sobek: the idolatrous god of pharaoh amenemhet iii

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SOBEK: THE IDOLATROUS GOD OE PHARAOH AMENEMHET HI QUINTEN BARNEY FROM THE EDITOR: Facsimile 1 in the Pearl of Great Price notes that the crocodile was an "idolatrous god of Pharaoh." Quinten Barney has collected the already well-known (at least in Egyptological circles) instances of the crocodile's reli- gious significance in ancient Egypt and here presents the material for those of us who are not Egyptologists. 22 VOLUME 22-NUMBER 2 •2013

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Page 1: Sobek: The Idolatrous God of Pharaoh Amenemhet III

SOBEK: THE IDOLATROUS GODOE PHARAOH AMENEMHET HI

QUINTEN BARNEY

FROM THE EDITOR:

Facsimile 1 in the Pearl of Great Price notes that the crocodile was an "idolatrous god of Pharaoh." Quinten

Barney has collected the already well-known (at least in Egyptological circles) instances of the crocodile's reli-

gious significance in ancient Egypt and here presents the material for those of us who are not Egyptologists.

22 VOLUME 22-NUMBER 2 •2013

Page 2: Sobek: The Idolatrous God of Pharaoh Amenemhet III

Facsimile 1 in the Book of Abraham is the reproduction of this original fragment of Joseph Smith Papyrus I. Note the croco-dile in the lower left portion of the fragment. Joseph Smith Papyrus © By intellectual Reserve, Inc.

M any Latter-day Saint scholars have con-nected the crocodile god Sobek of Egypt'sMiddle Kingdom period with the "idolatrous

god of Pharaoh" depicted as a crocodile in Eacsimile1, figure 9, of the Book of Abraham.^ Exploring thisidentification further, I look at textual and archaeo-logical evidence that helps illuminate who Sobekwas and how he was worshipped. I also documentthat the Middle Kingdom period (in which Abrahamis thought to have lived)^ saw the Sobek cult rise inpopularity, specifically during the reign of PharaohAmenemhet III. This background study puts us in abetter position to consider whether the reptilian godSobek can be plausibly identified as the idolatrousgod of figure 9 in Eacsimile 1.

The word sobek literally means "crocodile." Whenreferring to Sobek as an Egyptian god, the word con-tains a hieroglyphic determinative of a seated god.^Sobek is depicted primarily in two ways, either as aman with a crocodile head or just simply as a croco-dile.^ His place in Egyptian worship appears to havebeen most prevalent in the Middle Kingdom, evenbefore the days of Amenemhet III. The first mentionof Sobek is in the Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts ofUnas, which refer to him by name three times.^ Thetexts speak of Unas as if he has become Sobek, theson of the war goddess Neith. Utterance 317 recountsthat Unas (Sobek) "came out of the overflow of the

flood" and that he "causes the grass to become green,"bringing "green brilliance." Thus the oldest-knowntextual evidence for Sobek associates him with waterand fertility, characteristics that, as will be shown,were of critical importance during the reign of Pha-raoh Amenemhet III.

The textual and archaeological evidence forSobek multiplies during the Middle Kingdom. TheCoffin Texts mention him by name thirty-nine differ-ent times, and cylinder seals and figurines of Sobekhave been found throughout Egypt.'' Theophoricelements in Middle Kingdom personal names—forexample, Sobekneferu ("beautiful of Sobek") andSobekhotep ("Sobek is satisfied")—further attest anincrease in Sobek's popularity, Sobekhotep beingthe name of four different rulers of the ThirteenthDynasty.''

What is this rise in Sobek's popularity attribu-ted to? One factor that cannot be ignored is therelocation of Egypt's capital. During the reign ofAmenemhet I, the capital was moved from Thebes toItjtawy, an unknown location in the Eayyum.^ TheEayyum was the only oasis in Egypt that dependedon the Nile for its fertility.' Crocodiles were mostcertainly native to the land, and a large number ofcrocodile mummies have been unearthed in the re-gion. Here, as anywhere else in Egypt, the Nile wasof extreme importance for sustaining life. Moving

Opposite page, above: This Middle Kingdom statue of the god Sobek is a careful depiction of the Nile crocodile. The statuewas found at the pharaoh's mortuary temple complex at Hawara (ca. 1820 BCI. AN1912.605 Fragment of the god Sobek, XllthDynasty, limestone. © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. Below: Nile Crocodile. Shutterstock/erllre74.

