Double Temple of Kom Ombo
The double temple of Kom Ombo is an ancient Egyptian temple complex on the eastern bank of the Nile in Upper Egypt . The temple is located about 3.5 kilometers southwest of the center of Kom Ombo, a town with a population of about 70,000 .
The parts of the building that are visible today date from the time of the Ptolemies' rule over Egypt , and to a small extent also from the era of belonging to the Roman Empire . The temple was consecrated to the two separately worshiped deities Sobek and Haroeris , which is why it is known as a "double temple". The structures of the temple complex were badly affected by the forces of nature, such as floods and erosion of the masonry.
history
 
| |
Location in Egypt |
The double temple of Kom Ombo was built in the Ptolemaic epoch of Egypt from 304 to 31 BC. At that time , Kom Ombo, the then Omboi (also Ombos ), was next to Elephantine the administrative center of the first Upper Egyptian district Ta-seti . The double temple, which can still be visited today, was used to worship the two deities Sobek, the crocodile god, and the falcon-headed Haroeris.
The ruins of the temple of Kom Ombo were for a long time over half covered by sand. They were only uncovered and restored in 1893 under Jacques de Morgan . A large mammisi ("birthplace") of Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II stood in front of the temple until the 19th century . During a flood , the Nile tore most of the building, including the western part of the surrounding wall, with it. The fact that the system was built 20 meters above the normal level of the Nile still gives an idea of the extent of the disaster.
In the recent history of Egypt, the location of the temple complex developed into a point of attraction for tourism . A visit to the temple of Kom Ombo is an integral part of the river trips on the Nile between 150 kilometers north of Luxor and 40 kilometers to the south of Aswan . The landing stage for the cruise ships operating on the Nile is right next to the double temple, about 70 meters west of the temple complex.
Temple complexes
The double temple
The temple of Kom Ombo on the eastern bank of the Nile is a specialty. In contrast to most other ancient Egyptian sacred buildings , two deities were worshiped separately from each other. The south-eastern side facing away from the Nile, seen from the double main entrance, was dedicated to Sobek , the crocodile-headed god of water and fertility, and later also the creator god. In the left, north-western half temple, the worship was given to Haroeris , the god of light and sky, but also the god of war. The falcon-headed Haroeris was a manifestation of the god Horus , also called "Horus the great" or "Horus the old". After the deities, the temple was referred to as the “House of the Crocodile” and the “Falcon Castle”.
The god Haroeris formed a separate triad in Kom Ombo with Ta-senet-nofret and Pa-neb-taui , as did the god Sobek with Hathor and Chons . The building, which is still visible today, was probably built under Ptolemy VI. Philometor, built on the remains of much smaller predecessor buildings of the 12th , 18th and 19th dynasties of the Middle and New Kingdom . The enclosure wall surrounded the temple over a width of 51 and a length of 96 meters. The decoration continued into the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, but was never fully completed. In the back of the temple, in the chapels there , only partially prepared reliefs can be seen. Other parts of the temple were later destroyed, such as the western part of the access pylon with the surrounding wall and the Mammisi attached to it . They fell victim to the floods of the Nile.
On the remaining southeast tower of the large pylon, the Roman emperor Domitian is depicted, who, together with other gods of the triad, pays homage to Sobek, Hathor and Chons, accompanied by a 52-line text in hieroglyphic script . Behind the two central entrances in the surrounding wall, a double portal to the temple area, there was a courtyard with sixteen columns flanking it. Of these columns, only the lower parts with the base have survived. They are richly decorated with reliefs and hieroglyphics in which traces of the original painting have been preserved. Emperor Tiberius was depicted on the pillars , indicated in the scriptures carved into the stone opposite, how he offered gifts to the gods. In the middle of the courtyard there are still remains of the altar on which the holy boat was placed during the processions .
On the northeast side of the courtyard is the outer wall of the temple building, decorated with bas-reliefs , into which five columns are integrated, of which only the three central ones are 12 meters high up to the architrave . Together with the two further rows of columns behind them, each with five equally high columns, they formed the supports for the roof of the pronaos or the first columned hall. On the side of the door openings to the pronaos, the reliefs there depict cleaning ceremonies. The bell-shaped composite capitals of the pillars are designed in the form of lotus blossoms , papyrus or palm trees . The column shafts as well as the reliefs of the hall show hieroglyphics and scenes of devotion from Ptolemaic pharaohs, among them Cleopatra VI. , towards the gods. On the ceiling of the hall there are paintings with astronomical scenes and vultures, alternating with a vulture's head depicted by the crown of Upper Egypt and a snake's head with the crown of Lower Egypt as symbols for the respective goddesses of the country Nechbet and Wadjet .
The further way into the interior to the second columned hall, also called “Room of the Offerings”, leads like the entrance from the courtyard through two parallel entrances pointing to the double sanctuary. The ten columns of the second hall, arranged in two rows, are almost half the height of those of the pronaos. This smaller hall with columns shows similar scenes in its wall reliefs as the hall in front, only with the representation of other pharaohs, such as Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II with his wife Cleopatra III. Euergetis and Ptolemy XII. Neos Dionysus . This room is followed by three transversely arranged antechambers, built by the pharaoh Ptolemy VI, who appears there in the reliefs . Philometor , behind the two sanctuaries of the gods Haroeris and Sobek with black granite pedestals. Of the sanctuaries of the two deities separated by a partition, only a fragment of decoration and a dedication inscription above the left door are preserved.
