| This temple also contained some excellent high reliefs. One of our favorites was the high relief of Hapi, the god associated with the annual flooding of the Nile. Our guide Ahmed explained to us the importance of Hapi to the Egyptian people, because a good flood meant more fertile soil for crops. Therefore, the god, even though male, was always pictured with a full breast and a large belly to represent the fertility of the Nile. Another of our favorites was the high relief of the gods feeding the �key of life� to the pharaoh (a Ptolemy). The god furthest to the right of the pharaoh was Horus. He was always shown in reliefs with pharaohs as he was the pharaohs� main protector god. |
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| The walk back from Kom Ombo Temple to the cruise boat in the late afternoon was pleasant with the Nile River in the background. At the Kom Ombo wharf, our boat was one of three cruise boats. It was hard to imagine that during the peak of the tourist season, 35 cruise boats could easily have been crowding this wharf at any one time, and that 20,000 people probably passed through this site on any one day. Our guide Ahmed said that in the high season there were 310 cruise ships on the Nile River. We couldn�t even begin to imagine! That evening we sailed on to Aswan from Kom Ombo, arriving there just before 10 pm. Especially memorable were the lights from the Aswan bridge as we passed underneath. |
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