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Page 3: Sobek: The Idolatrous God of Pharaoh Amenemhet III

Amenemhet III built this pyramid at Hawara in the Fayyum;it may have been his final resting place. Shutterstock/PRILL.

away from the Nile and relying on canals and irriga-tion posed a big risk, which might explain PharaohAmenemhet Ill's careful attention to measuring thewater levels of the Nile. In addition to building canalsand retention walls, Amenemhet III had a Nilometerinstalled at the Second Cataract in order to recordthe peak water height each year." This enabled thepharaoh to estimate the coming season's harvest andunderstand the needs of the area.

Important as the construction of aqueducts andcanals were, the amount of water brought in by theNile was ultimately believed to be up to the gods,not the pharaoh. Sobek's relation with water and theNile leave no question as to why he would take onsuch an important role for Amenemhet III. Fromas early as the Pyramid Texts, we have seen thatSobek was associated with fertility and the Nile.^'The Coffin Texts, which will be discussed later, alsoestablish Sobek as being "Lord of Water."^* Withoutthe favor of Sobek, Amenemhet III believed his capi-tal and kingdom would be vulnerable to destruction.

The construction of a temple for Sobek was even-tually under way. The Hammamat Inscriptionsfrom the Twelfth Dynasty speak of a "house ofSobek" that was commissioned by the pharaoh. Inthe nineteenth year of his reign, the pharaoh sentfor material to be brought back from Hammamat to"Ankh-Amenemhet," most likely the mortuary templeof the king located in Hawara.'' The inscription readsas follows: "His majesty sent to bring for him(self)monuments from the valley of Hammamat, of beauti-ful black (basaltic) stone as far as 'Ankh-Amenemhet,'living forever and ever; at the house of Sobek of Croco-dilopolis: 10 statues of 5 cubits, upon a throne." Iffollowing the Nile, this journey would have beenroughly seven hundred miles roundtrip.

The early historian Herodotus visited the Fayyumin the fifth century and wrote of the mortuary com-plex as being "greater than can be described."^'' Henoted that it had twelve enclosed courts, as wellas fifteen hundred rooms aboveground and fifteenhundred rooms below ground level. The Egyptianswould not allow Herodotus to enter the undergroundrooms because they were "the sepulchers of the kingswho originally built [the] labyrinth, and of the sacred

crocodiles," but he was able to see the rooms above-18ground and the walls "full of sculptured figures."

Herodotus was not the only one interested in thelabyrinth at Hawara. Some of those sculptured fig-ures most likely seen by Herodotus, as well as otherimportant findings, were later excavated by FlindersPétrie between 1887 and 1911. A recent publicationby Tine Bagh shows a few of Petrie's important findsfrom his excavations of the temple complex that dateto the Twelfth Dynasty reign of Amenemhet III. Theabundance of evidence pointing to Sobek worshipled Bagh to the opinion that we should be able to"easily visualize large motifs of King Amenemhat IIIoffering to Sobek."'' Along with the many reliefs andinscription fragments that concern Sobek, Pétrie un-covered some broken pieces of stone that originallybelonged to statues of Sobek. In total, parts belong-ing to three different Sobek statues were found.^°The statues provide at least two, and possibly three,pieces of evidence that illuminate Sobek's role as agod: a feathered crown, the was scepter, and possiblyan ankh.

The feathered crown uncovered by Pétrie hastwo tall plumes (Egyptian swty) on top of a base.Bagh interpreted the base to be the "red crown ofLower Egypt" (Egyptian deshret) because of a pro-truding part sticking up out of the middle.^' Also onthis crown are the sun disk, uraeus, and cow and ramhorns. A reconstructed statue depicts Sobek with thewas scepter (representing power and dominion) aswell as an ankh (representing life).̂ "̂

In addition, Nigel Strudwick has published atranslation of a lintel inscription of Amenemhet IIIthat parallels the statues found by Pétrie in date anddesign. The lintel, which Strudwick believes to haveoriginated in the Fayyum, includes the phrase "Kingof Upper and Lower Egypt, Lord of the Two Lands,Nimaatre (Amenemhet III), Beloved of Sobek ofShedyt."^' The translation by itself is important, as itprovides evidence that the pharaoh had found favor

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in the eyes of the god and was thus seen as "beloved"of him. Also significant, and in close relation to thestatues found by Pétrie, the determinative sign follow-ing the name Sobek is not the usual crocodile. Instead,it is a crocodile adorned as the statues are with crown,sun disk, scepter, and even an ankh. These two exam-ples together attest to a powerful Sobek who overseesthe protection and life of Lower Egypt.

