Soknopaios (Sbk nb Pay, Sobek Lord of Pai) was a localized, Hellenistic version of Sobek, specifically worshipped at the settlement of Soknopaiou Nesos (modern Dime es-Seba), located on an elevated mound north of ancient Lake Moeris in the Fayum Oasis. The site’s island-like character, surrounded by marshlands and waterways, gave its name as “Island of Soknopaios”, established during the Ptolemaic era as part of extensive land reclamation projects initiated by Ptolemy II Philadelphus. The town grew around a prominent temple dedicated to Soknopaios, which served as its religious and economic centerpiece.
The temple was constructed in the Hellenistic style with later Roman additions, featuring a substantial temenos (sacred enclosure), multiple sanctuaries, and a grand dromos (processional avenue) lined with sphinxes and crocodile statues. The temple had five gates leading through halls to the innermost sanctuary, hosting daily priestly processions.
Soknopaios’ oracular function was deeply present here, with pilgrims flocking to the temple seeking divine guidance through processions or written inquiries, a practice that continued into the late 2nd century CE despite Roman edits attempting to curb such Egyptian divination methods. During the Roman period in particular, Soknopaiou Nesos flourished as a vital trade and religious hub, benefiting from a strategic position near caravan routes and the lake’s natural resources. The town’s economy relied on agriculture, having undergone extensive canal excavations and irrigation systems that expanded arable land, papyrus production, and religious activities, with up to 130 priests managing operations, religious ones as well as land management and tax collection.
The priestly structure here included pastophoroi, shrine-bearers who carried sacred images during processions, hieropoioi, ritual overseers responsible for offerings and ceremonies, and prophetai, oracular priests who interpreted oracles. The cult’s vitality is documented by the many found papyri, which detail the priestly hierarchies and economic transactions. Priests performed daily rituals to sustain his ka. Papyri mention offerings of bread, fish, wine, water, and incense.
Here Sobek, the Lord of Pai, was a divine arbiter and responder to petitions. As a center of prophecy, it drew many pilgrims, as well as locals seeking guidance on all manner of subjects, ranging from agricultural activities to financial guarantees and questions of love.
It seems that questions were submitted to Soknopaios, written on papyri, via his priests, with a divinely selected response returned to the querent. In one incident, the scribe and priest Tesenouphis inquired before ploughing his land. Another example was found of a rolled papyris asking the question, “Oracle before Sobek Lord of Pai, through Kheteba son of… If you command me not to act as guarantor for Heter regarding 80 artabas of wheat, make this known in this document.” Here we see the use of the oracle to resolve disputes over debts and contracts.
Epithets in hieroglyphic texts speak of Soknopaios as “the one who comes to him who calls upon him, the one who listens to the prayers of those who are and those who are not, who lets him breathe whose throat is constricted in the midst of adverse wind”, showing his role as a responsive deity for both the living and deceased.
Soknopaios was typically depicted as a crocodile or an anthropomorphic figure with a crocodile head, adorned with a solar disk flanked by plumes or the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, emphasizing solar and royal attributes. Here he is also sometimes fused with Horus, with a now-lost relief depicting Soknopaios with wings as well as a crocodile head (a fragment noted in Grenfell and Hunt’s 1890s report) (1).
Central to the cult here, as elsewhere, were the sacred crocodiles, embodying Soknopaios’ essence and housed in temple pools or enclosures. They were regularly fed offerings such as roasted meat and honeyed wine, and upon death were mummified and interred in necropolis’ as votive offerings. Archaeological finds from these cemeteries underscore the scale of the offerings, with thousands of mummified crocodiles found.
The town’s relative isolation reinforced Soknopaios’ status as the paramount deity here – he was the vitality of the waters and the sun, emphasizing agricultural abundance and life-sustaining vigor. Theophoric names like Petsouchos were very common in the region, but by the 2nd century, the site began to be eventually abandoned amid economic and religious shifts.
(1) Grenfell, B.P. and Hunt, A.S. Egypt Exploration Fund Archaeological Report 1899-1900
Dua Sobek 