View allAll Photos Tagged Solar_Power_Plant,
Solar power plant covers 25.000 m2 and is composed of 6.777 solar pannels. It was inaugurated in octobre 2021 by Enovos. Arcelor Mittal owns the lake which formerly was used to cool down a steel mine. Projet manager was Éric Golinelli and Solar lake produces 3 GWH/year electricity for 3.200 inhabitants or 800 homes.
Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, get beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.
Tonopah, Nevada, has a 110 megawatt solar thermal power plant called Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project. It will start operating later this year and will provide power for 75,000 homes. The anticipated to cost is a bit less than $1 billion.
This solar power plant can operate 24/7 - hot salt in a big tank stores energy for use at night. A truly large-scale project. An overview video describes this.
I processed a balanced HDR photo from two RAW exposures.
-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 2 RAW exposures, NEX-6, SEL-55210, _DSC1692_3_hdr2bal1d
That what we thought it might be as it appeared faintly in the distance on our way from Las Vegas to Burning Man 2016, soon after Tonopah, NV.
We had to drive a small side road to get closer, take this picture and then find out it's the now defunct Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project (Wikipedia).
© 2016 Jacques de Selliers. All rights reserved.
For reproduction rights, see www.deselliers.info/en/copyright.htm.
Photo ref: j8e_2682-ps1
Today we are staying at Tonopah, Nevada. North-west of the town is a 110 megawatt solar thermal power plant called Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project. It will start operating later this year. The anticipated to cost is a bit less than $1 billion.
This solar power plant can operate 24/7 - hot salt in a big tank stores energy for use at night. A truly large-scale project. An overview video explains it.
The title is a play on a tail. The fossil fuel industry is riding on government subsidies and misses the boat. The renewable energy industry is smart and leaping ahead.
I climbed up a big sand dune to get a good vantage point. Walking barefoot was the easiest to get up on the dune. You see my steps at the crest.
I processed a balanced and a paintery HDR photo from two RAW exposures, then merged them by blending 80% of the paintery version into the lower part of the scene.
Thank you for visiting - ♡ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, like the Facebook page, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.
-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 2 RAW exposures, NEX-6, SEL-55210, _DSC1582_3_hdr2bal1pai1d
The Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project is a concentrating solar power (CSP) plant built near Tonopah in Nye County, Nevada. The 110MW plant is the first commercial-grade solar power plant in the U.S. to be fully integrated with energy storage technology. It is also the world’s largest solar power facility with storage. The estimated cost of the project was $1B. In September 2011, Tonopah Solar Energy received a loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to finance the construction of the Crescent Dunes solar power plant. The remaining project cost was financed by SolarReserve, the Spanish engineering and construction company ACS Cobra, and the Spanish banking firm Santander. The project entered its commissioning phase in February 2014 following completion of the construction phase. It was expected to generate about half a million megawatt-hours annually of emission-free electricity, enough to meet the needs of approximately 75,000 households. It officially began commercial operations in September 2015. At this time, the project was under contract with Nevada Energy, the electric utility for most of Nevada, to supply its entire output. Perhaps unsurprisingly for such a large facility using cutting-edge technology, however, the plant was plagued with operational difficulties, mostly plumbing issues in handling the extremely hot & corrosive molten salt. Nevada Energy canceled the contract for non-performance in 2019, & the corporate owners filed for bankruptcy. Under new owners, the plant re-began production again in 2021, however, it remains to be seen whether the difficulties were solved.
Solar power has a lot of promise, but a fundamental challenge: it works only when the sun is shining. Hence, any solar power system that can supply energy 24/7 requires some means of energy storage. Electricity, however, is notoriously hard to store, especially at power plant scales. This challenge drives the need for alternative energy-storage technologies. Crescent Dunes has a novel approach to the electricity storage problem. Rather than boil water directly, solar heating is used to melt a salt reservoir, and the molten salt then boils water via a heat exchanger. The cooled but still-liquid salt is then returned to the reservoir for reheating. The hot-salt reservoir is large enough that it can continue boiling water to generate power for 10 hours, long enough to smooth out production when the sun is not shining. Over 10,000 mirrors are focused, under computer control, onto a tower some 656 feet high, where pipes carry the molten salt to be heated. The salt exits to a reservoir where it is held around 1,050 degrees Fahrenheit. When electricity is to be generated, this salt is run through the heat exchanger, which makes superheated steam that turns a turbine.
www.atlasobscura.com/places/crescent-dunes-solar-energy-p...
Technical Information (or Nerdy Stuff):
Camera - Nikon D7200 (handheld)
Lens – Nikkor 18-300mm Zoom
ISO – 500
Aperture – f/9
Exposure – 1/1250 second
Focal Length – 135mm
The original RAW file was processed with Adobe Camera Raw and final adjustments were made with Photoshop CS6.
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11
The best way to view my photostream is through Flickriver with the following link: www.flickriver.com/photos/photojourney57/
Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, get beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.
Last month we stayed in Tonopah, Nevada. North-west of the town is a 110 megawatt solar thermal power plant called Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project. It will start operating later this year and will provide power for 75,000 homes. The anticipated to cost is a bit less than $1 billion. At the bottom you see the reflection on the panels that mirror the sunlight to a large tower to heat liquid salt, which is used to generate electricity.
This solar power plant can operate 24/7 - hot salt in a big tank stores energy for use at night. A truly large-scale project. An overview video describes this.
This photo shows the reflectors called heliostats. There are 17,500 of them, each has 62.4 m² (670 square feet) of mirrors.
Explanation on using "nay" and "yea" in the title, based on Wikipedia article: "While Modern English has a two-form system of yes and no for affirmatives and negatives, earlier forms of English had a four-form system, comprising the words yea, nay, yes, and no. In essence, yes and no were the responses to a question posed in the negative, whereas yea and nay were the responses to positively framed questions."
I processed a balanced HDR photo from two RAW exposures.
-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 2 RAW exposures, NEX-6, SEL-55210, _DSC1600_1_hdr2bal1k
That what we thought it might be as it appeared faintly in the distance on our way from Las Vegas to Burning Man 2016, soon after Tonopah, NV.
We had to drive a small side road to get closer, take this picture and then find out it's the now defunct Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project (see on Wikipedia).
For reproduction rights, please check www.deselliers.info/en/copyright.htm
Photo ref: j8e_2714-ps1
Luftbild des großen solarthermischen Kraftwerkes PS10 bei Sanlucar la Mayor in Spanien. Mit Hilfe von großen Solarspiegeln wird die Sonnenenergie auf einen Punkt konzentriert, um große Hitze zu erzeugen, die mit Hilfe einer Dampfturbine zur Stromerzeugung genutzt wird.
Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, get beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.
Last week we stayed at Tonopah, Nevada. North-west of the town is a 110 megawatt solar thermal power plant called Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project. It will start operating later this year. The anticipated to cost is a bit less than $1 billion. At the bottom you see the reflection on the panels that mirror the sunlight to a large tower to heat liquid salt, which is used to generate electricity.
This solar power plant can operate 24/7 - hot salt in a big tank stores energy for use at night. A truly large-scale project. An overview video explains it.
I processed a balanced HDR photo from a RAW exposure. I actually took three bracketed exposures, but decided to use just the underexposed one to get these deep colors.
