Tag: LakeNasser

Discovering Abu Simbel: A Journey Through History

by Leela Gopinath, posted in Egypt

Abu Simbel is a historic site on the banks of Lake Nasser some 230 kms. from Aswan in Egypt which houses two massive rock cut temples. Egyptian kings often deified themselves and this is one such example where the great temple is dedicated to Ramesses II, the king and the Gods Amon-Ra, Ra-Horakhty and Ptah. The smaller temple at the complex is dedicated to the queen Nefertari and the Goddess Hathor, the cow headed God of love, music and fertility.

History

Built between 1264 -1244 BC, by Ramesses II to commemorate his victory against the Hittites, it is one of the most impressive structures built by him. Nubia was an important region controlled by Egypt and it was very rich in gold and other precious metals. The building of this temple by Ramesses II is also attributed to his wanting to impress the Nubians about his prowess. By 6th century BC, the temples fell into disuse and was covered by sand. It was in 1813 that a Swiss researcher Burckhardt discovered the partly buried temple.

Relocation

When Egypt embarked on a project to build the Aswan High Dam, the temple was in danger of submersion. It was the UNESCO and other partner nations who together embarked on an ambitious project to relocate this temple between 1964 and 1968. Relocation of this temple was one of the greatest challenges of engineering undertaken by a multinational team of archaeologists, engineers and heavy equipment operators. The entire complex was dismantled, lifted and relocated to a higher and farther location from the river bank.

The relocation process and a model of the old (red) and new(green) locations of the temple (archives)

Our Trip

We had checked into our cruise liner at Aswan the previous afternoon and indulged in some activities like a felucca (sail boat) ride and a visit to a Nubian village. From the cruise liner, we started early morning with packed breakfast for a 3 hour drive to Abu Simbel .The drive was through the desert and offered us nice views of the desert …. particularly the sunrise .

The sun rises on the Sahara

The desert road and a pit stop on the way

As we drove along, we were very close to the Sudan border as this temple is very close to Sudan. Finally, we arrived at our destination and a short walk along the banks of Lake Nasser took us to the temple threshold.

The Pathway to the temple by lake Nasser and the board showing old and new location.

As mentioned earlier there are two temples in the Abu Simbel complex, The Great Temple and The Small Temple.

The Great Temple

This is the first temple that we come across as we approach the complex. The Great temple at Abu Simbel is dedicated to the Gods Amun-Ra, Ra-Horakhty and Ptah.

The entrance to the temple is incredible to behold. There are four colossal statues of Ramesses II in a sitting position and wearing the crown of upper and lower Egypt; two on either side of the doorway to the inside. The statue to the immediate left of the entrance was damaged during an earthquake and was not restored but placed at the feet of the statues where they were found. Next to Ramesses’s legs are smaller statues of his wife Nefertari, his mother and his children.

Just above the doorway is a bas-relief of the king worshiping the falcon headed God Ra-Horakhty

Entrance to the Great temple with the four statues and smaller statues near the legs.

Bas-relief above the doorway showing Ramesses II worshiping Ra-Horakhty (falcon headed God)

The inner part of the temple has the same layout that most Egyptian temples follow. The hall has 8 huge columns depicting the deified king Ramesses II .

The inner hall with huge carved columns resembling Ramesses II

The interior of this hall is adorned from floor to ceiling with reliefs of Ramesses II making offerings and engaging in war with the Hittites and various hieroglyphic inscriptions.

Ramesses II making offerings to Horus

War scenes where Ramesses II is seen attacking the Hittites

The reliefs on the ceiling

As we enter the second hall, there are gigantic pillars with reliefs and hieroglyphic inscriptions.

The second hall of the Ramesses II temple with pillars having reliefs

Bas-relief showing Ramesses II and Queen Nefertari

From this hall we are led into the sanctuary of the temple which is similar to the sanctum sanctorum.

Here on a black wall are four rock cut statues ; Ra Horakhty, Ramesses II, Amun Ra and Ptah. It is believed that the axis of the ancient temple was so designed that on October 22 and February 22, the rays of the Sun would illuminate the three statues except Ptah who is the God of the dead who always remains in dark.

