Crocodile Mummy
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Object Label
The Egyptians offered crocodile mummies to the god Sobek to request his help with life’s daily problems. Juvenile crocodiles were used in this practice because the full-grown adults were so dangerous.
The ancient Greek historian Herodotus devoted two chapters of his history of Egypt to crocodile worship. For the Greeks, this was an especially exotic element of Egyptian religion.
Caption
Crocodile Mummy, 664–30 B.C.E.. Animal remains (Nile crocodile, Crocodylus niloticus), linen, wood, 15/16 x 1 3/8 x 13 in. (2.4 x 3.5 x 33 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.2042.24E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth, photographer), 37.2042.24E_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Gallery
Not on view
Title
Crocodile Mummy
Date
664–30 B.C.E.
Dynasty
Dynasty 26, or later
Period
Late Period to Ptolemaic Period
Medium
Animal remains (Nile crocodile, Crocodylus niloticus), linen, wood
Classification
Dimensions
15/16 x 1 3/8 x 13 in. (2.4 x 3.5 x 33 cm)
Credit Line
Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
Accession Number
37.2042.24E
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
Who did the crocodile get offered to?
The god Sobek, who was associated with military power, and fertility. Most animals who live in the Nile are associated with fertility, because the river is the source of all life in Egypt.Tell me more.
This juvenile crocodile was mummified in place of a fully grown animal because it was much safer to do so!Wow!Crocodiles, like most animals who live in the Nile River, were associated with fertility.
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