Crocodile Mummy
Description
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, 305–30 B.C.E.. Animal remains (Nile crocodile, Crocodylus niloticus), linen, 1 3/8 x 3/4 x 12 in. (3.5 x 1.9 x 30.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1365E. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-4o-2024-08-06
Machine-generated from the object's image on May 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
A wrapped ancient Egyptian object, possibly a mummified animal or limb.
The image shows a long, slender object wrapped in aged linen bandages, characteristic of ancient Egyptian mummification practices. The bandaging is tight and displays a consistent wrapping style. The item appears to be a mummified animal, commonly found in Egyptian burial practices as offerings or for symbolic purposes. The linen has a faded, brownish hue, suggesting significant age and preservation in a dry environment.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 37.1365E tier-2
- BKM-Object 117917 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.