Egyptian crocodile god. Sobek symbolized the might of the Egyptian pharaohs. Son of Neith. Depicted as a crocodile or in human form with the head of a crocodile, crowned either by a pair of plumes or sometimes by a combination of the solar disk and the uraeus, a cobra. Sobek was worshipped to appease him and his animals. According to some evidence, Sobek was considered a fourfold deity who represented the four elemental gods; Ra of fire, Shu of air, Geb of earth, and Osiris of water. In the Book of the Dead, Sobek assists in the birth of Horus; he fetches Isis and Nephthys to protect the deceased; and he aids in the destruction of Set.
His cult was widespread, although the Faiyum was particularly noted as a center of his worship, where one of the towns, Arsinoe, came to be called ‘Crocodilopolis’ by the Greeks. Kom Ombo (north of modern Aswan) and Thebes in Upper Egypt later became centers of his cult as well.