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Published: November 12th 2009
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Kom Ombo
Temples of Sobek and Haroeris What day is it? I have no clue. Kim tells me this happened on Saturday. Our itinerary was changed, or we missed an excursion, or I’m confused, and since I am now in London, I have no idea what we did when! But I do remember the things we saw, so here goes:
The River Nile: sand on the west side, lush vegetation on the right. Time to sit on the pool deck and get a bit of sun as we continue our river boat journey down the River Nile. It takes some processing to realize that we are in Africa, on the Nile. Wow. For thousands of years … and that’s hard for me to get my arms around … for thousands of years barges have floated down this same river. How different was it then? There were sunsets back then, probably more fantastic without pollution, snapshots of beautiful skies, same as we saw, without the power lines. I still am processing. The River Nile. Temples. Tombs. Valley of the Kings. So close to the Equator. So much history. I remember studying ancient history in high school. Even went to summer school to take it as it wasn’t offered
Courtyard
Where the libations were poured, left side for Haroeris and right side for Sobek. in the school year. And here I am. Truly grateful for this journey of a lifetime.
In the evening we docked at Kom Ombo, where we deboated (can you say that? Don’t ya say deplaned?). Kom Ombo is an agricultural town, home to many Nubians displaced by the construction of the High Dam and Lake Nasser. We walked a few minutes to a temple overlooking the Nile. The Temple is cut in half, has two entrances, two halls and two sanctuaries. It is dedicated on the left side to the falcon god Haroeris (Horus the Elder) and on the right side to Sobek (the local crocodile god).On the left side are the remains of a birth house and the right are remains of a gate of Ptolemy XII “Auletes’ the “flute player.” Remains in this instance is a little deceiving. Without being told what these remains were in ancient time, you sure wouldn’t have a clue!!
Like many of the temples, this one too was built over time; other rulers added their own thing! Construction was begun by Ptolemy VI Philometer in the 2d century BC, added on to by Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysus during the 1st century
Columns
Examples of lotus columns. BC, and finally the Roman emperor Augustus added the entrance around 30 BC. Yes, I looked that information up in Rich’s book on Egypt, but thought it was a good example of the continuing construction over the centuries.
In the front of the temple, which you remember faces and is very close to the banks of the Nile, is what Ahmed called the “Nile-o-meter.” A way for the ancients to determine level of the Nile. The higher the water in the “Nile-o-meter” the greater possibility of flooding. Several temples close to the Nile had these clever ancient devices.
And we are seeing two of the most important symbols of ancient Egypt on the many columns in all the temples. The lotus flower representing Upper Egypt and the papyrus representing Lower Egypt. Now Upper Egypt is south of Lower Egypt. Know why I am confused!!! And there is a crown representing Upper Egypt, a crown representing Lower Egypt, and then a combo crown. We did learn to recognize the crowns in the hieroglyphics. And there are many, many intact hieroglyphics in all the temples we have visited. I was surprised about that.
The temple was built by troops
Angles
I ended up with lots of pics like this. I was fascinated by all the shapes and play of shadow and light. stationed in Kom Ombo, as that city was a training ground for African elephants used by the army. In the court center is an altar base with small basins for “libations,” also divided equally for both gods. Ahmed showed us important hieroglyphics as he always does, and we are starting to remember some of them. Rich is the winner; he studies at night.
My tactic was just to experience, and now I’m finding myself overwhelmed with lack of factual knowledge, but I do “remember” the feelings I had in each place we visited. For me, I felt better on Sobek’s side. Hard to describe, and I really was trying to pay attention to feelings, but not go too cosmic woo woo. Just trying to be observant. Where would I like to hang out (if we had a minute). That was hard too … not enough time to just hang out, always having to watch the clock on our 10-20 minutes of free time, and too many tourists yapping away in a multitude of languages.
Let me digress for a sec … back in Athens at the Acropolis, I saw several people sitting on stones, pencil or pen in
Negative Space
This pic is all about negative space. I didn't know what that was all about in drawing until a couple of years ago. one hand, some type of bound paper in the other, gazing in wonder at their chosen views and sketching. I envied them those precious moments of time to sit and reflect and draw, committing their memories to paper, not just the quick digital camera shot. I’d write probably more than draw, as I have no confidence in my drawing, and shouldn’t even care, but stupidly I do. But I’d love to have a journal (think Indiana Jones here) with writings and sketches of my journeys. I have lots of bound paper at home, just waiting for a mark from a pencil or pen. So just need to do that. Back to the subject of this paragraph … it’s all about not enough time. More honestly, it’s about not giving ourselves enough time, or myself. That’s probably why I can’t remember what day we did what (thank you Kim for straightening it all out). And normally I wouldn’t publish this babbling, but I think it’s one of the many “understandings” I brought back with me and am still muddling through. I’ve been on the whirlwind tours of many countries this year, in the last few months, and am happy to have
Ancient Graffiti
Amazing that although much of the hieroglyphics and engravings were defaced, many more are still visible. been there, done that, but I want to go back to Greece and Egypt and just sit. I’ll put that on my “to do” list for the future.
Back to the Temple ... Kim needs to add her story about "silly" .... I wasn't there, I was wandering around the Temple, so she needs to be the one ...
So here is Kim's "silly story"
We were given our 15- 20 minutes free time after Ahmned finished his tour at the Temple of Kom Ombo. Mom went her own way, and Rich and I wondered around for our allotted time. When we were done, we headed to the meeting point. I sat on the side of a pillar next to Ahmed and a local man, while Rich took some more pictures, and we waited for Mom to show. Rich said something funny, as usual, and I laughed and told him he was SILLY. The local man, who I'm assuming had never heard that word before, began to say the word SILLY over and over again. The man was an older gentleman, in his 90's maybe (Rich said he's probably in his 40's due to his hard life),
Evening
Another view of the Temples of Haroeris and Sobek. and when he said the word SILLY, he would laugh, and show his one good tooth. One tooth in the front, covered with a silver cap. When he laughed, it sounded like Beavis and Butthead. It cracked me up!!! And the more I laughed, the more he kept saying SILLY, and laughing, SILLY, and laughing.
A few days later we were having lunch for our last time on the boat. Ahmed joined us, and we reminisced about our time. I brought up the SILLY guy from Kom Ombo, and Ahmet told us that he is quite famous, that his picture has been in many tourist books. He also told us he was a guard at the Temple. We lost it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I laughed so hard I was crying!! Rich had wanted me to get a picture that day with him, but I was so over the tipping thing, that I said no. DANG!! The one time when I should have listened😊😊😊😊
Wish I had been able to see that episode in our adventure. I was wandering around as usual, trying to find places that were devoid of tourists. Impossible.
Anyhoo, back to the boat lickity-split and Kim corrected
Prisoners
Prisoners were depicted along with a cartouche of the city from which they came, all to show the power of the ruler of the day. me that this was Egyptian night, so I’ll just post more pics!!!
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