See Also: Sebek(encyclopedia)

Sebek (sh)




In ancient Egyptian religion, a crocodile god.

His chief sanctuary in Fayyum province included a sacred crocodile, which was believed to be an incarnation of the god. Sebek may have been associated with fertility or death and burial before becoming a major deity and patron of kings in the Middle Kingdom (งใ 1938-งใ 1600? BC). He was merged with Re, the sun god, to constitute a crocodile form of that deity known as Sebek-Re. The worship of Sebek continued in Ptolemaic and Roman times.


Sebek, wearing horns, solar disk with uraeus, and plumes, bronze figurine, c. 600-300 BC; ...

By courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum