however, The setting of this Temple of Sobek, the crocodile god, makes an approach by water the far superior way to visit this site. The temple is perched atop a picturesque bluff alongside the river and while there are no longer any crocodiles in the river or in the sacred lake inside the temple complex, t
his riverside temple is still worthy of a visit.

Like the other two sites between Luxor and Aswan, Kom Ombo dates from the Ptolomaic Dynasty and it was only completed under Roman rule. The temple has a dual dedicatation to Sobek, as well as Horus, and the plan of the temple reflects this dual purpose.

It is a symmetrical mirror of itself along its main axis with one half devoted to each of the two gods it honors. Like at Esna, the pylon entrance to the temples is no longer standing, leaving the hypostyle hall as the main feature that visitors see today. Also on the grounds of the temple is the Crocodile Museum, which has a display over crocodile mummies.

The Temple of Horus at Edfu is widely considered to be the most impressive of all of the Nile-side temples along the journey between Luxor and Aswan. It is a required stop by all of the cruise ships that make the trip, also stopping at Esna and Kom Ombo.

Like at Esna, the temple at Edfu is a late construction. It was built during the Greco-Roman Period, but the builders painstakingly preserved the form of Egypt’s true pharaohs. As a result, a visit to Edfu allows you to see what all of the other ruined temples around Egypt might have looked like had they been built 2000 years later.

The Temple of Horus is located in the center of the town of Edfu. By the 19th century, the village extended into the temple with some houses actually standing on the roof of the sand-filled temple. Now the buildings have been cleared away, but the excavation is still very evident since the surrounding buildings look down into the temple complex, which is several meters below the modern ground level.

The temple is very complete, including a pylon that was built by Cleopatra’s father in the first century BC, which leads into a peristyle court and then a hypostyle hall that precedes the sanctuary of Horus, the ultimate and most important part of the temple. All of this replicates the standard layout of a New Kingdom pylon temple, the ruins of which can be seen at many other sights around Luxor and along the Nile Valley. The Temple of Horus at Edfu is by far the most complete example of this architectural style.