Kom Ombo Graeco Roman Temple

The Temple of Sobek and Haroeris in Kom Ombo (Kom Ombo Temple) is located on the bank of the Nile between Edfu and Aswan and was once key crossroads between the caravan route from Nubia and trails from the gold mines in the eastern desert. During the reign of Ptolemy VI Philometor (180-145 BC), it also served as a training ground for African war elephants, which were used in battle with the pachyderms of the Seleucid empire.  

The Temple is unique in that it is a dual temple structure, with one part dedicated to the worship of god Haroesis the "Good Doctor" and the other side to Sobek (the crocodile god combined with sun god Re). The design is almost flawlessly symmetrical, with two parallel sanctuaries with two passageways.  

Like many Egyptian temple constructions, Kom Ombo had a great pylon, but this was washed away by the Nile. Most of the forecourt is also destroyed and only low walls and pillar ruins remain. 

Images

Put your Flickr photos of this object into the Heritage Key group, and tag them with heritagesite-1852, to see them here!