At the sanctuary with four sculptures

After we exited the Great temple, a walk of about hundred meters ahead, lead us to the Small Temple

The Small Temple

The Small Temple is dedicated to Goddess Hathor and Queen Nefertari.

The entrance facade of the Small Temple

The rock cut facade is decorated with six statues of the king and queen ; three on either side of the doorway. This is the second temple in Egyptian history to be dedicated to a queen; the first one being the one dedicated to Queen Nefertiti. Remarkably, this is one of the very few places where the queen’s statue is of the same size as the king! Usually, they are all depicted below the knees of the king.

Entering through the doorway, we reached a hall with pillars but here the focus is on the Queen Nefertari and Goddess Hathor.

First pillar hall of Nefertari temple

One of the most illustrative reliefs here is of Queen Nefertari making offerings of Papyrus to Hathor, the cow headed Goddess on a boat in a papyrus grove.

Nefertari making papyrus offerings to Hathor

Another bas relief showing the queen making offerings

Many of the pillars here have Goddess Hathor with the cow head depicted on the top.

A Hathoric pillar

The interior is entirely done up with coloured reliefs

The interior walls with coloured reliefs

Moving into the sanctuary, the main sanctum has a niche in the wall with the cow goddess Hathor coming out of a mountain with the queen making offerings to her.

The main sanctum of the small temple.

As we move out of the temple complex there are beautiful views of Lake Nasser.

Lake Nasser as we see it from the Abu Simbel Temple.

Soon, we all assembled at the appointed location and proceeded to the bus . We had to reach the cruise ship by noon to sail to Kom Ombo . The Kom Ombo temple dedicated to crocodiles was our destination that evening.

See you next week at the crocodile temple. Till then, do subscribe, like and comment.

Philae Temple: An Engineering Marvel of Ancient Egypt

by Leela Gopinath, posted in Egypt

After our sightseeing at Cairo, we took a domestic flight to Aswan, an Egyptian city on the banks of the Nile. It was from here that we visited many of the temples of ancient Egypt that will be chronicled in forthcoming episodes. We start this , with an episode on the Philae temple dedicated to the Goddess Isis.

Legend of Isis

The legend associated with this temple has all the elements of a crime thriller. Isis, the Mother Goddess, her consort Osiris and their son Horus form the characters of this story . Isis was believed to posses magical powers and knowledge of secretive formulae. Osiris was killed by his brother Seth. His body parts were strewn at many places so that they could not be retrieved. His wife Isis used all her magical powers and managed to get them and put them back together and miraculously brought Osiris back to life. Then, they had a son Horus. He too had a snake bite and Isis used her wisdom to save him. The Isis cult found its way to the Mediterranean too; thus explaining the Greek and Roman connections of this temple.

A painting depicting Osiris (left) and Isis (right) with the sun disk and horns.

History of Philae Temple

Philae is actually a small island in the Nile situated south of Aswan. It was the epicenter of the cult of Isis popularly known as Mother of God. She was worshiped by the Egyptians and Nubians ( Ethiopians ) alike. The Ptolemies built temples to the most beloved Gods and Goddesses of the Egyptians. Ptolemy II (285 – 246 BC) started the construction of the temple and from there starts the history of the Isis temple at Philae. This also explains the Greek and Roman architectural features here in contrast to the other temples. Christianity came to Egypt under Theodosius around 379 AD and after that, there was a systematic attempt at destruction of the temple and conversion to a church . The Philae temple thus stands as the last outpost of ancient Egyptian traditions.

When the old Aswan dam was built , the temple came under threat of inundation and when the height of the dam was increased in 1912, the temple lay inundated for part of the year. Subsequently with raising the dam height further, the temple was inundated for most of the time with only the high pylon being visible above water level.

A monumental Engineering feat

When the new Aswan High Dam was built ; leading to the formation of Lake Nasser , it was clear that the temple would be lost forever and then with the help of UNESCO, the temple was dismantled and relocated to the Agilkai Island where it is today.

