It has been a while since I have shared an update from my Egyptian adventures but I still have quite a few to share – it is such a history rich place that over the course of my two week holiday I was rarely without my camera. Today I wanted to highlight one of my unusual temples we went to, the Ancient Temple of Kom Ombo. When you break down the name, it translates to Hieroglyphics Hill, and it is on the bank of the Nile River, like most, though it is not near any major city, the closest is Aswan which is 45 kilometers to the North.
One of the most unusual thing is that the temple was designed to worship two different gods – Sobek, the crocodile deity, and Horus, the falcon-headed god who protected the Pharaohs and the country of Egypt. This also meant that there were two holy of holies which you can think of like the alter in a modern place of worship. Besides the dual design the crocodiles make it unique – when it was built 2,000 years ago the Nile and it’s banks were filled with crocodiles and they were feared by the locals. Our guide pointed out even more unique things, like the mud brick wall higher than the temple that was used to protect it, that most of the carvings were raised reliefs (which are harder to do than sunken reliefs), After we visited the main temple we were able to go into a small air conditioned museum where there were mummified crocodiles that Egyptologist found in nearby cemeteries. Take a look:
Would you want to visit the The Ancient Temple of Kom Ombo?
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Elly says
Never thought about the difference or raised or sunken reliefs but now that you point it out, I can only imagine how much harder it is to carve and not have any mistakes.
The stories that were told with these reliefs much be so interesting and amazing how invested they were in the respective gods that they worshiped and revered.
I also have learned that whenever I travel now I need a really good guide. There is so much that I would have missed on some of my past journeys had it not been for a tour guide with great explanations or bringing it to life.
Barbara says
Just catching up on my blog reading and oh so much travel wanderlust reading this post.
Wish I was cruising down the Nile right now with a lovely drink in my hand, not a care in the world and seeing all the magnificent sights of Egypt.
Aimee says
Those alligators were pretty scary but yes I would like to visit this one day.
I want to do the whole country just like you have done and reading your blog posts have made Egypt near the top of my list.