“We are all of us sufficiently worshippers of cats and dogs, I suppose, not to feel deeply shocked by a distantly analogous attitude on the part of the ancient people. But what of crocodiles?”¹

The foremost of Egyptian animals

1Crocodiles have long been associated with Egypt. The animal is the ‘poster-reptile’ for the animal cults which intrigued and disgusted Roman historiographers and propagandists.² Roman coinage from the early imperial period depicts the princeps Augustus on one side and a crocodile with the inscription AEGYPTO CAPTA on the other, marking Egypt’s addition to the Roman Empire in 30 BCE.³ Depictions of the reptile are attested in fancy home décor and in the Campana reliefs.⁴ This imagery was understood to be typically Egyptian, with its depiction of the “un-Roman” animal cult.⁵

2The aim of this article is to analyse the role of crocodiles in Egyptian literary texts (narratives, wisdom texts, discourses), but before we discuss the sources, a short description of crocodiles is in order, since the physical appearance and features of this reptile had an effect on its literary representation.

3Crocodiles populated Egypt long before Roman times, and the worship of crocodilian entities goes back to the Early Dynastic period; there was even a king with the name “Crocodile”.⁶ The banks of the river Nile were populated by Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus), which can reach up to 6 meters in length. Another species, now extinct in Egypt but attested among mummified specimens, is the smaller West African crocodile (Crocodylus suchus).⁷

4Together with the saltwater crocodile which occurs in Southeast Asia, the Nile crocodile is among the largest living reptiles – longer than alligators and caimans or the gavialidae, to name the other two families of crocodilian species. The sight of such a powerful animal must have had a lasting impression on Egyptians – as the texts treated in this contribution will illustrate below.

5Among the other remarkable features of the crocodile are its skin texture, its unique way of hunting and killing its prey, and its ability to switch from floating motionless in the water or lying on the shore to moving at immense speed while swimming or running. The crocodile is an effective hunter on water and land alike – to the horror of not only its ancient observers, but also its modern neighbours.⁸ Individual Nile crocodiles typically live between 70 and 100 years.⁹

6Today, the Nile crocodile is no longer found on Egyptian shores north of the Aswan High Dam. These majestic reptiles fled the area because of the increasing human population, pollution, and the commercial uses of the shorelines, but their populations were also decreased by the hunt for trophies, leather and meat. At one point, the Nile crocodile faced complete extinction across Africa. Fortunately, since the 1980s, their population has been on the increase again, so that its conservation status is currently classified as “lower risk, least concern”.¹⁰ As a consequence, this less dramatic classification has led to renewed hunting.¹¹

7In Egyptian magical and literary texts, crocodiles are featured quite frequently.¹² The reptile appears as the god Sobek, as well as other crocodile gods, and as the crocodile demon Khenty, but we also find references to the mortal animal itself (usually as msḥ, “crocodile” in Egyptian).¹³ However, it is very hard, if not impossible, to distinguish between the animal and the divine figure. It is my feeling that in many cases such a distinction would be useless, because it would work against the intention of the texts, which rely upon a certain ambiguity: the crocodile always seems to have served as a representation of divine forces. Those forces could be connoted both positively and negatively – e.g., as a protector of the sun god, or as an evil predator.¹⁴

8The literary texts treated here are narratives, wisdom texts and discourses in the stages of the Egyptian language up to and including Demotic. They have been selected to emphasise passages featuring cult practices: rituals from religious, magical, and divinatory contexts. Those topics, especially episodes of magical actions or divination, come up quite frequently in Egyptian literature, and powerful priest-magicians are often protagonists of stories. Other instances include interactions with the divine or fate – sometimes represented in form of a crocodile. The sources date from the 2nd millennium BC to the Roman period. But while the sources cover a large span of time and reflect changing religious trends, or depict the god Sobek in different local contexts, it is possible to observe some generalisable attitudes to crocodiles, and how they were used as metaphors.

One crocodile or many?

Sobek

9Sobek (Eg. Sbk), Greek Soukhos (Σοῦχος),¹⁵ was principally worshipped in the Fayum Oasis.¹⁶ There, the crocodile god had the status of a creator god, beautifully illustrated in the Book of the Fayum (fig. 3), a religious and geographical tractate transmitted in several manuscripts.¹⁷ In his honour, crocodiles were raised in farms and mummified (fig. 2),¹⁸ depicted on gems¹⁹, amulets²⁰, terracotta figures,²¹ and magical papyri.²² Many local crocodile divinities were forms of Sobek, and appear in the rich papyrological sources, especially in the Graeco-Roman period.²³ But even in the Early Dynastic period, sources point to several distinct crocodile cults within the cult of Sobek, and again in the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2055-1650 BC) the iconography points to many Sobeks instead of one.²⁴ The Middle Kingdom is a crucial period because the pharaohs of this age resided near the Fayum, and enhanced Sobek’s role from that of a fertility god to that of a god of the royal residence.²⁵ It was in this period that he was combined with the falcon divinity Horus, the god connected to kingship.²⁶ Even in the Graeco-Roman period, crocodiles with falcon heads are attested in his iconography²⁷ as well as individuals bearing names which combine both gods, such as Hor-si-souchos (Ḥr-sꜣ-Sbk, Ἁρσισουχος, “Horus, Son of Sobek”), Pete-hor-souchos (Pꜣ-dỉ-Ḥr-Sbk, “The One Given by Horus and Sobek”), and Hor-pe-souchos (Ἁρπεσουχος, “Horus Who is Sobek”).²⁸ Another remarkable combination is that of Sobek with the sun god Re.²⁹

10Sobek’s functions included those of creator god, aspect of the sun god in the morning, and water and fertility god, who was implored for a satisfying inundation of the Nile to water the crops, in a manner comparable to the god Osiris. In mythology, Sobek helped recover the lost limbs of Osiris and of Horus, and his epithets include “Lord of the House of Life” and “Lord of Libya”. In one theology, the goddess Neith was his mother, while his female consorts included Hathor and Tefnut. Alongside from these positive features, Sobek also had the status of enemy of the gods in certain Upper Egyptian temples.³⁰

11Few literary texts mention Sobek, but they usually depict him in a favourable manner. In a eulogy on the pharaoh in the Middle Egyptian story of Sinuhe, the ruler is equated with several gods, among them Sobek-Re:

Your ka, Perfect God, Lord of the Two Lands, Beloved of Re and Blessed of Montu the Lord of Thebes – Amun Lord of the Throne of the Two Lands, Sobek-Re, Horus, Hathor, Atum with his Ennead, Sopdu-Neferbau-Semseru, Horus of the East, the Lady of Imet (Buto), may she unite <with> your head, the (Divine) Council upon the Ocean, Min-Horus within the Foreign Lands, Werret the Lady of Punt, Nut, Hor-wer-Re, all the gods of Egypt (and) the islands of the sea, may they give life (and) prosperity to your nose, may they unite you with their gifts, (and) may they give you eternity without (its) end (and) endlessness without limit....³¹

12This eulogy by Sinuhe is written after he has received news that he is allowed to return to Egypt after many long years abroad. The figure of the pharaoh has a central position in this narration; the most vivid expression of this is the king being compared with several gods. One of these is Sobek, and this reflects the role of the crocodile god in the Middle Kingdom as a divinity closely associated with the ruler.

