In the morning, we sailed on to Kom Ombo.
Kom Ombo was a very pleasant surprise. We had never heard of it before our trip. It was unusual in being divided into temples for two gods – the crocodile god Sobek, who represents fertility; and Horus, the sky god who is usually represented with a falcon’s head.
And being the temple of the crocodile god, there were of course many mummified crocodiles.
Next stop was Karnak temple. This is dedicated to Amun-Ra (or Amun-Re), his wife Mut, and their son Montu. Amun-Ra is the “chief” god, the god of the sun.
As an aside, have you ever wondered why Christians say the word “Amen” at the end of a prayer? It’s a trace of the Egyptian sun god worship.
Manar, our guide, explaining
Some traces can be seen of the mud brick ramps, used to raise the massive stone blocks.
There are many collosal carved stone pillars.
The pillars were originally painted. Some traces of the paint can still be seen.
Obelisks
When you see a word written inside an oval (“cartouche”), that indicates that it is a royal name.
Ironically, although we were staying in Luxor, we didn’t visit the Luxor temple. We could see it from our hotel though. In fairness, there wasn’t much to see compared to the nearby Karnak.
