Egypt: Day 11 (Temple of Horus at Edfu and Kom Ombo)

Today we started in Esna and took a short ride down the river to Edfu where the Temple of Horus was located. This was the last large temple built in Egypt, it was started around 237 BC. The temple was perserved quite well because it was nearly covered by sand until the mid 1800's.

Notice the grooves in the walls. This is where banners where hung to inform the locals that a festival was to be celebrated.

The entrance to the temple. At one time wooden doors three feet thick were here. Notice the area in the upper left hand corner of the entrance where the door hinge was.

Here is a very early form of a storyboard. The whole wall was filled with carvings that told the story of how Horus was able to capture the evil god Seth (can be spelled set) (who killed Horus's father Osiris)
Since the temple of Horus at Edfu was the last large temple built is it one of the best preserved. It's sad, but after seeing cravings and hieroglyphics for so many days you take them for granted. When you look at them up close you are really see the detail and skill it took to carve them.

I liked the detail of the sandstone texture and the duck.

Now it's time for a lesson in hieroglyphic numbers (this is pretty much all I learned from our lecture on the boat). Look at the the photo below starting from the right. First you have an owl and a three symbols. Next on the bottom there is a l like the Roman numeral for 1. That is a one in hieroglyphics. There could be up to nine of them. The upside down U's are 10 each (again there could be up to nine of them). The curly figures are 100 each. The flowers are 1,000 each. The staff is 10,000, the animal is 100,000 and the dude with his hands up is 1,000,000. So, what is the number?

Missy had to use the restroom at this temple. So, we walked all the way back to where it was supposed to be. As we approached it we saw a couple of men working near it. One of them stopped working and stood in front of the woman's entrance with his hand out looking for a tip. Missy gave him 1 Egyptian Pound and went in. After this he just walked back to working. We weren't quite sure if he actually cleaned the bathroom or just wanted to get a free tip.

Missy at the rear of the temple.
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South to Kom Ombo

As we traveled further up the Nile the desert came closer and closer to the river. The rocky hills shown here were seen on both sides of the river.

The floating building is a pumping station for irrigation canals along the river. These were somewhat common sites.One of the fun experiences was seeing the locals yell and wave at us.

I am not sure if this was a house or a place for the animals to live

Small village as we approached Kom Ombo

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Next stop the Temple of Kom Ombo. Missy was not feeling very good today (she had her case of mummy tummy) so she stayed back and got some rest. As the photo below shows we were able to walk directly to the temple, no coach buses here. This temple was built in the Ptolemaic Dynasty (sometime around 180 BC). It is unique in its layout because it is dedicated to two gods with each side a mirror image of the other. On one side Horus the falcon on the other Sobek the crocodile. Sobek was the god of fertility and at one point in time crocodiles could have been found on the banks of the Nile at Kom Ombo. After the creation of the Aswan dam these animals became extinct in this area. The dam had blocked the migration route of the crocs from further south in Africa.

Other Nile cruise ship with the Temple of Kom Ombo in the background. Our ship looked pretty similar to this one, I think it was a German tour company. The reason I know that is we actually had to walk through other ships to get to shore, it was a pretty busy location.

Temple Entrance

Carvings of Horus (falcon head on left) and Sobek (crocodile on right)

Artsy

In most of the temples throughout Egypt wooden dovetail joints were used. At Kom Ombo there were still petrified wood pieces left.

The hieroglyphics in this area show a set of medical instruments. This temple was a place of healing, our guide showed us graffiti scratch in Greek where Egyptians were waiting in line for medical service.

We were one of the few ships that stayed here overnight. Tomorrow we set sail for Aswan, the final new city on the trip.

(entry done by Dave)