The Temple of Kom-Ombo

The Temple of Kom-Ombo

Location:

Kom Ombo, Egypt

How to get there:

From outside Egypt
International flights to Cairo, or via Cairo and Luxor to Aswan and Abu Simbel. Contact your travel agent for details.

From Cairo
By air: [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] Tel: +20-2-5750600 (Cairo)

ZAS:
Tel: +20-2-2918030 (Novotel, Cairo)

By rail
Wagons-lits and other trains depart from Ramses Station. For air-conditioned express trains with a restaurant car, contact Wagons-Iits. Tel: +20-2-3492365.

Overland by bus or service taxi from the Ahmed Helmi terminal, near Ramses Station.
Tel: +20-2-3646658.

Cruises down the Nile, with accommodation en route, can be arranged through your travel agent.

Description

Located in the town of Kom-Ombo, about 28 miles north of Aswan, the Temple, dating to the Ptolemies, is built on a high dune overlooking the Nile. The actual temple was started by Ptolemy VI Philometor in the early second century BC. Ptolemy XIII built the outer and inner hypostyle halls. The outer enclosure wall and part of the court were built by Augustus sometime after 30 BC, and are mostly gone. There are also tombs from the Old Kingdom in the vicinity of Kom-Ombo village.

The Temple known as Kom Ombo is actually two temples consisting of a Temple to Sobek and a Temple of Haroeris. In ancient times, sacred crocodiles basked in the sun on the river bank near here. The Temple has scant remains, due first to the changing Nile, then the Copts who once used it as a church, and finally by builders who used the stones for new buildings.

Everything is duplicated along the main axis. There are two entrances, two courts, two colonades, two hypostyle halls and two sanctuaries. There were probably even two sets of priests. The left, or northern side is dedicated to Haroeris (sometimes called Harer, Horus the Elder) who was the falcon headed sky god and the right to Sobek (the corcodile headed god). The two gods are accompanied by their families. They include Haroeris' wife named Tesentnefert, meaning the good sister and his son, Panebtawy. Sobeck likewise is accompanied by his consort, Hathor and son, Khonsu.

Foundations are all that are left of the original Pylon. Beyond the Pylon, there was once a staircase in the court that lead to a roof terrace. The court has a columned portico and central altar. There is a scene of the King leaving his palace escorted by standards. Near the sanctuary is a purification scene. On either side of the door to the pronaos are columns inscribed with icons of the lotus (south) and papyrus (north), symbolizing the 'two lands' of Egypt.

In the southwest corner of the pronaos is the one column that does not echo the duality of the temples. Here, there are scenes depicting purification of the King, his coronation and his consecration of the Temple. The ceiling has astronomical images.

The hypostyle hall has papyrus capitals on the columns. Here, there is an inventory of the scared places of Egypt, the gods of the main towns and the local and national festivals.

In the anti chamber, there are scenes depicting the goddess Seshat launching the building of the temple, followed by a scene of the completed temple with the king throwing natron in a purification ceremony. The staircase leading to the roof is all that remains of the offering hall.

Statues to the gods and the builders of the temple once occupied the net room just before the sanctuaries. The ceiling of the pure place to the north still remains with an image of Nut. There is little left of the sanctuaries

Kom Ombo and the Temple of Sobek and Haroeris
by Mark Andrews
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]

Kom Ombo stands on a promontory at a bend in the [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], at the north end of the largest area of agricultural land south of [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], between [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] and [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]. Situated on a plateau cut by two long dry streams which isolated the site, it provides one of the most spectacular settings of any of Egypt's river [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]. The temple was located in the ancient city of Pa-Sebek, "the Domain of Sobek", who was the crocodile god worshipped since the [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط].

The Kom Ombo basin has significance in the Nile Valley archaeology of the Late (Upper) Paleolithic (c. 15,000-12,000 BC). In the 1920s, Edmun Vignard identified and excavated prehistoric sites having a stone working industry he named Sebilian. Vignard's work has been revised by that of P. E. L. Smith and Fekri Hassan, who have also identified two other industries in the region, Silsillian and Sebekian, which appear to have coexisted with the Sebilian.

Little is known of the town during the Dynastic Period, and there has actually been little excavation of the ancient site beyond the clearance of the temple. Changes in agricultural techniques brought the city to prominence in the [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], to which almost all the visible monuments date. An [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] gateway was, however, seen by [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] in the south enclosure wall, and scattered New Kingdom blocks have been found on the site. Hence, there is believed to have been a [url=http://www.touregypt.net/ehistory.htm#New Kingdom]New Kingdom[/url] predecessor to the Greek and Roman structure. However, part of the temple forecourt has been eroded by the river, which may also have carried off other features (though modern control of the river has checked the threat of further damage). The mound behind the enclosure contains shards of the [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], showing that the site is far more ancient than the sacred enclosure, which is all that has been explored.