A coffer dam was built and water was pumped out exposing the limestone blocks. There were 47000 stones and they were dissected, stone by stone, cleaned, treated, numbered and stored. While this was on, granite from the Agilkai island had to be blasted to maintain the original look of the temple. The stones were then transported to their new home and reassembled exactly like the original. Following this, the temple was thrown open to visitors.

This was indeed a monumental feat of engineering. Even now the numbers on the blocks are visible. The meticulous and precise work that has gone into this gigantic project is awe inspiring indeed!!!

Our Visit

We were dropped off by our bus near a boat jetty from where we boarded a motor boat to the Agilkai island on the Nile.

On the boat to the Philae temple

After alighting from the boat, a short walk took us to the courtyard in front of the main gate. This courtyard was lined by shops selling everything a tourist wants…from trinkets to clothes to souvenirs.

Courtyard with shops on either side and the items on sale

Soon we were at the main gate of the temple.

The main entrance to the temple with Lake Nasser behind.

Walking along the sides of Lake Nasser, we reached the threshold of the main temple. There is an open courtyard with decorated pillars on either side leading to the entrance pylon.

An open courtyard with pillars on either side .

The entrance pylon lies ahead with two towers ,one on either side of the doorway. These towers are decorated with figures of a pharaoh wearing the crown of upper and lower Egypt lifting his club and holding his enemy by the hair and punishing him in the presence of Isis. Thus the Pharaoh takes credit for suppressing the enemies and keeps up the tradition of the land.

Two granite lions( partly mutilated) guard the main doorway.

Entrance pylon with the Pharaoh wearing the crown of upper and lower Egypt and punishing enemies in front of Isis

The other half of the entrance pylon with the damaged lion guarding the entrance.

Passing through the doorway we reach a central courtyard again with columns on either side. The other end of the central courtyard lies the second pylon with entry into the actual temple of Isis

The doorway leading to the central courtyard

The row of columns surrounding the central courtyard. The Corinthian (Petals on top) pillars are typically Greek and Roman styles.

Corinthian pillars typical of Greek and Roman architecture

The Reliefs on the columns depicting ancient Egyptian kings and Gods

In front of second pylon where the main temple entry is located.

A Stael in front of the second pylon with hieroglyphic inscriptions

After crossing the second pylon, we enter the main temple. Here, the walls are decorated with fine reliefs of the Ptolemaic kings making offerings to Egyptian Gods. At many places there is evidence of deliberate attempts to damage the reliefs.

Some pictures inside the temple of Isis.

The offering of eyes to the God. Note the deliberate chiseling to damage the relief.

There is also a hall where the walls show reliefs connected to perfumery which had been famous in ancient Egypt. Hieroglyphic inscriptions on perfume preparation are also found here.

The King offers a baboon. Note the hieroglyphic depictions below the king’s hand

Walking further inside, we reach the main sanctuary of the temple. Here there is evidence of it being converted into a church. The main altar has the sign of the cross etched on it.

The altar at the sanctuary with etched crosses

Once we exited from the sanctuary, we reached the beautiful views of Lake Nasser. From here, the original position of the temple is visible as some projecting pillars in the lake.

The pillars in Lake Nasser where the original temple was located.

The Kiosk of Trajan

Adjacent to the lake front is another structure, the Kiosk of Trajan which is perhaps the most publicized picture of the Philae temple. A rectangular building with 14 columns with floral capitals, where the Emperor Trajan is shown burning incense as an offering to Isis.

The Kiosk of Trajan

By now we had exhausted our designated time at the temple and we made our way to the bus and on to our lunch halt.

To sum it up, this temple built by Ptolemy II was initially dedicated to Goddess Isis and her family but with the advent of Christianity, gradually it was converted into a church. It shows features of Egyptian, Greek and Roman architectural features. Almost submerged in Lake Nasser after the building of the Aswan High dam, it was miraculously relocated by a marvelous engineering feat.

Hope you enjoyed this visit . Next week we visit Abu Simbel , another great temple of ancient Egypt.

Till then, do subscribe, like and comment.