The ancient city of Karanis in the Fayum oasis

The ancient city of Karanis in 

the Fayum oasis

The ruins of the ancient city of Karanis in the Fayum oasis ruled by Ptolemy II Pharaoh and ruler of the Ptolemaic kingdom from 284 to 246 BC reveal two large ancient temples in Karanis dedicated to the god Sobek. These structures constructed with spirally arranged mud bricks and limestone tell the story of the patron deity of Fayum. The surviving structure is a stone archway part of the southern temple built to worship Sobek. This city was once a thriving center of an agricultural community and a temple dedicated to the god Sobek one of the largest Greek Roman cities serving as a miniature version of the Hellenistic world of Egypt.

A stone archway part of the southern temple built to worship the god Sobek the crocodile god of Karanis or Kom 

Aushim an ancient Greek Roman city in the Fayum region of Egypt.

The large mud brick South Temple dating back to approximately 270 BC and now abandoned was once a site of worship for Sobek and other local deities of the ancient city of Karanis in the Fayum oasis. The ruins of the ancient city of Karanis dating back to approximately 283 to 246 BC remain a mystery beneath the desert floor. Artwork depicting the god Sobek popularly worshipped in important temples within Karanis illustrates the lifestyle of a priest who guarded the sacred crocodile and the expansion of his cult.

The expansion of Sobek's cult included the construction and restoration of temples and shrines throughout Egypt eventually linking him to the god Ra resulting in a deity with the head of a crocodile and a falcon. The connection between Sobek the crocodile god and Ptolemy II Philadelphus of ancient Egypt lies in the pharaoh's patronage restoration and extensive expansion of Sobek's worship centers including the restoration of Sobek's main temple at Shedet.