Around Africa: Part Ten

In which I explored Edfu Temple

17.12.2023: Tour Day 6, City 8

I woke up at the crack of dawn, got ready and waited at the reception area. I had a small chat with Mahindra Dighe and his wife Surekha Dighe on whether there would be cold outside. The cruise had already parked at Edfu. We left the cruise a 6am and then queued up for the horse ride to reach the temple of Edfu. There was a total chaos between the horse riders and police. Finally we paired up for the horse cart and moved towards the temple. Our cartmen was beating the horse with a leash so that he runs faster, to which my roommate got annoyed and warned him not to do so. Finally we reached the temple at 6:45am. Here again we had to walk to the main structure for 5 minutes. It was chilling cold. 

The temple of Edfu is the largest temple dedicated to Horus and Hathor of Dendera. It was the center of several festivals sacred to Horus. Each year, Hathor travelled south from her temple at Denderah to visit Horus at Edfu, and this event marking their sacred marriage was the occasion of a great festival and pilgrimage.

First Pylon

The construction on the entrance pylons was started by Ptolemy IX before he was ousted from power by his brother Alexander (Ptolemy X Alexander I) and completed during the reign of Ptolemy XII. The pylons are decorated by Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos with figures of himself smiting the enemy. Each of the towers bear a cartouche of Ptolemy XII, but are a little different. Two statues of Horus as a falcon flank the entrance gate, and behind the pylon, at the base of the walls on either side of the entrance, are scenes depicting the “Feast of the Beautiful Meeting” in which Horus of Edfu was united with Hathor of Dendera. The rear walls of the colonnade are covered with multiple rows of large reliefs depicting the Pharaoh (Ptolemy IX Soter II or Ptolemy X Alexander I) holding converse with the gods or with the victorious god Horus. Similar representations are repeated all over the temple. On the sides of the pylon, the pharaoh is shown, with the Lower Egyptian crown on the west side and the Upper Egyptian crown on the east side, proceeding to the temple and being sprinkled with the water of consecration by Horus and Thoth.

Court of Offerings

The huge peristyle first court is surrounded by 32 towering columns, this is where an altar would have been. The columns are richly decorated with floral and palm capitals, and the golden-hued stone walls are covered in reliefs of the gods Horus and Hathor. Just to the left of the entrance into the Vestibule, the surviving black granite statue of Horus, which would have originally been part of a pair, wears the double crown of Egypt and guards the door into the farther reaches of the temple.

Hypostyle Vestibule

It is decorated with 12 columns topped with elaborate floral capitals. On the walls are four rows of incised reliefs showing Pharaoh Euergetes making offerings to the gods or performing ritual acts. Above are a band of astronomical representations and an ornamental frieze consisting of the names of the pharaoh guarded by two falcons. Below, just above the floor, are Euergetes, his wife Cleopatra, and a long file of local gods bringing offerings to the three principal divinities of Edfu.

Inner Sanctuary

A naos of Nectanebo II, a relic from an earlier building, is preserved in the inner sanctuary, the temple's barque sanctuary is surrounded by nine chapels. This inner sanctuary, lit by three apertures in the roof, was the holy of holies of the Edfu Temple. It housed the golden statue of Horus, which was placed in the granite naos. Here a replica of the wooden barque (the original can be seen at the Louvre in Paris), which would have held the golden statue of Hathor on festivals and during processions, is also displayed.

Done with the sightseeing, we boarded the horse cart and reached the cruise by 8am. And to our surprise, the cruise departed. What do we do now! And we see Mahendra so cool and calm. Cruises are parked adjacent to each other, so we have to walk past other cruises to reach ours. What happened was that the middle cruise had to depart hence our cruise moved away for a while. And here we were thinking on what to do, how to reach the cruise. Finally we boarded the cruise and had breakfast. 

Now we had leisure time since the next temple visit was in the evening and the cruise was heading towards Luxor. So everyone chilled out on the deck. I clicked photos till 9am and then dozed off in my room till 12:30pm. I was tired and last two days were heavy flow days on a vacation. 

We had lunch at 1pm and then queued up on the deck at 2pm for the low water scene. In order to pass through the bridges, water level of cruises are lowered and hence these pass through the bridges. Watch the video to understand better. 

Having done with 3 hours of sleep, I sat at the library for a while and then at the book stall and read all the books in English from 2:30pm to 4:30pm. I skipped the tea again today. I roamed around the deck at 5pm. Marina and her son Jwacky were playing pool, I was observing the same. They invited me and taught me to play. Sameer Behere joined us midway and we played till 6pm. Sameer has joined the tour alongwith Amol Gaikarwari, they are office colleagues. We reached Luxor and left the cruise, to board the bus which drove us to the temple and we reached the venue at 7pm. More on the temple in next post.

Read next: Around Africa: Part Eleven