Crocodile Temples and Tears

This temple is located south in Kom Ombo, Luxor and overlooks the Nile’s blue water. It is unique in Egypt in its dedication to two gods:

Sobek -  the crocodile god - husband of Hathor & father of Khonso 

Horwer - or Horus the Ekder, the falcon king - son of Oris and Isis 

Overhead its main entrance you are protected by images of Horus - the falcon god who changed to a hawk uniting upper and lower Egypt through the ruling Pharaoh.  This structure was begun by Pharaoh Ptolemy V in 205 - 180BC.  Like many temples it continued over time and was completed by Ptolemy XII in 80-15BC. Quick math - these drawings are between 2,227 and 2,023 years old. 

There are a couple of things to note before we get back to Sobek - our crocodile god.  

First - the increase in decorative detail. The walls are primarily covered in large detailed images rather than hieroglyphics and the columns have actual capitals AND they vary, representing; papyrus (lower Egypt) lotus (upper Egypt) and palms (all over Egypt!) The human detail of muscles, navels breasts and toes along with changes to structural decorative elements are reflective of the Greco Roman period that began in 325BC. 

Second -  the incongruity of apparent deterioration. If you look carefully you’ll notice that the images on the top 2/3rds of walls looked as if they’ve been chipped off.  In fact they were, probably by Arabs who would have found images of both gods and humans inappropriate in a temple they likely used around 640 AD.  The BOTTOM 1/3 would have been covered by sand at that time.  All but the very top was covered in sand when discovered in 1893 by Jacques Morgan.  Sand - blows easily along the Nile defined desert and in hundreds to a few thousand years huge monuments can simply go missing!!

Propaganda - in ALL temples throughout Ancient Egypt, you will see images of essential gods blessing the pharaoh king, essentially elevating him to the level of a god that the people can rely on to maintain order in their world.  Here on the left is Set - shown as an anteater and known to create disorder, chaos such as sandstorms. To the right is Horus the falcon god and son of the primary triad known for his healing powers and rival of Set.  Together they pour over his head a stream of ankhs, the symbol of eternity.  For the Greeks and Roman’s, this is their way of telling the people there’s nothing to worry about. 

SOBEC - as promised - here we find in the center, the alligator god of fertility and medicine.  

The pharaoh to the left presents Sobec with of platter of surgical and ritual instruments that were used as instructed by this god of cures.  To the right is Isis, holding an ank to represent both her and Sobec’s eternal existence. There is much MORE to the crocodile story, but we’ll save that for a bit.  

The Temple  of Kom Ombo is very much known for its documentation of medical practice and cures.  

Although Horus shares the temple with Sobec, it is much more the crocodile’s story.  On the upper left, look for scissors, scalpels, drills to relieve pressure (even in the brain) suppository treatments (lots of parasites in the Nile) and a scale to ensure correct portions are used for things like  anesthesia.  At the bottom we see a squatting woman giving birth, a bee whose honey is for both nutrition and a salve and a babe being suckled.  To the right is a priestess crowned with marijuana to help with relaxation.  

The Nile’s location relative to the surrounding land is essential in understanding the position of this Temple.  Remember every year the Nile would rise. Drawings from as late as the 18th and 20th century AD show water up to the temple entrance. In ancient times this facilitated the movement of stone abc goods but created havoc for farmers.  The crocodile buried its eggs just above whatever that year’s flood level might be, which helped the farmers and stone quarry men plan.  HOEVER the farmers tending the large verdant island just a few hundred yards from the Nile’s  edge during farming season were constantly being attacked.  Yup - you can we’ll imagine the tremendous offerings made to the crocodile god Sobec.  

The Crocodile Museum - and YES you really do want to stop here!! It’s just at the end of the path to the temple and before the market place (don’t make eye contact unless you REALLY are interested in buying something) and the Nile, where your dahabiya (aka ship) awaits. 

So how revered is the crocodile? Each year the  largest was found and mummified as an offering to Subec.  Don’t be surprised to discover devotees were often killed or maimed in the process.   Hundreds have been found as well as those still wrapped in cloth with decorative weights on their eyes along with fossilized eggs and embryos.  

The story behind crocodile tears, your reward for reading this post to the end.  The Lapwing bird - pictured here - cleans the crocodile’s teeth by climbing inside it’s open mouth. Cleaning rear molars does NOT cause pain but DOES cause tears.  Crocodile tears - mystery solved! 

(Temporary Backup) Iconic Giza

The SPHINX is instantly one of the iconic images that comes to mind when you hear the word EGYPT.

Do you imagine it sitting arbitrarily in the desert with nothing around for miles and maybe near an oasis? 

Do you  wonder why it came to be and how big is it REALLY? Well let’s get to the bottom of it.  

The Sphinx is located in Giza at a funerary site in the same general area as Saqqara. (Extra points for those that remember Saqqara is the location of the Step Pyramid.) Completed in 2500 BC, it is the earliest known sculpture of ancient Egypt.  The Sphinx stands guard as you approach the Pyramid of Khafre, one of the three pyramids Giza is best known for. Why is it there? King Khafre and his architect hadn’t planned for this sculpture, but some of the limestone stone delivered hundreds of miles up the Nile from Luxor was too soft to use for the pyramid and so a sculpture was proposed.  How much stone  you ask? Enough to build a sculpture 66 feet tall and 185 feet long. (Yes, that’s just under 2/3 the size of a football field.) The elongated body with outstretched paws is topped by a royal headdress framed face that is likely King Khafre himself, which for centuries has been missing his royal beard.  (You can view a piece of his  “missing” Roy,a beard at the British Museum in London.) To mankind's benefit, Egypt’s capital eventually moved south and, with fewer people caring for the funerary site, wind swept in sand, eventually covering the Sphinx up to its neck along with other pyramids on the site.  This is the primary reason why they have remained intact until discovered by Auguste Mariette in 1852. 