Archaeological evidence is not the only sourcefor understanding Sobek's importance to the Egyp-tians of the Middle Kingdom. Two textual sourcesfrom the Middle Kingdom add insight into Sobek'srole and provide more evidence that Amenemhet IIIworshipped this god. An ancient Egyptian myth inspell 158 of the Coffin Texts has Sobek playing a keyrole. Re announces that Horus is injured because hismother, Isis, has cut off his hands and cast them intothe river. Re suggests that Sobek might fish them outagain. This Sobek does by devising a fish trap to re-trieve the hands of Horus.^^

Sobek here is undoubtedly shown as havingpower over the waters. It is interesting to note thatRe himself did not retrieve the hands but summonedSobek to do it. Re later says, "Hidden are the mys-teries concerning this fish-trap," suggesting that Reis not as familiar with the things related to water asSobek is.^' This example in the Coffin Texts showsthat while Re was the solar deity, Sobek was the god

The Great Sea(Mediterranean)

LOWEREGYPT

Crocodilopolis{Inter Arsinoe)

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Egypt'sMiddle Kingdom

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LUCIDITY INFORMATION DESIGN, LLC/* Thebes

Pharaoh Amenemhet III, who was concerned with the criti-cal, life-giving water of the Nile, made the fertile Fayyum thecenter of his power. Bob Cronan, Lucidity Info Design, LLC.

of the water and thus of great importance to Amen-emhet III in his Fayyum capital.

There are two more spells, however, that addeven more compelling reasons for Amenemhet Ill'sinterest in Sobek. Both spells 268 and 285 of the Cof-fin Texts speak of "becoming Sobek, Lord of thewinding waterway."'̂ Although "winding water-way" accurately describes the Nile, that is not theonly possible interpretation. In ancient Egyptian re-ligion, when people die, their souls cross a winding

Amenemhet's name appears in the cartouches on either side of the lintel. His other royal name, Nimaatre, is centeredbetween the unusual depictions of the god Sobei<. bpk, Berlin / Aegyptisches Museum, Staatliche Museen / Art Resource, NY.

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An outstanding example of Egyptian portraiture, this is arealistic depiction of the care-worn face of Amenemhet III,a pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty. Gianni Dagli Orti / The ArtArchive at Art Resource, NY.

canal in what seems like an aquatic obstacle courseas they establish themselves in the afterlife.^'' This isof interest because suddenly Sobek becomes the lordnot only of the waterway of the Nile but also of thewinding waterway of the heavens.

Spell 636 is a spell for a man to establish himselfin the realm of the dead. It speaks of a person's "dou-ble" (or ka) as being in the water with Sobek and astraveling in the sky with him. The role of the "Lordof the winding waterway" as mentioned in spells 268and 285 is here shown as being a companion in thewater to the soul that is crossing the great waterwayof the heavens into the afterlife. These examplesfrom the Coffin Texts affirm Sobek's role in relationto the waters of the earth, but they also establishthat his role does not end there. His connectionwith the heavens and afterlife is another reasonwhy Amenemhet III would dedicate his worship toSobek, because Sobek could help the pharaoh notonly in this world but in the next world as well. Inthis light it is interesting to note that the depiction ofthe crocodile in Facsimile 1 is interpreted therein asbeing in the heavens (see the explanation in fig. 12 ofthe facsimile).

Another example of Sobek's importance to theMiddle Kingdom pharaoh comes in the form of apapyrus titled "Hymns to Sobek." This papyrus (con-taining two hymns) was found in a box with otherpapyri at the bottom of a Thirteenth Dynasty tombshaft at the Ramesseum. Translator Alan Gardiner

concluded that the hymns were copies of an origi-nal that came from the Fayyum. Addressing Sobek,these hymns contain much of what we find in thePyramid and Coffin Texts, but they also offer uniquematerial on Sobek's relationship to the pharaoh.

