Egypt Kom Ombo temple wall French marker sign hieroglyphics reliefs
Image details
Contributor:
M. Timothy O'Keefe / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
BCX95AFile size:
55.4 MB (2.2 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
5400 x 3587 px | 45.7 x 30.4 cm | 18 x 12 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
13 July 2007More information:
The stone differs from that of all other Egyptian erhaps because it was covered with sand for so long, the outstanding feature of the Kom Ombo Temple is the unusual ground plan unifying 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. This was why the temple was called both "House of the Crocodile" and "Castle of the Falcon". An imaginary line divides the temple longitudinally into two parts, each with its entrance, hypostyle halls, chapels, etc. The right part of the temple was consecrated to Sobek, the left to Haroeris, whose winged disk that protects from all evils is depicted over all the entrance portals. This temple, too, was a Graeco Roman work of the Ptolemies who built it on the site of a much older and smaller sanctuary of which little remains. All that is left of the great entrance pylon is the right hand part, where the Roman emperor Domitian can be seen with various gods rendering homage to the triad of Sobek, Hathor and Khonsu, together with a long text of 52 lines in hieroglyphics.