-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, SEL-55210, _DSC1640_hdr1bal1b
The Sinai peninsula with a Concentrated Solar Power Plant in Israel visible, as seen by ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti aboard the International Space Station for her Minerva Mission. She shared those images to her social media on 25 August 2022 with the following caption:
Intriguing sight! A bright dot in the Negev desert…so unusual to see human-made lights in day passes! It’s a concentrated solar power plant, one of the technologies to get renewable energy from the Sun. With one of the world’s tallest solar power towers!
ID: 283B8572
Credit: ESA/NASA-S.Cristoforetti
Concentrated solar power plant with 2.650 heliostats reflecting sunlight in a focal point on the top of the tower. Temperatures reach 520*C and is used to melt salt which is used for power production.
Please leave a comment and have a look at my other photos too.
Cheers
Chris.
Two big solar power plants in Ashalim. Israel.
In the front - parabolic trough collectors plant.
On the background - The tallest solar power tower in the world. At the height of 260 meters mounted boiler, field of concentrating mirrors built of 50,600 computer-controlled heliostats.
Gemasolar is a concentrated solar power plant with a molten salt heat storage system. It is located within the city limits of Fuentes de Andalucía in the province of Seville, Spain
This is the "Pilum"
a multirole drone-starfighter.
"Designed as a long rage defense device, or mass dog-fighter ship, it use a nuclear reactor to power a railgun cannon.
This weapon offers an enormous destruction power, but also produces big ammount of electromagnetic radiations. To use a drone instead of a uman-piloted spaceship, is the best (less expansive) way to survive a long railgun exposure.
The main weapon, can shot explosive shells, or even a non-lethal web, mainly used to wrap enemy ships and break their solar power plant without killing the crew or destroying the hull...most of the time...."
this was born as an idea of a defensive device for colonial station in "near space" and near future: for space/orbital station, lunar stations, or Mars stations. After the defensive phase, i decide to power it up with nozzles and rockets, and other things to make it more suitable to starfighting role!
Thank you Tromas for this contest! I had real fun on bulding something "realistic"!!!
Solar power induce power off at GKM (great coal fired power plant in Mannheim/Germany). At midday 25.000 to 35.000 MW solar power plants (PV) feed in german eletric grid in june 2018.
The foto was shot in august 2018 at 8:50 in the morning. So we had a heat wave with long solar exposure.
This was probably desert tortoise and sage grouse habitat, and it was a natural carbon sink. Now, $750,000,000 later, it's an industrial site, one that generates a tremendous amount of heat. It has had some operational problems, and has been out of service a lot.
The quality of my electrical power here in Nevada still stinks, I recent lost my main 29.5TB RAID system of photographs and time-lapse video to a power failure.
There are proposals to build billions of dollars of new electrical infrastructure and gift it to NV Energy (owned by billionaire Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway), and to offer up to 9 million more acres in Nevada for industrial solar development.
After this gift of billions to the billionaire, our electrical service quality will still suck. We'll be prone to electrical equipment damage as the grid goes down in wind and lightning storms. When there's a regional power outage because too many people need to use air conditioners, people die (233 in the British Columbia heat wave this week).
If they put solar power on our roofs instead, and a battery in every home, we'd be resistant to power outages, power spikes, our electricity bills would go down or to zero, The panels would shade our roofs from the sun so we'd need less air conditioning (power), and it would encourage us to buy electric vehicles. Our transportation costs would go down, and we'd burn less gasoline.
The upcoming Ford F-150 Lightning pickup actually can serve as that home battery, and power your home in the event of a power outage.
Turning 9 million acres of Nevada high desert into industrial park heat islands is only a good idea to lobbyists, and to the politicians in their pockets. Make families more resistant to power bill costs and outages instead.
The Zagtouli substation was established by the Burkinabe National Electricity Company (SONABEL) upon the completion of the 225kV interconnection from Côte d'Ivoire at the end of 2009. This installation has significantly alleviated the electricity needs of the cities of Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso, as well as those of certain secondary localities along the route. The site has changed a lot in recent years with the commissioning of the Zagtouli solar power plant with a capacity of 33 MW (2017) and then the arrival of a second 225kV interconnection line from Ghana in 2018. The Zagtouli substation is also connected to a line leading to the Gounghin thermal power plant and a 90 kV line to Ouahigouya (2017). There are currently projects for interconnection with Mali and Ghana in 330 kV, as well as the construction of additional solar power plants, some of which are already underway.
La sous-station de Zagtouli a été mise en place par la Société Nationale Burkinabé d'Electricité (SONABEL) avec l'arrivée fin 2009 de l'interconnexion 225Kv depuis la Côte d'Ivoire. Cette installation a fortement soulagé les besoins en électricité de la ville de Ouagadougou tout comme celle de Bobo-Dioulasso et certaines localités secondaires le long du tracé. Le site a beaucoup changé ces dernières années avec la mise en service de la Centrale solaire de Zagtouli d'une puissance de 33 MW (2017) puis l'arrivée d'une deuxième ligne d'interconnexion 225Kv depuis le Ghana en 2018. La sous-station de Zagtouli est également connectée à une ligne en direction de la centrale thermique de Gounghin et une ligne 90Kv en direction de Ouahigouya (2017). Il y a actuellement des projets d'interconnexion avec le Mali et le Ghana en 330Kv ainsi que de réalisation de centrales solaires supplémentaires dont certaines déjà en cours.
The Sinai peninsula with a Concentrated Solar Power Plant in Israel visible, as seen by ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti aboard the International Space Station for her Minerva Mission. She shared those images to her social media on 25 August 2022 with the following caption:
Intriguing sight! A bright dot in the Negev desert…so unusual to see human-made lights in day passes! It’s a concentrated solar power plant, one of the technologies to get renewable energy from the Sun. With one of the world’s tallest solar power towers!
ID: 283B8580
Credit: ESA/NASA-S.Cristoforetti
In the middle of Auroville is the Matrimandir, which was conceived by Alfassa as "a symbol of the Divine's answer to man's aspiration for perfection". Silence is maintained inside the Matrimandir to ensure the tranquility of the space and entire area surrounding the Matrimandir is called Peace area. Inside the Matrimandir, a spiraling ramp leads upwards to an air-conditioned chamber of polished white marble referred to as "a place to find one's consciousness".
Matrimandir is equipped with a solar power plant and is surrounded by manicured gardens. When there is no sun or after the sunset, the sunray on the globe is replaced by a beam from a solar powered light.
The Sinai peninsula with a Concentrated Solar Power Plant in Israel visible, as seen by ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti aboard the International Space Station for her Minerva Mission. She shared those images to her social media on 25 August 2022 with the following caption:
Intriguing sight! A bright dot in the Negev desert…so unusual to see human-made lights in day passes! It’s a concentrated solar power plant, one of the technologies to get renewable energy from the Sun. With one of the world’s tallest solar power towers!
ID: 283B8578
Credit: ESA/NASA-S.Cristoforetti
The western area of Spain’s Province of Seville and its capital with the same name (right) is pictured in this image from the Sentinel-2A satellite.
Also the capital of the wider Andalusian autonomous community, Seville is located on the Guadalquivir river. While the original course of the river is visible snaking through the city on the right, we can see where water has also been redirected in a straighter course on the left.
The fertile valley of the Guadalquivir is evident by the plethora of agricultural structures, particularly noticeable in the upper right. The Sierra Morena mountain range runs north of the Guadalquivir basin, and we can see the foothills in the upper-left corner.
Another notable feature in the upper-central section of the image is the open pit copper mine, appearing white. This type of mining is often practised when deposits of minerals or rocks are found near the surface.
