December 26th, 2009
The Nile cruise aboard Miss Egypt ship, starts with a visit of Kom Ombo temple, before continuing, the same day, to Edfu temple and to the Esna lock. The tour to each temple requires about two hours.
Nile cruise with tour of Kom Ombo and Edfu temples
December 26th, 2009
The Nile cruise aboard Miss Egypt ship, starts with a visit of Kom Ombo temple, before continuing, the same day, to Edfu temple and to the Esna lock. The tour to each temple requires about two hours.
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The Kom Ombo temple was erected starting from Ptolemy IV Philopator and ended with Ptolemy XII Auletes. The temple is virtually divided into two specular parts, with the division line represented by the central column on the above picture. The left half of the temple is dedicated to God Hawk, while the right half is dedicated to God Crocodile. To the side of each access door, there is the purification ceremony represented oven an relif. |
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The long corridor which, thru doors and majestic colums, brings to the sanctuary. |
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Kom Ombo pictures. |
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Representation of the Egyptian calendar, based on three seasons: Nile inondation, cultivation and harvest. |
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| Other pictures of Kom Ombo. | |
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The sacred rooms, each one dedicated to a God from the respective half-side of the temple. |
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| The big protection wall around the Kom Ombo temple. | |
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| Representation of an incoronation. |
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Other Kom Ombo pictures seen from outside. |
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Crusing the Nile river aboard the Miss Egypt ship. The navigation continues from Kom Ombo to Edfu which is reached a few hours later. In the meanwhile, the typical Nile landscape can be enjoyed from the upper deck of the ship. |
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Once in Edfu, I board an horse-drawn barouche to cover the three kilometers distance from Nile river to Edfu temple. Edfu is a city with about 60.000 inhabitants. |
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The first thing that is noticed as soon as in Edfu temple area, is the huge protection wall made by small bricks. Unfortunately the wall is very damaged and only few sections are still present. |
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The Edfu temple is a huge complex erected in about 180 years, starting from 250 b.c. with Ptolemy III Euergetes and ending with Ptolemy XII Auletes. |
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Pictures of Edfu temple, showing the first atrium.
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| The first internal rooms, with the columnade and an relif (above picture) showing how the temple was built. |
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The second internal room, with more enormous columns.
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| The innermost room is the sanctuary. |
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Along the sides of the inner halls, there are several rooms having different purposes. The room represented in these pictures is particularly interesting, because this is the "laboratory" room. Starting from ancient Egypt, the essential oils, extracted from plants, were extremely important to get either medications and Perfumes. On the walls of this room, the relifes show perfumes offers to the Goddesses, but the most interesting part is the geoglyph text explaining the formula to produce such perfumes and medications. |
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The chapel of Night Goddess. |
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| More Edfu temple pictures, showing the external walls and the facade, completely covered by drawings. | |
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| Geoglyphs pictures. The Geoglyphs on the right are number: for example the man with the arms pointing upwards means "one million", while the U upside-down means "10". | |
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The cruise on Nile river continues by crossing the Esna locks, necessary to pass a change in level on the river, caused by a dam. The experience is interesting and looks like passing the Panama channel. |
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