Amazing ancient Temple of Edfu, Egypt
It was our second day of our tour of Egypt. I enjoyed my travel and stay at our cruise. I love travelling through cruise because it gives you sufficient time to rethink on your visited site and to read about the next tourist destination. I love and enjoy by interesting people on the board from the staff to travelers and our guide. I gain lots of information about the person with whom I interact. I also get some information about their culture and area of interests. If your interest matches, then you never come to know how time goes.
I get sufficient time to go through all images, check each image and edit the best one in my laptop. On a cruise you get time to relax and enjoy all amenities. I love to sit on the top of the cruise to witness the scenes along the river side.
I was very much excited to visit the temple of Horus at Edfu. The best part was I had read about this temple and its history. Early in the morning we got down from our cruise and our guide had arranged horse carts. We started our 20 minutes’ journey towards the temple of Horus by horse cart.
The Temple of Edfu is nearly intact and a very good example of an ancient Egyptian temple. The Temple of Edfu's archaeological significance and high state of preservation has made it a centre for tourism in Egypt and a frequent stop for the many riverboats that cruise the Nile. In 2005, access to the temple was revamped with the addition of a visitor center and paved carpark. A sophisticated lighting system was added in late 2006 to allow night visits.
Edfu was one of several temples built during the Ptolemaic Kingdom. The Temple of Edfu is an Egyptian temple located on the west bank of the Nile in Edfu, Upper Egypt. It is one of the best preserved shrines in Egypt.
I reached the temple premises and started walking towards the temple. The landscape view of temple gate was very much impressed with amazing reliefs on it.
Its size reflects the relative prosperity of the time. The temple was built in the Ptolemaic Kingdom between 237 and 57 BC. which was begun "on 23 August 237 BC, initially consisted of a pillared hall, two transverse halls, and a barque sanctuary surrounded by chapels." The inscriptions on its walls provide important information on language, myth and religion during the Hellenistic period in Egypt.
The building was started during the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes and completed in 57 BC under Ptolemy XII Auletes. It was built on the site of an earlier, smaller temple also dedicated to Horus, although the previous structure was oriented east-west rather than north-south as in the present site. A ruined pylon lies just to the east of the current temple; inscriptional evidence has been found indicating a building program under the New Kingdom rulers Ramesses I, Seti I and Ramesses II. A naos of Nectanebo II, a relic from an earlier building, is preserved in the inner sanctuary, which stands alone while the temple's barque sanctuary is surrounded by nine chapels.
This Ptolemaic temple, built between 237 and 57 BC, is one of the best-preserved ancient monuments in Egypt. Preserved by desert sand, which filled the place after the pagan cult was banned, the temple is dedicated to Horus, the avenging son of Isis and Osiris.
My guide explained about the temple in detail and entered Inside the sanctuary at the centre of the temple at sunrise.
Over the centuries, the temple became buried to a depth of 12 metres (39 ft) beneath drifting desert sand and layers of river silt deposited by the Nile. Local inhabitants built homes directly over the former temple grounds. Only the upper reaches of the temple pylons were visible by 1798, when the temple was identified by a French expedition. In 1860 Auguste Mariette, a French Egyptologist, began the work of freeing Edfu temple from the sands.
I entered in the inner court of the temple which was very large surrounded by huge pillars at three directions.
The temple of Edfu fell into disuse as a religious monument following Theodosius I's persecution of pagans and edict banning non-Christian worship within the Roman Empire in 391. As elsewhere, many of the temple's carved reliefs were razed by followers of the Christian faith which came to dominate Egypt.
The temple is oriented from south to north, measuring little over 140m long and occupying an area of about 7000m2. Although there are mentions of a first sanctuary at Edfu since at least the Third Dynasty, the Temple of Horus, as it currently stands, was started much later by Ptolemy III Euergetes I in 237 BCE.
