Temple of Philae
In Aswan is the Temple of Philae. You can see the beauty of the Nile, the colours of the Nubians, and the temples at many different places. Many of the temples in Aswan were on islands, so when the Nile flooded, the water covered them.
Philae Island is one of Aswan’s most important islands. Because Isis was the goddess of the Island, there were many temples on it that were dedicated to her. During the time of the Ptolemies and the Romans, these temples were built. The Temple of Philae is a well-known temple on the Island.
How the Temple of Philae came to be
The Ptolemies were the ones who built the Temple of Philae. The Temple was built to honour the goddess Isis, who was the goddess of motherhood, healing, and giving birth. Her husband Osiris and son Horus were also honoured there.
The temple is very important because it is one of the few places where the old Egyptian religion stayed alive after Christianity came to Egypt, up until the year 550 A.D. The first Christians turned the temple into a church. There, they broke up and destroyed many of the statues of the old gods.
After the Lower Aswan Dam was built, the water level rose enough to cover the Island of Philae. Then area sank when the High Dam was being built, so it was moved to another island that was higher.
The Temple of Philae was moved.
The Temple is not where it used to be. The Temple was on Philae Island, but it was underwater because of the annual flood, and it stayed that way after the Lower Dam was built.
During the building of the High Dam, the Temple would be flooded and would likely be lost forever. In 1960, UNESCO broke up the Temple’s almost 40,000 stones and moved “the Island of Aguilkia” to where they were. The Temple was moved carefully, stone by stone.
How the Temple of Philae was Built
The temple was built in the style of the new Egyptian empire, but it also had some features from the Greco-Roman period, like the nilometer, which was used to measure the clarity of the Nile River and the level of the water during the annual flood.
At the front is a door that is 18 metres high. Then there are many different columns that lead to different rooms. There is also the Birth House, which is all about how Horus was born.
The walls are painted and are in better shape. The stories about Isis and Osiris are written on the walls. There are also reliefs from the Christian, Roman, and Egyptian times.
Mythology of the Temple: When Osiris married the goddess Isis, his brother Set killed him and cut him into pieces, according to the story.
Then Set gave the pieces of Osiris’s body to everyone in Egypt. Isis’s husband was dead, but she found his body and woke him up. Then Isis gave Seth a place to stay on the Isle of Philae.
Find out about the Temple of Philae.
You can go on a wonderful, well-planned trip with Egypt via travel. With our Egypt travel packages, you can also have a vacation you’ll never forget in the beautiful places of Egypt, from Cairo and Alexandria in Lower Egypt to a Nile cruise between Luxor and Aswan to see the sights in Upper Egypt.
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