Kom Ombo

Temple of Kom Ombo

Kom Ombo is located in southern Egypt, 55 km north of Lake Nasser, and is administratively classified as an Aswan governorate. Irrigated by the waters of the Nile, 12,000 hectares of land are used in agriculture mainly for the cultivation of sugarcane and cotton. The territory in the east borders with the Arabian desert, in the west - with the Libyan desert . 270 km south of the border with Sudan ; The Red Sea - 200 km to the north. Kom Ombo is connected by rail with Luxor and Aswan, where an international airport is built. The highway connects Kom Ombo with the administrative center and leads south through the east bank of the Nile. The Nile remains an important transport artery for Kom Ombo, on the banks of which transportations are carried out and tourist boats to Luxor and Aswan depart in the immediate vicinity of the temple complexes.

The Köppen climate classification characterizes the local climate as a hot desert (BWh) ^[2] .

In ancient Egypt, Kom Ombo was called Nubet and was the capital of the fifth nome, Harawî. Under this name, the area was first mentioned in the First Transition Period . Only a pair of decorated tombs belong to the Middle Kingdom ^[3] .

In ancient times, the city on the eastern bank of the Nile was part of the Thebaid region and was the capital of the city of Ombites. Settled among steep and narrow sandstones, the city in ancient times was not numerous, since the meager, barren shores were barely fertilized by the spills of the Nile. The city was famous for its magnificent temples and competed in this with the city of Dendera (the ancient name of Tentira). The confrontation of these two cities mentions in its 15 satire Juvenal . He described the battle he witnessed between the intoxicated residents of Ombo and Dender. The author reproaches the latter for cannibalism ^[4] :

At the onset of those who live in Tentira, in the neighborhood
With a palm shadow, they hurriedly fled.
One of them falls, running away in extreme fright,
Fell somersault - and captive! Then it is cut into pieces:
Many pieces, so that one is enough for many, -
And the victors ate it, gnawed all the bones,
Even in a boiling pot without welding.

Juvenal represented cities closer than Kom-Ombo and Dendera are actually located.

Temple

During the Ptolemaic era, two temples were built in Kom Ombo from stone quarried from the quarries of Hajar Selselekh. On the sandy hill stood the large Pantheon, according to surviving records, dedicated to Apollo and the other gods of the nome. To the northwest was a smaller temple in honor of Isis ^[5] . Even today they amaze with their splendor and colorful paintings preserved on the walls.

Ptolemy VI Philometor (180-145 BC) began here the construction of an unusual united temple, presumably on the site of religious buildings of the XII, XVIII and XIX dynasties. One brick wall was built during Thutmose III in honor of the god Sebek . The pharaoh is depicted with a measuring cane and chisel - symbols of construction. The decoration of the temple was completed only in the II — III centuries of our era. One wing of the temple is dedicated to Sebek, the god of the water and the flood of the Nile, revered in the guise of a crocodile; the other is to the falcon god Horus . He was revered as the head of the triad, which also included his wife, the goddess Tasenetnofret, and their son, the god Panebtaui. Another divine triad of Kom Ombo consisted of Sebek, his wife Hathor and their son Khonsu . On the ledge of one of the entrances with the names of Ptolemy VI Philometor and his wife Cleopatra II there is a Greek inscription testifying to the erection or reconstruction of the temple.

In front of the temple was a small sanctuary of Hathor. Here in January 2012, a museum was opened ^[6] , where crocodile mummies found in nearby graves are exhibited. These animals were highly revered by the ancient inhabitants of the city, and on the coins of Nome Ombites of the Roman period a crocodile or the head of the god Sebek was depicted.

There are two nilomers on the temple territory, which were used to measure the water level in the river .

The hill on which the temples stand was significantly washed by the river. Earthquakes, later “builders”, who used the temple as a quarry, also contributed to the destruction. For a long time, the ruins were half buried in the sand, but in 1893, Jacques de Morgan cleaned and restored the ancient temple. However, the reliefs still retain their polychrome coloring. Until the middle of the 19th century, the Mammisi of Ptolemy VIII was located in front of the temple entrance.

Most of the inhabitants are Egyptians, there is also a large population of Nubians. In 1963-1965, many Nubians were settled in villages in the Kom Ombo area from the area adjacent to Lake Nasser , due to the rise in water level caused by the construction of the Aswan Dam . The new settlements received the names of the flooded villages: Kalabsha, Amada, Abu Simbel ^[7] .

In 2010, the Egyptian government gave permission to build a large solar power plant in the vicinity of the city ^[8] .

At 8 kilometers from Kom Ombo is the village of Daraw, where the largest camel market in Egypt is located.

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  Detail of the column with Tiberius cartouche.

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  Kom Ombo. Nile view

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  He and Chorus. Relief of the Ptolemaic era in Kom Ombo

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  Crocodile mummies at the Kom Ombo Museum

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  Relief in the temple of Kom Ombo