The Soucheia
The Soucheia was celebrated in Tebtynis and Soknopaiou Nesos, two villages where Sobek was the main local god during the Greco-Roman period. Held just before the Nile flood and the rise of the star Sirius in late June, it marked a time when his vitality inundated the land with fertility, and celebrated Sobek as “an initiator of the flood and benefactor to the whole of Fayum” (1) It was a joyful celebration with large banquets. Papyrological evidence dates this festival as far back as 173 BCE, with an oil merchant’s account from Tebtynis detailing the local expenditures (spoiler alert – there were very excessive expenditures for this festival). It likely marked the reappearance of crocodiles after the dry season.
The celebration included a public ritual procession, where Sobek’s cult images or a mummified crocodile were carried on a bier or barque. The procession stopped often to recite sacred stories, chant hymns, or for oracular consultations. Petitioners approached for healing or advice. Offerings included cakes, meat, and wine, recorded as being fed to the sacred crocodiles.
It lasted for 5 or more days, with one event noted at an exceptional 30 days (4), and celebrated Sobek’s flood-bringing vitality, a feast of renewal and abundance.
Temple Foundation Festival
A third festival for Sobek was recorded as having taken place in Soknopaios Nesos. It was also held in late June, near the summer solstice, and marked the consecration of the temple. Crocodile images were dedicated to him and his local manifestations. Like the other recorded festivals, it also included processions and offerings.
Sobek’s Birthday
The birthday of Soknopaios, held at Soknopaios Nesos during the Greco-Roman period and celebrating his divine origin, was given as 7 Athyr (4 November), and it lasted for 19 days. The timing of the festival in late autumn aligns with the post-flood season. It honored Sobek as a primeval solar deity who emerged from the primordial water. The extended duration suggests a grand affair, with processions, offerings, recitations and hymns. Rituals included lavish care for Sobek’s idols and the sacred, live crocodiles kept in his honor.
Additional Festivals
Ancient Egypt was a land of many festivals and celebrations. Additional festivals pop up on the calendar for Sobek throughout the year. The festivals listed below are sourced from Sherif El-Sabban’s Temple Festival Calendars of Ancient Egypt, and Tamara Siuda’s The Ancient Egyptian Daybook.
- III Shemu, Day 19 (Sobek Festival) – May-June, in the Fayum
- A harvest festival celebrated in the Fayum thank Sobek for the bounty of the flood.
- 1 Akhet, Day 6 (Festival of Sobek) – July-August, likely in Shedet (Crocodilopolis)
- This was a minor festival marking the beginning of the inundation of the Nile, and offerings were made to Sobek for prosperity. It is a local rite, possibly including processions to the Nile or Lake Moeris.
- I Akhet, Day 11 – July- November, Shedet
- Sobek of Shedet is celebrated alongside the ‘ba of the lords of Hetepet’ (2), a feast that included prohibitions on people eating fish and bread. Of this day, it is also said that all who are born on this day will die of misfortune. It is likely a flood-related event, aligning with Sobek’s inundation role, his protective power honored over the living and the dead.
- II Akhet, Day 3 (Feast of Sobek) – August-September, in Abydos
- This feast included offerings of bread and beer, and celebrated Sobek’s protective aspect over both the living and the dead.
- IV Akhet, Day 15 (Festival of Sobek at Kom Ombo) – October-November, in Kom Ombo
- This temple festival involved crocodile veneration, and priests offered incense and meat to Sobek’s sacred crocodiles. El-Sabban links it to Sobek sa-per role, in the sense of enforcing royal decrees and smiting rebels.
- I Peret, Day 1 (New Year’s Festival with Sobek) – November-December, in Medinet Hebu and Thebes
- Part of the New Year’s festivities, Sobek appears in a relief offering ‘all health’ to Ramesses III, with offerings also given to Sobek’s ka.
- In AD 215, a festival of Souchos (Hellenized name of Sobek) alias Kronos was held in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus at Ptolemais Euergetis (3), and speaks of a procession.
- In Tebtynis, again during the Greco-Roman period, we have recorded a so-called Festival of the Dead, which saw an annual procession of a sacred mummified crocodiles, one Sobek of the North and the other Sobek of the South. This celebration took part in December-January, and has been linked to Osiris’ renewal.
(1) Galuzina, M. The God Sobek In Ptolemaic and Roman Times: A Confrontation of the Cult of Sobek in Krokodilopolis and Kom Ombo (2016)
(2) Zecchi, M. Sobek of Shedet – The Crocodile God in the Fayyum in the Dynastic Period (2010)
(3) Abdehlwahed, Y. The Soucheia of the Arsinoite Nome in Graeco-Roman Egypt (2016)
(4) Rathbone, D. A Town Full of Gods (2003)
Dua Sobek 