A pilgrimage to the temples and tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and ...

ROOM OMBOS. 263
CHAPTER XIII.
KOOM OMBOS,—GHEBEL SILSILIS. TEMPLE OF EDFOU. VIEW.
EL KOB.— TOMBS. BANISUED GHAWAZEE. SOFIA. TALLYHO !
On the Nile, Dec. 24, 1845.
Since we quitted Es-souan, part of every day
has been employed in visiting a different temple.
The first of these was Koom Ombos, one of the
few sanctuaries that have been erected on the
eastern bank of the river, and among the sculp-
tures of which we have for the first time met
with the god Sevek, the Egyptian Saturn, repre-
sented with a crocodile's head. The architecture
of Koom Ombos is prodigious ; nowhere have I
seen such enormous blocks of stone as are em-
ployed in its construction. It excites a twofold
astonishment ; first, as to the manner of its crea-
tion, and lastly, as to the method resorted to for
its destruction. For if one wonders how such
masses of stone could ever have been fashioned
and raised, one is equally amazed at the deplor-
able ingenuity that has been employed to level
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