Kom Ombo

Introducing Kom Ombo

The fertile, irrigated sugarcane and cornfields around Kom Ombo, 65km south of Edfu, support not only the original community of fellaheen (peasant farmers), but also a large population of Nubians displaced from their own lands by the creation of Lake Nasser. It’s a pleasant little place, easily accessible en route between Aswan and Luxor. A huge cattle market is held on the outskirts of town, near the railway line, on Thursday. The main attraction these days, however, is the unique riverside Temple of Horus the Elder (Haroeris) and Sobek, about 4km from the town’s centre, which stands gloriously on a promontory overlooking the Nile. If you’re not stopping here on a felucca trip or Nile cruise, it’s best visited on a day trip from Aswan (40km to the south) taking the morning police convoy, or on the morning convoy from Aswan to Luxor, which stops at the temple for just 30 to 35 minutes.

In ancient times Kom Ombo was known as Pa-Sebek (Land of Sobek), after the crocodile god of the region. It became important during the Ptolemaic period, when its name was changed to Ombos and it became the capital of the first Upper Egyptian nome during the reign of Ptolemy VI Philometor. Kom Ombo was an important military base and a trading centre between Egypt and Nubia. Gold was traded here, but more importantly it was a market for African elephants brought from Ethiopia, which the Ptolemies needed to fight the Indian elephants of their long-term rivals the Seleucids, who ruled the largest chunk of Alexander’s former empire to the east of Egypt.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009