Visiting Kom Ombo: The Dual Temple of Horus and Sobek | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 5 (Part 36) 04D19

Egypt Travel Blog: 10 DAYS Egypt Explorer - Felucca Cruise & Red Sea

Temple of Kom Ombo | The Double Temple Dedicated to the Crocodile God Sobek and the Falcon God Horus | Kom Ombo & Aswan

After passing through rural Egypt, we finally arrived at the Temple of Kom Ombo. This is an unusual temple located between Kom Ombo & Aswan. Surrounded by fields of sugarcane and corn, Kom Ombo Temple is located in a pleasant agricultural town overlooking the Nile.

The Temple of Kom Ombo was constructed during the Ptolemaic period from 108 to 47 BC. Here, in the ancient Egyptian place of worship, some unique engravings have been found which are thought to be one of the first representations of medical and surgical instruments.

The Temple of Kom Ombo is a two-in-one temple, dedicated to not only one but two gods. The eastern half was dedicated to the crocodile-headed god, god of the Nile and creator of the world, Sobek and his family. The western half of the temple was dedicated to the falcon-headed god, god of the sky and protector of the king, Horus and his family.

Just before entering the complex, you will notice that it is made of two parallel temples, and both are perfectly symmetrical. The Temple was constructed mainly with limestone in a rectangle shape.

The Temple of Kom Ombo starts with a front courtyard, then a hypostyle hall (replete with fifteen columns decorated with lotus floral capitals and sun images), you will see three inner halls (ten thin columns with engravings depicting various events of the gods) followed by two sanctuaries dedicated to Sobek and Horus.

There are seven chambers, many antechambers, and smaller rooms that were used for different rituals and purposes located in the both the east and west parts.

Although the Temple of Kom Ombo is the most preserved and complete temple that is 2000 years old, I saw lots of parts that are damaged or missing. Some parts looked like modern-day alleyways, but smaller and on both sides of the walls they had engravings describing stories. Our tour guide explained most of them – so fascinating!

From here, we would visit the Crocodile Museum, which I will talk about in the next post.