To the west of this mine, two other open-pit mines are filled with water.
South of these water-filled mines we see two circular structures reminiscent of clamshells. These are large solar power plants, where mirrored panels are positioned to face a solar power tower –sitting at the southernmost tip of the structures seen here – which receives the focused sunlight and acts as a furnace to produce energy.
This image, also featured on the Earth from Space video programme, was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2A satellite on 26 July 2016.
Credit: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2016), processed by ESA
CM3308 & CM3306 lead Bowmans Rail new service from the Bungala Solar Power Plant (near Emeroo on the Leigh Creek Line) 4442S through Bishops Loop on Thursday 1st of March 2017
“A decade ago, Tinsley foresaw the space satellite as an “Ultimate Weapon.” This manned fortress in the universe could fire deadly missiles at any spot on earth. A supply rocket enters the landing port of the giant sphere, which has a solar power plant extending from its right and an observatory on top. The moon is at upper left.”
An observatory? Why not, right? Might as well combine astronomical observations & discoveries while raining down death & destruction from orbit.
AWESOME:
forums.spacebattles.com/threads/us-defense-secretary-forr...
Credit: SPACEBATTLES.COM website
"Now witness the firepower of this fully ARMED and OPERATIONAL battle station!"
Credit: George Lucas/Lucas Films
Note also what appears to be the targeted continent...timely eh? Or maybe the entire eastern hemisphere is fair game?
Note also that the Aral Sea is depicted...
earthobservatory.nasa.gov/WorldOfChange/aral_sea.php
...as it was still in existence at this time.
Other Tinsley works:
www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/albums/721576231107...
Credit: James Vaughan
Despite any technical inaccuracies, proportionality errors, etc., I find Mr. Tinsley’s work to be bold, visually rich and evocative - and a mix of both dystopian and utopian. During his career, he eventually also wrote articles to accompany his works, as in this case.
Arca Swiss 8x10 Goerz Apochromat 16.5 inch f 9.5 Fujichrome Velvia 100 developped in Arista Rapid E6, Epson 4990 fluid mount
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Kom_Ombo
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kom_Ombo
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaic_dynasty
The Temple of Kom Ombo is an unusual double temple in the town of Kom Ombo in Aswan Governorate, Upper Egypt. It was constructed during the Ptolemaic dynasty, 180–47 BC. Some additions to it were later made during the Roman period.
Architecture
The building is unique because its 'double' design meant that there were courts, halls, sanctuaries and rooms duplicated for two sets of gods. The southern half of the temple was dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek, god of fertility and creator of the world with Hathor and Khonsu. Meanwhile, the northern part of the temple was dedicated to the falcon god Haroeris ("Horus the Elder"), along "with Tasenetnofret (the Good Sister, a special form of Hathor or Tefnet/Tefnut) and Panebtawy (Lord of the Two Lands)". The temple is atypical because everything is perfectly symmetrical along the main axis.
Decorations
The texts and reliefs in the temple refer to cultic liturgies which were similar to those from that time period. The temple itself had a specific theology. The characters invoked the gods of Kom Ombo and their legend. Two themes were present in this temple: the universalist theme and the local theme. The two combine to form the theology of this temple. A temple was already built in the New Kingdom to honor these gods, however, this site gained in importance during the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Little remains of the New Kingdom temple. The existing temple was begun by Ptolemy VI Philometor (180–145 BC) at the beginning of his reign and added to by other Ptolemies, most notably Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator (51–47 BC), who built the inner and outer hypostyles. The scene on the inner face of the rear wall of the temple is of particular interest, and "probably represents a set of surgical instruments".
Current state
Much of the temple has been destroyed by the Nile, earthquakes, and later builders who used its stones for other projects. Some of the reliefs inside were defaced by Copts, who once used the temple as a church. All the temples buildings in the southern part of the plateau were cleared of debris and restored by Jacques de Morgan in 1893.
Crocodile Museum
A few of the three hundred crocodile mummies discovered in the vicinity are displayed in The Crocodile Museum.
In April 2018, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced the discovery of the head of the bust of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius during work to protect the site from groundwater.
In September 2018, the Egyptian antiquities ministry announced that a sandstone sphinx statue had been discovered at the temple. The statue, measuring approximately 28 cm (11 in) in width and 38 cm (15 in) in height, likely dates to the Ptolemaic Dynasty.
Kom Ombo (Egyptian Arabic: كوم أمبو; Coptic: ⲙ̄ⲃⲱ əmbō or ⲛ̄ⲃⲱ ənbō; Ancient Greek: Ὄμβοι Omboi or Ὄμβος Ombos; or Latin: Ambo and Ombi is an agricultural town in Egypt famous for the Temple of Kom Ombo. It was originally an Egyptian city called Nubt, meaning City of Gold (not to be confused with the city north of Naqada that was also called Nubt/Ombos). Nubt is also known as Nubet or Nubyt (Nbyt). It became a Greek settlement during the Greco-Roman Period. The town's location on the Nile, 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Aswan (Syene), gave it some control over trade routes from Nubia to the Nile Valley, but its main rise to prominence came with the erection of the Temple of Kom Ombo in the 2nd century BC.
History
In antiquity the city was in the Thebaid, the capital of the Nomos Ombites, on the east bank of the Nile; latitude 24° 6' north. Ombos was a garrison town under every dynasty of Egypt as well as the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt, and was celebrated for the magnificence of its temples and its hereditary feud with the people of Dendera.
Ombos was the first city below Aswan at which any remarkable remains of antiquity occur. The Nile, indeed, at this portion of its course, was ill-suited to a dense population in antiquity. It runs between steep and narrow banks of sandstone, and deposits but little of its fertilizing slime upon the dreary and barren shores. There are two temples at Ombos, constructed of the stone obtained from the neighboring quarries of Hagar Silsilah.
The more magnificent of two stands upon the top of a sandy hill, and appears to have been a species of Pantheon, since, according to extant inscriptions, it was dedicated to Haroeris and the other deities of the Ombite nome by the soldiers quartered there. The smaller temple to the northwest was sacred to the goddess Isis. Both, indeed, are of an imposing architecture, and still retain the brilliant colors with which their builders adorned them. However, they are from the Ptolemaic Kingdom, with the exception of a doorway of sandstone, built into a wall of brick. This was part of a temple built by Thutmose III in honor of the crocodile-headed god Sobek. The monarch is represented on tress, the doorjambs, holding the measuring reed and chisel, the emblems of construction, and in the act of dedicating the temple.
The Ptolemaic portions of the larger temple present an exception to an almost universal rule in Egyptian architecture. It has no propylon or dromos in front of it, and the portico has an uneven number of columns, in all fifteen, arranged in a triple row. Of these columns, thirteen are still erect. As there are two principal entrances, the temple would seem to be two united in one, strengthening the supposition that it was the Pantheon of the Ombite nome. On a cornice above the doorway of one of the adyta, there is a Greek inscription, recording the erection, or perhaps the restoration of the sekos by Ptolemy VI Philometor and his sister-wife Cleopatra II, 180-145 BCE. The hill on which the Ombite temples stand has been considerably excavated at its base by the river, which here strongly inclines to the Arabian bank.
