Kom Ombo

Kom Ombo (Arabic: كوم أمبو) (Coptic: ⲉⲙⲃⲱ Embo; Ancient Greek: Ὄμβοι Omboi, Ptol. iv. 5. § 73; Steph. B. s. v.; It. Anton. p. 165) or Ombos (Juv. xv. 35) or Latin: Ambo (Not. Imp. sect. 20) and Ombi – is an agricultural town in Egypt famous for the Temple of Kom Ombo. It was originally an Egyptian city called Nubt, meaning City of Gold (not to be confused with the city north of Naqada that was also called Nubt/Ombos). It became a Greek settlement during the Greco-Roman Period. The town's location on the Nile 50 km north of Aswan (Syene) gave it some control over trade routes from Nubia to the Nile Valley, but its main rise to prominence came with the erection of the temple in the 2nd century BC.

History

In antiquity the city was in the Thebaid, the capital of the Nomos Ombites, upon the east bank of the Nile; latitude 24° 6′north. Ombos was a garrison town under every dynasty of Egypt, Pharaonic, Macedonian, and Roman, and was celebrated for the magnificence of its temples and its hereditary feud with the people of Tentyra.

Ombo

Ombo is the largest island in the Ryfylke region on the southwestern coast of Norway, and is the second largest island in Rogaland county. The 57.5-square-kilometre (22.2 sq mi) island of Ombo is divided between the municipalities Hjelmeland and Finnøy. There are several villages on the island including Jørstadvåg, Atlatveit, and Eidssund in the western part of the island which belongs to Finnøy municipality. The villages of Tuftene, Skipavik, Skår, and Vestersjø are located on the southeastern part of the island which belongs to Hjelmeland municipality.Jørstad Church is located in the village of Jørstadvåg.

The island is at the northeastern edge of a large group of islands in the Boknafjorden. Ombo is located north of the islands of Randøy and Halsnøya, northeast of the island of Finnøy, and east of the Sjernarøyane archipelago. The highest point on the island is the 515-metre (1,690 ft) tall Bandåsen. Ombo is surrounded by fjords that are connected to the main Boknafjorden. The Ombofjorden to the east, Gardssundfjorden to the south, Gapafjorden to the west, and Jelsafjorden to the north.

Temple of Kom Ombo

The Temple of Kom Ombo is an unusual double temple in the town of Kom Ombo in Aswan Governorate, Upper Egypt. It was constructed during the Ptolemaic dynasty, 180-47 BC. Some additions to it were later made during the Roman period. 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, also known as 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.

The temple was started by Ptolemy VI Philometor (180-145 BC) at the beginning of his reign and added to by other Ptolemys, most notably Ptolemy XIII (51-47 BC), who built the inner and outer hypostyle halls. The scene on the inner face of the rear wall of the temple is of particular interest, and "probably represents a set of surgical instruments."

Ptolemy VI Philometor

Ptolemy VI Philometor (Greek: Πτολεμαῖος Φιλομήτωρ, Ptolemaĩos Philomḗtōr, ca. 186–145 BC) was a king of Egypt from the Ptolemaic period. He reigned from 180 to 145 BC.

Ptolemy succeeded in 180 BC at the age of about 6 and ruled jointly with his mother, Cleopatra I, until her death in 176 BC, which is what 'Philometor', his epithet, implies; "he who loves his mother", φίλος (beloved,friend) + μήτηρ (mother). The following year he married his sister, Cleopatra II, as it was customary for Pharaohs, for the Ptolemaic Greek kings had adopted many customs of the Pharaohs. He had at least four children with her: Ptolemy Eupator, Ptolemy Neos, Cleopatra Thea and Cleopatra III, and possibly Berenice.

In 170 BC, the Seleucid king Antiochus IV began the sixth Syrian War and invaded Egypt twice. He was crowned as its king in 168. According to Livy’s The History of Rome from its Foundation (XLV.12), he abandoned his claim on the orders of the Roman Senate.

From 169–164, Egypt was ruled by a triumvirate consisting of Ptolemy, his sister-queen and his younger brother known as Ptolemy VIII Physcon. In 164 he was driven out by his brother and went to Rome to seek support, which he received from Cato. He was restored the following year by the intervention of the Alexandrians and ruled uneasily, cruelly suppressing frequent rebellions.

Nile

The Nile (Arabic: النيل‎, Eg. en-Nīl, Std. an-Nīl; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲁⲣⲱ, P(h)iaro; Ancient Egyptian: Ḥ'pī and Iteru) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is 6,853 km (4,258 miles) long. The Nile is an "international" river as its water resources are shared by eleven countries, namely, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo-Kinshasa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt. In particular, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt and Sudan.

The Nile has two major tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile. The White Nile is considered to be the headwaters and primary stream of the Nile itself. The Blue Nile, however, is the source of most of the water and silt. The White Nile is longer and rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa, with the most distant source still undetermined but located in either Rwanda or Burundi. It flows north through Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda and South Sudan. The Blue Nile (Amharic: ዓባይ^?, ʿĀbay) begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan from the southeast. The two rivers meet near the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.