VISITING EDFU TEMPLE EGYPT one of the Ptolemaic temples in Southern Egypt

THE TEMPLE OF HORUS AT EDFU ISN’T FAR FROM LUXOR ,🇪🇬  it’s about 80km south of Luxor as a Falcon flies.

However, for non-Egyptians, the government has restrictions on how they may travel. The train service is limited to the VIP Service, there are no Bus services, and MicroBuses are only for Egyptians. In short, the travel options permitted by the government for a day trip are limited and relatively expensive. Nonetheless – I made the trip and combined it with Esna, and was able to do it in a way that suited me, rather than the government. I made a short video during my visit

The Temple of Horus in Edfu is one of the Ptolemaic temples spread along the Nile between Dendera and Aswan. These temples are quite recent, at only 2,000 years old, and in some cases were abandoned and later covered by silt from the annual Nile inundation.

At Edfu the Nile Valley is narrower than at Luxor, which must have intensified the flooding here. The Temple of Horus in Edfu was so encased in mud and debris that it eventually became the physical foundation area for part of the town of Edfu.

The Temple of Horus ground plan is probably based on a number of documents that give comprehensive written requirements for an ideal temple. Collectively, these have become known as “The Book of the Temple”; a version is a late Ptolemaic text. At Edfu an outer wall enclosed a ‘birth house’; the temple itself; a Nilometer and possibly a sacred lake whose probable location is now submerged under a mosque and housing in the modern town. Overall, it’s about 75% of the size of the Temple of Hathor at Dendera, having a comparable, though edited down, ground plan.

To the west of the temple is a settlement of mud-brick that dates to a comparable time period; unfortunately, this is only partially excavated and not accessible to visitors. The entrance Pylon is impressive, and the ruler, all be it that he is Greek, is smiting the enemies of Egypt. Despite the Pylon’s grandeur and all the Gods laid out on display, this looks like an unimaginative tableau. Even the energy portrayed in the smiting scene is minimal – indeed if anything the Pharoah is leaning away from his victims – rather than leaning into them to amplify the blow.

Beyond the entrance Pylon is a collonaded courtyard. This courtyard and the main temple halls were overbuilt on an original temple built under the early 19th dynasty. “The Book of the Temple” presumably didn’t approve of rows of deified statues of the ruler, as in the New Kingdom and older – as there are none here – making this a very unremarkable space.

Inside, the Temple of Horus has an entrance Hypostyle Hall leading into a smaller hall, off which are a plethora of chapels.

Covered with statuesque images of rulers and gods as a frieze, the exterior wall appears formulaic in style.

While the Ptolemaic rulers certainly hoped to please the population and gods, the skilled resources available to them must have been stretched thin, and Edfu, though remarkably complete, is not a sophisticated building.