The crocodile was held in especial honor by the people of Ombos; and in the adjacent catacombs are occasionally found mummies of the sacred animal. Juvenal, in his 15th satire, has given a lively description of a fight, of which he was an eye-witness, between the Ombitae and the inhabitants of Dendera, who were hunters of the crocodile. On this occasion the men of Ombos had the worst of it; and one of their number, having stumbled in his flight, was caught and eaten by the Denderites. The satirist, however, has represented Ombos as nearer to Dendera than it actually is, these towns, in fact, being nearly 100 miles (160 km) from each other. The Roman coins of the Ombite nome exhibit the crocodile and the effigy of the crocodile-headed god Sobek.
In Kom Ombo there is a rare engraved image of what is thought to be the first representation of medical instruments for performing surgery, including scalpels, curettes, forceps, dilator, scissors and medicine bottles dating from the days of Roman Egypt.
At this site there is another Nilometer used to measure the level of the river waters. On the opposite side of the Nile was a suburb of Ombos, called Contra-Ombos.
The city was the seat of a bishop during Late Antiquity. Two bishops of Omboi are known by name, Silbanos (before 402) and Verses (402). Under the name Ombi, it is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees. Karol Wojtyła (the future Pope John Paul II) was titular bishop of Ombi from 1958 until 1963, when he was appointed Archbishop of Kraków.
Today
Today, irrigated sugarcane and cereal account for most of the agricultural industry.
Most of the 60,000 villagers are native Egyptians, although there is a large population of Nubians, including many Magyarabs who were displaced from their land upon the creation of Lake Nasser.
In 2010, plans to construct a new $700m 100 MW (130,000 hp) solar power plant near the city were unveiled by the Egyptian government.
The Ptolemaic dynasty (/ˌtɒlɪˈmeɪ.ɪk/; Ancient Greek: Πτολεμαῖοι, Ptolemaioi), also known as the Lagid dynasty (Λαγίδαι, Lagidae; after Ptolemy I's father, Lagus), was a Macedonian Greek royal house which ruled the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Ancient Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Reigning for 275 years, the Ptolemaic was the longest and last dynasty of ancient Egypt from 305 until its incorporation into the Roman Republic in 30 BC.
Ptolemy, one of the seven somatophylakes (bodyguard companions), a general and possible half-brother of Alexander the Great, was appointed satrap of Egypt after Alexander's death in 323 BC. In 305 BC he declared himself Pharaoh Ptolemy I, later known as Sōter "Saviour". The Egyptians soon accepted the Ptolemies as the successors to the pharaohs of independent Egypt. Ptolemy's family ruled Egypt until the Roman conquest of 30 BC.
Like the earlier dynasties of ancient Egypt, the Ptolemaic dynasty practiced inbreeding including sibling marriage, but this did not start in earnest until nearly a century into the dynasty's history. All the male rulers of the dynasty took the name Ptolemy, while queens regnant were all called Cleopatra, Arsinoe or Berenice. The most famous member of the line was the last queen, Cleopatra VII, known for her role in the Roman political battles between Julius Caesar and Pompey, and later between Octavian and Mark Antony. Her apparent suicide after the Roman conquest of Egypt marked the end of Ptolemaic rule in Egypt.
Ptolemaic rulers and consorts
Ptolemy I Soter was the founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty, and the first ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom.
Ptolemy I Soter (303–282 BC)[8] married first Thaïs, then Artakama, then Eurydice, and finally Berenice I
Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BC)[9] married Arsinoe I, then Arsinoe II; ruled jointly with Ptolemy Epigonos (267–259 BC)
Ptolemy III Euergetes (246–221 BC) married Berenice II
Ptolemy IV Philopator (221–203 BC) married Arsinoe III
Ptolemy V Epiphanes (203–181 BC) married Cleopatra I Syra
Ptolemy VI Philometor (181–164 BC, 163–145 BC) married Cleopatra II, briefly ruled jointly with Ptolemy Eupator in 152 BC
Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator (possibly never reigned)
Ptolemy VIII Physcon (170–163 BC, 145–116 BC) married Cleopatra II, then Cleopatra III; temporarily expelled from Alexandria by Cleopatra II from 131 to 127 BC, then reconciled with her in 124 BC.
Cleopatra II Philometora Soteira (131–127 BC), in opposition to Ptolemy VIII Physcon
Ptolemy Apion (c.120-96 BC), son of Ptolemy VIII. Last Ptolemaic king of Cyrene.
Cleopatra III Philometor Soteira Dikaiosyne Nikephoros (Kokke) (116–101 BC) ruled jointly with Ptolemy IX Lathyros (116–107 BC) and Ptolemy X Alexander I (107–101 BC)
Ptolemy IX Lathyros (116–107 BC, 88–81 BC as Soter II) married Cleopatra IV, then Cleopatra Selene; ruled jointly with Cleopatra III in his first reign
Ptolemy X Alexander I (107–88 BC) married Cleopatra Selene, then Berenice III; ruled jointly with Cleopatra III till 101 BC
Berenice III Philopator (81–80 BC)
Ptolemy XI Alexander II (80 BC) married and ruled jointly with Berenice III before murdering her; ruled alone for 19 days after that.
Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos (Auletes) (80–58 BC, 55–51 BC) married Cleopatra V Tryphaena
Cleopatra VI Tryphaena (58–57 BC) ruled jointly with Berenice IV Epiphaneia (58–55 BC), possibly identical with Cleopatra V Tryphaena
Cleopatra ("Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator", 51–30 BC) ruled jointly with Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator (51–47 BC), Ptolemy XIV (47–44 BC) and Ptolemy XV Caesarion (44–30 BC).
Arsinoe IV (48–47 BC), in opposition to Cleopatra
Ptolemy of Mauretania (13 or 9 BC–AD 40) Client king and ruler of Mauretania for Rome
Other notable members of the Ptolemaic dynasty
Ptolemy Keraunos (died 279 BC) – eldest son of Ptolemy I Soter. Eventually became king of Macedonia.
Ptolemy Apion (died 96 BC) – son of Ptolemy VIII Physcon. Made king of Cyrenaica. Bequeathed Cyrenaica to Rome.
Ptolemy Philadelphus (born 36 BC) – son of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII.
Ptolemy of Mauretania (died 40 AD) – son of King Juba II of Numidia and Mauretania and Cleopatra Selene II, daughter of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony. King of Mauretania.
Ptolemy II of Telmessos, grandson of Ptolemy Epigonos, flourished second half of 3rd century BC and first half of 2nd century BC
Ptolemy of Cyprus, king of Cyprus c. 80–58 BC, younger brother of Ptolemy XII Auletes
Health
Continuing the tradition established by previous Egyptian dynasties, the Ptolemies engaged in inbreeding including sibling marriage, with many of the pharaohs being married to their siblings and often co-ruling with them. Ptolemy I and other early rulers of the dynasty were not married to their relatives, the childless marriage of siblings Ptolemy II and Arsinoe II being an exception. The first child-producing incestuous marriage in the Ptolemaic dynasty was that of Ptolemy IV and Arsinoe III, who were succeeded as co-pharaohs by their son Ptolemy V, born 210 BC. The most well-known Ptolemaic pharaoh, Cleopatra VII, was at different times married to and ruled with two of her brothers (Ptolemy XIII until 47 BC and then Ptolemy XIV until 44 BC), and their parents were also likely to have been siblings or possibly cousins.
