Edfu & Kom Ombo

12th December 2009 (Sat)

A brand new day in Egypt! Itinerary for the day is below as drawn by our Singapore tour guide once again :)

Morning call at 6.30am! But generally quite a relaxed day as we would only be travelling to 2 places.

But before we set off, its breakfast again at the same restaurant in the cruise.
Omelet again but with cereals! yumyum~

And then off to our first destination of the day!
Edfu Temple of Horus!

"Edfu Temple is located in Edfu, which is located on the west bank of the Nile River between Esna and Aswan. This temple is dedicated to the Sky God, or commonly known or represented as a Falcon. " It is the second largest in Egypt after Karnak Temple.

"The falcon-headed Horus was originally the sky god, whose eyes were the sun and moon. He was later assimilated into the popular myth of Isis and Osiris as the divine couple's child. Raised by Isis and Hathor after Osiris' murder by his brother Seth, Horus avenged his father's death in a great battle at Edfu. Seth was exiled and Horus took the throne, Osiris reigning through him from the underworld. Thus all pharoahs claimed to be the incarnation of Horus, the "living king."

But to travel to the Temple from where our cruise dock, we have to ride a horse carriage! or also known as a caleche ride :D Another different mode of transport that we got to take during our tour :D

Posing in the driver seat with the horse that drove us to the temple. :)

In the horse carriage...

And along the streets on the way to the temple...

During the short journey to the temple, there was a mini 'race' between the different horse carriages, some carriages including mine, went quite fast!

1500m to Edfu Temple...

And we reached the parking lot of for the carriages!

Rows and rows of souvenir shops again..

After we enter the main entrance we have to walk a short distance.. but very soon, the great pylon of Edfu Temple came into sight!

But before reaching the pylon of Horus Temple, we would have to go past the The Greco-Roman Birth House.

"This colonnaded structure was the site of the annual Festival of Coronation, which reenacted the divine birth of Horus and the reigning pharaoh. Around the back of the building are reliefs of Horus being suckled by Isis. A Birth House is a Greco-Roman feature that would not have been part of older pharaonic temples.

We then walked towards the Pylon of the temple that is a short walk behind the birth house.

"Erected by Ptolemy IX (88-81 BC), the Pylon was one of the last features to be added. Standing 37m high, it is among the largest in Egypt. Its reliefs show a later Ptolemaic ruler, Neos Dionysos (Ptolemy VIII), smiting his enemies before Horus the Elder."

As you can see, the structure of the temple is very well preserved and in tact. This was because previously, this whole place was buried in sand and houses built on top of it until it was discovered in 1860 by Auguste Mariette and the place excavated to reveal the whole structure :) But another reason is because it was built later than most: in the Ptolemaic era from 237 to 57 BC.

Beyond the Pylon is the Court of Offerings which contains columns with floral capitals on three sides. This open court was open to the public and was known as the court of the offerings, being the place where people could give their offering to the statue of the God.

And below is an intact statue of Horus that is located in the Court of Offerings. There's a pair of this statue but only one is intact. The other is laying legless and headless on the ground as seen in the picture above.

Looking back at the entrance we came through..

And the intricate cravings that is on the soffit of the roof at the entrance.. Found online that it is actually six sets of winged images on the underside of the main archway. No idea what it signifies..

Moving on from the Court of Offerings, we enter the Hypostyle Hall. Quite an impressive room with the many columns and the hieroglyphics on the wall.
"The Hypostyle Hall is rectangular and 12 columns support its roof. On both sides of the entrance to this hall stands a statue of Horus of Behdet, in the shape of a falcon. This hall is also known as the outer Hypostyle Hall."

Below is one of the massive hieroglyphics that is on the walls in the Hall. I kind of forgot what this drawings was representing, but it was about servants carrying the king/god and the tour guide used this to show us how to read these carvings. Even though it appear that only 8 person are carrying the 'ship', but in actual fact, if we look at the number of legs, there is actual so many more people!

The Hypostyle Hall leads to the into the Sanctuary of Horus, the holiest part of the temple.