In later times, Kom Ombo was situated at the terminus of two caravan routes, one running westward through the Kurkur Oasis to Tomas in [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], while the other ran from [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] through the Eastern Desert, regaining the Nile at Berber. Those routes were regularly used during early modern times, although how old they are is uncertain.

The earliest king named in the temple at Kom Ombo is [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], though most of the decoration was completed by [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]. In the early [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] the forecourt was decorated and the outer corridor added.

The structure is built of local sandstone from [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]. Apparently, troops stationed at Kom Ombo (it was a training ground for African elephants used by the army during the [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]) built much of the temple. The use of elephants was actually a Ptolemaic innovation, as was the use of camels in Egypt.

Plan of the Temple Complex at Kom Ombo

Although the layout of the temple is similar to that of [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] or [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], it is somewhat smaller and has a very pleasing architectural elegance based on the careful planning of its architects. The temple is oriented east to west according to the "local north" determined by the river, and today the temple is entered through the remains of the Ptolemaic portal at the southwest of the precinct.

The main temple at Kom Ombo, originally cleared of debris by [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] in 1893, is dedicated to two triads of deities. One set consists of [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] and their child [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], while the other consists of [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] (Harwer-equated with Apollo, or Horus the Elder), [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] (the Perfect Companion) and their child [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] (the Lord of the Two Lands). The last two have artificial names that express the goddess's function in such a group as a "consort," and the young god's to be kingly. Of course, the two most important gods were Sobek, whose part of the temple is on the south and Horus the Elder, whose part of the temple is on the north, to which the temple was dedicated equally. This was why the temple was called both "House of the Crocodile" and "Castle of the Falcon".

Overall, the relief sculpture is typical of the [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] and [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], with very deeply carved sunken reliefs on the exterior walls and columns, and fine quality bas-relief on the interior walls. Much of the relief is covered with a very thin layer of plaster, and the original color survives in many places. The decorations of the inner rooms depict [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] and Cleopatra II, and [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] with Cleopatra II and Cleopatra III.

The birth house, nearest to the river, has lost its western half, so little of it remains. However, the architects of Napoleon's expedition did find preserved the four [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] and considerable parts of the walls of the birth house, with their splendid relief of [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]. The building measured 18 by 23 meters and was nine meters high. The plan was that of an ordinary temple with a room for visiting gods, an offering hall and a sanctuary that was laterally isolated. The platform commonly found at birth houses existed, but the equally typical ambulatory, which was included in the birth houses of Ptolemy VIII at [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] and [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], was apparently omitted. Therefore, it more closely resembled birth houses of the [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]. The birth house abuts closely on the pylon of the main temple, perhaps because space was short in antiquity (the temple's rear is similarly cramped against the enclosure wall). Like elsewhere, the birth house is situated right of, and at a right angle to the main temple. It sits very near the gate of [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] "Auletes", the "flute player".

The small [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] shrine of [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] east of the courtyard long stored the mummies of sacred crocodiles from a nearby necropolis, as they are today in clay coffins. There is also a well west of the temple which is complex in design and, because of the temple's elevation above the river, very deep. Like other wells in temple enclosures, it allowed pure water, in theory from the primeval waters themselves, to be drawn within the sacred area, avoiding pollution from the outside world. Near the well is also a small pond where live crocodiles are believed to have been raised.

From the first hypostyle hall runs a corridor that encloses the entire inner part of the temple and contains a number of small chambers at the back. This is enclosed in turn by a second, three meter thick wall and corridor that take in the courtyard. Thus the double axis goes together with other dual features.

The pylon entrance in the outer enclosure wall to the main temple had a double gateway, 14.5 meters wide and approximately 15.75 meters high, that is the first sign of a complex plan with an axis for each main gateway. This impressive structure could be climbed through a staircase in the west wall. However, all that is left of the great entrance pylon is the right hand part, where the Roman emperor Domitian can be seen with various gods rendering homage to the triad of [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] and [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], together with a long text of 52 lines in hieroglyphics

The whole temple reflects its dual ownership, and even the Roman forecourt built by [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] within the pylon was divided into equal shares for [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] (east side) and [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]. In fact, an altar base is situated in the court's center with small basins, meant to receive libations, sunk into the ground at each side for the respective gods. The court was surrounded in the south, west and north by colonnades (sixteen total columns). The western colonnade was divided into two by the double gate. The north and south colonnades ended before reaching the hypostyle hall. The relief carvings on some of the surviving columns of the colonnade along the forecourt's sides are well preserved and many maintain their original coloring. Many depict images of the Roman emperor [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط].

