Mummified Crocodile

Ancient Egyptian Calendar

Kom-Ombo Temple:

Our next stop was up the Nile a way. We arrived at the Kom-Ombo Temple complex as the sun was going down (about 5pm or so). Egyptian temples are beautiful at night when they are all lit up.

Kom-Ombo Temple is a temple dedicated to the god Sobek (crocodile-headed god) who is one of the gods of the Nile. The Egyptias believed that by worshiping Sobek he would grant them protection from crocodiles in the River. Interestingly enough, over 300 mumified crocodiles were found next to this temple. A few of them were on display, and they didn’t look too happy about it.

A couple other interesting things about this temple – it was also used as a hospital in ancient Egypt. Archaeologists have discovered numerous medical utensils in the temple, as well as reliefs and inscriptions depicting medicinal processes. In several reliefs, there are depictions of the gods pouring out “life” onto the Pharaoh.

Also, this temple is the location of one of the earliest calendars in the world. From it we learned that the ancient Egyptians once observed a 10 day week – 9 days of work, one day of rest. It wasn’t until the Semetic peoples from Palestine came to Egypt that they began observing a 7 day week. It also helps us to understand that when the Bible says Joseph lived 110 years, it means a literal 110 years by our reasoning.