Sobek

Seth sent danger against the infant Horus while Isis raised him in the marshes. Horus was the son of Isis and Osiris, whose body Seth was held responsible for mutilating. Isis had to protect her child while remaining absent at times, so other deities guarded and nourished him. Sobek, Lord of the Marsh and Lord of the Nile, watched over the places where Horus was hidden. His power over the waters helped the child survive Seth’s attacks. No surviving primary source records Sobek rescuing Horus in a single episode.

The dangers came through animals sent against Horus. In early versions, the young god defeated snakes by his own power. Later accounts made him more vulnerable. A snake or scorpion poisoned him, and Isis lamented over her dying child. She appealed to the gods for help. In some spells, she called on Nut and Geb. In others, she challenged the creator sun god to save the innocent Horus. The sun god sent one of his manifestations or attendants, and Thoth was sent to heal the child. Sobek and the other protective deities continued to keep Horus safe in the marshes.

When Horus grew up, he sought vengeance for Osiris and claimed his father’s right to rule. He brought his case before a divine tribunal, presided over by Ra or Geb. Isis, Thoth and Anubis supported him. Horus said that he should succeed Osiris and that Seth was a usurper, but the gods struggled to settle the dispute. The quarrel became a violent conflict. In one episode, Horus wounded Seth in the testicles. In another tradition, Horus, son of Isis, harpooned Seth in the form of a hippopotamus and drove him and his followers out of Egypt after battles on land and water. Sobek’s protection had kept Horus alive until he could defend his claim to Osiris’s succession.