Horus Temple At Edfu

Wednesday was the breakneck day.  We visited a minimum of four (4) ancient temples, used horse-drawn carriages, two different bus transports and a water taxi to cross the river and avoid  the city traffic and make it to the last temple before closing at 4pm.

The morning started at 7am and the Temple of Edfu, located on the west bank of the Nile in Edfu, Upper Egypt.  It is one of the best preserved shrines in Egypt and was actually used as a community home during ancient times.  Our guide pulled out a 50 pound bill to show that the face of the bill reflected the temple face.

A magnificent structure, to say the least.

The day was so packed, the fearless trip leader wore a T-Shirt admonishing all at the start, “Today was not the day” for foolishness, tardiness or haphazard forgetfulness.

For more than 200 years, the structure was buried under almost 40 feet of desert sand and silt from the Nile, which helped to preserve it.  This is why the financing and construction of the Aswan Dam was so crucial to Egypt.

This is the largest temple dedicated to Horus, one of Egypt’s most important historic deities, statues of the falcon-headed god are found throughout the complex, and its extensive wall carvings have provided valuable information to historians about the Hellenistic period of Egyptian history: the exquisite reliefs gave insight into the religion, mythology and way of life during the era.