In the shadowy realm of the afterlife, Sobek emerges as a powerful figure, his watery domain extending into the realm of the dead. His interactions with the deceased reveal a deity who protects, heals, and transforms, guiding souls through the perils of the Duat while aiding in their eternal renewal, a protector and restorer in Egypt’s cycle of death and rebirth.
Sobek’s role among the dead remains a protective one, shielding the deceased from underworld threats. In PT Spell 317. Unas declares, “Unas emerged from the overflowing flood, Unas is Sobek, green of plume, vigilant, alert, the ferocious one who emerged from the legs and tail of the Radiant One…Unas stands up as Sobek, son of Neith.” This transformation into Sobek empowers with king with his aggressive strength, ensuring safe passage. CT Spell 158 deepens this, with the deceased invoking, “Hail to you Sobek, who seizes with his jaws…Sobek, Lord of Bakhu, grant me your power that I may rise up in the Duat.” (1)
In CT Spell 158, Sobek reassembles Osiris’ limbs. In a Late Period sarcophagus inscription, “Spoken by Sobek Shedety, I reunite your limbs, complete in Osiris” (1). Here, Sobek heals by reconstructing the body, uniting the dead with Osiris for eternal life.
Sobek’s bond with the deceased is transformative, empowering them through identification with his divine attributes. They call upon his primal, vital aspects – eating, sex, and aggression – to grant them strength in their underworld journeys. In PT Spell 317, Unas becomes Sobek, claiming, “Unas eats with his mouth… Unas is the lord of the seed who takes his husbands’ wives whenever Unas has desires” (Locks 2005), adopting his vitality and aggression to assert dominance in the afterlife. The CT Spell 268 has the deceased declaring, “N. has traversed the crossings of the river-banks… for N. is Sobek, Lord of Creeks,” avoiding crocodilian threats by becoming “a crocodile-spirit” (1), a transformation that protects and heals through Sobek’s power over watery dangers. PT Spell 285 amplifies this: “I am he who emerges, the lord of water… I am Sobek, lord of strife, I am Sobek, lord of the river banks… I am he who impregnates the smwt” (1), the deceased embodying Sobek’s strength, ferocity, virility and lifeforce to navigate the Duat.
His connection to the deceased is ritualized in funerary practices. In Tebtynis, sacred crocodile were kept, and when one died, it was mummified and ‘became Osiris’, festively reborn. The crocodile mummies were preserved as a protective act for the dead, often adorned with solar disks symbolizing eternal life.
Sobek’s narrative with the dead weaves a tapestry of protection, healing, and transformation, for kings and commoners alike. As a healer, he reassembles Osiris, and the deceased, and unites them with so the dead may know eternal life. He transforms the dead into his likeness, granting strength and renewal, while the crocodile mummies and processions ensures the eternal cycle. He is fierce and beneficent, sentinel and healer, a bridge between death and everlasting life.
(1) Zecchi, M. Sobek of Shedet – The Crocodile God in the Fayyum in the Dynastic Period (2010)
Dua Sobek 