13Only one other literary work mentions Sobek. As in Sinuhe, this is another source portraying the king very favourably: the so-called Pleasures of Fishing and Fowling. Here, Sobek is praised as a god responsible for fertility. In the specific setting of the text, the king wishes to go hunting for fishes and birds. Both the crocodile god and the unnamed goddess of the field are invoked to provide for a rich harvest. The day of the hunt is called a “fine day” (hrw nfr);³² in this context the day of the royal ritual hunt which begins with an invocation: “A fine day, (O) Sobek, Lord of Lakes, Son of Senui, Great One, Overseer of the Hn.t-waters, Rich in Fish, Great of Offerings, beloved [of...].³³ A fine day, on which we give to all. Our Field-Goddess is satisfied”.³⁴ We should not underestimate Sobek’s role here: as we have said, he is a god close to the king, and the hunt takes place in the god’s very own domain, the Fayum Oasis.

14The worshippers of Sobek, that is the pharaoh and his entourage, also promise to build him a huge brazier for offerings: “We will make a brazier for Sobek, wider and longer [than before (?)]”,³⁵ and they plan to offer dšr-fishes (the African jewelfish?) and fowl, allegorically expressed as scales and feathers: “(and) lay dšr-fish upon [... as a] true [offering] of feathers and scales”.³⁶

15In another passage in this work, the narrator lists several areas of Egypt to his audience, addressed as “you”, and perhaps to be understood as a student, or the pharaoh.³⁷ Among them is the area in which the hunt is taking place – the swampland in the Fayum Oasis – but also other marshy areas in the Nile Delta and the region bordering on Palestine: “I will teach you of the Lake of Sobek (the Fayum), the western land […] Mtwny/Mṯwn, the Ridge, the Marshland of Tpnj,³⁸ [… the Lake of Fi]shing,³⁹ the Marshland of Mnjt,⁴⁰ Xois⁴¹ […] the region of Lake Manzala (?),⁴² Avaris, Rechti,⁴³ the Upper Temple, the Lower Temple, the Way of Horus [...]”⁴⁴ Due to the lacunose statue of the papyrus, it is hard to say what exactly the narrator wishes to explain about the regions, but we may note that in this short extract, Sobek is the pre-eminent deity discussed.⁴⁵

16To summarise, we may note that Sobek’s positive features prevail in these literary sources; there is not even a hint of his ambivalent nature.⁴⁶

Other crocodile gods: one or many?

17In addition to the Fayum Oasis, crocodiles were also worshipped in the Sudan, in Upper Egypt, the Nile Delta and other regions of ancient Egypt; a famous example is the double sanctuary of Sobek and a form of Horus in Kom Ombo. But we cannot assume that every crocodile god is a form of Sobek: there was, for example, a separate god of the Delta who had a crocodilian form.⁴⁷ A passage in the Sporting King mentions this divinity from the Nile Delta where hunt takes place (D2, 8-9): “[...]tjamu-bandages (?) and white linen, the cloth of Renenutet, under the supervision of […] the son (?) of the (crocodyliform) Delta-god”. Because of the lacunose status of this quotation, we cannot be certain whether the son (?) of the Delta-god has a positive or negative role in this context, but he might well also have the form of a crocodile. It seems likely that he was beneficent towards the pharaoh, and might have the function of a protector here.⁴⁸

18The same point holds true for mummified crocodiles, and for magical spells for the protection of men and cattle against crocodiles: the god Sobek is not always the addressee of such cult practices – there were other crocodile gods in Egypt, and there was more than one Sobek.

19A saying from the wisdom text Papyrus Insinger speaks of a god of the river (6, 2): “[One] chases after the god on the river…” It is very probable that we should understand an unspecified crocodile god here, a conclusion already suggested by Hoffman and Quack.⁴⁹ Due to the lacuna at the end of the line and its short, cryptic nature, the purpose of this hunt after the crocodile god remains unclear: are people trying to approach the god for help with a problem? Or were they attempting to cast him out from inhabited areas, or even hunting him to kill him?

20In another passage in the same papyrus, another nameless divine crocodile is mentioned – this time raging in greed against its fellows (13, 15): “A raging crocodile harms his divine brother”.⁵⁰ The divine brothers here point to other crocodile gods. One might think of the twin crocodiles worshipped in the Fayum Oasis (such as Pnepheros and Petesouchos in Karanis).⁵¹ But in this particular case, it is more likely that the brothers stand for crocodiles in general, all of which could be, in certain situations, the manifestations of the god Sobek, or another crocodile divinity. We find lemmata in the Egyptian lexicon such as Sbk.wj “the two crocodiles” and nṯr.w-n-Sbk “the Sobek gods”,⁵² which might refer to the holy crocodiles of the god which lived in the river. The saying may refer to real behaviour which its author observed: fights, and even cannibalism, among crocodiles is rare, but documented.⁵³ Usually, male crocodiles will come into conflict over territory or access to females.

21We find other crocodile gods mentioned too, as in a spell against snakes from the New Kingdom in which a pair of divine crocodiles are invoked to expel the biting snake: “Shoot (seti) her in your name of Setiu-crocodile, go against (sebi) her in your name of Suy-crocodile, gather (saq) yourself against her in your name of Saq-crocodile, flow (iber?) against her in your name of Iberu-crocodile”.⁵⁴

22Last but not least, the pantheistic figure from the Weighing of the Heart scene from the Book of the Dead should be addressed – one of the most iconic ancient Egyptian rituals.⁵⁵ If the deceased person had accumulated too many bad deeds and was therefore not qualified to move on to join the other justified dead, he would be devoured by a creature usually depicted as sitting beneath the scales upon which the hearts were weighed. This multiform divinity, called Ammit (fig. 5), bore the features of many animals, most prominently the snout of a crocodile.⁵⁶

23There are too many uncertainties to be able to formulate a systematic conclusion on the varieties of crocodiles and crocodile deities in Egypt – some of them are simply too poorly attested. A symptomatic example of this is the Lexikon der Ägyptologie, which features separate articles on “Sobek”, on “Krokodil” (“the Crocodile”) and on Krokodilkulte (“Crocodile Cults”), which display significant overlap, and are often lacking; for example, in their incomplete treatment of the demon Khenty.

The crocodile demon Khenty

24The database Demon Things of the Ancient Egyptian Demonology Project contains to date 54 entries on demons with full or partial crocodile forms, among them the “Crocodiles of the West and East” and the “Crocodiles of the South and North”. They are generally depicted on coffins, magical wands (Zaubermesser), or in Books of the Dead.⁵⁷ In nearly all cases, the demons are simply referred to as msḥ, “crocodile”.

25In this section, however, I will deal mainly with a figure well-attested in literary sources – the crocodile demon called Khenty.⁵⁸ He is connected to the god Seth and is usually encountered in the shape of a crocodile.⁵⁹ Khenty is regularly identified as a danger to people of certain professions, most prominently in Cheti’s Satire of Trades. Those passages will be discussed below.

26In a discursive text, the Eloquent Peasant, the eponymous protagonist compares his opponent, the magistrate Rensi, to an envoy of Khenty. He warns him in well-chosen words to avoid being as evil as a servant of the crocodile demon or more harmful than Sekhmet, the powerful lion goddess who brought diseases every year: “See, you are mighty and strong; your arm is violent, your heart is greedy, mildness has passed you by. How pitiful is the wretched one destroyed by you, (for) you resemble the messenger of Khenty! See, you exceed (even) the Lady of Plague [more complaints filled with metaphors follow]”.⁶⁰ In this way, the peasant’s complaint, made in order to recover the possessions which Rensi took from him, is elevated from a simple lawsuit to a dispute with religious dimensions.

27The peasant invokes the powerful imagery of Khenty in another round of complaints, this time mentioning his face. He hopes that Rensi will not encounter the sudden moment of fear when the fierce crocodile appears while navigating on the river:

(O) high steward, my lord, greatest of the great ones, leader of what is not, <and what is>! If you go down to the Lake of Truth, and sail on a favourable breeze, no wind will tear your sail away. Your boat will not slow. No misfortune will befall your mast. Your yards will not break. You will not founder (?) when you come to land (?). No wave will carry you away. You will not taste the evil (or danger) of the river. You will not see the face of fear (or: of the fearful one, that is Khenty).⁶¹

28Here, the peasant refers to the sight of the snout of an aggressive crocodile in the water – in particular the Nile crocodiles – with their impressive rows of teeth appearing during a sudden attack.

