The Temple of Horus, the god of life, located in the center of the city of Edfu, is by far considered the most impressive of all the temples on the banks of the Nile along the route from Luxor to Aswan.
It is therefore one of the obligatory stops if you are planning a cruise on the Nile, as well as the cities of Esna and Kom Ombo. Both the temples of Edfu and Esna were built during the Greco-Roman period, so they are to be considered relatively recent.
Dedicated to the god Horus of Behedet, lord of Edfu, the Temple of Horus is the most famous monument of Edfu. The temple is oriented from south to north, measures just over 140 m in length, and occupies an area of approximately 7000 square meters.
A visit to the temple of Edfu gives you a clearer idea of the original appearance of the building when it was constructed about 2000 years ago.
If you want to visit the Temple of Horus on a cruise on the Nile in Luxor and Aswan, you can safely check the cruise on the Nile offers to choose from many cruises on the Nile at special prices.
Egypt, navigate through the history of the temple of Edfu
Beginning in the 19th century, the village expanded partly inside the temple, and some houses were even built on its roof. Now the buildings have been removed, but the effects left by the previous buildings are still evident, the ancient perimeter of the village faces inside the temple complex, which is several meters below the current ground level.
The temple is in a particularly good state of preservation, precisely because it had been buried under the sand. The complex includes a pylon that was built by Cleopatra’s father during the first century B.C., which leads to an inner court and then to a hypostyle hall that precedes the sanctuary of Horus, the most important part of the temple.
Edfu, Temple of Horus, the beauty of the temple
All these structural elements replicate the temple style in vogue during the New Kingdom, which can also be seen in the remains of other buildings in the area of Luxor and along the Nile Valley. The Temple of Horus at Edfu, however, remains one of the most complete and intact examples of this architectural style. Because of its completeness and state of preservation, it is the best example of the construction of a Ptolemaic temple in Egypt.
Edfu what to see and what is its history
The Temple of Horus in its present form was begun very late by Ptolemy III Euergetes I in 237 BC. Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II inaugurated it 95 years later, in 142 BC. The surrounding wall, the main courtyard, and the pylon were completed by Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysus, who inaugurated the temple for the second and final time in 70 BC. With the installation of the wooden doors of the main entrance between the two pylons, the temple was officially finished in 57 BC.
However, the initial core of the temple is much earlier; there are records of an early shrine at Edfu since at least the Third Dynasty. In total, it took 180 years to complete the construction and decoration of the Temple of Horus at Edfu.
The construction of the Temple of Horus at Edfu
The sanctuary was the most sacred and important part of the temple. It contained the sacred images of Horus and Hathor, used in processions. Built of black granite, it is located at the rear of the temple and is one of the few remains of an older temple of Horus. The shrine was built by Nectanebo II (360-343 BC), about a hundred years before the construction of the present temple of Horus began. The door frame of the sanctuary is engraved with hymns that were sung in the morning before opening the bronze doors of the sanctuary to wake Horus and the other deities who slept in their chapels.
To the east of the temple is a circular well, located outside the surrounding wall. Reached by a flight of stairs that begins inside the enclosure, extends under the wall, and reaches the outside of the temple.
The well was essential for the water supply of the temple, necessary for daily purification practices. However, it was also a useful tool on a practical level to prevent the phenomenon of flooding, constituted a Nilometer, used to measure the height of the annual flooding of the river. The scales were carved on the wall of the inclined staircase to measure the rise of the water table
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