Temple of Edfu

Temple of Edfu in Aswan Egypt | Best Things to Do in Aswan & Facts Pharaonic Temples.

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The Pharaonic Temple of Edfu – History Of Egyptian & the construction of the Temple of Horus Behdety, the most important Pharaonic temples of Aswan for the civilization of Ancient Egypt.

the Secrets of the construction of the second largest temple of the Pharaonic civilization and what are the texts and legends of the Temple of Edbu and the stages of construction and a map of the temple from the inside, entrance ticket prices, visiting times and more to start your sightseeing trip & Things to Do in Egypt.

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Temple of Edfu “Temple of Horus” in Aswan Egypt

The temple is dedicated to: worshipping the God Horus Behdety.

Temple type: ritual temples

Pharaonic era: The Ptolemaic period.

Architect: Imhotep

Height of the façade: 36 m

Start date: 237 BC J.-C.

Opening date: 57 BC

Width: 79 m

Length: 137 m

Construction time: 180 years

City of Edfu:

The city of Edfu in ancient Egypt was the last point of defense against enemies, especially on the Nubian-Egyptian border.

It was called “Edbu” and meant the city of roder and the city of provisions.

The religious name of the city of Edbou is Behdet.

Local god of the city: Horus Behdety.

Edbu is located 132 km south of the tourist city of Luxor and 105 km from Aswan.

The word “Edfu” means in the past the city of roder, Idbu or Edbu ,and its Coptic name “Etbu”, and the name in Arabic times became Behdet again, in addition to other names called “Edbu, Adbu, Etfu and then Edfu”.

The region of Edfu includes the most beautiful and largest Egyptian Pharaonic temple where the temple was built for the god Horus during the reign of the Ptolemaics during their reign over Egypt par 6 kings throughout Egyptian history.

Statue of Horus in the Temple of Edfu:

The cult of Horus is considered one of the most important religious beliefs in ancient Egyptian legends of the pharaoh and had a distinctive title of “winged solar disk” during the Sixth Dynasty, in addition to numerous drawings and inscriptions on the temple of Edfu.

Secrets of the construction of the Temple of Edfu:

The Temple of Edfu and the Nile are connected by a small underground river, which was used as a measure of the ancient flooding of the Nile.
The site of the temple was chosen as a political objective of the Pharaoh kings to establish control of the south of the country.

Stages of the construction of the temple of Edfu:

The Temple of Edfu was built of sandstone, which was used in the Ramesside period, where the first stages of using the stones of an ancient temple, then in the Ptolemaic era, the temple was completely rebuilt for 6 years until the opening during the reign of King Ptolemy VII, then the completion of the construction at the time of King Ptolemy XI.
The temple was used at the time of King Djoser as a temple of worship of the God Horus under the presence of the priest Imhotep, the chief priest of the temples of Ain Shams.
Pharaonic texts and drawings of the transfer of power were found among the priests of the 19th and 20th dynasties.
Cartouches have been found for King Seti I, King Ramses IV and King Ramses III “Egyptian Pharaohs kings” indicating that they have undertaken renovations and buildings at the Temple of Edfu.
King Ptolemy III took care to rebuild the temple in 237 BC. The main building was built during the reign of King Ptolemy IV in 212 BC. J.-C.
One of the most important reasons for taking a lot of time in the construction of the temple is the many conflicts between the princes in the palace in Alexandria during the Ptolemaic period, especially in the areas of high rule of Egypt until its opening in 142 BC.
During the reign of King Ptolemy Yorgetis II, the hypostyle hall was built, and during the reign of King Ptolemy Sotter II and King Ptolemy Alexander I, the outer wall, the building and the great courtyard were built.
During the reign of King Ptolemy XI, the temple was completely completed in 25 BC.
The temple was established during the reign of King Ptolemy III in 237 BC., and the king was interested in the work of pharaonic inscriptions and drawings on the festivals of the ancient Egyptians such as (the beautiful meeting – Victory of Horus – Coronation of the Falcon – New Year’s Day).