The interior of the temple was surrounded by two corridors, one starting from the courtyard with the sixteen columns along the inside of the surrounding wall, the second adjoining it to the center of the temple with access from the pronaos. On the northeast side behind the sanctuaries, the closed rear wall of which no longer exists today, are followed by seven rooms of unknown destination. From the middle one a staircase leads up to a terrace. The rooms are all decorated with reliefs depicting gods and pharaohs, some of which have remained unfinished. As a special feature, a relief of the inner corridor on the inside of the second temple wall shows some surgical instruments , such as bistouri , scissors , surgical forceps and the like. Overall, the reliefs and decorative elements of the capitals , friezes and covings of the double temple of Kom Ombo are among the most important works of Ptolemaic architecture.
- Reliefs and paintings in the double temple of Kom Ombo
Column relief in the forecourt of the temple
Column relief of the double temple
Ceiling element of an anteroom
Unfinished relief of a back room
Outbuildings and facilities
- The mammisi
In front of the western corner of the forecourt to the temple, the Mammisi , a "birthplace", stood until the 19th century , before the Nile washed away with the western part of the surrounding wall with the exception of a few remains during a flood. The Mammisi was built by Pharaoh Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II. There is a relief with the pharaoh and two deities on a boat in the middle of papyrus swamps. To the northeast of the remains of the Mammisi, two relief stones with the two main gods of the temple Sobek and Haroeris are now placed next to the temple courtyard.
- The Hathor Chapel
On the right side of the temple courtyard, the southern corner of the temple, there is a small chapel. The unfinished but well-preserved structure was built under Emperor Domitian in honor of the goddess Hathor. The Greek culture of the eastern Mediterranean equated Hathor with the Greek goddess Aphrodite . Crocodile mummies and sarcophagi were laid out in the chapel, which come from a nearby necropolis and can now be viewed in a newly built small museum. They are remnants of the cult around the crocodile-headed Sobek.
- The Nilometer
About 25 meters northwest of the center of the temple complex is a water level meter , a so-called nilometer . In Kom Ombo, this is an accessible round well shaft made of large stone masonry, in which the level of the Nile could be read using markings . In ancient Egypt, the results of the readings had a direct influence on the determination of the amount of taxes to be paid by the population. This was related to the water requirement for irrigation of the agricultural land. The more water was available due to a higher flood level in the river, the better the crop yields, so that higher taxes could also be levied.
literature
- Dieter Arnold : The temples of Egypt . Bechtermünz, Augsburg 1996, ISBN 3-86047-215-1 , pp. 96-98.
- Dieter Arnold: Kom Ombo . In: Lexicon of Egyptian architecture . Artemis & Winkler, Zurich 1997, ISBN 3-7608-1099-3 , p. 126 f.
- Robert S. Bianchi: Kom Ombo. In: Kathryn A. Bard (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Archeology of Ancient Egypt. Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-415-18589-0 , pp. 418-21.
- Hans Bonnet : Ombos . In: Lexicon of Egyptian Religious History . Nikol, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , p. 542.
- Adolphe Gutbub : Kom Ombo . In: Wolfgang Helck and Eberhard Otto (Hrsg.): Lexikon der Ägyptologie . Vol. 3: Horhekenu - Megeb . Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1980, ISBN 3-447-02100-4 , pp. 675-683.
- Giovanna Magi : A trip on the Nile. The temples of Nubia, Esna · Edfu · Kom Ombo. Casa Editrice Bonechi, Florence 2008, ISBN 978-88-7009-246-2 .
- Alexa Rickert: Godhead and Gift. An economic procession in the soubassement of the Temple of Opet in Karnak and its parallel in Kôm Ombo (= studies of the late Egyptian religion 4 ). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2011, ISBN 978-3-447-06555-9 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kom Ombo (on www.aeggypturlaub.org)
- ↑ Kom Ombo (on www.chufu.de). (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on April 26, 2004 ; Retrieved July 6, 2012 .
- ^ G. Magi: A trip on the Nile. The temples of Nubia, Esna · Edfu · Kom Ombo. P. 50.
- ^ G. Magi: A trip on the Nile. The temples of Nubia, Esna · Edfu · Kom Ombo. P. 51.
- ^ G. Magi: A trip on the Nile. The temples of Nubia, Esna · Edfu · Kom Ombo. Pp. 56-60.
- ^ G. Magi: A trip on the Nile. The temples of Nubia, Esna · Edfu · Kom Ombo. SS 60-62.
- ↑ The double temple of Kom Ombo - The Mammisi Ptolemy VIII. Euergetes II. (On www.meritneith.de) ( Memento of the original from April 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ G. Magi: A trip on the Nile. The temples of Nubia, Esna · Edfu · Kom Ombo. P. 62.
- ↑ The double temple of Kom Ombo - Nilometer and Calendar (on www.meritneith.de) ( Memento of the original from April 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Coordinates: 24 ° 27 ′ 7.5 ″ N , 32 ° 55 ′ 41.7 ″ E