Day 12 Tuesday Dec 5

Edfu Kom Ombo Aswan, checkin to Basmatic Nubian Guesthouse, Elephantine island

CHECKED OUT:

EDFU TEMPLE

It is one of the best preserved shrines in Egypt. The temple was built in the Ptolemaic Kingdom between 237 and 57 BC. It is the 2nd largest temple in Egypt after Karnak.

Edfu was one of several temples built during the Ptolemaic Kingdom, including the Dendera Temple complex, Esna, the Temple of Kom Ombo, and Philae. Its size reflects the relative prosperity of the time

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.

The temple was built on the location where the battle for the future of ancient Egypt occurred between the god of protection and victory Horus and the god of the desert, war, and chaos Set according to the tale of Osiris.

With the coming of Christianity during the final days of the Roman kingdom in 391 AD when paganism was forbidden, the temple was left alone under the sand for hundreds of years until the discovery of the temple once again in 1860 AD