The interior plan of the temple of Edfu:

At the entrance of the temple we find ourselves in front of the first pylon, a building 35 meters high, you will find pharaonic drawings and inscriptions on the 2 towers forming the pylon of King Ptolemy III massacring enemies.
The Open-Air courtyard contains 12 columns with botanical composite capitals.
The hypostyle hall is covered with a ceiling supported by 12 columns.
The entrance to the hall has two granit statues of the god Horus and a superb state of conservation.
The ceiling is supported by 12 columns and the hall contains two niches that served as a warehouse one for the papyrus scrolls on which the religious texts cited by the king during the feasts were written and the other for the preservation of ritual and worship tools.
Two rooms, one of which was dedicated to offerings called “the base of the table” and the second was the resting place of the God.
The hypostyle room then the area of the sanctuary at the bottom of the temple contains a granit naos and in front of the naos the resting stone of the sacred boat.
Surrounded by 12 carved and painted rooms, the sanctuary is decorated with religious drawings and texts that we will review under the article, in addition to the black stone ceiling of the temple.
The temple of Edfu consists of two similar parts separated by a gate and the temple has large openings dug by the Copts to escape the oppression of the Roman emperors during their reign over Egypt.

The temple of Edfu consists of a large open courtyard, then The Hypostyle Hall whose ceiling is supported by 12 columns, then a second hall with 12 columns, then a vestibule and then an antechamber, we see on the walls distinctive pharaonic inscriptions of the king worshipping the divinity who once believed in by the ancient Egyptians.

When you go to the back room, you will be directed directly to the Holy of Holies, a rectangular room where you will find drawings of the king worshipping Horus and his wife Hathor, and then you will find in the middle of the room a low altar to put the sacred barge on.

Around the sanctuary, you will see several small rooms, dedicated to the worship of the gods, as well as ceiling covered with inscriptions of the goddess Nut (The sky goddess) in the New Year’s Chapel, the Temple of Edfu also houses the Nilometre as an “underground chamber”.

The First Pylon:

With a length of 68 meters and a height of 34 meters, you will find drawings of King Ptolemy XII beating enemies in the presence of the god Horus and the goddess Hathor, goddess of the region of Dendera.

In the upper part of the pylon, there are inscriptions of the king offering offerings to the deities.

There are rectangular spaces on the façade of the pylon, to put the flagpoles in addition there is a staircase in each tower.

The Temple Gate – The Main Entrance:

There are drawings of the winged solar disk of the god Horus, you will find two large granit statues of the god Horus just in front of the pylon.

The Great Open-Air Courtyard of the Temple of Edfu:

The courtyard is 46 meters long and 42 meters wide, with a stone floor.
It has 3 sides containing 32 columns with distinct capitals in the shape of palm trees, flowers and several botanical motifs, as well as inscriptions of the king offering offerings to ancient deities.
There are drawings on the hidden wall of the pylon on the right side of the main entrance of the king wearing the crown of Upper Egypt and in front of him a priest burning incense in addition to the four flags of Upper and Lower Egypt, in the drawings we find these Gods Thoth and Horus, who are in the process of crown the king with the double crown receive the scepter of Horus in the presence of God Atum and of the goddess Maat.
There are drawings of the king standing in front of the gods Horus and Hathor, in addition to the drawings celebrating the king’s journey in southern Egypt across the Nile with the presence of Hathor the lady of the region of Dendera and in the other entrance the same pharaonic drawings of the king wearing the red crown of the region of Lower Egypt.

The Great Hypostyle Hall:

The hall contains 18 columns divided into 3 rows and each row has 3 columns on both sides of the middle corridor, over time and erosion conditions, the colors of the columns have completely disappeared.

There is a structure to the left of the entrance to the dedication chamber to keep the silver vases and the second structure of a large library for the preservation of the papyrus scrolls.

The Small Hypostyle Hall – Radiation room:

The room is 20 meters long, 14 meters wide and 10 meters high and contains 12 columns less thick than in the rest of the temple, as well as small openings that allow sunlight to pass through the hall of King Ptolemy IV.

