Vivant Denon's Re-discovery of Ancient Egypt. Part 2

By the end of February enemy movements prompted General Belliard to abandon Aswan and retrace his steps back down the Nile. Along the way Denon found the opportunity to revisit some of the sights he had seen on the outward journey, among them the Ptolemaic Temple of Sobek and Harwer at Kom Ombo.

The first significant stop recorded in his journal, after about a week’s travel down the Nile, was Kom Ombo, its chief attraction the Ptolemaic Temple of Sobek and Harwer perched majestically on the Nile and visible from afar.

It was obscured by debris and in somewhat less perfect shape than some of the other temples Denon had visited though, and the Frenchman wasn’t sure if the temple was one edifice or an agglomeration of buildings. Only the upper half of the First Hypostyle Hall protruded from the sand, debris concealing the more sacred parts of the temple, the vestibules and the sanctuaries.

Because the temple is dedicated to two gods it has two sanctuaries, one for the crocodile-headed god Sobek and one for the falcon-headed god Harwer (Horus the Elder). Moreover, the right side of the temple is reserved for Sobek and the left is dedicated to Harwer.

Denon never saw the inner chambers, in fact he was granted so little time that he barely had the time to stroll around the ruins. All the same, what little he did manage to see left a lasting impression, and he departed from the temple with the concluding remark that the temple, in its heyday, could have offered no other than the most majestic aspect.