| “ | For Sebek, the Crocodile God of the Nile, had the body of a man, the head of a crocodile, and the lustful appetites of both. | „ | |
| ~ Robert Bloch, "The Secret of Sebek" |
Sebek is a crocodile-headed god of Ancient Egypt, incorporated into the Cthulhu Mythos by Robert Bloch. Bloch first mentions the deity in "The Suicide in the Study", published in June 1935; the god himself makes an appearance in "The Secret of Sebek", which appeared in the November 1937 issue of Weird Tales.
Egyptian Mythology[]
Sebek was an Egyptian god worshipped in the form of a Nile crocodile, or of a man with a crocodile's head. He was a god of fertility and war, and was often invoked for protection.
Sebek was worshipped in Egypt from the Old Kingdom (c. 2700 BCE) through the Roman era (until 350 CE), and was a particularly important god during the 12th Dynasty (roughly 2000-1800 BCE). The center of Sebek's worship was the Egyptian region of Faiyum, with its capital at Crocodilopolis.
Sebek's name is also given as Sobek or Sobki; it is spelled SBK in hieroglyphics, and scholars can only guess at the actual vowels.
Behind the Mythos[]
Bloch featured Sebek in the story "The Secret of Sebek", and mentioned him in "The Suicide in the Study" (where the wizard James Allington focuses his will using "the Soul Chant of Sebek as a focal point"), "The Faceless God", "Fane of the Black Pharaoh", and "The Eyes of the Mummy".
In these early Mythos stories, which Robert M. Price calls "The Egyptian tales of Robert Bloch"[1], Egyptian deities such as Bast ("The Brood of Bubastis"), Anubis ("The Opener of the Way"), and Sebek are treated as Great Old Ones alongside mythos deities, particularly Nyarlathotep.
Description[]
Bloch describes Sebek in "The Secret of Sebek", when the god incarnates at a New Orleans Mardi Gras party:
A slanted, saurian skull, all green and scaly on top; hairless, slimy, slick and nauseous. Great bony ridges socketed the embered eyes, staring from behind a sickening sweep of long, reptilian snout. A rugose muzzle, with great champing jaws half opened to reveal a lolling pinkish tongue and scummy teeth of stilleto-like sharpness.
The incarnation wears a "long white robe" that "concealed a body whose contours were elusively problematical"; "taloned hands" with "jeweled fingers" held a rod of gold, marked with the Eye of Horus.
Gallery[]
