Edfu and Kom Ombo

Towel crocodile

We generally slept well on the Steigenberger Legacy last night, although we were awakened a little after 3 am when the ship went through on the locks on the Nile. We managed to get back to sleep, but I don’t think restfully. We were awake well before our 6 am wake up call.  We were still chuckling over the towel figurine of a crocodile left on our bed by the ship’s housekeeping team.

Carriage ride to Edfu

We were expected to depart the ship at 7:30 to explore the Edfu Temple, but the ship was delayed at the locks and was only able to moor after 8 am. Unlike our outings in Cairo and Alexandria, we did not have a bodyguard with us at Edfu.  We walked down the gangway off the ship and up the bank to meet the carriage drivers who would transport us to the temple by horse. Our driver kept the horse at a gallop and made very good time getting to the site from the ship. He even agreed to take a few photos for a small gratuity. We met with the rest of our team outside the temple grounds then walked through the ever-present vendors at the bazaars outside the temple on our way to the pylon.

Pylon at Edfu

This temple to the falcon god, Horus, is a nearly complete temple that was constructed during the Hellenistic Period of Egyptian history. This is when Alexander the Great’s rule extended into Egypt.  The Temple at Edfu is believed to have been completed in 57 BC, relatively recently when compared to other sites we visited.  

Over the centuries the temple was nearly completely covered with drifting desert sand and silt until it was discovered in 1798 by French explorers.  Only a small tip of the giant wall stuck up from the accumulated silt, sand and homes that had been built directly on top of the temple. Nearly 40 feet of sand accumulated between the homes and the ruins. Excavation began to uncover the temple in the 1860s.  After many years of excavation, archeologists learned that the accumulated, wind-blown sediment had protected the temple from weathering, which makes this one of the best preserved ancient Egyptian sites.  Edfu has only become a major tourist attraction in the last 15 years or so, and research continues to make the site more historically significant.

Hypostyle at Edfu

Because this temple was constructed by the Egyptians during the Ptolemaic Period, the figures are far less detailed or accurate There wasn’t much color, whether the pigments hadn’t yet been applied or if they had weathered away. 

Most of the damage to the temple was done when the Coptic Christians came to the temple in 391 AD and attempted to remove any figures of the pagan religions. The heads of Isis, Osiris and Horace have been defaced and even removed in some cases. Panels that are higher on the pylons and walls escaped much of the intentional destruction.  A number of panels tell stories of Egyptian mythology, which shed great insight into the beliefs of the Egyptians of the time.

Barque at Edfu

Perhaps one of the most interesting things at Edfu was a replica of the nearly intact solar boat that was found in the “Room of the Gods.”  The original boat (barque) is now in the Louvre in Paris.  Like Khufu’s solar boat that we saw in Giza, this vessel would have been to carry the pharaoh’s spirit into the afterlife.  We spent about an hour at the site and took a lot of photos.

Statue of Horus at Edfu

We were happy that we went to Edfu early in the morning since the temperature got to the mid 90s by the time we left. We are in the south of Egypt where the temperatures stay very hot all year long. We left the site around 10:30 and got our horse drivers to take us back to the ship. There was a tour by the captain of the ship’s bridge and galley, but we elected to sit up on the observation deck. 

The Nile is a very different river than when we were on it yesterday. We are above a couple of locks. We believe that the river is cleaner, and the Nile Valley is much more narrow than in Lower Egypt. We saw several flocks of geese and many wading birds such as herons, egrets, and ibis. Cindy and Mary played cribbage while Mark and I watched the bank and occasionally snoozed. Local fishermen on small boats waved as we passed, and we watched farmers moving cattle to fields along the river.  Because we had been so busy the day before, we welcomed a more relaxed day.  Our outing to the Valley of the Kings had been quite a day, so we appreciated the time on the ship to discuss what we had seen and consider our observations in the context of Egypt at the time.

Cobras at Kom Ombo

We went to lunch at 1 pm in the ship’s dining room then returned to the observation deck where Mary, Cindy and Nichole played Mexican Train Dominos. Mark and I watched television until it was time to prepare for our afternoon outing to the Temple of Kom Ombo. 

Our ship was still behind schedule because of the wait at the locks last night, so we waited until the ship docked along the Nile River at the small Nubian town of Kom Ombo.  We disembarked for the short walk to the temple dedicated to Sobek, the crocodile god, which is best known for the display of crocodile mummies. 

As we walked to the temple, the usual street vendors were pushing their wares. This spot seemed to have more children working to sell the items of clothing, books and cheap Chinese made jewelry. There was even a man with a couple of cobras. For a tip he would let visitors take a photo of the snakes. For a larger tip you could hold the snake for photos. The snakes almost certainly had their fangs removed.  While at Kom Ombo and throughout Nubia, we did not have nor did we feel the need for a bodyguard.

Kom Ombo Temple

The temple is small but attractive. It suffered damage in recent earthquakes, one of which took a large section of roof down. Like the Temple of Edfu, Kom Ombo is a more modern structure that was built in the Hellenistic Period, probably from 332 BC to 47 BC.  Additions to the temple were made as late as 395 AD to honor the falcon god, Horus.  There were many carvings of Sobek, Horus and other prominent Egyptian gods. The site was very busy with visitors, and areas got crowded as the evening waned. Eman pointed out panels showing the surgical tools that were in use in the Aswan area over 2000 years ago. There were even panels telling proper procedures for surgery.

Horus and Sobek at Kom Ombo

As the sun was setting, we went to the Nilometer that measures the volume of the Nile River and determined the tax that farmers paid for the use of the water by the farms. The Nilometer looked like a large deep stone-lined well. We walked by the roof sections that had fallen to see the hieroglyphs and ornamentation up close

We made it to the crocodile mummy museum after dark and walked around mummified crocodiles of all sizes. The museum only permitted cell phone photography; we were only there a short time since the museum was very small.

Crocodile mummies at Kom Ombo

We walked back through the gauntlet of vendors. Both Mary and Cindy bought a few Egyptian scarves from the street vendors for prices ranging from $4 to $10. Once at the ship we prepared for dinner in Egyptian costumes. Mary had on a nice pair of slacks and a middle eastern looking shirt. I had a black galabayya with gold trim that I bought for $10 from the canoe sellers as we traveled up the Nile . I also had one of the nice El Gazela scarves that I bought and a turban from one of Cindy’s scarves. I looked like Johnny Carson as Karnak the Magnificent.

Mary & Steve on the Steigenberger Legacy

Dinner was a middle eastern meal, and many on the ship were dresses in some sort of Egyptian attire. We decided to pass on the after party in favor of going up on the observation deck so Mary and Cindy could play cribbage. The 90 degree day had cooled down nicely, which made for a pleasant close to the day. I was happy to get out of the Egyptian clothing and back into shorts and tennis shoes.