Kawm Umbū
Kawm Umbū, also spelled Kum Ombu or Kom Ombo, is a city (and a valley) of Upper Egypt and lies in the eastern desert. This desert lies between the Nile in the west, the Red Sea in the east, the Mediterranean in the north and the lake in Nasser in the southwest. The desert has an area of approximately 22,000 km² and a height that rises to a mountain range in the east, of which the Gebel Sjaib el-Banat (2187 meters) and the Garib (1715 meters) are the highest. In the south, the desert passes into the Nubian desert.
The desert consists of basalt, porphyry and granite formations that are crossed by numerous wadis, which can let the landscape bloom briefly during the rare rains. Most of the desert consists of plateaus with an average height of 500 meters. Expansive parts consist of moving saucer gardens, sand massifs and in the central part there are pieces of rock (mother stone) on the surface. Large parts are uninhabited due to the frequent sand and dust storms, heavy wind, low rainfall and large daily temperature differences.
The name Kom Ombo (Ombos in Greek) is derived from the Egyptian Noebt which means Golden City, a reference to the important role that this city played in the trade in this precious metal. As far as we know, around 1160 BC gold was found in the eastern desert. Egypt has been an important gold producer for more than 1,500 years, but when the kingdom disappeared, gold mining also died
The Kom Ombo Temple
The temple of Kom Ombo is a very exceptional temple. This temple differs from all other Egyptian temples because the temple is actually a double-shrouded cloister devoted to two separate gods; on the one hand to the falcon god (Horus) and on the other hand to the crocodile god (Sobek)
There is a Nilometer in the temple. At the moment there is only a staircase, which runs down into the ground, where water can still be found. This Nilometer was used by the priests to see how high the water came. On this basis it was determined how high the tax would be for that year.
The temple was built in the 18th dynasty, between 1550 and 1292 BC, but the current temple dates from the reign of Ptolemy VI Philometor which ruled from 194 to 145 BC. Afterwards, adjustments were made to the temple (some adjustments were made during the Roman period) and were only completed in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Chr. She was then used as a Coptic church. Here, several wall decorations were deliberately damaged. The temple also suffered a lot of damage from natural disasters (floods and earthquakes).
The groundwater is becoming increasingly salty
It is expected that the sea level rise will increase by 28 to 98 centimeters by 2100. As a result, a very large area will be flooded (6,000 square kilometers), which is salt and will make all agricultural land infertile.
Not only the rising sea level is the problem, the Nile Delta itself also decreases. As a result of the construction of the Aswan dam no sludge is supplied, but slip is being transported to the sea. At the moment, a whole part of the country is already equal to sea level. To prevent seawater from flowing into the country, breakwaters and earthen embankments have been erected, but the seawater is still pumping through the groundwater.
The situation is also negatively affected by drilling for oil and gas in the Nile Delta. As a result of all this, the delta floor in some areas near the Mediterranean Sea drops by 8 mm per year. Other areas are less likely to drop by 2-6 mm per year. In some places, the delta must therefore already give up land.
Many farmers have already left their country, others raised their land with sand, to be able to grow their crops above the brackish water. The sand often comes from the dunes on the Egyptian north coast. Pillaging these dunes makes the Nile delta even more vulnerable to rising sea levels.
The well-known Egyptian tourist attractions are also at risk. Rising groundwater threatens ancient Egyptian monuments. It is not only by sea water that the groundwater becomes saltier and it rises higher. Land plots are also being built near monuments. For agriculture, irrigation channels are dug and on land fertilizer is used, which also makes groundwater more saline. The limestone foundations are affected by this, which entails a risk of collapse. To solve this, drainage systems are being constructed, such as the Kom Ombo temple.
Questions;
1. On the left (on the ground) is part of the roof construction, why and when did it fall to the ground?
2. What is the first complete sign in the stone, at the top left, of the leftmost block on the ground (of the roof construction)?
3. How can you see that the temple is influenced by Greek domination? or, indicate what you can see about the construcion of the temple.
4. What type of stone was the temple built and why a whole section has disappeared.
5. There is another reason why the water in the Nile becomes saltier, can you describe it?
It would be nice if you take a picture of your GPS on the location, of course you can also put yourself on it.