The Temple of Kom Ombo



While the stone differs from that of all the other temples perhaps because it was covered with sand for so long, the outstanding feature of the Kom Ombo Temple is the unusual, even unique, ground plan, the result of the unification of two adjacent temples, each dedicated to a distinct divinity: the crocodile-headed Sobek, god of fertility and creator of the world, and Haroeris or the ancient falcon-headed Horus, the solar war god..

The court that follows must originally have been quite lovely, with its sixteen painted columns on three sides. Now only the base and the lower part are left, with, at the center, the remains of the altar on which the sacred bark was placed during processions. The reliefs on the columns show the emperor Tiberius, whose name is cut into the cartouches which accompany the figures, as he makes offering to the gods. The north part of the court is closed by the exterior wall of the pronaos, or first hypostyle hall.





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