Beyond the forecourt, the facade of the hypostyle hall built by [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], with its intercolumnar screen walls and small side doors for use by the priests, is typical of its period. On either side of the doors, Ptolemy XII Neo Dionysos is shown purified by [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] and [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] (in the part on the left) and by Horus, Thoth and [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] on the right. The capitals of the columns within, arranged in two rows of five free standing columns, are often wrought with ingenious compound forms. As would be expected, the decoration of the hall and remaining parts of the temple is divided between the two gods, with scenes of Sobek on the east and Haroeris on the west. The ceiling is decorated with astronomical scenes, with the vulture, the symbol of [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] and [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]. The column shafts are all carved with reliefs: above with a band of hieroglyphs with the symbol of life (ankh) and below with the pharaoh rendering homage to the various gods. Some reliefs in the first hypostyle hall use the ancient technique of inlaying the eyes of the most important figures. The inlays, which must have given a special opulence and liveliness to the figure, are now lost, as they are on almost all ancient works that had this detail.

A second hypostyle hall beyond the first repeats its design on a smaller scale and again allows two separate processional paths towards the inner sanctuaries behind the three narrow transverse halls or vestibules. The staircases to the roof were located at either end of the second hall. Similar to the arrangement at [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], the northern staircase was right-angled, while the southern one was straight. The drainage system of the roof included lion-headed water spouts.

Beyond the second hypostyle hall, side rooms branched off to either side of the first broad room and probably served for the production of ointments and other offerings. In these broad chambers there are scenes illustrating the goddess [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] launching the building of the temple. There is also a scene of the completed temple with the king throwing natron (carbonate salt used in mummifying) in a purification ceremony. These chambers were built by [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]. Also in these rooms is a calendar recording important festival dates.

The twin sanctuaries, like much of the temple's interior, are broken down but still contain the black granite pedestals which supported the sacred [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] of the two gods. Because the pedestals left no room for wooden statue shrines, the statues must have been housed in the barques or in the chambers behind the bark shrines. The reduced condition of the sanctuary chambers reveals the secret chamber beneath them which was used by priests to overhear petitions or deliver oracles on behalf of the deities. In fact, much of the inner part of the temple is honeycombed with crypts, some on three levels, and hidden passages, and many of these can be explored by visitors to the temple.

As at [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] and [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], the sanctuary rooms are surrounded by smaller cult chapels (a total of ten), but unlike the other two sites, a small, internal hallway runs around the perimeter of the inner temple, between it and the outer wall of the building. The back wall of this area has six small rooms, three on either side of a stairwell leading to the roof, with varying degrees of decoration. The outer ambulatory which encircles this area, as at Edfu, is decorated with Roman period scenes of varying quality. Numerous reliefs in the inner corridor and its small rooms are unfinished, giving valuable insight into artists' methods during the Greco-Roman Period. Notably, among them, towards the left end of the rear wall, is the famous and controversial scene in which the king (Trajan) presents a group of ritual and/or surgical instruments. Some of these implements were certainly used in the practice of the cult, but other may very well be medically related. Furthermore, it is known that pilgrims came to [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], Horus the Elder, who was also known as the healer, to be treated for their infirmities. They apparently waited on the god in the temple's hallways where game boards were scratched into the stones of the floor.

The most striking feature of the rear part of the temple is the false door at the center of the back, outside wall of the sanctuary area, which is here modified and expanded in form to include a central niche flanked by hearing ears and seeing eyes and the figures of the two gods. Here we find [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], on the left, with a lion-headed scepter or baton, and [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط], on the right, with a strange human-legged knife. Between the two gods a double hymn extols them, and above the niche, along with the figure of [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] who holds up the sky, the figures of the four winds are represented by a lion, a falcon, a bull and a many-headed serpent. This oddly echoes the later Christian use of the ancient images of lion, eagle, bull and man as symbols of the four Gospel writers.

The outer surfaces of the temple enclosure walls are decorated with colossal relief, predictably divided in the subject of their representations between the realms of the two gods. This work was completed by Nero and Vespasian.

Much of the temple has only recently been restored. Also, a new museum is also scheduled to be inaugurated that will display mummified crocodiles

References:

Title	Author	Date	Publisher	Reference Number
Art of Ancient Egypt, The	Robins, Gay	1997	Harvard University Press	ISBN 0-674-00376-4
Atlas of Ancient Egypt	Baines, John; Malek, Jaromir	1980	Les Livres De France	None Stated
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]	Wilkinson, Richard H.	2000	Thames and Hudson, Ltd	ISBN 0-500-05100-3
Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, The	Shaw, Ian; Nicholson, Paul	1995	Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers	ISBN 0-8109-3225-3
Egypt in Late Antiquity	Bagnall, Roger S.	1993	Princeton University Press	ISBN 0-691-1096-x
History of Ancient Egypt, A	Grimal, Nicolas	1988	Blackwell	None Stated
[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]	Shaw, Ian	2000	Oxford University Press	ISBN 0-19-815034-2
Sacred Sites of Ancient Egypt	Oakes, Lorna	2001	Lorenz Books	ISBN (non stated)

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