The story of an incredible journey through Egypt.

Day 9, friday 20 april 2012.

Today's program: Esna, El-Kab, Edfu, Kom Ombo and Aswan.

Esna.

On a sunny morning we leave at 7 am to Aswan and after about 45 minutes we reach the temple of Esna dedicated to the god Khnum built during the Ptolemaic period.

Click on the ticket for the pictures.

Video impression of the temple at Esna.

Khnum is worshiped here with his wife Menheyet a minor goddess with a lions head
The temple is located in the center of the village and 9 meters below street level. The temple is built upon another temple, probably of Tuthmosis III, where only a few blocks have been found back from.
The hypostyle hall that still stands today dates from the Greek / Roman period and is best known for its beautiful capitals. Only the hypostyle hall can be seen, there are still other remains, but they are under the the houses.

Video impression of the temple at Esna, inside.

Video impression of the temple at Esna, outside.

El-Kab.

Three quarters of an hour (by car) further we arrive at the graves at El-Kab.

Click on the ticket for the pictures of the 4 graves.

At El-Kab are private graves, there are 4 to see including the tomb of Ahmose son of Ebana, he has put a complete biography on the wall of his tomb about his life and over the time he was in the army .
He was there when the Hyksos, a foreign nation in the 17th dynasty that ruled over Egypt where chased away.
On the other side of the road are the walls of the old town Necheb to see one of the oldest towns in Egypt here are found traces of 7000 years ago. Nekhbet the vulture, symbol of Upper Egypt had its place of worship here.

Video impression of the grave of Ahmose.

Video impression of the grave of Renni.

Video impression of the grave of Setau.

Video impression of the grave of Paheri.

Edfu.

After an extensive view at these tombs, we continue our journey and arrive 30 minutes later at the temple of Edfu, dedicated to Horus and where by various pharaohs for 300 years was build on, and eventually got ready around 57 BC.

The temple at Edfu.

The temple is one of the youngest and best preserved temples. Ptolemy III started the construction in 237 BC.
And over a period of 6 kings, the temple became ready under Ptolemy VII.

Click on the ticket for the pictures.

$Edfu\$

Impression of the temple at Edfu, part 1.

Impression of the temple at Edfu, part 2.

The temple is dedicated to the falcon god Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris. For the first pylon are 2 images of the god Horus as a falcon without the crown. On the first court is the feast of Behedet shown. This is a festival of Hathor of Dendera, her husband comes to visit in Edfu.

Impression of the temple at Edfu, part 3.

There are also two huge Horus falcons on the square with crown this time.
Further in the temple there is a hypostylehal and further on a Naos. The Naos was founded by Nectanebo II. Here is a beautiful granite shrine to see whit formerly a statue of the god in it. There were then also wooden doors. In front is a replica of the barque of Horus.

Impression of Edfu, part 4, with among others the barque of Horus.

In this temple is also the story depicted of the battle between Horus and Seth, who lasted one hundred years and where Horus came out as a conqueror.
Therefore the kings were the personification of Horus, and were also given a Horusname.

Impression of the temple at Edfu, part 5.

Impression of the temple at Edfu, part 6.

Kom Ombo.

Finally on our trip to Aswan, we visited the temple at Kom Ombo, a Ptolemaic temple dedicated to the god Sobek and Horus (the elder). By this temple is also the Crocodile Museum.

Click on the image for the pictures.

Kom Ombo is located on the east bank of the Nile, 45 km north of Aswan and 168 miles south of Luxor.
Kom Ombo The name means "hill of gold". Today the city is important because of its sugar cane, the plants of which were established after the construction of the Aswan dam. Kom Ombo has about 60000 inhabitants.
The temple was built by Ptolemy VI in 180 BC on a hill, just where the Nile makes a big bend. It is a temple dedicated to two gods, namely the god Horus the elder and the god Sobek.
They each have their own half of the temple mirrored. The temple was also used as a hospital and later as a sanatorium. In the back of the temple medical instruments are shown.

Impression of the temple at Kom Ombo.

On November 24, 2010 a small museum next to the temple has been opened, dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek. There are mummies of crocodiles to be seen. But also an mummy of a unborn crocodile and eggs. And there are statues dedicated to the god Sobek.

Click on the image for the pictures of the museum.

In the end, after a busy day we arrive at 1630 hours in Aswan, where we set up camp in the Hathor hotel.

Nubian museum in Aswan.

In the early evening we pay a visit to the Nubian Museum in Aswan.
A very interesting museum, with plenty to see.

Click on the image for the pictures of the museum.

I say it again, after again another beautiful day with once again great impressions, it is just time for a bite to eat and to drink of course. Since the Hathor Hotel, which is our address to sleep, not really invites for thaat, we take the advice of Olet and recourse to the Isis hotel that lies on the opposite of the street on bank of the Nile. And it was indeed not a bad choice because you can sit there very relaxed sitting, cheers.

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