29In two other literary contexts we find Khenty in a scenario of a world upturned. In the complaints of Ipuwer, the eponymous prophet asks a series of rhetorical questions (5, 8-9): “Is it serving Khenty and the one he cuts up? Is it slaughtering for the lion, roasting on the flame? Is it libating to Ptah, taking cattle (?)? Why do you give to him? There is none who can reach him, and your giving to him is misery!” Enmarch sees in this passage allusions to “punishment in the afterlife”.⁶² The lion might point to Sekhmet, the fierce goddess who brought diseases each year⁶³ – who we have already encountered in connection with Khenty in the Eloquent Peasant (B1, 150). This passage builds up to a climax, from the malevolent crocodile demon to the ambivalent lion goddess to the benevolent Ptah – all of them unreachable by the offerings and prayers of mankind. Indeed, people are here serving evil entities – a true vision of a world upturned.

30We can see the connection between the crocodile and the lion again in the Teaching of Amenemhet, a text in which the dead pharaoh is speaking from the netherworld to his successor on the throne. In one passage, he says: “I have tamed lions and captured (lit. ‘brought’) crocodiles”.⁶⁴

31The face of Khenty recurs in the story of the Dispute of a Man with his Ba, in which a sick man debates with his soul about whether or not he should die. In his dark vision of the world, he mentions people who suffer untimely deaths, such as unborn children. To him, the miscarried babies are already “broken in the egg” (i.e. their mother’s wombs), because they saw the face of the crocodile demon (l. 76-80): “I have not wept for the one there (in the afterlife), whom she [his wife] had borne. For them there is no returning (lit. ‘coming forth’) from the West for another (existence) upon the earth (?). I will show sorrow for her children broken in the egg, who saw the face of Khenty before they had lived”. To the unnamed sick protagonist, Khenty’s toothy snout is the face of death – a bad omen of one’s imminent demise.

32To conclude, let us note that all these sources have one thing in common: they share a negative image of Khenty. This crocodile demon does not have any positive features in any of his attestations. He is intimately connected with death and horror. The way in which death comes, however, is not specified; it is curious that no text alludes to the crocodile feeding upon his victims. Furthermore, it is notable that Khenty does not seem to act on the command of another, higher divinity such as Seth, since it is my observation that, in literary texts, other demons usually act as servants or envoys of another god.

33Another notable absence is that the crocodiles depicted on Horus Stelae are not associated with demons. On those often-precious artefacts, which come in various sizes, the infant god Horus is shown fighting several dangerous creatures, among them crocodiles. Since he is usually depicted standing on them, the stelae have often been referred to as “Horus on the crocodiles”. They intended to have water poured over them in order to use as an ingredient in recipes for healing spells.⁶⁵

34Similar sounding, but not the same as Khenty is Khentekhtay, a form of the falcon god Horus from Athribis who supposedly incorporated a crocodile cult in his earlier stage. This god appears in the Demotic story of The Fight for the Armor of Inaros, where someone, perhaps Inaros himself, swears an oath by Horus-Khenetkhtay.⁶⁶ In another story from the same cycle, a narration entitled The Living Prince Inaros (l. 3-5, l. 8?), a procession for this god takes place in Athribis, and Inaros makes offerings and libations before him. It is important to stress that Horus Khentekhtay was not a demon, or in any way related to Khenty, but was rather the local form of Horus in Athribis.⁶⁷

Just a simple crocodile?

35There are many words for “crocodile” in Egyptian; as already noted, the most common among them is msḥ.⁶⁸ Several Egyptian narratives refer to crocodile figures made of wax. Usually, it is a skilful wizard who produces these figures, enchants them and sends them out to perform actions according to his bidding. In the Middle Egyptian Story of Papyrus Westcar, the priest-magician Ubainer creates a small crocodile made of wax for revenge because a certain man, called “a commoner” (Egyptian nḏs), has committed adultery with his wife (l. 2, 21-3, 5):

Then [Ubainer said,] ‘Bring me two […] of ebony [and] electrum. [I shall] make from it […] and send it as an emissary.’ [Then he took] a crocodile of seven [cubits?]. [Then he] recited (a spell) and looked for […] the spell […] he should come [to] clean [himself in] the lake… the commoner in […] Then he gave it to the [steward], and said to him, ‘When the commoner goes down to the lake according to his daily custom, would you throw [the wax croc]odile after him’. Leaving was what the [steward] did, when he had taken the wax crocodile from his hand.

36In this section, Ubainer gives detailed instructions to his caretaker to throw the enchanted crocodile figure into a lake where the commoner usually takes a bath. A few lines later (l. 3, 10-14), Ubainer’s plan comes to fruition. The commoner goes to swim at night in the lake. He does not notice that he is being followed by the caretaker, who throws the crocodile in the water. The waxen figurine turns into a real crocodile of seven cubits in length (about three meters). It drags the commoner with it down into the lake, but does not kill him.⁶⁹

37Ubainer is in complete control of the crocodile, and only after seven days, and a royal intervention, does he release the lover of his unfaithful wife from the claws of the beast (3, 19-4, 7):

‘[… a deed] has [been] told to me. May your majesty go forth to see the wonder that has happened in your majesty’s time. […] a comm[oner] has […] adultery (?) […] Then […] Ubainer. Then [Ubainer conjured the cro]codile with the words: ‘Bring the commoner from the [depths of the lake!]’ Com[ing forth from the lake with the commoner was what] the cro[cod]ile [did.] [Then] the [chief] lector-priest [Ubainer] spoke [the words]: ‘[Bring] him!’[Then] he [conjured] it. Then [it] gave [him to Ubainer, then Ubainer took] him. His majesty, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nebka, justified-of-voice, said, ‘The crocodile is indeed fierce!’ Bowing down is what Ubainer did. Then he took it, and it was in his hand (as) a crocodile of wax. Then the chief lector-priest Ubainer retold this matter – namely that the commoner had committed adultery in his house with his wife – to his majesty, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nebka, justified-of-voice. Then his majesty said to the crocodile, ‘Take what is yours!’ Descending is what the crocodile did, to the [depths] of the lake. The place where he went with him is unknown.

38This passage offers a few important insights into magical practices. The texts which Ubainer recites to command the crocodile are very short; perhaps the text does not give us the full details of the incantation used to transform the crocodile from the wax figure to the full-size specimen and back, or perhaps the magic involved non-verbal spells and gestures to perform the ritual action. This might be suggested by Ubainer’s bowing to the figure – although this might equally refer simply to his picking it up from the ground. After the magical period of seven days, Ubainer commands the crocodile to resurface from the depths of the lake with the commoner, who has not drowned – as a miracle to be presented to the pharaoh. After the king hears about the adultery which has been committed, he himself (and not the priest-magician) addresses the crocodile, telling it to take the man away with it. Again, it is not specified that the crocodile devours the man – we are simply informed that it dives with its prey into the lake, to an unknown location.⁷⁰ In this way, the king commands nothing less than the man’s execution, just as he punishes the unfaithful wife of Ubainer. It is not the priest-magician who acts as lord of life and death – only the king, who performs his duty as judge. It seems that he too possesses a certain ritual competence, since he too is able to give orders to the enchanted wax figure.

39It is important to stress that the magical crocodile does not kill like the demon Khenty – although there are parallels in its behaviour to that of another crocodile demon which occurs in the story of the “Doomed Prince”. In both stories, the crocodiles take their prey in lakes rather than the river Nile. But in the case of P. Westcar, we cannot assume that the wax crocodile should be understood as a demon or his envoy. It is completely absent of any divine connotation.

