The feature image at the head of this post is a depiction of Horus (Falcon head) and Thoth (head of Ibis or Baboon), pouring consecration water over Ptolemy XII while Sobek watches on. Ptolemy XII ruled the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 80 to 58 BC and then again from 55 BC until his death in 51 BC.

The relief has been defaced by ‘copts’, early orthodox Christian’s who often chipped out the faces of Egyptian gods because of their belief, that there was only one god. Sobek was an ancient Egyptian deity shown as a human body with a crocodile head.

The temple at Kom Ombo is unique in being dedicated to both Sobek & Horus.

Above, the first known ‘picture’ of a stethoscope is located at Nubt, the ‘The City of Gold’ which is commonly known as Kom Ombo, like many Egyptian cities it has had several name changes over the centuries.

The temple contains some stunning reliefs which our guide described as we walked around, apparent here compared to other locations is the obvious prominence of particular bodily features such as the belly button. Human forms were usually depicted as being perfect, with no anomalies.

Considering it’s over 2000 years old, surprisingly, vivid coloured paintings can still be seen on some ceilings in the temple and quite stunning they were, we visited in the early evening and the natural light was turning to a vivid orange hue, absolutely beautiful.

This particular relief is quite extraordinary, it’s probably the 1st known ‘picture’ of both childbirth and a mother feeding her child, this temple has some quite amazing depictions of life, but so long ago, the next relief shows what might be the 1st evidence of some of the medical paraphernalia that Egyptians used to deal with sick people and injured soldiers.

If you look carefully, you can see all manner of medical instruments in the relief above, like the glass bulbs used with a flame to create a vacuum and suck poison from wounds, various knives and cutting tools, a set of scales and if you look carefully, what looks like a tuning fork which may have been used to test hearing!

Before the construction of the High Dam at Aswan, the Nile would regularly flood. A series a ‘Nilometers’ were constructed to enable the water depth to be determined, and as necessary warnings sent out to nearby villages to warn them, and allow them to take appropriate action if possible. One such Nilometer exists at Kom Ombo.

Next to the temple is a small museum dedicated to the Crocodile, it’s really interesting. Excellent examples of preserved and mummified animals are on display, along with descriptions of the process, history of the site and some more details on daily life, its was a perfect finish to a thoroughly interesting day.

…………………………….Until Next Time…………….L8ers………………..