Bob and Theresa: Egypt - Day 7 - 26 March 2019

Egypt and the Eternal Nile

Day 7 - 26 March 2019

Kom Ombo, Edfu Temples, Cruising the Nile

After an early breakfast, we're off to Temple of Kom Ombo

This unique temple honors two ancient Gods - Horus and Sobec!

You see, crocodiles infested the island opposite Kom Ombo and the people feared them very much. Hence the desire to appease the god Sobec - the crocodile god!

Kom Ombo Temple

Hassan shows a sample of the the double dove-tail used to stabilize the stone walls

The stains on the pillars show the flood levels

The surviving ceiling panels show the wonderful colors used

In the upper panel, Pharaoh Ptolmy honors Sobec.
In the lower, he honors Horus

Sobec has the head of a crocodile

Horus has the head of a falcon

Here Sobec and Horus jointly anoint Ptolmy

The double feathers indicates lordship over both Upper and Lower Egypt. The cartouche is of Ptolmy

This unique panel shows the surgical instruments offered to Imhotep, god of medicine. Note the women on birthing stools to the left.

This wall is the back side of the holy of holies. People could slip their offerings through the small opening above Hassan's head to obtain the god's favor

Another unique carved panel is a calendar of sorts.
The figures to the right indicate the three seasons - flood, growing, harvest.

The calendar keeps track of the days and weeks as well as what festivals are to be celebrated

Hassan was an excellent guide and helped us understand some complex topics

These steps lead down to a pit where crocodiles were kept and worshiped.

When the croc died, their bodies were embalmed and revered

Examples of preserved crocs are displayed in the adjacent crocodile museum.
As a side note, crocs cannot get past the High Dam at Aswan, so they are almost never seen north of Aswan.

Back aboard Sun Ray, we sail to Edfu

When we tied up, a line of carriages awaited

To our delight, the transportation to the Temple of Horus was by horse-drawn carriage.

Lots of donkey carts on the street

Lots of traffic

Our driver's English was limited (but way better than our Arabic!)
He pointed out a few places along the way "school, police"

Charles arrives

Temple of Horus at Edfu

Wonderfully preserved statue of a falcon to honor Horus

A large courtyard for the common people

Many temples were used by early Christians for worship. They defaced many of the images to avoid the prohibition of graven images

These two scenes show the final triumph of good over evil
Evil is the critter in the water while good is Horus in the boat.

Finally, Horus' evil uncle is captured as a pig and led to execution

Outer courtyard for the common folk

Looking through the temple to the holiest place where only the high priests could go

This temple has one of the most intact altars

In a lot of the temples and shrines, there were Egyptian men dressed poorly but willing to offer a tidbit or take a photo for a dollar.

The upper of the two panels is a ledger of sorts, promising the gods certain goods. In this case, to the left of the bird and three squiggles, is a jar, presumably of oil. Below that is a one. But then the next column has three upside down u's, then three backward e's, three bent shovel looking things, three bent spears, and finally three pig looking things. Each of those is 3 times another order of magnitude. So this totals 333,331 jars of oil!

Feluccas on the nile are beautiful!

Back aboard Sun Ray, we head downriver
Lots of farming and livestock along the way

And some nice looking homes

Irrigation pump stations

We saw a number of cruise boats, about half the size of Sun Ray, being towed. At first we thought the must have broken down but learned they don't have engines and can't rely on sail