40There is another story which might pertain to waxen crocodile figure, this time written in Demotic and dating from the Roman period: the so-called Crocodile Story from Papyrus Petese 2, C2. Again, there is no indication that we are dealing with Sobek or a demon in the form of a crocodile, but due to the lacunose status of the papyrus, it is not clear who the protagonists are. In line 1, a crocodile appears⁷¹ and does something; the next scene describes a woman praying and perhaps weeping.⁷² Whether both characters, the crocodile and the woman, take part in the festivals mentioned later (l. 8) is unclear.

41Both of these passages reveal how difficult it is to determine the role and the nature of the crocodile. Though no divine connotation is given to the reptile, we cannot completely rule out completely their demonic nature when being invoked by priest-magician. At the very least, it is possible to draw comparisons to demonic figures such as the unnamed crocodile in the story of the Doomed Prince. In the following sections we will deal with features that all crocodiles, demons and gods share alike.

The dangerous predator

42Crocodiles, natural or divine, could lie in wait for humans in many places according to literary texts: in the waters of the Nile and its canals, but also in lakes and on shores and riverbanks. They could appear on the land and even – and this is the fantastic element – follow their prey to foreign countries. As a dangerous predator, fowl, fish, livestock, men and women are presented as their victims being hunted, attacked, and killed. The crocodile was a being no-one wanted to encounter, and so it served as an excellent archetype of an enemy.

43Such is the case with the instructional texts describing different professions. Their purpose is usually to promote the idea that being a scribe was the greatest job on earth, while all other professions bore considerable disadvantages. One of those shortcomings was the danger of being confronted with that gruesome predator: the crocodile.

44In the so-called Satire of the Trades or Teaching of Cheti, this danger is foremost to the washer who cleans laundry on the shores of the Nile – close not only to crocodile, but also to the greedy demon Khenty who lurks there waiting for him: “The washerman <washes> on the riverbank, so he approaches Khenty”.⁷³ The washerman is not only brought close to the crocodile through his work, but he is also its “neighbour” according to another passage in this text. This means that he takes on the qualities of the enemy – a second strategy to present this job as abominable: “The neighbour(s) are the crocodiles”.⁷⁴ It is remarkable that here, Khenty is referred to in the plural. Can we conclude that the demon could manifest himself simultaneously in several reptiles?⁷⁵

45Another trade that required competition with crocodiles was that of the fisherman. This time, it was the normal crocodiles (msḥ.w) which one had to fear: “There is nothing but <his> work in the river, mingling with the crocodiles”.⁷⁶ In my opinion, this passage points to the danger of losing one’s catch to hungry, plundering crocodiles.⁷⁷ And the lament goes even further: “One cannot say, ‘The crocodile stands (there ready)’, because one is blinded by fear. If the father comes to/from these waters, while he is well, then he is like a manifestation of god (or: then it is as if he has experienced a manifestation of god [i.e. trembling, stunned])”.⁷⁸ This passage has proven difficult to interpret in detail.⁷⁹ It could be deduced that the crocodile is waiting in waters where the fisherman does his work, but the reading “father” remains speculative. However, it is certain that the crocodile rises godlike from the Nile and threatens the fisherman. The description of the fear – being blinded and trembling – matches those moments in narrations in which humans face a god, or have to perform proskynesis before the pharaoh.⁸⁰ Therefore, it seems legitimate to conclude that, again, Khenty should be understood here – the evil, awesome, divine manifestation of the crocodile-demon. In the beginning of the parallel in P. Anastasi 7, the manifestation of the crocodile is intertwined with a discussion of on taxes: “If the total of <his payments/taxes> are collected, the crocodiles are ready”.⁸¹ Even though there is certainly an error in the text,⁸² we might deduce that the job of the fisherman might not leave enough income to pay the levies. We might even see the crocodile as a robber, and as an allegory for the stripping of the fisher of his gain – perhaps similar to the modern image of the (loan-)shark as a powerful, often negatively connotated image of institutions or people calling in taxes, money or other investments.

46Moving on to another instructional text, a passage in the Late Egyptian Miscellanies is noteworthy. In Papyrus Chester Beatty 5, the profession of fisherman⁸³ is presented as a dangerous job: “‘Oh <fisherman>’, one says, ‘The crocodiles are standing (ready)’”.⁸⁴ Again, the profession of the scribe is the only desirable career in this corpus.

47Lurking crocodiles could also affect those fetching fresh water: a female servant in a story in the already cited Papyrus Westcar dies while trying to fill her vessel (l. 12, 17-19): “Going is what this servant did, to get herself a jar of water; then a crocodile seized her”.⁸⁵

48Working on or by the river – cleaning laundry, fishing, and also sailing – meant entering the realm of crocodiles, and even interacting with them. As discussed above, being the “neighbour” of a crocodile was an abominable status. In the Teaching of Amunnakht, the father warns his son, or student, that only an evil character, the “fool”, works on a ship, performing such tasks as pulling the tow rope: he makes crocodiles and hippopotami his equals because he works in their habitat: “He is in the ship, while he is (destined) for the (tow-)rope, over his head towards the water, so that he is one with the crocodiles and hippopotami”.⁸⁶ Again, crocodiles are vilified, and their pejorative associations extend to the area in which they live. We might even go so far to conclude that the water is the habitat of the crocodiles, and that humans should restrict themselves to the inhabited areas on land.

49If it was unavoidable, however, that men and crocodiles meet, there was still the hope that magical protection might work. This must have been the case for herdsman protecting their animals. In the fascinating Story of the Herdsmen, the elder herders are initiated to learn how to perform apotropaic spells. Crocodiles are never specifically mentioned in this text, but the relevant passage of the incantation reveals a well-known pattern (x+12-22):

The wise-men of the herdsmen recite a (magic) water-song (against crocodiles), saying this recitation: “My spirits (lit. kas) rejoice, oh shepherds, oh men. I cannot be driven out (lit. I have no expulsion) from this flooded field (in) the year of the great flood (lit. of the great Flood-god), which commands (even) the land ridges (i.e. the Geziras), (when) the (flood)-lakes cannot be distinguished from the river. Go (Flood-god), into your house. (For) the cows (?) remain in their place. (You, Flood-god), who has come forth! The fear of you has disappeared (and) respect for you has departed until the disappearance (?) of the rage of the (goddess) Powerful-One, and the fearfulness of the (goddess) Lady of the Two Lands.

50What we have here is a fierce god of the flood, a powerful raging goddess and a goddess called “Lady of the Two Lands”. While the latter is a very common title and must be connected with the female deity appearing later in this story, the first two are no other than Khenty and Sekhmet, whom we have already encountered as a dismal duo of death and disease.⁸⁷

The trickster and the fighter

51In literary sources, the crocodile has a negative image – essentially a result of its portrayal as a murderer. Some of the passages cited above add to this picture. Nevertheless, before the crocodile can kill, it must put its victims into situation where they pose no threat to the predator, either by trickery, or by overpowering them in a fight. The proverbial “crocodile tears” are a common image for danger in disguise, although they do not appear among the texts treated here.⁸⁸ In the Teaching of Onkhsheshonqy, nonetheless, addressees are warned not to trust “crocodiles” (l. 28, 4): “When a crocodile loves a donkey, he will put on [his (?)] wig”. Even though the pronoun here is not completely certain, we can see that this a warning against a trickster who “cross-dresses” in order to lull his object of desire into a false security; the blow comes when the victim is at its weakest. The donkey is no match for the crocodile – neither in strength, nor in intellect, as this maxim implies.

