After leaving the felucca the first thing we did was board a bus. Not a bus to go to our hotel and have a shower. We were heading off to visit two temples, Kom Ombo and Edfu. After two days on a felucca, we were very stinky. But luckily two days in close quarters together meant we were all now very good friends. (The team that pees in the great outdoors together stays together.)

Kom Ombo

Kom Ombo is about 50km north of Aswan (where we started our felucca trip). Kom Ombo is unusual because it was a temple devoted to two Gods. It was a carrot and a stick temple. The temple is divided in two halves. The northern part was devoted to Horus - the carrot... do good things and I will reward you. The southern half was devoted to the crocodile god, Sobek - the stick... do bad things and I will eat you. In ancient Egypt, there were crocodiles living in the Nile so it was a real possibility.


At Kom Ombo there is a nileometer which shows the level of the water in the Nile. It was used to calculate the taxes for the year. Every year the Nile flooded, covering the farm lands in Egypt. When the water washed away, silt was left behind which was a great fertiliser. The better the flood, the better the fertiliser and the better the harvest. So using the nileometer the priests could tell whether it was going to be a good or bad year and would tax accordingly.

They believe the temple was also a hospital due to a series of health-related hieroglyphs.

This hieroglyph shows a set of instruments for performing surgery.

This set of hieroglyphs is about giving birth and breast feeding.



This hieroglyph shows one of the things that happens to men as they get older.


Edfu

Edfu is 100 km north of Aswan. Edfu is the second largest and one of the best preserved temples in Egypt. All the secret passages which the priests used to move around the temple are still intact. We had fun exploring these.

The temple is devoted to Horus, the falcon headed god. There are two staircases that you can take to the roof of the temple (sadly, you can't go out on the roof though). The staircases are designed to represent the flight of the falcon (the symbol of the god Horus). One staircase is a spiral staircase which represents the falcon circling to gain height. The other staircase is a straight slope which represents the falcon diving to attack its prey.

According to the Egyptian religion, Horus was married to Hathor. Each year, the priests would bring the idol of Hathor from her temple in Denderah about 100 km away. They would put the idol of Hathor with the idol of Horus in the inner sanctuary at Edfu and lock the door to give the gods some "alone time". I guess a happy god is a benevolent god.

More photos of Kom Ombo and Edfu on Flickr.

Our visit to Kom Ombo and Edfu was part of our Road to Jordan tour. We did a 17-day tour with On The Go to Egypt and Jordan and we had a lot of fun. Other entries from this trip include: Feluccan Fun, Abu Simbel and The Dead Sea.