The Giza plateau contains 3 pyramids for three different kings, each worthy of note for different reasons, while all sharing some common attributes. 

All three were built at separate times during the lifetime of their respective  king for their eventual entombment. Each had accessory pyramids for purposes such as body preparation or, in the case of Menkaure, for each of his three wives. Each took about a decade to build, primarily by thousands of farmers during the 4-months of the Nile’s summer flood season between June and October. Beyond employment, these workers wanted to honor their god kingwhom they relied on for balance and predictability in their world. Stone was brought up via the flooding Nile which rose spreading several miles to the edge of the Giza plateau. The design innovation of these, as compared to the earlier step pyramid, is that although they all began as stacked granite or limestone mastabas, limestone was used to create the smooth finish we associate with Old Kingdom Egyptian pyramids and which can still be seen atop King Khafre’s pyramid.

 

So you are probably wondering about scale and what some of the general statistics we are talking about here. 

King Khula’s pyramid is generally referred to as the Great Pyramid. In the late 1700’s Napoleon’s explorers counted nearly two-and-a-half million blocks, each weighing on average 1.5 to 2 tons.  Until the 19th century it’s 450 feet made it the tallest building in the world.  The structure’s precision is amazing - the greatest difference in length between the four 756-foot sides is only 2 inches.  Really.  The construction methods and exact purpose of some of their many interior chambers and shafts are unknown, but this fantastic architectural achievement is indisputable. 

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So what do we recommend? Make your way to Egypt and see for yourself.  Over the centuries, both BC and AD, many have broken into and robbed the pyramids.  In the 12th century one of Cairo’s sultans attempted to dismantle Menkaure’s pyramid, which at about one quarter of the size of the Great Pyramid is by far the smallest of the three.  After eight months the project was abandoned after only achieving  the vertical scar seen on the north face.  Medieval rulers of Cairo also took and used most of the limestone for their own monuments. In the 1700’s archeologists began removing sand and uncovering these treasures. In the 1800’s hundreds of boats would travel the Nile to see these, and other, treasures as part of the Grand Tour.  Today, tens of thousands arrive annually.  

With the growth in Cairo and Giza populations, we need not worry about the pyramids or the Sphinx ever again being buried in sand.  However, Steve may just bring one home, if he can shrink it down enough to fit into his roll on bag. So come and be wowed by one of the world’s mysteries! 

27th Century BC and 9.5MM People

Nope this isn’t a photoshopped image. The Kaufman’s are once again on the move in Egypt!

 

First - It’s terrific to be in touch with all of you again! 

Second - I’m a bit rusty, (i.e. you may have received a couple of random posts) so please bear with me.

Third - Visiting Egypt means covering centuries in hours, so entries may not be as thorough as in the past. 

Welcome to the Step Pyramid of Djuser - the prototype for ALL other pyramids - period. 

Built in the 27th century BC by Imhotep, the high priest and architect for Pharaoh Djuser, who desired something beyond the traditional “Mastabas” which were underground rooms covered by low box like mud-brick structures.  You can almost imagine the meetings between Djuser and his architect, Imhotep:

 - Imhotep, I want to do something different. What if we used limestone instead of mud and we made it a bit higher. 

- Two stories is affective your majesty, but can you imagine the presence if we added another?

- Yes and if we continued to step back the mastabas even more, the structure would look as if it was reaching for the stars!

And so it was.  The 205 foot high limestone structure was built ad renegotiated one mastabas at a time and completed in 20 years, in around 2605BC - yes that’s 4,627 years ago. After his resurrection, the giant stairway would allow King Djuser to join sun god Ra in the sky. Imhotep, who the Greeks later honored as the king of medicine, allowed for both a burial chamber 41 feet below the pyramid and a store room yet another 40 feet down, that was filled with 30,000 jars - the most important made of granite, alabaster and schist. 

The Step Pyramid is located in Saqqara, Egypt’s  Old Kingdom’s (3,100 - 2,000 BC) funerary site for royalty and close to the then capital, Memphis. This City of the Dead is one of Egypt’s richest archeological sites with monuments spanning 3,000 years. There are numerous sites to see here. Although many of the pyramids were eventually raided, there are numerous examples of Pharaonic art which began here. In essence, one cannot truly understand what we think of as Egyptian art and architecture without first coming to Saqqara.  As Memphis grew, so did the site, eventually covering 4 miles.  (More on this later)   With the exception of the top of Djuser’s  pyramid, the site was buried in the sand for centuries, until uncovered in 1851 by French archeologist August Mariette. 

So where is Saqqara? In Giza, fifteen miles southwest of Cairo. 

SO WHAT ABOUT CAIRO??

Where to start:

- Egypt’s capital city has a population of 9.5 million in a country of 102 million. 

- Want to feel like you live in a small city without traffic and with enough housing? Come to Cairo.

- Truly a city that never sleeps - restaurants, stores and sporting venues seem to be open 24/7.

- Public works are everywhere, architecture is widely varied, with Minarets slim towers punctuating the cityscape.

- COVID continues to be taken seriously here, so have your QR code ready and bring masks and hand sanitizers.