Contemporaries describe a number of the Ptolemaic dynasty members as extremely obese, while sculptures and coins reveal prominent eyes and swollen necks. Familial Graves' disease could explain the swollen necks and eye prominence (exophthalmos), although this is unlikely to occur in the presence of morbid obesity. This is all likely due to inbreeding depression. In view of the familial nature of these findings, members of the Ptolemaic dynasty are likely to have suffered from a multi-organ fibrotic condition such as Erdheim–Chester disease, or a familial multifocal fibrosclerosis where thyroiditis, obesity and ocular proptosis may have all occurred concurrently.
Dates in brackets on the Cup of the Ptolemies represent the regnal dates of the Ptolemaic pharaohs. They frequently ruled jointly with their wives, who were often also their sisters, aunts or cousins. Several queens exercised regal authority. Of these, one of the last and most famous was Cleopatra ("Cleopatra VII Philopator", 51–30 BC), with her two brothers and her son serving as successive nominal co-rulers. Several systems exist for numbering the later rulers; the one used here is the one most widely employed by modern scholars.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Kom_Ombo
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kom_Ombo
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaic_dynasty
The Temple of Kom Ombo is an unusual double temple in the town of Kom Ombo in Aswan Governorate, Upper Egypt. It was constructed during the Ptolemaic dynasty, 180–47 BC. Some additions to it were later made during the Roman period.
Architecture
The building is unique because its 'double' design meant that there were courts, halls, sanctuaries and rooms duplicated for two sets of gods. The southern half of the temple was dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek, god of fertility and creator of the world with Hathor and Khonsu. Meanwhile, the northern part of the temple was dedicated to the falcon god Haroeris ("Horus the Elder"), along "with Tasenetnofret (the Good Sister, a special form of Hathor or Tefnet/Tefnut) and Panebtawy (Lord of the Two Lands)". The temple is atypical because everything is perfectly symmetrical along the main axis.
Decorations
The texts and reliefs in the temple refer to cultic liturgies which were similar to those from that time period. The temple itself had a specific theology. The characters invoked the gods of Kom Ombo and their legend. Two themes were present in this temple: the universalist theme and the local theme. The two combine to form the theology of this temple. A temple was already built in the New Kingdom to honor these gods, however, this site gained in importance during the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Little remains of the New Kingdom temple. The existing temple was begun by Ptolemy VI Philometor (180–145 BC) at the beginning of his reign and added to by other Ptolemies, most notably Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator (51–47 BC), who built the inner and outer hypostyles. The scene on the inner face of the rear wall of the temple is of particular interest, and "probably represents a set of surgical instruments".
Current state
Much of the temple has been destroyed by the Nile, earthquakes, and later builders who used its stones for other projects. Some of the reliefs inside were defaced by Copts, who once used the temple as a church. All the temples buildings in the southern part of the plateau were cleared of debris and restored by Jacques de Morgan in 1893.
Crocodile Museum
A few of the three hundred crocodile mummies discovered in the vicinity are displayed in The Crocodile Museum.
In April 2018, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced the discovery of the head of the bust of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius during work to protect the site from groundwater.
In September 2018, the Egyptian antiquities ministry announced that a sandstone sphinx statue had been discovered at the temple. The statue, measuring approximately 28 cm (11 in) in width and 38 cm (15 in) in height, likely dates to the Ptolemaic Dynasty.
Kom Ombo (Egyptian Arabic: كوم أمبو; Coptic: ⲙ̄ⲃⲱ əmbō or ⲛ̄ⲃⲱ ənbō; Ancient Greek: Ὄμβοι Omboi or Ὄμβος Ombos; or Latin: Ambo and Ombi is an agricultural town in Egypt famous for the Temple of Kom Ombo. It was originally an Egyptian city called Nubt, meaning City of Gold (not to be confused with the city north of Naqada that was also called Nubt/Ombos). Nubt is also known as Nubet or Nubyt (Nbyt). It became a Greek settlement during the Greco-Roman Period. The town's location on the Nile, 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Aswan (Syene), gave it some control over trade routes from Nubia to the Nile Valley, but its main rise to prominence came with the erection of the Temple of Kom Ombo in the 2nd century BC.
History
In antiquity the city was in the Thebaid, the capital of the Nomos Ombites, on the east bank of the Nile; latitude 24° 6' north. Ombos was a garrison town under every dynasty of Egypt as well as the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt, and was celebrated for the magnificence of its temples and its hereditary feud with the people of Dendera.
Ombos was the first city below Aswan at which any remarkable remains of antiquity occur. The Nile, indeed, at this portion of its course, was ill-suited to a dense population in antiquity. It runs between steep and narrow banks of sandstone, and deposits but little of its fertilizing slime upon the dreary and barren shores. There are two temples at Ombos, constructed of the stone obtained from the neighboring quarries of Hagar Silsilah.
The more magnificent of two stands upon the top of a sandy hill, and appears to have been a species of Pantheon, since, according to extant inscriptions, it was dedicated to Haroeris and the other deities of the Ombite nome by the soldiers quartered there. The smaller temple to the northwest was sacred to the goddess Isis. Both, indeed, are of an imposing architecture, and still retain the brilliant colors with which their builders adorned them. However, they are from the Ptolemaic Kingdom, with the exception of a doorway of sandstone, built into a wall of brick. This was part of a temple built by Thutmose III in honor of the crocodile-headed god Sobek. The monarch is represented on tress, the doorjambs, holding the measuring reed and chisel, the emblems of construction, and in the act of dedicating the temple.
The Ptolemaic portions of the larger temple present an exception to an almost universal rule in Egyptian architecture. It has no propylon or dromos in front of it, and the portico has an uneven number of columns, in all fifteen, arranged in a triple row. Of these columns, thirteen are still erect. As there are two principal entrances, the temple would seem to be two united in one, strengthening the supposition that it was the Pantheon of the Ombite nome. On a cornice above the doorway of one of the adyta, there is a Greek inscription, recording the erection, or perhaps the restoration of the sekos by Ptolemy VI Philometor and his sister-wife Cleopatra II, 180-145 BCE. The hill on which the Ombite temples stand has been considerably excavated at its base by the river, which here strongly inclines to the Arabian bank.
The crocodile was held in especial honor by the people of Ombos; and in the adjacent catacombs are occasionally found mummies of the sacred animal. Juvenal, in his 15th satire, has given a lively description of a fight, of which he was an eye-witness, between the Ombitae and the inhabitants of Dendera, who were hunters of the crocodile. On this occasion the men of Ombos had the worst of it; and one of their number, having stumbled in his flight, was caught and eaten by the Denderites. The satirist, however, has represented Ombos as nearer to Dendera than it actually is, these towns, in fact, being nearly 100 miles (160 km) from each other. The Roman coins of the Ombite nome exhibit the crocodile and the effigy of the crocodile-headed god Sobek.
In Kom Ombo there is a rare engraved image of what is thought to be the first representation of medical instruments for performing surgery, including scalpels, curettes, forceps, dilator, scissors and medicine bottles dating from the days of Roman Egypt.
At this site there is another Nilometer used to measure the level of the river waters. On the opposite side of the Nile was a suburb of Ombos, called Contra-Ombos.
The city was the seat of a bishop during Late Antiquity. Two bishops of Omboi are known by name, Silbanos (before 402) and Verses (402). Under the name Ombi, it is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees. Karol Wojtyła (the future Pope John Paul II) was titular bishop of Ombi from 1958 until 1963, when he was appointed Archbishop of Kraków.
Today
Today, irrigated sugarcane and cereal account for most of the agricultural industry.