In the small hall there are 4 doors on the east side, a door reaches an outer corridor and a door to a staircase that reaches the roof of the temple and on the west side a door to a room to save the holy water of the pharaohs.

There are pharaonic drawings and inscriptions of the king with the god Hapi, “The God of the Nile: When the Ancient Egyptians Offer Holy Water to Horus and Hathor, and a group of gods inside the chamber.

Inside the same room we find a corridor that leads to an outdoor corridor as well as a second room to guard the tools of worship.

In the small room we find the waiting room of the altar of offerings, then a corridor for the second room named the meeting room of the gods then a door on the east side to reach a room where we can see polychrome inscriptions and columns with magnificent capitals.

The Small Hall:

From the door on the east side of the meeting room of gods we reach the small courtyard, containing a chapel with two columns of floral capitals and contains pharaonic drawings of pharaoh kings and queens while offering offerings to King Ptolemy III and his wife Arcinoe.

On the ceiling we see drawings of the goddess Hathor, known as seven-year-old sculptors, to bring good luck and bad luck to the birth of children, as was once thought, as well as a compartment of the god who is the “god of fertility and offspring” of the ancient Egyptians.

The Sanctuary of the Temple of Edfu:

The hall in the middle contains an altar on which is placed the sacred boat of Horus, and on the north side of the hall there is a granit naos named after King Nectanebo I and surrounds the room with 10 rooms to perform ancient Egyptian religious rituals.

The exterior corridor:

It revolves entirely around the temple of Edfu and you will find on the walls inscriptions and pharaonic drawings of the legend of the winged sun and its festivals and celebrations.

The Nilometre in the temple of Edfu:

It was used to determine the productivity of agricultural land of course in relation to the amount of floodwater at the time and you will find it in the area of the eastern vestibule through a staircase that descends to below the outer wall of the temple.

The house of divine birth:

It is a small rectangular temple that contains an open courtyard after the entrance of two rooms and a staircase and a chapel containing a room with columns whose capitals are of Hathoric style, we see Hathor playing the Harp and breastfeeding Horus.

The chapel was built during the reign of King Ptolemy VIII and Ptolemy IX known as “Mamisi” and has a special disposition of Greek culture and temples dating back to their time.

Festivities celebrated at the Temple of Edfu:

Visit of Hathor (The beautiful meeting):

The priests of Horus take his statue into the Nile in his boat to meet his wife Hathor to accompany her home to Edfu with the priests of the goddess coming from Dendera, and 13 days after the celebration, the priests of the Dendera region return with the statue of their goddess Hathor back to their temple.

You will find drawings and inscriptions of the scenes of the holy wedding on the north wall, where it has been celebrated twice a year since the reign of King Thutmosis III.

Texts and legends of the Temple of Edfu:

A collection of drawings and inscriptions found in the temple tells of the legends of creation in the civilization of ancient Egypt, including…

The legend of the drink of Love.
The legend of the victory of the God Horus.
The legend of the union of all God with the disk of the sun.
The legend of the birth of the God Horus.
The legend of the hippopotamus.

Information about each legend will soon be added through papyrus sources and drawings that tell these legends on the walls of the temple.

Address of the Temple of Edfu:

West bank of the Nile, Edfu, Aswan, Egypt.

Dates of visit of the temple of Edfu:

Sunday 5h00-18h00

Monday 5h00-18h00

Tuesday. 5:00-18:00

Wednesday 5h00-18h00

Thursday 5h00-18h00

Friday. 5:00-18:00

Saturday 5h00-18h00

Ticket prices for the Temple of Edfu:

Entrance ticket price for foreign tourists = 180 Egyptian pounds

Entrance ticket price for foreign students = 90 Egyptian pounds

Price of an entrance ticket for Egyptians = 10 Egyptian pounds

Entrance ticket price for Egyptian students = 5 Egyptian pounds

Author & Writer The Sphinx of Giza: Tamer Ahmed Abd elfatah Yousif | Tourism Expert | Best Tour Operator in Hurghada

Temple of Edfu Aswan Egypt | History & Facts Temple of Horus