Situated between Aswan and Edfu, Kom Ombo is the ancient city of Pa-Sobek, “the Domain of Sobek”, the crocodile god worshipped since Predynastic times, and part of the Upper Egyptian region which was the realm of the old falcon-god Horus. A temple seems to have been built here in the New Kingdom, perhaps on the site of an even earlier structure, but the area did not rise to prominence until Ptolemaic times – to which period almost all the surviving monuments date. The temple, which is dedicated equally to Sobek and Haroeris (Harwer) or “Horus the Elder” and their associated deities, stands on a plateau cut by two long dry streams which isolate the site and provide the most spectacular setting of any of Egypt’s river temples. Part of the temple’s forecourt has, in fact, been eroded by the river, but modern control of the water has checked the threat of further damage and much of the temple remains.

The temple is oriented east to west according to the “local north” determined by the river, and today the temple is entered through the remains of the Ptolemaic portal at the southwest of the precinct. The surviving part of the temple is flanked on the left by the scant remains of a birth house (situated, as elsewhere, at right angles to the main temple) and at the right by the remains of a gate of Ptolemy XII “Auletes” the “flute player”.

On the eastern side of the temple there is a small independent chapel of Hathor, and on the west the remains of a particularly deep well and a small pond where crocodiles, scared to Sobek, are believed to have been raised. A number of the mummified creatures are stored, along with their clay coffins, in the Hathor chapel.

The temple itself was begun by Ptolemy VI – at least he is the earliest ruler named in it – but most of the decoration was not completed until the time of Ptolemy XII Auletes, and the outermost area were not built until Roman times. The structure was made of the local sandstone by troops stationed here (Kom Ombo was a training ground for African elephants used by the army); and although the layout of the temple is similar to that of Dendarah or Edfu, its somewhat smaller design often displays a planning of its architects. The whole temple reflects its dual ownership, and even the Roman forecourt was “divided” into equal shares for Sobek (east side) and Haroeris. An altar base is situated in the court’s centre with small basins – to receive libations – sunk into the ground at each side for the respective gods. The relief carvings on some of the surviving columns of the colonnade are well preserved and many maintain their original coloring.

The façade of the hypostyle, with its intercolumnar screen walls and small side doors for use by the priests, is typical of its period, though the capitals of the columns within are often wrought with ingenious compound forms. As would be expected, the decoration of the hall and remaining parts of the temple is divided between the two gods, with the scenes of Sobek on the east and Haroeris on the west. A second hypostyle repeats the design on a smaller scale and again allows two separate processional paths towards the inner sanctuaries behind three narrow transverse halls or vestibules.

The twin sanctuaries, like much of the temple’s interior, are broken down but still contain the pedestals which supported the sacred barques of the two gods. The reduced condition of the chambers reveals the secret chamber beneath them which was used by priests to overhear petitions or deliver oracles on behalf of the deities. In fact, much of the inner part of the temple is honeycombed with crypts and hidden passages, and many of these can be explored by visitors to the temple. As at Dendarah and Edfu, the sanctuary rooms are surrounded by smaller cut chapels, but unlike the other two sites, a small, internal hallway runs around the perimeter of the inner temple, between it and the outer wall of the building. The back wall of this area has six small rooms – three on either side of the stairwell leading to the roof – with varying degrees of decoration. The outer ambulatory which encircles this area, as at Edfu, is decorated with Roman period scenes of varying quality, but contains, towards the left end of the rear wall, the famous and controversial scene in which the king presents a group of ritual and/or surgical instruments. Some of these implements were certainly used in the practice of the cult, but others may be medically related and it is known that pilgrims came to Haroeris, the Healer, to be treated for their infirmities. They apparently waited on the god in the temple’s hallways where game boards were scratched into the stones of the floors.

Most striking of the features of the rear part of the temple, however, is the false door at the centre of the back wall of the sanctuary area, which is here modified and expanded in form to include a central niche flanked by hearing ears and seeing eyes and the figures of the two gods: Sobek, on the left, with a lion-headed scepter or baton, and Haroeris, on the right, with a strange human-legged knife. Between the two gods a double hymn extols them; and above the niche, along with the figures of Maat who holds up the sky, the figures of the four winds are represented by a lion, a falcon, a bull and a many headed serpent – oddly echoing the later Christian use of the ancient images of lion, eagle, Veal and man as symbols of the four Gospel writers. The outer surfaces of the temple-encircling walls are decorated with colossal relief figures, predictably divided into the subjects of their representations between the realms of the two gods.