Wanderlust

July 5, 2007

Egypt::Day 7:: Edfu – the land of the horus

Filed under: Egypt — Sunil Shinde @ 8:42 pm
Tags: , , , ,

Over the night, out cruise crossed the ancient locks of Esna and landed up at the Temple of Edfu

robert-temple-edfou

(An oil painting by David Roberts – sketched in Edfu 1839 and completed later in his studio)

Built between 237BC and 57BC by six Ptolemies, this temple is in a fabulous shape and is smaller only than the temple of Karnak in size.

P1000924

We entered through these gigantic 118 ft pylons and once again got lost in the nebulous world of ancient beliefs.

P1000881 Huge 35 feet motifs on the entrance pylon
P1000900 Beautiful hieroglyphics and carvings through out the temple walls
P1000903 Slaying of the hippopotamus, a symbol of Seth – the mortal enemy of Horus
P1000911 The huge status of Horus
P1000919 Ancient Egyptians understood the way light plays on stationary objects as well as some of the modern photographers .
P1000906 Passageway between the inner temple and outer temple
P1000905 Images of the truimp of the Horus, depicted beautifully on the temple walls

At the end of the day, we were very close to monument exhaustion. There is only so much a mind can take … :)

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