"The sanctuary centers on a black-granite shrine that was dedicated by Nectanebo II, making it the oldest relic in the temple. This once contained the gilded wooden cult image of Horus. Next to the shrine is an offering table and the ceremonial barque (barge) on which Horus was carried during festivals. Reliefs on the right (east) wall of the sanctuary show Philopator (Ptolemy IV) worshipping Horus, Hathor and his deified parents in the sanctuary."

From the inner temple, there's a passageway to the outer temple and what awaits us there are hieroglyphics that covers all the wall surfaces. And these hieroglyphics are still in very good condition.

Close up view of the tons of hieroglyphics on the wall surfaces.

"One of the most remarkable elements of the Temple is the existence of a Nilometer, as well as a chapel, which was dedicated to the Goddess Nut.
On various walls of the Temple, there are many battle scenes, as well as the famous scene of the ritual of the Temple foundation.
The northern wall of the court shows the divine marriage of Hathor and Horus of Behdet, which was celebrated twice every year; once at the Dendera Temple and the second time at the Edfu Temple. The Journey of Hathor, from Dendera to Edfu and the vice versa, can also be seen on this wall.
Another scene, on the inside of the outer corridor of the western side of the Temple, depicts the legend of the conflict between Horus and Seth, the victory of Horus over his uncle, and his coronation to rule the world. "

And with that, we end our tour of Edfu Temple, but before we left the place, we caught sight of some Egyptian kids! :D How wonderful to be able to come to such sites for school excursions...

Walking back to take our caleche ride back to our cruise..

And its lunch time again once we are back in the cruise!

What i had for lunch~

After lunch, it is slacking time again while the cruise continues to sail down the River Nile! haha which means back to our room to watch movie, play sudoku and take a short nap (approx 4 hrs of free time) :p

At 5pm, it's time to set off to our next destination of the day - Kom Ombo Temple!

"Kom Ombo is the ancient site of Ombos, which is from the ancient Egyptian word ‘nubt’, or ‘City of Gold’. In ancient Egypt, the city was important to the caravan routes from Nubia and various gold mines.""The major attraction here is the Temple of Kom Ombo, built during the GrecoRoman period (332 BC AD 395). The temple is very unusual. It was dedicated to two deities, each with their own associated chambers and sanctuaries. On the eastern side of the temple, the crocodile god Sobek (Seth), is honored with his wife who is here named as Hathor and their son Khonsu. On the west side, Haroeris or ‘Horus’ is accompanied by his wife Hathor-ta-sent-nefert and their son Panebtawy (Lord of the Two Lands)."

But before that, our cruise would have to dock first. And as the cruise approach the 'jetty', i saw another building with just the structure only. I'm just so fascinated with this.. hee..

Pretty pretty sunset~

The site we are gg to visit in the background, with the many river nile cruises that are dock at the pier.

And as per normal, there's the usual row of souvenirs store again..

A short walk from the place our cruise was parked at, we have reached the Temple of Kom Ombo. Too bad there were so many tourists at the temple and the sky was turning dark, so not many nice pictures of the hieroglyphics could be taken.

Below is the site plan of the Temple:

The temple itself, which is actually not very impressive as compared to the ones we visited over the last few days.

Sunset in the backdrop~

Intricate hieroglyphics on the columns and walls of the temple as usual :) The one behind me and mum is Horus.

There is actually more than just seeing the Temple of Kom Ombo itself at this site.

As with the previous sites visited along the River Nile, there's a Nile gauge (Nilnometer) which is used to measure the level of the river waters.

And at the Temple of 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.

In addition, the hieroglyphics on one of the walls in temple also depicts the calender and counting method of the Egyptians.

And something else can be seen in the picture below but it shall remain a mystery here! :D

After that we took a quick walk through the bazaar which sold the usual stuff, before heading back to the cruise.

As our cruise finally managed to dock just next to the pier, i finally got to take a photo of it! Tada~ The Solaris... our home for half of our stay in Egypt :)

Taken up on the deck of the cruise while we were waiting for everyone to board the cruise for it to sail off.

And then its dinner time!! hahaa..

And bedtime~ :p a super relaxing day!