Most of the 60,000 villagers are native Egyptians, although there is a large population of Nubians, including many Magyarabs who were displaced from their land upon the creation of Lake Nasser.
In 2010, plans to construct a new $700m 100 MW (130,000 hp) solar power plant near the city were unveiled by the Egyptian government.
The Ptolemaic dynasty (/ˌtɒlɪˈmeɪ.ɪk/; Ancient Greek: Πτολεμαῖοι, Ptolemaioi), also known as the Lagid dynasty (Λαγίδαι, Lagidae; after Ptolemy I's father, Lagus), was a Macedonian Greek royal house which ruled the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Ancient Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Reigning for 275 years, the Ptolemaic was the longest and last dynasty of ancient Egypt from 305 until its incorporation into the Roman Republic in 30 BC.
Ptolemy, one of the seven somatophylakes (bodyguard companions), a general and possible half-brother of Alexander the Great, was appointed satrap of Egypt after Alexander's death in 323 BC. In 305 BC he declared himself Pharaoh Ptolemy I, later known as Sōter "Saviour". The Egyptians soon accepted the Ptolemies as the successors to the pharaohs of independent Egypt. Ptolemy's family ruled Egypt until the Roman conquest of 30 BC.
Like the earlier dynasties of ancient Egypt, the Ptolemaic dynasty practiced inbreeding including sibling marriage, but this did not start in earnest until nearly a century into the dynasty's history. All the male rulers of the dynasty took the name Ptolemy, while queens regnant were all called Cleopatra, Arsinoe or Berenice. The most famous member of the line was the last queen, Cleopatra VII, known for her role in the Roman political battles between Julius Caesar and Pompey, and later between Octavian and Mark Antony. Her apparent suicide after the Roman conquest of Egypt marked the end of Ptolemaic rule in Egypt.
Ptolemaic rulers and consorts
Ptolemy I Soter was the founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty, and the first ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom.
Ptolemy I Soter (303–282 BC)[8] married first Thaïs, then Artakama, then Eurydice, and finally Berenice I
Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BC)[9] married Arsinoe I, then Arsinoe II; ruled jointly with Ptolemy Epigonos (267–259 BC)
Ptolemy III Euergetes (246–221 BC) married Berenice II
Ptolemy IV Philopator (221–203 BC) married Arsinoe III
Ptolemy V Epiphanes (203–181 BC) married Cleopatra I Syra
Ptolemy VI Philometor (181–164 BC, 163–145 BC) married Cleopatra II, briefly ruled jointly with Ptolemy Eupator in 152 BC
Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator (possibly never reigned)
Ptolemy VIII Physcon (170–163 BC, 145–116 BC) married Cleopatra II, then Cleopatra III; temporarily expelled from Alexandria by Cleopatra II from 131 to 127 BC, then reconciled with her in 124 BC.
Cleopatra II Philometora Soteira (131–127 BC), in opposition to Ptolemy VIII Physcon
Ptolemy Apion (c.120-96 BC), son of Ptolemy VIII. Last Ptolemaic king of Cyrene.
Cleopatra III Philometor Soteira Dikaiosyne Nikephoros (Kokke) (116–101 BC) ruled jointly with Ptolemy IX Lathyros (116–107 BC) and Ptolemy X Alexander I (107–101 BC)
Ptolemy IX Lathyros (116–107 BC, 88–81 BC as Soter II) married Cleopatra IV, then Cleopatra Selene; ruled jointly with Cleopatra III in his first reign
Ptolemy X Alexander I (107–88 BC) married Cleopatra Selene, then Berenice III; ruled jointly with Cleopatra III till 101 BC
Berenice III Philopator (81–80 BC)
Ptolemy XI Alexander II (80 BC) married and ruled jointly with Berenice III before murdering her; ruled alone for 19 days after that.
Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos (Auletes) (80–58 BC, 55–51 BC) married Cleopatra V Tryphaena
Cleopatra VI Tryphaena (58–57 BC) ruled jointly with Berenice IV Epiphaneia (58–55 BC), possibly identical with Cleopatra V Tryphaena
Cleopatra ("Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator", 51–30 BC) ruled jointly with Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator (51–47 BC), Ptolemy XIV (47–44 BC) and Ptolemy XV Caesarion (44–30 BC).
Arsinoe IV (48–47 BC), in opposition to Cleopatra
Ptolemy of Mauretania (13 or 9 BC–AD 40) Client king and ruler of Mauretania for Rome
Other notable members of the Ptolemaic dynasty
Ptolemy Keraunos (died 279 BC) – eldest son of Ptolemy I Soter. Eventually became king of Macedonia.
Ptolemy Apion (died 96 BC) – son of Ptolemy VIII Physcon. Made king of Cyrenaica. Bequeathed Cyrenaica to Rome.
Ptolemy Philadelphus (born 36 BC) – son of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII.
Ptolemy of Mauretania (died 40 AD) – son of King Juba II of Numidia and Mauretania and Cleopatra Selene II, daughter of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony. King of Mauretania.
Ptolemy II of Telmessos, grandson of Ptolemy Epigonos, flourished second half of 3rd century BC and first half of 2nd century BC
Ptolemy of Cyprus, king of Cyprus c. 80–58 BC, younger brother of Ptolemy XII Auletes
Health
Continuing the tradition established by previous Egyptian dynasties, the Ptolemies engaged in inbreeding including sibling marriage, with many of the pharaohs being married to their siblings and often co-ruling with them. Ptolemy I and other early rulers of the dynasty were not married to their relatives, the childless marriage of siblings Ptolemy II and Arsinoe II being an exception. The first child-producing incestuous marriage in the Ptolemaic dynasty was that of Ptolemy IV and Arsinoe III, who were succeeded as co-pharaohs by their son Ptolemy V, born 210 BC. The most well-known Ptolemaic pharaoh, Cleopatra VII, was at different times married to and ruled with two of her brothers (Ptolemy XIII until 47 BC and then Ptolemy XIV until 44 BC), and their parents were also likely to have been siblings or possibly cousins.
Contemporaries describe a number of the Ptolemaic dynasty members as extremely obese, while sculptures and coins reveal prominent eyes and swollen necks. Familial Graves' disease could explain the swollen necks and eye prominence (exophthalmos), although this is unlikely to occur in the presence of morbid obesity. This is all likely due to inbreeding depression. In view of the familial nature of these findings, members of the Ptolemaic dynasty are likely to have suffered from a multi-organ fibrotic condition such as Erdheim–Chester disease, or a familial multifocal fibrosclerosis where thyroiditis, obesity and ocular proptosis may have all occurred concurrently.
Dates in brackets on the Cup of the Ptolemies represent the regnal dates of the Ptolemaic pharaohs. They frequently ruled jointly with their wives, who were often also their sisters, aunts or cousins. Several queens exercised regal authority. Of these, one of the last and most famous was Cleopatra ("Cleopatra VII Philopator", 51–30 BC), with her two brothers and her son serving as successive nominal co-rulers. Several systems exist for numbering the later rulers; the one used here is the one most widely employed by modern scholars.
