Ancient Egyptians, 2000-3000 thousand years ago, not only worshipped crocodiles, offering them bread, meat and wine, but also sacrificed and mummified them, a new study confirms.
Published in the journal Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, the research purports to have gained a deeper understanding of a religious practice behind the mummification of crocodiles in ancient Egypt.
The specific crocodile mummy examined for the study that led to the conclusions was 2.2 meters-long and is housed at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
The team of experts conducted various scans on the mummified crocodile, which revealed a fish hook and an undigested fish inside its stomach, suggesting that the reptile was killed immediately after being captured, as an offering to a crocodile god of the ancient Egyptians.
Ancient Egyptians and their worship of crocodiles
But not all crocodiles in ancient Egypt were killed. In fact, some of them were worshipped as cult animals – the finding of many mummified crocodiles across Egypt bears testament to this.
“The ancient Egyptians venerated crocodiles as avatars of Sobek, Lord of the Nile and of the primaeval swamp from which they believed the Earth was created,” researchers wrote in the new study.
The most widely known among these crocodile lords was Suchus, who lived in the god’s temple in Crocodilopolis and according to the study “received the levels of care befitting a god on earth”.
“Believed to be the living incarnation of Sobek, Suchus was provided with a dedicated pond within the temple complex where he received a lavish diet of bread, meat and wine delivered by the priests, and adornments of precious metals and jewels,” the study reports.
According to the University of Manchester, whose researchers took part in the project, healthy crocodiles were associated with fertility and plentiful agriculture in ancient Egypt.
The ancient Egyptians also believed you could protect yourself from danger by wearing clothing made from the skin of the animal.
Ancient Greek historians recorded Egyptians’ methods for catching crocodiles
One of the main curiosities for researchers is how the ancient Egyptians managed to get hold of these crocodiles.
After the discovery of an ancient hatchery at the archaeological site of Medinet Madi, some historians have posited that the ancient Egyptians reared the reptiles in captivity.
However, the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, besides others, wrote about a unique method which was employed by ancient Egyptians to catch the crocodiles; they were apparently lured to the banks of the Nile by the sound of a pig being beaten, and subsequently captured.
However, the ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus, a contemporary of Strabo, thought Herodotus’ writing on crocodile hunting were limited in scope. Diodorus Siculus argues that Herodotus only explains crocodile baiting in very early times, and that the hunting methods used later on involved the use of either heavy nets or iron spears from boats.
The Nile crocodile is indigenous to the Nile river and has existed across the Nile valley from prehistoric times. It was very closely associated with Egypt, and in Roman times even acted as a symbol for the country.
