Egyptians lived with crocodiles daily—on fields, ferries, and fishing boats—so they gave the predator a god’s face: Sobek, lord of the Nile’s strength and fertility. In the Faiyum’s Crocodilopolis (Shedet/Arsinoë), visitors met the Petsuchos, a temple‑kept crocodile that priests adorned and fed—Strabo says with honeyed cakes and wine—as a living incarnation of Sobek. When a sacred animal died, it was treated like royalty: wrapped in linen, coated with resins, and entombed. Excavations at Tebtuni