The Cult of the CrocodileAuthor(s): Arthur E. RobinsonSource: American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 34, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1932), p. 550Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Anthropological AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/661927Accessed: 01/11/2009 16:26

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unlessyou have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and youmay use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=black.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Blackwell Publishing and American Anthropological Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,preserve and extend access to American Anthropologist.

http://www.jstor.org

AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST

have been in a state of equilibrium for a long time. I do not think that anyone would dare state positively that earthquakes did not disturb the prehistoric inhabitants in Southern Arizona, but, personally, I think it is unlikely that they did so.

FLORENCE M. HAWLEY Arizona State Museum

Tucson, Arizona THE CULT OF THE CROCODILE

The recent discoveries by Professor Anti of Padua University at the site of Tebtunis (Fayum, Egypt) show that crocodile worship was peculiar to that place as at Kom Ombo (Upper Egypt). The site is regarded as Graeco-Roman and dates as such from the IVth century B.C. It is evident that the local deity Sebek (Sekneb- tuni or Sebek, Lord of Tunis) was adopted by the Greek colonists engaged there locally in agriculture. The exact origin of the crocodile cult is undetermined. The reptile is regarded as a symbol of fertility and also strength.1 Nilotic people seem to have regarded the reptile as a river god and there are vestiges of this belief to- day.

A fortress monastery, 400 feet by 200 feet, which was enclosed by a brick wall 13 feet thick and 20 feet high, was discovered at Tebtunis. The building was similar to the Coptic fortress monasteries so familiar to tourists on the Nile. The priests of the Tebtunis monastery appear to have practised all the arts and sciences for which their medieval Christian successors became famous in Europe. Definite traces of surgery, medicine, literature, painting etc. have been found in the dwellings.

This crocodile cult is found in many other places. The Illustrated London News of May 30, 1931 contains photographs of the sacred crocodile of Ibadan (Nigeria) which is said to be at least 150 years old and still possesses a hearty appetite.

It is a curious fact that certain natives from Argungo, near Sokoto, seem to possess the power of charming these reptiles. Pilgrims from Argungo to Mecca used to catch crocodiles in the Blue Nile (Sudan), and after killing them ate the flesh. The writer had all his servants and camel-men laid up for several days with swollen glands, which they attributed to a surfeit of crocodile flesh when traveling on the Abyssinian frontier. It is possible that strict Moslems avoid eating the flesh of the crocodile on much the same grounds that Europeans abstain from pork, Delta Nile fish, goat's milk and other recognised germ carriers in Africa.

ARTHUR E. ROBINSON 2 Brampton Road

St. Albans, Herts England

DISCOVERIES IN PALESTINE

Tell-el-Ajjul It gave us much pleasure to renew our personal acquaintance with Sir Flinders

Petrie at his recent exhibition at London University College. 1 When I was in Nubia the ovaries of the crocodile were publicly sold and eaten as aphro-

disiacs and a cure for barren women. H. E. R.

have been in a state of equilibrium for a long time. I do not think that anyone would dare state positively that earthquakes did not disturb the prehistoric inhabitants in Southern Arizona, but, personally, I think it is unlikely that they did so.

FLORENCE M. HAWLEY Arizona State Museum

Tucson, Arizona THE CULT OF THE CROCODILE

The recent discoveries by Professor Anti of Padua University at the site of Tebtunis (Fayum, Egypt) show that crocodile worship was peculiar to that place as at Kom Ombo (Upper Egypt). The site is regarded as Graeco-Roman and dates as such from the IVth century B.C. It is evident that the local deity Sebek (Sekneb- tuni or Sebek, Lord of Tunis) was adopted by the Greek colonists engaged there locally in agriculture. The exact origin of the crocodile cult is undetermined. The reptile is regarded as a symbol of fertility and also strength.1 Nilotic people seem to have regarded the reptile as a river god and there are vestiges of this belief to- day.

A fortress monastery, 400 feet by 200 feet, which was enclosed by a brick wall 13 feet thick and 20 feet high, was discovered at Tebtunis. The building was similar to the Coptic fortress monasteries so familiar to tourists on the Nile. The priests of the Tebtunis monastery appear to have practised all the arts and sciences for which their medieval Christian successors became famous in Europe. Definite traces of surgery, medicine, literature, painting etc. have been found in the dwellings.

This crocodile cult is found in many other places. The Illustrated London News of May 30, 1931 contains photographs of the sacred crocodile of Ibadan (Nigeria) which is said to be at least 150 years old and still possesses a hearty appetite.

It is a curious fact that certain natives from Argungo, near Sokoto, seem to possess the power of charming these reptiles. Pilgrims from Argungo to Mecca used to catch crocodiles in the Blue Nile (Sudan), and after killing them ate the flesh. The writer had all his servants and camel-men laid up for several days with swollen glands, which they attributed to a surfeit of crocodile flesh when traveling on the Abyssinian frontier. It is possible that strict Moslems avoid eating the flesh of the crocodile on much the same grounds that Europeans abstain from pork, Delta Nile fish, goat's milk and other recognised germ carriers in Africa.