Heru-ur, also known as Horus the Elder or Har wer, was a form of Horus, where he was the son of Geb and Nut. He was one of the oldest gods of ancient Egypt. He became the patron of Nekhen (Hierakonpolis) and the first national god ("God of the Kingdom") and was depicted as a hieracosphinx, a creature with a lion's body and a hawk's head and wings. Later, he also became the patron of the pharaohs, and was called the son of truth[34] – signifying his role as an important upholder of Maat. His right eye was the Sun and the left one was the Moon. Her-ur was sometimes depicted fully as a hawk, he was sometimes given the title Kemwer, meaning "(the) great black (one)".
The Sun light came exactly in the main temple and it was an enlightening entire temple. It was a very pleasant scene.
It was a very pleasant scene to watch. I started witnessing entire temple with the help of my guide. I want to share few important information with you.
I want to share few important information about this beautiful and ancient temple with you. I got this all information from books and my guide.
Horus was the important and ancient deity of Egyptian gods. His name Horus means “The One Far Above” and commonly known as Heru or Har by the Greeks. Horus was originally the Sky God, but he is also known as War God, Hunter's God, God of Kingship and others. He played the role as the protector of the ruler of Egypt.
He was most often depicted as a falcon, most likely a lanner falcon or peregrine falcon, or as a man with a falcon head.
Temple of Horus. Dedicated to the god Horus of Behedet, lord of Edfu, the Temple of Horus is the most famous monument at Tell Edfu. Due to its completeness and state of preservation, it is the best example of Ptolemaic temple building in Egypt.
The Eye of Horus, also known as wadjet, wedjat or udjat, is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection, royal power, and good health. The Eye of Horus is similar to the Eye of Ra, which belongs to a different god, Ra, but represents many of the same concepts.
In particular, the Temple's inscribed building texts "provide details [both] of its construction, and also preserve information about the mythical interpretation of this and all other temples as the Island of Creation." There are also "important scenes and inscriptions of the Sacred Drama which related the age-old conflict between Horus and Seth."
The blackened ceiling of the hypostyle hall, visible today, is believed to be the result of arson intended to destroy religious imagery that was then considered pagan.
Horus worshiped because the pharaohs were Horus, many Egyptians worshiped him and asked him for protection from evil. How Was He Worshiped? Horus was worshiped by many people at temples and during funerals for protection of the dead person's soul on his or her trip to Osiris and the underworld.
According to Egyptian Mythology Horus lost his left eye in his war with Set who tore the eye into six pieces. Thoth, the god of wisdom and magic, was able to reassemble the eye and returned it to Horus.
Macrobius' Chronicon noted the annual ancient Egyptian celebration of Horus, specifying the time as the winter solstice. An analysis of the works of Epiphanius of Salamis noted the Egyptian winter solstice celebration of Horus in Panarion.
Horus (Egyptian god) Powers/Abilities: Horus possesses the conventional powers of the Egyptian Gods. He has superhuman strength (Class 75), stamina and resistance to harm and conventional injury.
Short answer, no. There is no writing, inscription, artwork, statuary, or anything that indicates Horus (or Osiris) was crucified. There is death and resurrection in Horus' story, though. The Metternich Stele relates the story of Horus dying by the sting of a scorpion.
And then there's Tutankhamun's father, Akhenaten, who ruled from 1353–1336 BC and destroyed monuments to the god Amun in his effort to remake Egyptian religion to revolve around one god, Aten, a solar deity. But when Akhenaten died, the Egyptian people resumed traditional worship.
When I came outside the temple my mind was stunned with the glory and culture of our past. It was a very amazing experience to witness the history as well as temple in person. Many things were coming to my mind.
One of them was how could the people in that era have constructed such a huge temple with minimal equipment’s.
After visiting Edfu temple we started back to our cruise by horse cart.
We started our journey to next destination
Reliefs on the walls of the Temple of Edfu, Egypt : Dr. Vyankatesh Metan Solapur
I salute them for their Herculean task and creativity. If you love heritage monuments, like history and very much curious to know... to know about our past, then you should give a visit to these temples.
I will advise you to visit this amazing temple.
Dr. Vyankatesh Metan
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