52However, alongside its ability to triumph over an opponent by trickery, the crocodile could also be describe as fighting a good, or even “beautiful”, fight. We find a comparison to the divine powers of the gods Sobek and Bes in the story of the Amazons. In combat, the Amazon queen Serpot and the Egyptian prince Petekhons are a true match for each other: neither can triumph over the other. The story expresses this through a series of remarkable comparisons (3, 48-4, 2): “They accepted death as a friend. They took for themselves life [as an enemy…] a duel. Beautiful were their battles. Deceptive (?) were their bl[ows…] work. They flew to the sky like vultures. They came down to the gro[und like…] Their attack was like the Bes-gods. They made […] like […] the Son of Sobek.”⁸⁹ We would like to know what exactly Serpot and Petekhons did that could be compared to the son of Sobek, but there are no further mentions of this in the narrative. From the remaining traces, it seems that this parti-
cular action is condemned, but at the same time the text seems to recognize the battle between the two opponents as something godlike. This accords with the Amazons being presented as “good foreigners”: in the story, they worship Egyptian gods. After Petekhons and Serpot fall in love, the female warriors fight alongside the Egyptians against an Indian army.

Lurking to kill – the crocodile as a murderer

53In other cases, the crocodile is presented simply as a predator wanting to kill. We have already seen crocodiles lurking in waters, but they could even attack from hiding places in the bushes. In the Teaching of Menena, Menena warns his readership of the crocodile called “fierce of face” (n{ꜣ}ḥꜣ-ḥr), an evil animal belonging to Seth or associated with Apophis. This name is not restricted to crocodiles – snakes are the other common recipients of this epithet.⁹⁰ In the Teaching, the student is to learn about the places where the evil crocodile could hide (l. 2-3): “I have given instruction concerning every path where the Fierce-of-Face [lurks] in the bush, saying ‘You walk without sandals, thinking that you will bring back no thorns?!’” Further sources, discussed below, talk of the crocodile as being like “the Asiatics” in their strategies of hiding in the bushes by Egyptian roads. Perhaps we can already detect this imagery here – the trickster hiding in order to ambush. The bushes point suspiciously to a landscape that is not the home of natural crocodiles, but rather metaphorical.

54Usually, crocodile attacks happen in rural areas, and not in busy cities: “A crocodile does not seize a man in the city (or from the city)”.⁹¹ Even though this is maxim is rather specific, it might also function as a proverb – things happen where things usually happen.

55In addition to the crocodile lurking in the waters, one story speaks of a crocodile that could be summoned to finish off enemies. In The Blinding of Truth by Falsehood, the son of Truth wishes for such a reptile to devour the whole family of a woman as a punishment (6, 1-2): “Your human clan should be called together, and a crocodile summoned (to reproach you)”. This almost gives the impression of the crocodile being employed as a professional killer!

56One of the most prominent narrative texts featuring a crocodile as a murderer is the story of the Doomed Prince, mentioned above for its similarities to stories of crocodile demons. In the plot, the pharaoh and his wife dearly wish for a son, but after the long-awaited offspring is finally born, the seven Hathors decree that he will either die because of a crocodile, a dog or a snake. Those three animals act as omens for three evil fates of the prince’s life (l. 4, 2-4, 4). They are not all identified as gods or demons: “[Then] His [Majesty (Life, Prosperity, Health) asked] the gods of his time for a son. So they commanded that one be born to him. Then he slept in this night with his wife. While […] pregnant. Then the Hathors came to determine his fate. They said: ‘He may die by the crocodile, or the snake, or likewise (by) the dog. Then they repeated (these words) to His Majesty (L.P.H.).” The prince himself repeats this dark prophecy in l. 7, 6.⁹²

57The prince moves to Naharina in the Levant, where he lives incognito with a faithful local princess. This dislocation does not prevent the coming of his fate, however: the crocodile settles down in a nearby lake, where it fights a demon called ‘the Strong One’ (7, 9-13):

Now, as for [the da]y when [the prince came forth from] the land of Egypt to roam about (?), the crocodile, his doom […] his […] It happened that he was near the city, where the [youth] was [with his wife, in the middle (?) of a lake]. Now, there was a ‘Strong One’ in it. The ‘Strong One’ would not let [the] crocodile go [ou]t (from it), [and] the crocodile [did not] let the ‘Strong One’ go out to roam. When the sun would rise, [they would…] stand and [fight with one] another every day, for exactly three months.

58Does the demon here act to protect the prince from the crocodile?

59In line 8, 8, another fate reveals itself: the dog tells the prince something shocking, and at the same time, the crocodile reveals to the prince that it followed him all along the way to Naharina. It tells the prince that it has been fighting the demon in a lake for three months (l. 8, 10-14): “Then he took him to the place where the ‘Strong One’ was. [… then the] crocodile [said] to the youth, ‘Hail! I am your doom who has come after you. [Each day for three months] until now I [have been] fighting with the ‘Strong One’. But see, I will release you, if you […] my […] to fight […] and you praise (?) me. Kill the ‘Strong One’! And when you see [the… see the crocodile]”.

60Unfortunately, the papyrus ends shortly after this scene – we can only deduce that the demon, the ‘Strong One’, arrives at dawn at the place where the crocodile and the prince are, most likely near the lake where the crocodile is dwelling. Does the demon rescue the prince from the crocodile, or vice versa?⁹³ From our perspective, it is noteworthy that the crocodile acts like a supernatural being, talking to humans, travelling between different countries etc., even though it is only referred to as a msḥ. This suggests to me that it, like the dog and the snake, should be understood as a demon in this story.

61The same conclusion may be applied to the crocodiles that show up in the Tale of the Two Brothers. While the protagonists, two divine brothers by the names of Bata and Anubis, fight against each other, Bata cries to Re-Harakhty for justice (6, 4-7): “Then his little brother called out to Re-Harakhty saying, ‘My perfect lord, you are the one who separates the wrongdoer from <the> righteous!’ Then Pre heard all of his prayers, and he created a great body of water between him and his older brother, filled with crocodiles, and one was on one side, and one was on the other”. Separated by a lake filled with dangerous crocodiles, neither brother could harm the other physically, and they separate after discussing their conflict and forming a pact.⁹⁴ Apparently, the sun god did not want the divine brothers to kill each other. At the story’s conclusion, both end up as rulers on the Egyptian throne. Perhaps the two brothers were separated by crocodiles so that they would not fight or kill each other like the two divine crocodiles? Let us also note here the connection between crocodiles and the god Re/Pre, whose role will be taken up again at the end of this contribution.

62Finally, two further passages from literary works present the crocodile as a murderous animal. In the complaints of Ipuwer, the prophet laments about people offering themselves to crocodiles in dark times (2, 12): “O, yet the crocodiles gorge, but do not seize, (for) men go to them themselves”. In such a world upturned, the crocodiles do not even need to lurk, trick or hunt for their pray because doomed people are committing suicide, choosing death by crocodile.⁹⁵

63The suicidal man in the Dispute of a Man with his Ba also mentions people being killed by crocodiles. The sun god Re, who was the protector of the two brothers, and the one who commanded the crocodiles, is now powerless against murder: When he rises at dawn in the western horizon, he sees that people from the lower orders have been devoured at night in the dark lakes and shores, unseen by the sun god: “His festival (or ‘his mourning’?) is near when he has seen the coming forth of the darkness of the north wind (the clouds of a northern storm?), (because) he keeps watch in his ship. Re enters (into the Western Horizon), and comes forth (in the morning), and in the meanwhile his (a little man’s) wife and children have perished in the crocodile-infested lake in the night because of the shore-dwellers (crocodiles)”.⁹⁶ This passage addresses doubts about whether the gods, even the highest one, the sun god, is able to protect mankind from nocturnal dangers, and to hear their cries of help. Once again, the crocodile serves as a fierce image of a murderer.