ARTHUR E. ROBINSON 2 Brampton Road

St. Albans, Herts England

DISCOVERIES IN PALESTINE

Tell-el-Ajjul It gave us much pleasure to renew our personal acquaintance with Sir Flinders

Petrie at his recent exhibition at London University College. 1 When I was in Nubia the ovaries of the crocodile were publicly sold and eaten as aphro-

disiacs and a cure for barren women. H. E. R.

have been in a state of equilibrium for a long time. I do not think that anyone would dare state positively that earthquakes did not disturb the prehistoric inhabitants in Southern Arizona, but, personally, I think it is unlikely that they did so.

FLORENCE M. HAWLEY Arizona State Museum

Tucson, Arizona THE CULT OF THE CROCODILE

The recent discoveries by Professor Anti of Padua University at the site of Tebtunis (Fayum, Egypt) show that crocodile worship was peculiar to that place as at Kom Ombo (Upper Egypt). The site is regarded as Graeco-Roman and dates as such from the IVth century B.C. It is evident that the local deity Sebek (Sekneb- tuni or Sebek, Lord of Tunis) was adopted by the Greek colonists engaged there locally in agriculture. The exact origin of the crocodile cult is undetermined. The reptile is regarded as a symbol of fertility and also strength.1 Nilotic people seem to have regarded the reptile as a river god and there are vestiges of this belief to- day.

A fortress monastery, 400 feet by 200 feet, which was enclosed by a brick wall 13 feet thick and 20 feet high, was discovered at Tebtunis. The building was similar to the Coptic fortress monasteries so familiar to tourists on the Nile. The priests of the Tebtunis monastery appear to have practised all the arts and sciences for which their medieval Christian successors became famous in Europe. Definite traces of surgery, medicine, literature, painting etc. have been found in the dwellings.

This crocodile cult is found in many other places. The Illustrated London News of May 30, 1931 contains photographs of the sacred crocodile of Ibadan (Nigeria) which is said to be at least 150 years old and still possesses a hearty appetite.

It is a curious fact that certain natives from Argungo, near Sokoto, seem to possess the power of charming these reptiles. Pilgrims from Argungo to Mecca used to catch crocodiles in the Blue Nile (Sudan), and after killing them ate the flesh. The writer had all his servants and camel-men laid up for several days with swollen glands, which they attributed to a surfeit of crocodile flesh when traveling on the Abyssinian frontier. It is possible that strict Moslems avoid eating the flesh of the crocodile on much the same grounds that Europeans abstain from pork, Delta Nile fish, goat's milk and other recognised germ carriers in Africa.

ARTHUR E. ROBINSON 2 Brampton Road

St. Albans, Herts England

DISCOVERIES IN PALESTINE

Tell-el-Ajjul It gave us much pleasure to renew our personal acquaintance with Sir Flinders

Petrie at his recent exhibition at London University College. 1 When I was in Nubia the ovaries of the crocodile were publicly sold and eaten as aphro-

disiacs and a cure for barren women. H. E. R.

[N. S., 34, 1932 [N. S., 34, 1932 [N. S., 34, 1932 550 550 550

Article Contentsp.550

Issue Table of ContentsAmerican Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 34, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1932), pp. 365-556Front Matter [pp.539-544]Some Problems of Far Eastern Archaeology [pp.365-376]The Kinship Nomenclature of the Pueblo Indians [pp.377-389]Navaho Dreams [pp.390-405]The Algonkin Sequence in New York [pp.406-414]The Native Music of American Samoa [pp.415-417]The Age of Lead Glaze Decorated Pottery in the Southwest [pp.418-425]The First Salmon Ceremony of the Karuk Indians [pp.426-440]Sorcery at Ongtong Java [pp.441-448]A Maya Calendar from the Alta Vera Paz, Guatemala [pp.449-454]The Problem of the Culture from the Arvilla Gravel Pit [pp.455-466]Unilateral Organizations in Mexico [pp.467-475]Reports [pp.476-515]Book ReviewsMethods and Principlesuntitled [p.516]untitled [p.517]untitled [pp.517-520]untitled [p.520]untitled [pp.520-521]

Africauntitled [pp.522-524]untitled [pp.524-527]

The American Negrountitled [pp.527-528]untitled [pp.528-530]

North Americauntitled [pp.530-531]untitled [p.532]untitled [pp.532-533]untitled [p.534]

South Americauntitled [pp.534-535]

Miscellaneousuntitled [pp.536-537]untitled [pp.537-538]untitled [p.538]

Discussion and CorrespondenceThe Race Called Neandertal [pp.545-546]On Primitive Music [pp.546-548]Prehistoric Pottery and Culture Relations in the Middle Gila [pp.548-550]The Cult of the Crocodile [p.550]Discoveries in Palestine [pp.550-551]Letters [pp.551-552]

Anthropological Notes and News [pp.553-556]Back Matter