who visited Egypt in the first century BC, left the following memories:
« Our host, one of officials, who initiated us there in the mysteries, came with us to the lake, taking some kind of cake from dinner, fried meat and a jug of wine mixed with honey. We found the crocodile lying on the shore of the lake. When the priests approached the animal, one of them opened its mouth, and the other put a cake there, then meat, and then poured the honey mixture. Then the animal jumped into the lake and swam to the other side. But when another foreigner approached, also carrying with him an offering of the firstfruits, the priests took gifts from him; then they ran around the lake and, finding the crocodile, in the same way gave the animal the food they had brought».

Under Ptolemy II, Crocodilopolis was renamed Arsinoe - in honor of the ruler's wife.
El-Fayyum is one of the least studied areas of Egypt by archaeologists, so it is possible that in the foreseeable future additional arguments will be obtained to confirm or refute the legends about the Crocodilopolis Labyrinth.

Nevertheless, the cult of the crocodile god Sebek can be traced in other areas of Ancient Egypt - in particular, in Kom Ombo, a city that used to be called Nubet, there is a temple dedicated to Sebek, where a demonstration of crocodile mummies has been open since 2012. from nearby burials.

Meeting with the sacred crocodile - a bright fragment of the work of I. Efremov "Thais of Athens" - Fr.

Sebek is the god of the abyss of water, the personification of the Nile flood. Revered in the form of a crocodile. One of the oldest gods of Ancient Egypt, most often depicted as a man with the head of a crocodile. There are also known reverse versions of its image - a crocodile with human head... In the hieroglyphic notation, the image of Sebek is presented as a crocodile lying on an honorary pedestal, similar to how Anubis was depicted as a dog on a pedestal. Single option correct pronunciation no, his two names are most widespread: Sebek and Sobek.
Both fishermen and hunters, who fish in the reed thickets, prayed to him. He was asked to help the souls of the dead on their way to the palaces of Osiris. Records have been preserved in which a man turns to Sebek, as to an oracle, and asks to inform him if any woman will belong to him. Obviously, Sebek, according to the ancient Egyptians, had an influence on so many sides. human life... Moreover, in one of the praising hymns, he is awarded the title of "listening to prayers", which was not noticed for any of the other gods of Ancient Egypt.

The origin of Sebek is vague. There are two main versions (according to the number of known sources). First: Sebek created or gave birth to Ra, like other gods of the first generation. Second: Sebek, like Ra, and everyone else, gave birth to the primary ocean of Nun. There is also historical evidence calling him the son of Neith, but there are very few such sources. And absolutely nothing is known about whether he had a wife. Here is such a mysterious god, reminiscent of his habits of a cunning counterintelligence agent in the service of Ra, but enjoying the sympathy of mortals, as evidenced by the widespread distribution of miniature amulets.

If in ancient Egypt there was an animal worthy of entering the pantheon, then it is undoubtedly a crocodile. Under the name Sebek, he quickly became a highly revered, formidable and trustworthy deity. The Egyptians believed that this reptile was one of the first to be created. Until recently, it was found in abundance in the swamps of the Delta and on the banks of the Nile.
The best known images of Sebek were found at Kom Ombo. These expressive portraits depict a furious god, sometimes a victim of his own gluttony. However, Sebek was not only a formidable, but also a highly respected god of the Egyptian pantheon. Sebek can take the guise of a crocodile or a man with a crocodile head. Of course, magical properties were attributed to his image.

Most often, Egyptian artists depicted him in a solar crown, consisting of two feathers, a solar disk resting on two horizontal horns, and two Urean guardians. This unusual crown was worn by two gods: Sebek and Tatenen. Also, Sebek could be depicted wearing the atef crown; this attribute was considered honorable, because it belonged to Osiris himself.