Kom Ombo town was the conjunction city between Egyptians in
the north and Nubians
in the south. It had a great commercial role that increased
during the Ptolemaic
era when it was made a capital of a nome.
Kom Ombo is located on a natural bend of the Nile.
The double Temple of Sober and Haroeris (Har-wer) :
The temple is the main attraction of the town. It is a fine
example of the Ptolemaic era and is located directly on the
riverbank in a fine picturesque scene. Being so close to the
river, the temple was subject to water erosion until the Egyptian
government put stone reinforcements to prevent further deterioration
of the temple.
The temple itself is unique in design. Everything is finely
doubled to equally serve the two deities of the temple: Sobek,
the crocodile-headed god in the right side of the temple,
and Haroeris, or Horus
the elder in the left side (See Image 3).
The double-entrance of the temple is through the pylon. The
left-hand tower is nearly destroyed while the right-hand bear
reliefs of Roman
Emperor Domitian with deities. Beyond is the court flanked
by remains of 8 columns on each side and an altar in the middle.
Next is the first hypostyle
hall (See Image 1) with ten columns. Wall reliefs here show
the Ptolemies who contributed to the building of this temple.
Next is the smaller hypostyle hall with ten other smaller
columns and further are three ruined antechambers.
Beyond are the two sanctuaries of the two deities (See Image
4). Also age took its toll with the sanctuaries. The interesting
thing here is that there is a secret subterranean passage
through the double wall between the two sanctuaries (See Image
5).
Several chapels are located behind the sanctuaries. A long
passage is surrounding the temple proper with the entrances
run from the corners of the court.
The temple has a Mammisi
(Birth House)
(See Image 6), a Hathor
shrine and a Nilometer
(See Image 7) attached to it, though not in a good state of
preservation.
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