The hymns begin by hailing Sobek as he who"did shine forth from the Primeval Waters," followedby various other epithets referring to his power andmajesty.'̂ ' We read further of Sobek "coming whensummoned," bringing "the gods all at once," and tak-ing "rulership of heaven."'° These hymns depict areliable god ruling the heavens with authority to sum-mon all other gods to a divine council.

We find mention of the pharaoh toward the endof the first hymn:

King Amenemhet III has given this thy beautiful faceso that thou may look at thy [mother] Neith and sothat thou may show mercy to the gods. (Incense onthe fire!) It is for Sobek the Shedytite, Horus dwellingin Shedyt, lord of myrrh, delighting in the giving ofincense. May thou be merciful to King Amenemhet,through whom thy face is happy on this day.̂ '

A few interesting things about the connectionbetween Sobek and the pharaoh can be drawn fromthis passage. First, we see that Pharaoh AmenemhetIII has given Sobek a face, meaning he formed theface of Sobek through the creation of some sort ofdivine image. We note that the hymns are directedto the image of Sobek, and the parenthetical state-ment "Incense on fire!" further indicates that thisis a formal temple ceremony taking place. We caneasily visualize the possible scene in which thesehymns were involved: Pharaoh Amenemhet IIIhad instructed a statue of Sobek to be made for the"house of Sobek" located in the Fayyum. After thecompletion of this statue (or statues), Amenemhet IIIthen had hymns written in order to give praise to thegod and plea for mercy on his behalf The recitationof these hymns (presumably by the priests) and theburning of incense are key elements of an importantritual dedicated to the god Sobek. The anticipated re-sult of the ritual was the god's granting of mercy tothe pharaoh and protection and fertility for Fgypt.

The archaeological and textual evidence combineto establish the highly important role of Sobek for theMiddle Kingdom pharaoh Amenemhet III. If Abra-ham did indeed live during the Middle Kingdom, thenthe title given to the crocodile in Facsimile 1 wouldby no means be out of place. With Fgyptology beingin its infancy in Joseph Smith's day (and him lackingany education in that field), it is remarkable that Smith

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made what only in recent decades has proved to besuch a compelling connection between the crocodileand the pharaoh of Eacsimile l. This study supportsthe idea of a crocodile being an "idolatrous god ofPharaoh" during the time of Abraham, with Sobekbeing a very likely candidate. •

Quinten Barney is currently anundergraduate student seeking aBA in ancient Near Eastern stud-ies at Brigham Young University,where he has taken courses inHebrew, Egyptian, and Spanish.He currently serves on the coun-cil for BYU Students of theAncient Near East (SANE).

NOTES

1. For example, James R. Harris, Thefacsimiles of the Book of Abraham,a Study of the Joseph Smith EgyptianPapyri (Payson, UT: Harris HousePublication, 1990), 37; see also JohnGee and Stephen D. Ricks, "Needfor Historicity: Why Banishing Godfrom History Removes HistoricalObligation," in Historicity and theLatter-day Saint Scriptures, ed. Paul Y.Hoskisson (Provo, UT: BYU Reli-gious Studies Center, 2001), 78-81.Scholars have translated the god'sname variously as Sobek, Sohk, Sebek,and Suchos.

2. William F. Albright, Ephraim A.Speiser, and others have argued foran early second millennium datefor the time of Abraham, corre-sponding to the Middle Kingdomperiod (about 2055-1650 Bc). Theirarguments are conveniently gath-ered in P. Kyle McCarter Jr., "ThePatriarchal Age: Abraham, Isaacand Jacob," in Ancient Israel: FromAbraham to the Roman Destructionof the Temple, ed. Hershel Shanks(Washington, DC: Biblical Archaeol-ogy Society, 2011), 1-34.

3. See Richard H. Wilkinson, The Com-plete Gods and Goddesses of AncientEgypt (New York: Thames and Hud-son, 2003), 218; see also Raymond O.Faulkner, A Concise Dictionary ofMiddle Egyptian (Oxford: GriffithInstitute, 1962), 221.