The Innes family lived here for six centuries, from when Berowald the Fleming was granted the land by King Malcolm IV in 1160, until they sold up in 1767! This house was built in the mid-17th century, so where were the Innes family living before this? The map shows a 'motte' in the woods, a short distance to the north-east of the house and it has been suggested that Berowald built his castle there. Other's say the mound is natural and not man-made (which doesn't mean that Berowald didn't build on it). Either way, any timber built tower there may have been on the motte was gone long before this tower-house was built. Usually in situations such as this, there is a ruin nearby, or more often an earlier tower is visible, onto which extensions have been built. Canmore have the answer, discovered since Tranter's time:
Documentary evidence appears to date the construction of the house to around 1640, whereas a drawing of c.1590 implies there was a castle on the site some 50 years earlier. A detailed analysis of the structure in 1998 discovered that its history is far more complex than previously suggested. It also highlights the common practice of Scottish landowners sticking to the original site wherever possible, and adapting thriftily the structures already in place. The fabric of the house revealed that the ancient structure of the original building remains within. It has been cleverly concealed by the architect William Ayton, who gave it a mid 17th century surcoat.
Ah, the thrifty Scots!
The coastal town of Lossiemouth is just visible in the distance. The flat area in the middle distance is an old wartime airbase - RAF Milltown. It was originally built as a decoy to try to trick German bombers into bombing it rather than RAF Lossiemouth (some of the aircraft hangers for which, are visible, just below the horizon in the left distance. Eventually, with the ever increasing number of wartime aircraft, Milltown was used as an airbase itself. Although long since de-activated for flying, it is still owned by the Ministry of Defence - although I believe there are plans to built an enormous solar power plant there.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Kom_Ombo
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kom_Ombo
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemaic_dynasty
The Temple of Kom Ombo is an unusual double temple in the town of Kom Ombo in Aswan Governorate, Upper Egypt. It was constructed during the Ptolemaic dynasty, 180–47 BC. Some additions to it were later made during the Roman period.
Architecture
The building is unique because its 'double' design meant that there were courts, halls, sanctuaries and rooms duplicated for two sets of gods. The southern half of the temple was dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek, god of fertility and creator of the world with Hathor and Khonsu. Meanwhile, the northern part of the temple was dedicated to the falcon god Haroeris ("Horus the Elder"), along "with Tasenetnofret (the Good Sister, a special form of Hathor or Tefnet/Tefnut) and Panebtawy (Lord of the Two Lands)". The temple is atypical because everything is perfectly symmetrical along the main axis.
Decorations
The texts and reliefs in the temple refer to cultic liturgies which were similar to those from that time period. The temple itself had a specific theology. The characters invoked the gods of Kom Ombo and their legend. Two themes were present in this temple: the universalist theme and the local theme. The two combine to form the theology of this temple. A temple was already built in the New Kingdom to honor these gods, however, this site gained in importance during the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Little remains of the New Kingdom temple. The existing temple was begun by Ptolemy VI Philometor (180–145 BC) at the beginning of his reign and added to by other Ptolemies, most notably Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator (51–47 BC), who built the inner and outer hypostyles. The scene on the inner face of the rear wall of the temple is of particular interest, and "probably represents a set of surgical instruments".
Current state
Much of the temple has been destroyed by the Nile, earthquakes, and later builders who used its stones for other projects. Some of the reliefs inside were defaced by Copts, who once used the temple as a church. All the temples buildings in the southern part of the plateau were cleared of debris and restored by Jacques de Morgan in 1893.
Crocodile Museum
A few of the three hundred crocodile mummies discovered in the vicinity are displayed in The Crocodile Museum.
In April 2018, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities announced the discovery of the head of the bust of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius during work to protect the site from groundwater.
In September 2018, the Egyptian antiquities ministry announced that a sandstone sphinx statue had been discovered at the temple. The statue, measuring approximately 28 cm (11 in) in width and 38 cm (15 in) in height, likely dates to the Ptolemaic Dynasty.
Kom Ombo (Egyptian Arabic: كوم أمبو; Coptic: ⲙ̄ⲃⲱ əmbō or ⲛ̄ⲃⲱ ənbō; Ancient Greek: Ὄμβοι Omboi or Ὄμβος Ombos; or Latin: Ambo and Ombi is an agricultural town in Egypt famous for the Temple of Kom Ombo. It was originally an Egyptian city called Nubt, meaning City of Gold (not to be confused with the city north of Naqada that was also called Nubt/Ombos). Nubt is also known as Nubet or Nubyt (Nbyt). It became a Greek settlement during the Greco-Roman Period. The town's location on the Nile, 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Aswan (Syene), gave it some control over trade routes from Nubia to the Nile Valley, but its main rise to prominence came with the erection of the Temple of Kom Ombo in the 2nd century BC.
History
In antiquity the city was in the Thebaid, the capital of the Nomos Ombites, on the east bank of the Nile; latitude 24° 6' north. Ombos was a garrison town under every dynasty of Egypt as well as the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt, and was celebrated for the magnificence of its temples and its hereditary feud with the people of Dendera.
Ombos was the first city below Aswan at which any remarkable remains of antiquity occur. The Nile, indeed, at this portion of its course, was ill-suited to a dense population in antiquity. It runs between steep and narrow banks of sandstone, and deposits but little of its fertilizing slime upon the dreary and barren shores. There are two temples at Ombos, constructed of the stone obtained from the neighboring quarries of Hagar Silsilah.
The more magnificent of two stands upon the top of a sandy hill, and appears to have been a species of Pantheon, since, according to extant inscriptions, it was dedicated to Haroeris and the other deities of the Ombite nome by the soldiers quartered there. The smaller temple to the northwest was sacred to the goddess Isis. Both, indeed, are of an imposing architecture, and still retain the brilliant colors with which their builders adorned them. However, they are from the Ptolemaic Kingdom, with the exception of a doorway of sandstone, built into a wall of brick. This was part of a temple built by Thutmose III in honor of the crocodile-headed god Sobek. The monarch is represented on tress, the doorjambs, holding the measuring reed and chisel, the emblems of construction, and in the act of dedicating the temple.
The Ptolemaic portions of the larger temple present an exception to an almost universal rule in Egyptian architecture. It has no propylon or dromos in front of it, and the portico has an uneven number of columns, in all fifteen, arranged in a triple row. Of these columns, thirteen are still erect. As there are two principal entrances, the temple would seem to be two united in one, strengthening the supposition that it was the Pantheon of the Ombite nome. On a cornice above the doorway of one of the adyta, there is a Greek inscription, recording the erection, or perhaps the restoration of the sekos by Ptolemy VI Philometor and his sister-wife Cleopatra II, 180-145 BCE. The hill on which the Ombite temples stand has been considerably excavated at its base by the river, which here strongly inclines to the Arabian bank.
The crocodile was held in especial honor by the people of Ombos; and in the adjacent catacombs are occasionally found mummies of the sacred animal. Juvenal, in his 15th satire, has given a lively description of a fight, of which he was an eye-witness, between the Ombitae and the inhabitants of Dendera, who were hunters of the crocodile. On this occasion the men of Ombos had the worst of it; and one of their number, having stumbled in his flight, was caught and eaten by the Denderites. The satirist, however, has represented Ombos as nearer to Dendera than it actually is, these towns, in fact, being nearly 100 miles (160 km) from each other. The Roman coins of the Ombite nome exhibit the crocodile and the effigy of the crocodile-headed god Sobek.
In Kom Ombo there is a rare engraved image of what is thought to be the first representation of medical instruments for performing surgery, including scalpels, curettes, forceps, dilator, scissors and medicine bottles dating from the days of Roman Egypt.
At this site there is another Nilometer used to measure the level of the river waters. On the opposite side of the Nile was a suburb of Ombos, called Contra-Ombos.