Metaphorical crocodiles

Evil like the crocodile: gossipers, tricksters, robbers, murderers

64In the proceeding section, we saw the characteristics attributed to crocodiles in literary texts: being a trickster, a fighter, and a murderer. It should not come as a surprise that such a character was used as a metaphor to represent human behaviour. We recognize these same characteristics, and a few others, in sources discussing Egyptians and their enemies at home and abroad, in which these groups are compared to crocodiles.

65A maxim in the Teaching of Ptahhotep deals with gossip, telling the hearer that evil talk does not come from praise. Such situations only occur when a character called the “hidden crocodile” resurfaces. Therefore, Ptahhotep instructs his student Isesi to be watchful of mistakes while writing instructive texts, and to take care for the next day:⁹⁷ “No gossip comes in the midst of praise, (but as soon as) the hidden crocodile emerges, (so too) does rejection”.⁹⁸ In this passage, we encounter another term for crocodile: kꜣp.w, “the hidden crocodile”.⁹⁹ This character is not directly connected to Khenty, but since it has a purely negative connotation, we automatically think of him. The “hidden crocodile” seems to lurk in order to attack at the perfect moment – in this context to strike with gossip.¹⁰⁰

66A more familiar image is that of the crocodile as a robber. Again in the Teaching of Ptahhotep, the act of robbing itself is discussed context of the administration: “As for a lord with (strength of) character, who is (likewise) a lord with possessions, he takes like a crocodile in the court (or ‘council’)”.¹⁰¹ This sentence is problematic, and may not even be placed in the correct position in the sources, because the other part of the maxim deals with childlessness.¹⁰² In my opinion, however, the text presents a person with a positive and strong character, who, at the same time, knows how to accumulate wealth and to act quickly within the administration. However, looking at it from another perspective, and depending on the situation, this behaviour could also be interpreted as trickery and robbery – and in the case of municipal and judicial affairs, as corruption. The context is ambivalent.

67Papyrus Rylands 9 contains the long Demotic story about the rise and fall of the house of the priestly family of Petese. The papyrus concludes with several laments on the horrible treatment of Petese and his successors as priests of Amun in the town of Teudjoy, using the crocodile demon Khenty as metaphor for a greedy person.¹⁰³ The person to whom the laments are addressed is a temple official, a singer in the sanc-
tuary; the speaker is none other than the god Amun of Teudjoy who complains about the situation (24, 9-13):

You have slaughtered them (or ‘may you slaughter them’), like all the cattle with which they were endowed. Those who survive, you leave (only to) oppress their hearts. You have not let them know their final day. Their bellies have not been robbed. Those who have become (like) crocodiles against you, the khati-demons (?) will seize him by force. Those who have not given to your sacrifice shall be robbed by the khati-demons (?). They did not act on your day of (cultic) acts. Why did you consider them? They did not act for you when they were prosperous. They are (like) herdsmen without grass. They did not act for you when they were in their time (of service?), even before the khati-demons destroyed them.

68At the end, according to Amun’s prophecy, everything will be taken away from the evil-doers by the khati-demons (the ‘Strong Ones’). They act on his behalf to undertake divine revenge. Many of the deeds described in the story, and in this lament, such as robbery and murderer, fit with the picture of Khenty.

69Another passage, in the Teaching of Ani, does not name the crocodile specifically, but is worth mentioning because the decisive word is written in one version with a classifier in the form of a crocodile. In P. Boulaq 4 ro., 15, 13,¹⁰⁴ we read: “The abomination of god is to seize in anger”. In ostracon DeM 1063, the scribe writes jṯꜣy m jꜣd.t “to seize in anger”, standing in for ꜣd.w, as , where the final sign is a crocodile.¹⁰⁵ The text here is concerned with warning the reader not to attack others in a moment of fury, but to maintain proper behaviour in the company of one’s superior. Such greedy and violent actions would only provoke the abomination of the personal god. This time, the fight is a direct and open confrontation, rather than attacking from a hidden place in muddy waters as we have witnessed the crocodile do before. But, fitting in character is the greed and the element of surprise in which the attacker strikes his opponent.

70In another instructional text, the crocodile is used as a comparison for the enemies of the Egyptians: the “Asiatics”. Just as these reptiles lurk on shores, so do the Egyptian’s opponents in the Levant hide to attack Egyptian soldiers: “The Asiatic is a crocodile on his shore. He catches (his prey) on a solitary (lit. single) path”.¹⁰⁶ This maxim is intended to warn the student against going alone on isolated paths where one might be seized and killed. With the mention of the shore the comparison alludes to the crocodile’s natural habitat.

71This element is missing in another text with a similar comparison to “the path”. In Papyrus Chester Beatty 4, a source of the Late Egyptian Miscellanies, the narrator speaks to the recipient of the teaching: “I will put you on a path that is free of cares, a bulwark (?) that protects <against> the crocodile.”.¹⁰⁷ The teacher is expressing his hope that his student will live the right way¹⁰⁸ – a way which is much better than the one in which crocodiles (or Asiatics) are waiting to kill him, a way which is sunny, but with protective shade – and separated from dangers by a palisade (?).¹⁰⁹ Both the Asiatics and the crocodile are portrayed not only as protecting their territory, but as striking simply out of a lust for murder.

72The crocodile recurs as metaphor for the threat of death in several passages from the Eloquent Peasant. Concretely, the peasant is talking about a place of refuge, a landing place on the shore of the river. This sanctuary is supposed to be a safe haven against crocodiles. Rensi, the magistrate to whom these words of the peasant are directed, is supposed to guarantee the security of this landing place: “Make (or ‘be’) a refuge, so that your levee will be sound. For behold, your wharf is infested with crocodiles.”¹¹⁰ In his tirades, the peasant appeals to Rensi’s sense of justice and conscience, because the latter took away the peasant’s goods, which he had intended to sell in the city.

73The metaphor of the landing place and the crocodile occurs again in another section of the same text:

Behold, you are a ferryman who ferries (only) one who has the fare, an honest one whose honesty has gone to pieces. Behold, you are a keeper of the storeroom who does not allow a needy man to pass at once (?). Behold you are a raptor to the ‘lapwing-people’, who lives off the humblest birds. Behold, you are a steward whose joy is to butcher, without (knowing) the mutilation (himself). Behold, you are a herdsman. It is not evil to me that you do not check, (to yourself); thereby you may suffer a loss to the hungry crocodile, for the refuge is far from the harbour of the whole country. (Oh you,) who should listen, you do not listen! Have I repelled the aggressor (or ‘crocodile’) today? And the crocodile, is he withdrawing? For what is it worth to you? (When) the hidden truth is found, the back of deception will be (thrown) on the ground. Do not plan for tomorrow before it comes! None know the trouble it will bring.¹¹¹

74In this beautiful but complex oration, the peasant is warning the magistrate of the danger of not paying attention to his business, of neglecting truth, and therefore suffering a most painful death by crocodile.¹¹²

75The peasant makes use of this imagery a third time: “Oh life-giver, do not let one die! Oh destroyer, do not let one be destroyed! Oh shade, do not be like the (scorching) sunlight! Oh refuge, do not let the crocodile catch!”¹¹³ Here, the peasant addresses Rensi as the one who sustains life and destroys evil. He even identifies him with the safe haven of the landing place, and bids him prevent the crocodile from attacking.¹¹⁴ This text presents a consistent image of the crocodile as a threat to normatively good behaviour, benevolent rulership, and of course, to Ma’at, truth and justice. It is noteworthy that in these passages, the text makes use of a generic crocodile, and not of the crocodile demon Khenty. The reason for this must lie in the fact that the peasant equates Rensi with the king in his speeches, even creating a titulary for him, and therefore the demon has no place in this context.