4. Wilkinson, Gods and Goddesses, 220.5. "Utterance 308 & 317," in The Pyra-

mid of Unas, Bollingen Series XL 5,Egyptian Religious Texts and Repre-sentations, trans. Alexandre PiankofF(Princeton: Princeton UniversityPress, 1968) 3:18, 25.

6. Jean Yoyotte, "Le Soukhos de laMaréotide et d'autres cultes région-aux du Dieu-Crocodile d'après lescylindres du Moyen Fmpire," Bul-

letin de l'institut français d'archéologieorientale 56 (1957): 81-95.

7. Ian Shaw, ed.. The Oxford Historyof Ancient Egypt {Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press, 2000), 480-81.

8. Shuw, History of Ancient Egypt, 158.9. Sha.w, History of Ancient Egypt, 169.

10. See Marco Merola, "Letters to theCrocodile God," Archaeology(November-December 2007): 22-27;and Nigel Strudwick, HieroglyphDetective (San Francisco: ChronicleBooks, 2010), 104-6.

11. Fred G. Bratton, A History of Egyp-tian Archaeology (London: Hale,1967), 112.

12. At least two Egyptian gods, Sobekand Hapy, have much to do with theNile waters and fertility. Althoughthey have much in common, it isnot hard to see why Sobek tookprecedence for Amenemhet IILWhereas Hapy was associated morespecifically with the inundationof the Nile and vegetative fertility,Sobek was associated with water ingeneral (including locations wherecrocodiles would reside) and withprocreation and vegetation. SeeWilkinson, Gods and Goddesses, 106,218-19.

13. Piankoflf, "Utterance 317," 18.14. "Spell 285," in The Ancient Egyptian

Coffin Texts, trans. Raymond O.Faulkner (Warminster, Fngland:Axis and Phillips, 1973), 213.

15. Archaeological finds by Flinders Pet-rie show that epithets and reliefs ofSobek are not limited to his templein Crocodilopolis but extend to themortuary complex of Amenemhet IIIas well. See Tine Bagh, Finds fromW. M. F. Petrie's Excavations in Egyptin the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, ed. AnneMarie Nielson (Copenhagen: NyCarlsberg Glyptothek, 2011), 105-7.

16. "Hammamat Inscriptions," inAncient Records of Egypt, trans. JamesH. Breasted (Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press, 1906), 1:313. Theterm Ankh-Amenemhet is most likely

referring to the pyramid-temple atHawara. The phrase of Crocodilopolisis not used here as a proper noun toindicate the location of the temple,but as an adjective belonging toSobek.

17. David Grene, trans.. The History:Herodotus (Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 1987), 139.

18. Grene, Herodotus, 140.19. Bagh, Petrie's Excavations, 107. . ••20. Bagh, Petrie's Excavations, 109.21. Bagh, Petrie's Excavations, 110.22. J. C. Cooper, An Illustrated Encyclo-

paedia of Traditional Symbols (London:Thames and Hudson, 1978), 13,145.

23. "A Lintel of Amenemhet III," inStrudwick, Hieroglyph Detective,104-5.

24. "Spell 158," in Faulkner, Ancient -.Egyptian Coffin Texts, 136-37.

25. "Spell 158," in Faulkner, AncientEgyptian Coffin Texts, 136-37.

26. "Spell 268 & 265," in Faulkner,Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, 203-4,213.

27. For a detailed description ofthe journey of the deceased, seeGregory Shusha, Conceptions of theAfterlife in Early Civilizations (Lon-don: Continuum, 2009), 54-60.

28. Alan Gardiner, trans., "Hymns toSobk in a Ramesseum Papyrus,"Revue d'egyptologie 11/2 (1957): 43.

29. This is my own translation from thefirst column of transcription provid-ed in Gardiner, Hymns, 57. Gardinertranslates the verb as "didst arise,"while I translate it as "did shineforth" owing to the determinativefor sunlight.

30. My own translations here do notdiffer from those provided by Gar-diner. The transcriptions for theseattributes can be found in columns17, 70, and 105 of Gardiner, Hymns,57-58.

31. My own translation from thetranscription of columns 36-42 inGardiner, Hymns, 57.

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