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Twin
Temple
Kom Ombo used to be an important caravan
town - it was here that the 40 days caravans from
Sudan or Nubia met the caravans carrying gold from
the mines in the eastern desert. In Ptolemaic
times (from the 3rd century BCE until early 1st
century CE) Kom Ombo was the training ground for
army elephants.
Today only a small town remains,
noted for its sugar production and the many
Nubians who settled here after their villages were
inundated by the Aswan High Dam in the 1960's. |
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The temple of Kom Ombo is unique in one respect:
it is dedicated to two gods, and the entire temple
holds two perfectly symmetrical sections. The
sanctuary to the left is dedicated to the
falcon-headed sky god Harwer (also written
Haroeris), or Horus the elder and his family.
The one to the left is dedicated to Sobek, the
crocodile god, also worshipped in Fayyum.
The temple was started to be built as late as 2nd
century BCE by Ptolemy 13, also known as Neos
Dyonysos. The original front, erected by the
command of Augustus after 30 BCE, has been lost to
the erosions of the Nile or pillaged by
stonemasons. All that is left of the pylon are a
few of the foundations. But nature has also
protected the temple, as the parts covered were
hidden for Coptic Christians of earlier times out
to clean pre-Christian elements from Egyptian
history.
To the south lies the Chapel of Hathor, where
mummified crocodiles used to be stored. Four of
these are still on display. |
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