The Crocodile as a Bad Role Model

76In instructional texts of the New Kingdom onwards, good and bad archetypes are presented as positive and negative role models: the modest and the silent one versus the hot-tempered, greedy person; the man of the god, or the wise man, versus the enemy of the gods etc. As we might expect, the crocodile appears as a metaphor associated with the less friendly characters.

77We encounter the crocodile demon Khenty once again in a passage of the Teaching of Amenemope: “You can recognise the one who has done this on earth: he is greedy (lit. ‘Khenty’) against someone who is weak, he is an enemy who brings you (or ‘himself’) ruin, who has had the life stolen from his eye (or ‘steals life by means of/because of (the greed in) his eye’), his house is an enemy to the village, his storerooms are destroyed, his property is taken out of the hands of his children, to be given to another”.¹¹⁵ This negative character will bring about his own destruction, and that of everyone who consorts with him. The way to detect Khenty-like features is through the character’s greed.¹¹⁶

78In another passage of the same text, the crocodile is a danger to the hot-tempered one, who suffers in a storm, without help from the gods: “The storm is high, the crocodiles are evil. O hot tempered one, how goes it with you? He cries out, his voice (reaches) heaven. The moon god discovers his crime”.¹¹⁷ This evil character cries in vain to the moon god, and the crocodiles seem to be part of a set of punishments inflicted on the hot-tempered one.¹¹⁸

79In contrast, the recipient of Amenemope’s teaching should imitate the behaviour of the modest character. This would lead to a just life in under the sun god Re’s protection: “The flood has become the crest of a wave (?). The crocodiles are visible; the hippopotami are on dry land; the fish struggle (for air?, or ‘are in distress’). The wolves are sated; the birds are feasting; the fishnets are emptied. But as for every modest one in the temple, they say ‘Great is the favour of Re!’ Hold fast to the modest one, that you may find (a good) life, and that your body will be well on earth”.¹¹⁹ Once again, we see here crocodiles connected to Re, and as in the Tale of the two Brothers, Re is depicted as governing them.¹²⁰ Another figure that appears in this passage is the wolf or jackal (wnš),¹²¹ a marauding creature looking for food. It is presented as a figure in the plot which is not as evil as the crocodiles, but which has certain similarities. Both are driven away by the actions of the modest one.

80The wolf recurs in the same text when he is described as an animal whose colour is destroyed in the divine sunlight, and who holds his tail like a baby crocodile: “he destroys (or damages) his colour in (divine) sunlight, he places his tail like the young of a crocodile”.¹²² The wolf is equated with the hot-tempered one. Once again, it is the sun god Re who acts as his enemy, and puts him in this miserable condition.

81In an instructive part of the Late Egyptian Miscellanies, the hot-tempered one suffers because of his gossiping and his failure to keep silent, the appropriate behaviour. In a list of dangers inflicted upon him, the crocodile marks the climax: “The sunlight does not shine on the opposite side of him, the Nile does not flow for him, he is like a mouse in a high Nile flood. He finds no place (on which) to rest himself. The kite is ready to seize him. The crocodile is ready to suck him up”.¹²³ Again, the sun represents the sun god Re. In this passage, the hot-tempered one must fear the threat of living in darkness, on the one hand without the flood of the Nile, which means without harvests, on the other hand helpless against an overwhelming flood and against mortal enemies.

82The Demotic wisdom text from the Brooklyn Museum makes use of the imagery of the crocodile, but with a change of perspective: here, the wise man acts like a crocodile, but towards an evil character (4, 4): “A wise man, when he is completely accomplished, is (like?) a crocodile to a thief, (like?) doom for one with a crooked [heart], (like?) a male snake and a watchman for the house of the lord”. The crocodile connected to robbery is a common image, and its equation with fate is also present here – let us recall the tale of the Doomed Prince. The snake shares its reptilian nature with the crocodile, and the doorman may be compared to demons. Yet again, this combination of dangerous characters sounds familiar – but here they are on the side of good. The wise man has a similar position to that of the sun god Re in other sources – he is able to punish evil characters for their misbehaviour.¹²⁴

83In another Demotic teaching, the crocodile appears again alongside the venomous snake. The poison in her fangs or saliva corresponds to the poisoned heart of the fool – another bad character in the teachings. Moreover, like the crocodile, he does not show mercy, and no one can help him to be a better person: “A hissing snake, his venom is in his mouth; an inferior man – his poison is in his heart. He is like a murderous <snake>, he is merciless like a crocodile. The poison of the snake, crocodile (and) evil man cannot be removed”¹²⁵. Here, we encounter again the negative imagery of the crocodile, and the “sting of the tongue” might refer again to gossip.¹²⁶ Another passage of the same text warns of “hardening of character”, i.e. becoming a fool or an enemy of the gods – or, as in the terminology of the older teachings, a hot-tempered one. There will always be worse people who act like deadly crocodiles which lurk in muddy waters to strike: “The one who hardens (his) character goes (to) a bad death. There is an evil man; his silence is like a crocodile in the water. There is a fool, whose rest is like heavy lead”.¹²⁷ This passage is interesting because of the mention of the crocodile in conjunction with lead, which helps us to clarify the position of the reptile. Lead is an underworldly, chthonic metal used for curse tablets, and objects made of lead played a role in magical spells.¹²⁸ Such spells usually bind or immobilize people or things in order to perform additional magic on them, such as love charms. If the crocodile and lead belong to the same sphere, the underworld, the cold water, the darkness, death, danger and violence, it would be correct to see in him a chthonic creature. This would go together with the god Sobek’s role in preventing the solar bark, which contained the sun god Re, from stopping on its way through the underworld at night.¹²⁹ In this text, the evil characters are presented as calm and silent like the crocodile in water, but this is treacherous, like the heaviness of lead: in reality, lead is a relatively lightweight metal.¹³⁰

84Finally, bad characters such as the fool get eaten by crocodiles because they leave the ways of their cities and their gods: “The godless one, who has left the path of his city, his gods hate him. The one who loves abominable wandering, will find the punishment of the law. The crocodiles have a portion of the fools because of (their) wanderings”.¹³¹ The death of such a character by a crocodile is presented here as a logical consequence – the gods punish the fool and the godless one for other people to see and learn from their bad fate.¹³²

Crocodiles and Women

85Generally, the instructional texts address a male readership, although female recipients cannot be ruled out because of the use of the grammatical male gender as genus communis. Among them, the Demotic texts display a certain hostility towards women.¹³³ Several maxims refer to a mistrust of women, especially wives, girlfriends, and women from abroad. In the Teaching of Onkhsheshonqy (l. 22, 8), it says “When a woman loves a crocodile, she takes his character”. What does “loving a crocodile” mean? We should probably not think of women worshipping Sobek or another crocodile god, or having crocodiles as favourite animals. It rather signifies serving Khenty, the crocodile demon, and therefore committing acts of treachery, robbery and murder. This goes well with many other instances in Demotic teachings where the recipients are warned of females spending the husband’s money, gossiping behind his back, or plotting his death together with a lover. Women might be the victims of Sobek because he is known to snatch other men’s wives, using them selfishly to fulfil his pleasures¹³⁴, but they could also act like him – which implies acting like men.

