The Temple of Edfu, Edfu

...Edfu.

The great temple of Edfu is situated on the West bank of the Nile River in Egypt. It was built on top of an even more ancient temple between the years 237BC and 57 BC during the time of the Ptolemaic Dynasty and the reign of Cleopatra. Edfu was an ancient city of about 60,000 people and it was believed that it may have been a major site for people setting out on their journeys into the desserts. It is the best preserved temple ...
...It is the second largest and best preserved temple in Egypt.


The story of Horus the Falcon God,

It is dedicated to the God Horus. Horus was considered a Falcon God of the Sky he was also considered as other Gods too and there is some confusion of who he was as different names were used to describe the same person. Horus represented life form of the God and Osiris the afterlife. He was also known as he represented ... more

Temple of Edfu.

The great temple of Edfu is situated on the West bank of the Nile River in Egypt. It was built on top of an even more ancient temple between the years 237BC and 57 BC during the time of the Ptolemaic Dynasty and the reign of Cleopatra. Edfu was an ancient city of about 60,000 people and it was believed that it may have been a major site for people setting out on their journeys into the desserts. It is the best preserved temple in Eygpt built of sandstone and it is quite large. It is the second largest and best preserved temple in Egypt.

The story of Horus the Falcon God,

It is dedicated to the God Horus. Horus was considered a Falcon God of the Sky he was also considered as other Gods too and there is some confusion of who he was as different names were used to describe the same person. Horus represented life form of the God and Osiris the afterlife. He was also known as he represented the Sky the Sun God, The right eye representing the Sun and the left eye the moon. The tale is that Horus had a fight with Set who was the God of Upper Egypt and during this fight Set lost a testicle indicating the reason that the dessert is infertile where as Horus had his left eye gouged out resulting in the meaning that the moon was weaker than the sun.

As Horus was a Falcon he was regarded as a war God and the Pharaohs were considered the human form of Horus. He fought with Set for over 80 years Set being the God of upper Eygpt and Horus of Lower Egypt fighting for total control of Eygpt. They were both given the opportunity to argue their case in front of the other Gods who were fed up with the fighting and in the end they came down on the side of Horus who became God of both upper and Lower Egypt.

All of the above is described in beautiful hieroglyphics on the walls of the temple. What struck me most is how detailed they are and how today thousands and thousands of years later they are so clear.

The temple fell into disuse due to the banning of non Christian worship in 371 AD and there was a period of desecration of religious sites, some of the hieroglyphics had been chiselled out and there appears to have been a fire in the great hypostyle hall in an attempt to burn off the coloured murals depicting pagan imagery. Eventually the encroaching sands of the dessert covered it over only the top of the 36 foot high Pylons were visible. People had even built some houses over the top of it. The temple was rediscovered by a French expedition and in 1860 it was dug out of the sands and found to be extremely well preserved,

Arriving at the Temple there is quite a walk to the Entrance where you first set sight of the two massive structures at the front of the temple. These were known as Pylons. Cut into the face of the temples are human figures of Horus the war god with the head of a Falcon indicating it was Horus.

After arriving in the massive court yard you stand in front of the two massive pylons which contain small chambers, rooms and stairways. You then enter the doorway to the inner courtyard which opens up into a massive square with columns all around the perimeter. There are two statues of Horus standing guard at the front of the hypostyle hall. Entering the hypostyle hall you are immediately struck by how high the building is and the massive columns inside. There are hieroglyphics all the way up the columns to the ceiling and the ceiling is covered in paintings but most of it has gone black due to the attempt to burn them off.

Walking through to the sanctuary you pass two side rooms where the high priests would have used one as a library and on the other side a chapel for services worship. The walls are covered in paintings and carvings in the walls. It is absolutely amazing and stunning. You then pass an offering table and then reach the sanctuary which a boat like structure and a Naos or an altar which would have contained a statue of Horus but the statue went missing a long time ago.

On the inner walls of the outer walls protecting the temple are massive bas reliefs describing different events both mythological and in reality involving the building of the temple. They are surprisingly still very much intact with the exception of the heads of Horus that have been gouged out.

This is an absolutely wonderful first temple to visit as it is so intact and it we are so lucky to be able to see it after all these thousands of years.
 

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