At one time the marshy shore lines of the Fayoum lakes must have been teeming with crocodiles. The crocodile God Sobek's Temples flourished around Al Fayoum. Some still remain. In fact the town Arsinoe was known to the Greeks as Crocodiliopolis. At some Temples, sacred crocodiles were tended with prime meat and became quite tame. Their carcases were mummified and buried in special animal cemetaries.

Sobek also came to symbolise the produce and fertility of the Nile and so his status became more ambiguous. The crocodile's ferocity, power and strength made it a perfect patron for the Army. Others regarded Sobek as a repairer of evil, rather than a power for good; and therfore more likely to go to the Duat to restore damage done to the dead.

He was also said to call upon other Gods and Godesses to protect people in particular situations, effectively having a more distant role nudging things along, rather than taking an active part. In this way he was seen more as a primal God, eventually becoming regarded as an avitar of the primal God Amun, who at the time was considerd the chief God. When his identity finally merged. Amun himself had become merged with Ra to become Amun-Ra; so Sobek, as an avitar of Amun-Ra was known as Sobek-Ra.  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobek

We came rattling down the old army road as it is known by some. At breakneck speed for mile after mile we enjoyed our solitude and some comfort from the bucking sand dunes. Over to our right on the horizon we saw a few workers staring at our dust trail. They were at one of the old Basalt quarries, worked for thousands of years and the source of our fine roadway. Once upon a time our road was used to transport the Basalt to the villages that stood on the shore of the lake, before it was shipped to the other side and away to many destinations. Now the lake has shrunk by miles, the villages and buildings have been sucked into the desert sand again.

Beyond the road the sand also tried to suck us down.We encountered the familiar deceptive desert surface that looks like concrete, but yields by at least 2 inches to vehicle tyres. It led for a few more miles until at last the Qatrani mountain range grew before us. Our guide was good. He knew the route well and there was always method in his madness of driving and weaving like a snake to get the best purchase on the sand.

At last on harder ground we were following a rising dirt track and with some surprise, we levelled over the top of the Butte and were confronted with the sight you see in our lead picture.

This unfinished Temple is awesome for many reasons. It is huge; but not collossal. It is thought to be attributed to Sobek, but no one really knows for sure. The design is also unusual, formed from sometimes massive sandy limestone blocks, with a best date that ties with the time of the Basalt quarries during the Late Old/ Middle Kingdom 2125-1570 BC.

There are several compartments inside including a completely enclosed compartment. It is thought this was a mortuary Temple containing iconic Statues of Gods within its compartments. The construction is also unusual as you will see in the pics. It uses huge blocks intricately hewn with interlocking faces much the same as seen in Peru; with no mortar but able to withstand great structural disturbances such as earthquakes. 

To the right of the entrance there is a smaller entrance leading into a corridor between the two skins of stone which made up the walls. Follow the pictures and you will see how we think this was connected with the main door arrangement at least. Apertures suggest the doors were meant to be braced strongly with restraints of some kind that would have been counterbalanced through into the substantial spaces between the wall skins.