Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

The Metropolitan Museum of Art


    • Sobek as a crocodile, early Ptolemaic Period (ca. 304–247 b.c.)
    Egyptian
    Faience

    Gift of Norbert Schimmel Trust, 1989 (1989.281.96)

    Crocodiles were dangerous animals, but Sobek, probably the divinity depicted in this amulet, was a benevolent water deity. The Nile issuing from his sweat made the valley productive, and as a fertility god he was linked to the myth surrounding rebirth in the afterlife. The fine quality of this piece suggests it was a temple offering.

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    This work has been published in the Museum's Bulletin or Journal. These articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship.
  • Arnold, Dorothea. "An Egyptian Bestiary." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 52, no. 4 (Spring, 1995).
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  • Sobek as a crocodile, early Ptolemaic Period (ca. 304–247 b.c.)
    Egyptian
    Faience

    Gift of Norbert Schimmel Trust, 1989 (1989.281.96)