Chapter 2 - Aswan and Abu Simbel
Colossal Edifices
March 2023
On 21st March, we caught the overnight train from the Railway station in Cairo and catch the train to Aswan. We reached Aswan in the morning at 9 AM and were met by our local guide. We then proceeded to visit the Aswan High Dam and the Philae temple to the South.
Aswan Dam
The Aswan High Dam was built across the Nile River in the 1960s which was aimed to control the annual flooding of the Nile, expand irrigation and generate hydroelectric power to support Egypt’s industrialization. It has a hydroelectric power plant capacity of 2,100 megawatts. The dam was inaugurated in 1971.
At the high Dam, we looked across Lake Nasser, one of the largest man-made lakes, stretching about 320 km into Egypt and 160 km into Sudan. Creation of the lake required relocation of Nubian communities and shifting of many monuments like Abu Simbel.
We also visited the Soviet-Egyptian Friendship Monument, an impressive structure to commemorate Soviet support to build the dam. The Soviet Union became the principal supporter, providing funding, technology, and personnel after the West withdrew support during the Cold War tensions.
From the dam, we went to the Philae temple and from the banks took a boat to get to the Island where the temple is located. Phylae was an important site for the Nubians who are an indigenous ethnic group from the region historically known as Nubia, in southern Egypt and northern Sudan. We saw many Nubians selling their wares.
Philae Temple
The Philae Temple complex, located on an Island near Aswan is a remarkable and well-preserved ancient Egyptian religious site, primarily dedicated to the goddess Isis, known as the Mother of God and protector of Egypt. The current surviving monuments were built during the Ptolemic and Roman periods and is a fusion of Pharaonic, Greek, Roman, and early Christian architectural and cultural elements.
Christianity’s spread under Emperor Theodosius around 379 CE led to the gradual conversion of the temple into a church. Originally located on Philae Island, the temple was endangered by periodic flooding after the construction of the Aswan High Dam and between the 1960s and 1980s, UNESCO undertook a massive engineering project relocating the entire complex stone-by-stone to nearby higher Island to save it from submersion.
Entrance Gateways
The entrance to the temple has two rows of Columns leading up to a towering stone gateway (First Pylon) which is adorned with stunning carvings of gods and kings. There is a left door to the West that leads to the Mammisi (Birth House). The central door leads to a second Gateway which has similar carvings.
Mammisi (Birth House)
The Mammisi or Birth House is a structure specifically designed to celebrate the divine birth of a deity, often the son of a triad of gods in a temple complex. At Philae, the Mammisi is dedicated to Horus, son of Isis, whose birth was celebrated annually, connecting the Pharaoh to Horus's divine lineage.
The temple's walls depict scenes of the divine birth, nutrition, and coronation of the divine child, as well as protective gods and spells related to childbirth. All the reliefs are well preserved. Around three sides of the Mammisi runs a colonnade with floral capitals on which are sistrum capitals (capitals that are designed to resemble the sistrum, a musical instrument associated with the goddess Hathor) and Hathor heads.
The Temple of ISIS
The Hypostyle Hall ( hall with a roof supported by columns. Hypostyle comes from the Greek word meaning "under pillars") which leads to the temple is adorned with reliefs on the walls, ceiling and columns. This hall was converted into a church in the 5th Century AD. The wall reliefs were covered with stucco and painted and Christian crosses were carved in the walls and on some of the columns. Many of the temple’s reliefs were also chiseled out and destroyed during this period.
Three small antechambers (A small room used as an entryway or reception area to a larger room) flanked by dark rooms, lead from the hypostyle hall towards the sanctuary. All the decorations are mainly worship scenes where the King is making offerings to the Gods. Surrounding the sanctuary on the roof are the Osiris chambers, accessible via a staircase on the west side of the temple. There are also priestly chambers and storerooms.
The sanctuary, the most sacred part of the temple, is located at the end of the hypostyle hall and its antechambers. The sanctuary has two tiny windows and a pedestal on which the sacred barge bearing the statue of Isis stood.
We spent a few hours at the temple and then took the boat back to the river bank. It was a long day and we were looking forward to go back to our cruise ship where we were staying for the night. The next day would be a another long day, as we were taking the road to visit one of the wonders of the world, the great temple of Abu Simbel.
