THE temple of Kom Ombo is unique among other Ancient Egyptian temples. It consists of two cult temples combined into one, where the temple is divided into two parts by two axes. The right and left parts of the temple are fused together except for the double sanctuaries that are clearly separat¬ed by an intermediate wall. The temple is dedicat¬ed to two deities; the east side is dedicated to Sobek, the crocodile god, the west side is dedicat¬ed to Horus, the Falcon god. The temple accord¬ingly was known as the «House of the Crocodile” and “The Castle of the Falcon”.
As we mentioned last week, this series of arti¬cles is dedicated to the unusual functions and spe¬cial features of the different temples of Upper Egypt. Kom Ombo temple, besides its particulari¬ty as a twin temple, contains on its walls two inter¬esting calendars, The Pharaonic calendar is considered the oldest and most accurate and regular of all calendars. It dates back to the fifth millennium BC and is based on solar calculations.
The Egyptians divided the year into twelve equal months of thirty days and then added five days of festivities celebrating their deities; Isis, Osiris, Seth. Nephtys and Horus. They grouped the months into three seasons, each season consisting of four months; one season for the inundation (Akhet), another for cultivation or winter (Peret) and a third for harvesting or summer (Shemu).
Two good examples of the Pharaonic calendars are to be found on the walls of the 2nd vestibule of the temple of Kom Ombo. The first one is a deities’ calendar and the second is a festivals’ cal¬endar.
In the first calendar, a deity is assigned for everyday of the year who also patrons a certain region in Egypt. For example; it assigns for the first day of the third month of inundation (Akhet), the goddess of primitive times, patron of all gods, for the second day of the third month, it assigns the goddess of land, patron of the fields, and for the third day of the third month, the goddess Hathor, patron of Herrnopolis … etc.
This is similar to what we have in the Western calendar. For religious reasons, people have assigned for each day of the year, a certain Christian saint. Every saint was also considered a patron of one of the regions. For instance, they assigned Saint Alphonse to the first day of August, Saint Julian to the second day and Saint Lydia for the third day and Saint Jeane-Marie Vianney for the fourth day, Saint Abel for the fifth day, etc.
In almost every temple of Egypt, there were calendars for religious events and ceremonies for public festivities like the New Year, the Opet, the Heb Sed … etc. Similarly in the Western calendar they have special days of festivals like Christmas, Easter, New Year, Mother’s day, Labor’s day, etc.
Such a calendar was known as the Temple Festival Calendar whereby the 2nd calendar of Kom Ombo shows the list of festivals during the reign of the King Ptolemy VI:
First month of Akhet, day 1: Opening of the year, causing appearance of Horus
Second month of Akhet, day I; After the eighth hour, causing the appearance of Horus chief of the two Iands.
T hird month of Akhet, day 28: Festival of Hathor, resident in Ombo.
Next week we will visit another temple with another interesting story.
