Crocodile

Edward Kenway battling a crocodile

Crocodiles are large carnivorous, aquatic reptiles with a tough hide, long snout, and a heavy tail. Native to the Caribbean and Africa, the crocodile resembles its relative, the alligator which chiefly inhabits the Louisiana Bayou.

It is a ferocious animal known for violent, apparently unprovoked attacks on humans.

History

1st century BCE

Widely endemic throughout Africa, crocodiles were historically a common sight along the Nile, ranging as far north as Lake Mareotis where they made their lairs along its banks. They were at times a menace to the Egyptians living along those shores; in 48 BCE, a group of crocodiles trapped a drunken Greek man, Klaudios, at the top of a half-submerged, broken column off the island of the Lost Crypt. The creatures, anxious to devour Klaudios, were all slaughtered by the Medjay Bayek of Siwa as he came to rescue Klaudios. Despite the inherent danger of gathering crocodile eggs, the venture was considered worthwhile, as the eggs were valued due to their observed medicinal properties, and one egg was worth 12 drachmae.

Petsuchos, a worshipped crocodile in Krokodilopolis

Despite the danger they posed, and even because of it, Egyptians worshiped crocodiles mainly in the form of the god Sobek; the most significant place of worship was the city called Krokodilopolis by the Greeks in the Faiyum Oasis. Another place of worship to Sobek was at the temple in Philae Island, south of the city of Aswan. The waters surrounding it were filled with crocodiles and at one point, after the Hidden One Khepri assassinated the Order of the Ancients member Habibah and her guards, they entered the temple and devoured the corpses found there while Khepri left.

9th century

In 824, near Fustat, a young thief working under the collector Dervis, Roshan, went out onto the Nile towards a rarely used felucca, in order to obtain a small wooden box from one of her personal stashes. However, she monitored the waters carefully for any crocodiles.

While collecting the box, Roshan waded through the water but startled one crocodile with her foot. Nervously, she evaded it and made her way towards a cattle farm. Fortunately, while she escaped the crocodile, the nearby farmers attacked and pushed back the creature back into the river, allowing Roshan to leave unnoticed.

18th century

A crocodile headdress

In the early 18th century, the pirate and Assassin Edward Kenway hunted crocodiles in the West Indies for their leather, which he used to craft a holster for his pistol and a pouch for his rope darts. Around the same time, Alonzo Batilla acquired a crocodile headdress, as the animal symbolized new beginnings and new potential to the natives of the West Indies.

Gallery

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  A crocodile lair in Ptolemaic Egypt

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Pirates
• Assassin's Creed: Origins
• Assassin's Creed: Escape Room Puzzle Book
• Assassin's Creed: Mirage – Daughter of No One
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood of Venice – Apocalypse