The Crocodile
Sobek, Leviathan
The devouring jaws of the depths.
The Crocodile: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
The cold-blooded animals, the reptiles above all, stood for Jung among the deepest images of instinct, furthest from consciousness and hardest to reach; the great reptile of the river is the devouring side of the depths, which takes what comes too near.
Egypt made it a god, Sobek, and set a crocodile-headed beast, Ammit, beside the scales of judgment, to devour the hearts found wanting.
The Crocodile: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Sobek of the Nile; Ammit; Leviathan of Job, which some read as the crocodile; the crocodile tears of the bestiaries.
From the Sources
This chapter of the Book of the Dead asks protection for 'this Great one' from four crocodiles 'who devour the dead and live by the Words of Power'.
“O Son who conversest with thy father, do thou protect this Great one from these four(2.) crocodiles here who devour the dead and live by the Words of Power.”
Sir P. Le Page Renouf; E. Naville, The Egyptian Book of the Dead: Translation and Commentary, Chapter XXXII, "Chapter whereby the Crocodiles are repulsed". By the late Sir P. Le Page Renouf, Knt., continued and completed by Prof. E. Naville; privately printed for the Society of Biblical Archaeology, London, 1904. The text, read in part
Herodotus describes the crocodile's large tusky teeth and says that, unlike all other beasts, it does not move its lower jaw but brings the upper jaw towards the lower.
“He has eyes like those of a pig and teeth large and tusky, in proportion to the size of his body; but unlike all other beasts he grows no tongue, neither does he move his lower jaw, but brings the upper jaw towards the lower”
Herodotus, The History of Herodotus, Volume I, Book II, section 68. Translated into English by G. C. Macaulay; prepared from an edition dated 1890, published by MacMillan and Co., London and New York. The text, read in part
Each passage is quoted from the text named, which the press fetched and read, and was checked word for word against a fresh copy of it; the link opens that copy. Passages are given as printed, without the editors’ footnote numbers, and with words broken across lines joined.
Where to Read
- Symbols of Transformation, CW 5
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
Also among Creatures of the Water
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Crocodile.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/crocodile.
Nearby in the alphabet: The Crab: Moving backward: the pull of the past, with a way forward hidden in it. The Creation: The world, and consciousness, coming into being. The Cross: Two ways crossing at a centre. The Crossroads: Where the ways divide and a choice is forced.