Abu Simbel
The Abu Simbel temples are two massive rock-cut temples located on the western bank of Lake Nasser in southern Egypt, near the border with Sudan, about 280 km southwest of Aswan. They were originally carved out of the mountainside during the 19th Dynasty, in the 13th century BCE, over about 20 years, under the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II.
We started early in the morning at 4 AM to go to Abu Simbel so that we can visit the temple and be back by 1 PM when the cruise ship would start sailing. The sun was already starting to get stronger by the time we reached. We joined the line to get into the Great Temple, which was built to honor Ramesses II along with gods Re-Horakhti, Amun Ra, and Ptah. The temple façade features four colossal statues of Ramesses II, each about 66 feet (20 Meters) tall, which have become iconic symbols of ancient Egypt's monumental art and power. Smaller statues nearby represent his wife Nefertari and his children.
Great Temple
Inside the Great Temple there is first the Hypostyle Hall or large pillar hall which has eight huge pillars carved in the form of Ramesses II depicted as Osiris, the god of the afterlife and resurrection, which symbolized the eternal nature of the king. The pillars on the left wall wear the white crown of Upper Egypt, while those on the right wear the double crown (pschent), reinforcing Ramesses' dominion over unified Egypt.
The walls are covered in large bas-reliefs illustrating Ramesses' military campaigns, most famously the Battle of Kadesh, showing the pharaoh in battle on his chariot subduing enemies.
Further inside is the smaller pillar hall with four pillars, decorated with scenes of offerings to gods, and images of Ramesses and Nefertari alongside the sacred boats of Amun and Ra-Horakhty (Ra+Horus)
The ante-chamber leads to the sanctuary and has rock-cut sculptures and scenes focused on ritual sacrifices and offerings to gods such as Min-Amun, Horus of Meha, Amun-Re, Atum, Ptah, and Thoth, with depictions of the king presenting offerings.
At the back is the sanctuary carved from solid rock, containing four seated statues carved directly into the cliff wall. These statues represent Ramesses II as a diety and the gods Amun-Re, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah.
Twice a year, February 22 and October 22, the rising sun's rays penetrate the temple's inner sanctuary, illuminating the statues of the gods seated at the back wall except for Ptah, god of the underworld who remains in shadow.
We spent a hour inside the main temple which was very crowded due to a huge number of tourists.
Outside, there is another smaller temple dedicated to Nefertari, Ramesses’ chief queen, and the goddess Hathor.
Temple of Hathor and Nefertari
This temple, often called the Small Temple, was built by Pharaoh Ramesses II around 1300 BCE to honor both the goddess Hathor and his principal queen, Nefertari. It is located just northeast of the Great Temple and is unique because it equally venerates the queen alongside the goddess, reflecting Nefertari's elevated status.
The facade features six colossal statues half the size of the Great temple. Four are statues of Ramesses II wearing different crowns, symbolizing his rule over Upper and Lower Egypt. Alongside the king's statues are two equally large statues of Queen Nefertari, a rare instance where queen statues match the size of the pharaoh's. Nefertari is depicted standing with her left leg forward, wearing a long woven robe and a divine crown consisting of cow horns, a sun disk, feathers, and uraeus (cobras), showing her divine status.
The temple follows the same progression from entrance through halls to sanctuary but is smaller and more delicate in detail compared to the Great Temple. The hypostyle hall is supported by six Hathoric pillars, crowned with the face of Hathor, symbolizing the goddess’s protective and nurturing qualities.
The walls and pillars are richly decorated with bas-reliefs showing the queen playing the sistrum (a musical instrument sacred to Hathor) and participating in religious rituals. Scenes depict Ramesses II presenting flowers or incense, and Nefertari making offerings to gods like Hathor, Isis, Mut and Horus.
The small sanctuary niche shows Hathor depicted as a divine cow.
Relocation of the Temple
In the 1960s, due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam and its resulting reservoir, Lake Nasser, the temples were at risk of submersion. An international campaign, led by UNESCO, undertook a remarkable engineering project from 1964 to 1968, dismantling the temples and moving them stone-by-stone to a higher location nearby on an artificial hill to save them from flooding. The relocation is considered a monumental achievement in archaeological engineering, preserving the temples’ exact orientation and grandeur.
It was time to return back to Aswan. We had to get back to the ship by 1 PM and start cruising along the Nile towards the city of Edfu where we would dock for the night.