The city was the seat of a bishop during Late Antiquity. Two bishops of Omboi are known by name, Silbanos (before 402) and Verses (402). Under the name Ombi, it is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees. Karol Wojtyła (the future Pope John Paul II) was titular bishop of Ombi from 1958 until 1963, when he was appointed Archbishop of Kraków.
Today
Today, irrigated sugarcane and cereal account for most of the agricultural industry.
Most of the 60,000 villagers are native Egyptians, although there is a large population of Nubians, including many Magyarabs who were displaced from their land upon the creation of Lake Nasser.
In 2010, plans to construct a new $700m 100 MW (130,000 hp) solar power plant near the city were unveiled by the Egyptian government.
The Ptolemaic dynasty (/ˌtɒlɪˈmeɪ.ɪk/; Ancient Greek: Πτολεμαῖοι, Ptolemaioi), also known as the Lagid dynasty (Λαγίδαι, Lagidae; after Ptolemy I's father, Lagus), was a Macedonian Greek royal house which ruled the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Ancient Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Reigning for 275 years, the Ptolemaic was the longest and last dynasty of ancient Egypt from 305 until its incorporation into the Roman Republic in 30 BC.
Ptolemy, one of the seven somatophylakes (bodyguard companions), a general and possible half-brother of Alexander the Great, was appointed satrap of Egypt after Alexander's death in 323 BC. In 305 BC he declared himself Pharaoh Ptolemy I, later known as Sōter "Saviour". The Egyptians soon accepted the Ptolemies as the successors to the pharaohs of independent Egypt. Ptolemy's family ruled Egypt until the Roman conquest of 30 BC.
Like the earlier dynasties of ancient Egypt, the Ptolemaic dynasty practiced inbreeding including sibling marriage, but this did not start in earnest until nearly a century into the dynasty's history. All the male rulers of the dynasty took the name Ptolemy, while queens regnant were all called Cleopatra, Arsinoe or Berenice. The most famous member of the line was the last queen, Cleopatra VII, known for her role in the Roman political battles between Julius Caesar and Pompey, and later between Octavian and Mark Antony. Her apparent suicide after the Roman conquest of Egypt marked the end of Ptolemaic rule in Egypt.
Ptolemaic rulers and consorts
Ptolemy I Soter was the founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty, and the first ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom.
Ptolemy I Soter (303–282 BC)[8] married first Thaïs, then Artakama, then Eurydice, and finally Berenice I
Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BC)[9] married Arsinoe I, then Arsinoe II; ruled jointly with Ptolemy Epigonos (267–259 BC)
Ptolemy III Euergetes (246–221 BC) married Berenice II
Ptolemy IV Philopator (221–203 BC) married Arsinoe III
Ptolemy V Epiphanes (203–181 BC) married Cleopatra I Syra
Ptolemy VI Philometor (181–164 BC, 163–145 BC) married Cleopatra II, briefly ruled jointly with Ptolemy Eupator in 152 BC
Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator (possibly never reigned)
Ptolemy VIII Physcon (170–163 BC, 145–116 BC) married Cleopatra II, then Cleopatra III; temporarily expelled from Alexandria by Cleopatra II from 131 to 127 BC, then reconciled with her in 124 BC.
Cleopatra II Philometora Soteira (131–127 BC), in opposition to Ptolemy VIII Physcon
Ptolemy Apion (c.120-96 BC), son of Ptolemy VIII. Last Ptolemaic king of Cyrene.
Cleopatra III Philometor Soteira Dikaiosyne Nikephoros (Kokke) (116–101 BC) ruled jointly with Ptolemy IX Lathyros (116–107 BC) and Ptolemy X Alexander I (107–101 BC)
Ptolemy IX Lathyros (116–107 BC, 88–81 BC as Soter II) married Cleopatra IV, then Cleopatra Selene; ruled jointly with Cleopatra III in his first reign
Ptolemy X Alexander I (107–88 BC) married Cleopatra Selene, then Berenice III; ruled jointly with Cleopatra III till 101 BC
Berenice III Philopator (81–80 BC)
Ptolemy XI Alexander II (80 BC) married and ruled jointly with Berenice III before murdering her; ruled alone for 19 days after that.
Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos (Auletes) (80–58 BC, 55–51 BC) married Cleopatra V Tryphaena
Cleopatra VI Tryphaena (58–57 BC) ruled jointly with Berenice IV Epiphaneia (58–55 BC), possibly identical with Cleopatra V Tryphaena
Cleopatra ("Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator", 51–30 BC) ruled jointly with Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator (51–47 BC), Ptolemy XIV (47–44 BC) and Ptolemy XV Caesarion (44–30 BC).
Arsinoe IV (48–47 BC), in opposition to Cleopatra
Ptolemy of Mauretania (13 or 9 BC–AD 40) Client king and ruler of Mauretania for Rome
Other notable members of the Ptolemaic dynasty
Ptolemy Keraunos (died 279 BC) – eldest son of Ptolemy I Soter. Eventually became king of Macedonia.
Ptolemy Apion (died 96 BC) – son of Ptolemy VIII Physcon. Made king of Cyrenaica. Bequeathed Cyrenaica to Rome.
Ptolemy Philadelphus (born 36 BC) – son of Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII.
Ptolemy of Mauretania (died 40 AD) – son of King Juba II of Numidia and Mauretania and Cleopatra Selene II, daughter of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony. King of Mauretania.
Ptolemy II of Telmessos, grandson of Ptolemy Epigonos, flourished second half of 3rd century BC and first half of 2nd century BC
Ptolemy of Cyprus, king of Cyprus c. 80–58 BC, younger brother of Ptolemy XII Auletes
Health
Continuing the tradition established by previous Egyptian dynasties, the Ptolemies engaged in inbreeding including sibling marriage, with many of the pharaohs being married to their siblings and often co-ruling with them. Ptolemy I and other early rulers of the dynasty were not married to their relatives, the childless marriage of siblings Ptolemy II and Arsinoe II being an exception. The first child-producing incestuous marriage in the Ptolemaic dynasty was that of Ptolemy IV and Arsinoe III, who were succeeded as co-pharaohs by their son Ptolemy V, born 210 BC. The most well-known Ptolemaic pharaoh, Cleopatra VII, was at different times married to and ruled with two of her brothers (Ptolemy XIII until 47 BC and then Ptolemy XIV until 44 BC), and their parents were also likely to have been siblings or possibly cousins.
Contemporaries describe a number of the Ptolemaic dynasty members as extremely obese, while sculptures and coins reveal prominent eyes and swollen necks. Familial Graves' disease could explain the swollen necks and eye prominence (exophthalmos), although this is unlikely to occur in the presence of morbid obesity. This is all likely due to inbreeding depression. In view of the familial nature of these findings, members of the Ptolemaic dynasty are likely to have suffered from a multi-organ fibrotic condition such as Erdheim–Chester disease, or a familial multifocal fibrosclerosis where thyroiditis, obesity and ocular proptosis may have all occurred concurrently.
Dates in brackets on the Cup of the Ptolemies represent the regnal dates of the Ptolemaic pharaohs. They frequently ruled jointly with their wives, who were often also their sisters, aunts or cousins. Several queens exercised regal authority. Of these, one of the last and most famous was Cleopatra ("Cleopatra VII Philopator", 51–30 BC), with her two brothers and her son serving as successive nominal co-rulers. Several systems exist for numbering the later rulers; the one used here is the one most widely employed by modern scholars.