And Now, Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Temple Visit

After sailing north for 48 klicks, we did a late afternoon/dusk/evening trip to the Nile side temple of Kom Ombo.  

(As an American, anytime you can use "klicks" in a blog post or everyday conversation, you've managed to increase both your coolness quotient and your arrogance factor in one word AT THE VERY SAME TIME!).

Kom Ombo is not that old, with construction only dating back to 180-47 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty (pronounced "din-as-tea" in England).  Wikipedia tells me it is "an unusual double temple."

Editor: "only dating back to. . ."  Wow, someone is feeling their ancient Egyptian oats eh.  Writer: Guilty!

Before I write about more info on Kom Ombo, the landing must be mentioned.  Well, not the landing, but the aftermath of getting off the ship.  Whilst Sam went off to pick up the tickets, the wolves moved in and slaughtered the lambs.  

Sorry, I mean the men and boys moved in with their trinkets, junk, worthless crap, and maybe one decent souvenir (not that I saw any, but I want to give these folks the benefit of the doubt).  As Carol was beseeching me not to make eye contact or engage, I made the mistake of telling one young boy I liked his sweatshirt.  Big mistake, as he and others pestered me to buy their gimcracks, trinkets and baubles till I nearly died from harassment.  

You remember the old "what part of 'no' don't you understand" line?  I found out these guys don't understand ANY part of no.  Finally, Sam returned and we were no longer sitting ducks at a turkey shoot.

Now, back to Kom Ombo. I'll let Wikipedia tell it:

"The building is unique because its 'double' design meant that there were courts, halls, sanctuaries and rooms duplicated for two sets of gods.  The southern half of the temple was dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek, god of fertility and creator of the world with Hathor and Khonsu. Meanwhile, the northern part of the temple was dedicated to the falcon god Haroeris ("Horus the Elder"), along "with Tasenetnofret (the Good Sister, a special form of Hathor or Tefnet/Tefnut) and Panebtawy (Lord of the Two Lands). The temple is atypical because everything is perfectly symmetrical along the main axis."

With the moon up and darkness coming in, it made for some interesting photos.

The temple is particularly interesting because of four reasons:

1.    The wall include what may be the first calendar, including days of the               month and appropriate offerings to the gods for each day,

2.    A scene featuring various surgical instruments as the temple was also a           place of medical treatment.

3.    Depictions of childbirth.

4.    For crying out loud, it is an Egyptian temple more than 2000 years old!  (I         don't ever want to be so blasé as to say, yeah, whatever! to an Egyptian           temple from before the birth of Jesus!)

After Sam's tour, he gave us free time to wander around (I do enjoy his talks, but also enjoy the time to walk around for photos.  Speaking of photos:

Temple selfie

Sentry dogs. Nope, just strays,

but they looked like they

were guarding the temple.

Entrance courtyard.

Big temple entrance, little bitty moon.

The temple walls were stunning.

When the moon hits your

eye like a big pizza pie,

that's Kom Ombo!

The first recorded calendar.

You're havin' my baby
What a lovely way of sayin' how much you love me
Havin' my baby
What a lovely way of sayin' what you're thinkin' of me
I can see it, your face is glowin'
I can see it in your eyes, I'm happy you know it

Song by Paul Anka, carvings by

an Egyptian a long time ago.

This guy lost his head, but his

legs are impressive.  As is

the location of the moon.

A listing of surgical instruments.

It's scary, but my doctor uses the

same instruments!

The gods hear your prayers

and see you.

Lit up columns and the moon

make for a pretty cool combo.

Our night visit was pretty, pretty, pretty good.