Crocodilian features

Prosopography and Crocodilic Characters in Literary Texts

86In the narration of Papyrus Vandier, the pharaoh is suffering from a sudden, unknown illness – perhaps he has even been poisoned. None of his priest-magicians can help him. They can only confirm he will die within seven days. Because of their fear of the king’s anger, they reveal to him that there is another priest-magician whose existence they have kept secret: the young and talented Meryre. After a few adventures, Meryre is able to enter the Underworld and request a few more years of life for the pharaoh. This also means that Meryre has to die while the king lives. Therefore, he asks the king for some favours in exchange: the protection of his beautiful wife, his property, and the education of his son. In the course of the plot it becomes clear that the pharaoh has no intention to fulfil his promises, and violates every single one of them. The name of this king is Si-Sobek, the “Son of Sobek”. As should be clear from the texts we have analysed so far, the bad character of this king, his deeds, and his name go very well together, and cannot be a coincidence:¹³⁵ his name must have triggered a certain association with the audience. While no king with this name is known from Egyptian history, the name pattern “son of god NN” is a very common scheme, and does not have negative connotations per se. Indeed, the database Trismegistos People lists over 240 individuals with the name Si-Sobek, largely from the 3rd century BCE to the 2nd century CE, the majority of them in sources preserved in the Fayum Oasis,¹³⁶ where Sobek was the principal god.

87There is at least one other protagonist in Egyptian literature with this name – Si-Sobek (or Sa-Sobek), son of Hathor(?)hotep, whose speech survives in Middle Egyptian. The text transmitted in many fragments does not mention any crocodiles or Sobek himself, although there is a mention of a snake and a timespan of 18 years. It is not certain whether this is to be connected in any way to the king in the story of Papyrus Vandier.

88While there is a wide range of Sobek-related names, very few include the crocodile demon Khenty. Trismegistos People does not list any names where ‘Khenty’ is an element, but we do find one example in older prosopography.¹³⁷

89Clergy of Sobek appear a few times in the long petition of Papyrus Rylands 9, the story of the rise and fall of the house of Petese. There, their relationship to Sobek does not determine the character of the protagonists – Petese, son of Onkhsheshonqy,¹³⁸ Petese I,¹³⁹ Horudja,¹⁴⁰ and Nikau¹⁴¹ as priests of the crocodile god do not bear any features which could be attributed directly to their divine patron.

Huge, old, and smelly: on the appearance of crocodiles

90Crocodiles could attain impressive lengths, reach great ages, and have a peculiar, scaled skin – this makes them distinctive even today, and regrettably, attractive to the legal and illegal fashion industry. Those features were also recognized in Egyptian literary texts. We find the maxim “When a crocodile appears, his length (?) is measured” in the Teaching of Onkhsheshonqy (l. 10, 4), perhaps an expression of the need to estimate the amount of danger it could inflict upon the community, in both an actual and in a metaphorical sense.

91A section of the Satire of Trades by Cheti deals with the profession of the blacksmith – we recall that all jobs other than that of the scribe are mocked. In one passage, the readers learn that the fingers of the blacksmith turn into the “things” of the crocodile due to his work: “His fingers are like the ‘things’ of crocodiles”.¹⁴² There has been some scholarly debate which part or object (ḫ{r}.t and ḫ.t in the texts, from jḫ.t “thing”) of the crocodile is being compared to the blacksmith’s fingers. The most likely explanation, accepted by most scholars, is that jḫ.t refers to the paw of the crocodile, which has tiny webbed fingers with claws, and the characteristically leathery texture of its olive-green skin.¹⁴³

92A more intriguing comparison concerns a material. In the work on the royal hunt called Sporting King, one reads in one difficult section (l. B3, 5): “… cornucopias (?) with crocodile bone (a mineral or fruit?)”.¹⁴⁴ This occurs in a series in praise of the king’s harpoon, and in this section the sentences start with “the shaft (of the harpoon) is like…”. If the restoration is correct, a cornucopia filled with something called “crocodile’s bone” might be associated with abundance and strength, fitting with positive royal imagery.

93In the Teaching of Amenemope, the silence of a crocodile is explained by his old age: “As for the crocodile, when his cry is exhausted, his reputation has grown old (or ‘has long existed’)”.¹⁴⁵ This maxim must be understood in a metaphorical way because while Nile crocodiles can reach an old age (70-100 years), they are not known for screaming. They do snort, spit and roar while defending their territory, and their young ones utter characteristic squeaking sounds. Behind this maxim is perhaps a negative human archetype, such as the ‘hot-tempered one’ who speaks too much and gossips, but changes over the years into a more modest and quiet character such as the ‘just and silent one’ or the ‘man of the gods’; but the reason for his quietness is that he has grown old and has an established reputation. ¹⁴⁶

94Another wisdom text states that crocodiles of starvation: “A crocodile does not die of… he dies of hunger”.¹⁴⁷ We can speculate on what the missing unsuccessful cause of death is; the word ꜣrl can be translated as ‘screaming, lament’, which might suggest a similar underlying concept to that found in the passage from the Teaching of Amenemope which we have already mentioned. Other editors have suggested ‘gladness’ or ‘lust’.¹⁴⁸ Since the only crocodiles who produce much noise are juveniles squeaking for their parents, and older males fighting or attempting to attract females to mate with them, screaming is not, as we have noted, one of their characteristic forms of behaviour. Following this line of argument, the question is now how anyone could die because of screaming – could it refer to screaming for help (and not receiving any), or being detected and killed because of the noise? The sources we have already cited here show that the crocodile is a silent killer with few enemies. Whether it really died of hunger must remain questionable, too – to our current knowledge, Nile crocodiles eat a full meal only once a week, and can survive even longer periods without food.

95Another feature attributed to crocodiles is their smell. In the lament known as the Dispute of a Man with his Ba, the sick man in dispute with his ba (soul), wishes to persuade his ba of the disadvantages of his life on earth, a life he wants to terminate. In one section he makes a series of statements beginning “See, my name is notorious because…” (l. 86-103). All of these comparisons have to be interpreted in the context of death. In l. 95-97, we read: “See, my name is notorious because of you, more than the stench of crocodiles, more than sitting by the edge of shore-dwellers (crocodiles)”. The smell is due no doubt to the fact that crocodiles dwell in muddy, standing waters, among their excrement, which gave them, as with many animals, a rather unpleasant odour. Moreover, the second part of the quotation alludes to the dangerous shore zones close to those predators. Both the smell and the danger are unpleasant things and equated by the man with his dismal life on earth.¹⁴⁹

A wild animal

96The literary sources describe a wide variety of the crocodile’s features, most of them unpleasant from a human perspective. However, it is sometimes hard to distinguish between the animal and its use as a metaphor for a human of bad character. This is true especially in instructional texts from the New Kingdom onwards. Given this negative association, it should not come as a surprise that in a genre not treated here in extenso, magical spells, promise to protect the caster or his clients from these reptiles, and recipes that make use of their body parts and fluids.¹⁵⁰ The fear of crocodiles was, of course, partly irrational: crocodiles do not usually encounter humans of their own accord – humans are not a regular part of their diet, and they preferentially consume other species.¹⁵¹ But together with fishes and snakes, crocodiles belong to a sphere antagonistic to that of humans: the muddy waters, dark lakes, the Nile with its flood and other dangers. Additionally, their reptile skin, colour, sharp teeth and claws, and perhaps also their smell and their sounds were enough to alienate them from humans as disgusting and dangerous creatures. According to Sydney Aufrère, there existed simultaneously “crocodilophilic” and a “crocodilophobic” religious conceptions of the crocodile.¹⁵²

97Positively, crocodiles could serve the sun god Re, as in the Tale of the Two Brothers, the Teaching of Amenemope and the Dispute of a Man with his Ba, all discussed above.

98On the other hand, crocodile demons, and especially Khenty, had a negative role in the literary texts: they are the image of the fierce predator, the lurking trickster, and the strong fighter, ready to kill their prey. By contrast, the depiction of Sobek and the other crocodile gods is rather neutral in the sources we have analysed here: in these, people bring him offerings for good harvests and a successful royal hunt. These practices represent one way of trying to cope with the conflict between the wild and the domestic or the civilised world.