At the Temples of Philae | Egypt Travel Blog: Day 3 (Part 28) 02D19

Philae Temple – The Temple of Isis at Philae | Aswan

Egypt Travel Blog: 10 DAYS Egypt Explorer - Felucca Cruise & Red Sea

When we approached the Philae temple complex, the first things I noticed were two large and tall majestic wall-like sandstone façade structures and a small entrance door. The temple complex was dedicated to the goddess Isis, but also the gods Horus and Osiris.

The enormous facade had carved images of the god Horus. There were lots of long columns inside the complex. Every inch of the columns, walls, and any other flat surface seemed to be covered with hieroglyphs.

These hieroglyphs cover the large carvings of the gods of Ancient Egypt and the last to be written by the Ancient Egyptians. These ornate pictorial alphabet inscriptions tell the stories of the gods and civilisations.

These inscriptions have been officially declared as the last written Egyptian hieroglyphs. They were meant for the Ancient Egyptians because these temples were built by the last of the Egyptian pharaohs, Nectanebo II.

The Philae temple complex was built in stages and some parts were built by the Greeks in Egyptian styles. So, the new Macedonian or Greek dynasty wanted to replicate Egyptian elements. They worshipped the Egyptian gods, dressed like Egyptians, and built temples, monuments, and structures in the Egyptian style to convince the locals the Greeks were the chosen rulers of Egypt.

My travel guide pointed out some fine lines as proof that these whole complex structures were cut, moved, and reattached from one island to another island, which I have talked about in previous posts.

This was the last item on our itinerary for today. We will go to the Basma Hotel from here and will have a free evening tonight.