Crocodile (also read as Shendjw
) is the provisional name of a predynastic ruler, who might have ruled during the late
Naqada III
Naqada III is the last phase of the Naqada culture of ancient Egyptian prehistory, dating from approximately 3200 to 3000 BC. It is the period during which the process of state formation, which began in Naqada II, became highly visible, ...
epoch. The few alleged
ink
Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. Thicker ...
inscriptions showing his name are drawn very sloppily, and the reading and thus whole existence of king "Crocodile" are highly disputed. His tomb is unknown.
Name sources
The proposed existence of Crocodile is based on
Günter Dreyer
Günter Dreyer (5 October 1943 – 12 March 2019) was an Egyptologist at the German Archaeological Institute. In southern Egypt, Dreyer discovered records of linen and oil deliveries which have been carbon-dated to between 3300 BCE and 3200 BCE, ...
's and
Edwin van den Brink's essays. They are convinced that Crocodile was a local king who ruled at the region of
Tarkhan
Tarkhan ( otk, 𐱃𐰺𐰴𐰣, Tarqan, mn, or ; fa, ترخان; ; ar , طرخان; alternative spellings ''Tarkan'', ''Tarkhaan'', ''Tarqan'', ''Tarchan'', ''Turxan'', ''Tarcan'', ''Turgan, Tárkány, Tarján'') is an ancient Central Asia ...
. According to Dreyer, Crocodile's name appears in black ink inscriptions on burnt earthen jars and on several seal impressions found in tomb TT 1549 at Tarkhan and tomb B-414 at
Abydos. He sees a crawling crocodile and a rope curl beneath it and reads ''Shendjw'' ("the subduer").
Van den Brink thinks alike and reads ''Shendjw'', too, but sees only a large rope curl sign inside the
serekh
In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a serekh is a rectangular enclosure representing the niched or gated façade of a palace surmounted by (usually) the Horus falcon, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The serekh was the earliest conven ...
.
Reign and datation
Almost nothing is known about Crocodile's reign. If he existed, he might have had his capital at Tarkhan, where his proposed tomb was excavated. Dreyer places him in a time shortly before the kings
Iry-Hor
Iry-Hor (or Ro) was a predynastic pharaoh of Upper Egypt during the 32nd century BC. Excavations at Abydos in the 1980s and 1990s and the discovery in 2012 of an inscription of Iry-Hor in the Sinai confirmed his existence. Iry-Hor is the earlie ...
,
Ka and
Narmer
Narmer ( egy, Wiktionary:nꜥr-mr, nꜥr-mr, meaning "painful catfish," "stinging catfish," "harsh catfish," or "fierce catfish;" ) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the Early Dynastic Period (Egypt), Early Dynastic Period. He was the successor ...
. He points to guiding inscriptions on the jars mentioning a ''Hen-mehw'' ("brought from Lower Egypt"). This specific diction of designations of origin is archaeologically proven for the time before three mentioned kings, from King Ka onward, it was ''Inj-mehw'' (with the same meaning).
One artifact that possibly depicts King Crocodile, was found at
Hierakonpolis
Nekhen ( egy, nḫn, ); in grc, Ἱεράκων πόλις Hierakonpolis ( either: City of the Hawk, or City of the Falcon, a reference to Horus or ''Hierakōn polis'' "Hawk City" in arz, الكوم الأحمر, el-Kōm el-Aḥmar, lit=the ...
in the so-called ''Main deposit''. The artifact is a piece of a broken mace head which shows traces of a once completed relief scene. The conserved part of the relief shows the head and upper torso of a seated king figure inside a
''hebsed''-pavilion. It wears the White Crown of Upper Egypt, a ''hebsed'' cloak and a flail. Right before the face of the king traces of a golden rosette (the predynastic crest of the kings) and a certain hieroglyph are visible. All but the hieroglyph are damaged, leaving room for interpretations. Mainstream Egyptologists consider the sign to be either the name of Crocodile or King
Scorpion II
Scorpion II ( Ancient Egyptian: possibly Selk or Weha), also known as King Scorpion, was a ruler during the Protodynastic Period of Upper Egypt (c. ).
Identity
Name
King Scorpion's name and title are of great dispute in modern Egyptol ...
.
A clay seal impression from
Minshat Abu Omar
Minshat Abu Omar (also written Minschat Abu Omar; Arab. Minshāt Abū 'Umar) is an important archaeological site in Northern Egypt. It lies around 93.21 miles north-east of Cairo in the Nile delta. Minshat Abu Omar contains several cemeteries ...
is also of special interest to Egyptologists: in the centre of the impression it shows a ''
serekh
In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a serekh is a rectangular enclosure representing the niched or gated façade of a palace surmounted by (usually) the Horus falcon, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The serekh was the earliest conven ...
''-like frame with a
bucranium
Bucranium (plural ''bucrania''; Latin, from Greek ''βουκράνιον'', referring to the skull of an ox) was a form of carved decoration commonly used in Classical architecture. The name is generally considered to originate with the practic ...
above and a crocodile crawling through grass inside. Right of this crest a divine standard is depicted, a recumbent crocodile with two projectings (either
lotus buds
or ostrich feathers) sprouting out of its back and is sitting on that standard. The whole arrangement is surrounded by rows of crocodiles with rope curls beneath, which seems to point to the proposed reading of Crocodile's royal ''serekh''. But Egyptologists Van den Brink and
Ludwig David Morenz
Ludwig David Morenz (born 4 April 1965) is German professor in Egyptology at the University of Bonn.Tait (2003), p. xi-x. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Leipzig and Habilitation from the University of Tübingen. His fields of research ...
argue against the idea that the seal impression talks about the ruler. In their opinion, the inscription celebrates the foundation of a shrine for the god
Sobek
Sobek (also called Sebek or Sobki, cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲕ, Souk) was an ancient Egyptian deity with a complex and elastic history and nature. He is associated with the Nile crocodile or the West African crocodile and is represented either in its f ...
at a city named ''Shedyt'' (alternatively ''Shedet'').
[ The city and the shrine are known from ]Old Kingdom
In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...
inscriptions; the main cult centre was located at Medinet el-Fayum
Faiyum ( ar, الفيوم ' , borrowed from cop, ̀Ⲫⲓⲟⲙ or Ⲫⲓⲱⲙ ' from egy, pꜣ ym "the Sea, Lake") is a city in Middle Egypt. Located southwest of Cairo, in the Faiyum Oasis, it is the capital of the modern Faiyum ...
. For this reason, Sobek was worshipped during early dynasties as "Sobek of Shedyt".
See also
* List of pharaohs
The title "Pharaoh" is used for those rulers of Ancient Egypt who ruled after the unification of Upper Egypt, Upper and Lower Egypt by Narmer during the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt, Early Dynastic Period, approximately 3100 BC. However, the s ...
References
{{Pharaohs
32nd-century BC Pharaohs
Naqada III