KOM OMBO TEMPLE
Toward the evening we made it to Kom Ombo, about thirty miles from Edfu. The town of Kom Ombo is populated by relocated Nubians. The temple is dedicated to the crocodile headed god Sebek, and the falcon headed god Heruur. Over the centuries the temple was ruined by the flooding of the Nile. It is a temple of courts, colonnades, halls and santuaries. All the walls and columns are decoded with reliefs, hieroglyphs and symbolic representations of other things. The Romans and Greeks also had something to do with the temple.
Points of interest; On one of the outer corridors there is a relief carved in the wall of a surgical instrument box. The guide said that it is usually hotter in Egypt this time of the year. It was pretty hot, but as the sun began to go down in the sky it became a little cooler. We spent about an hour following the guide around as he pointed out different reliefs and hieroglyphs in the temple. He also showed us the coffins that crocodiles were buried in in the olden days.
After the tour we went back to the ship and went to dinner. It was held on the upper deck and they had Egyptian bbq.
ASWAN - The gateway to Africa
Aswan is a frontier city with a large market. It used to be the capitol of Egypt but it was called by a different name. Aswan is the Arabic name given to it. It is a crossroads of an ancient caravan route. The atmosphere of the city is tranquil and orderly. It is an enchanting and magical place. You will find Egyptian and Nubian heritages here. The Nubians who live in this area used to live south of Aswan but when the High Dam was built president Nassar moved them into Aswan. What used to be Nubian land is now Lake Nassar. Thousands of date palm trees where destroyed when the water rose on the south side of the dam and many Nubians are still bitter about this relocation.
Nubians are dark skinned, non Arabic speaking people living between Aswan and the Sudanese border. People from old Nubia rarely interacted with the Egyptains intil they were resettled north of Aswan in 1963. The Egyptians now recognized the Nubians as an ethnic race. Many barriers between the Egyptians and Nubians have been broken down since the Aswan Dam was built.
The city of Aswan in located on the east side of the Nile River. It is about 185 kilometers from Luxor. It is a very dry and desert-like area. It is the southernmost major city in upper Egypt. It is called upper Egypt because it sits at a higher altitude then lower Egypt which is up north where the pyrimids are. The river Nile flows north. It starts in four or five countries in Africa. Some of these are Sudan, Ethiopia and others.
Granite is found in this part of Egypt. It was used to build the temples and monuments of ancient Egypt.
In the past Egypt had been hostile to Isreal, and that is the reason the United States wouldn't help Egypt financially when it wanted to build the Aswan Dam. Russia helped instead.
The next morning I woke up. We were in Aswan. We had sailed all night. We were parked next to a fairly modern boat that had a grass roof. Since it rarely rains in Egypt the grass roof is inexpensive and useful. There was a sign on the roof of the ship that said, Bill's Bier". I think they meant Beer.
THE TEMPLE OF PHILAE
After breakfast we were off to the Temple of Philae. We took a bus as far as we could and then went by boat to the island where it now stands.
This temple was relocated from its origional location like many other ancient monuments in Egypt. When the High Dam was built they had to move the temple stone by stone to a differnt location on higher ground. As it was the temple was under water a couple months of the year because of the flooding of the Nile River. It was moved to Agika Island. It took seven years to relocate it. It is a temple that has beautiful carvings on the walls of the pylons.
Temple of Philae
As with many of the temples in Egypt it was used as an early Coptic church in Roman times as evidenced by a cross which was carved in the stone on the outside of the entrance of the temple, and on the inside where an altar was built and an indentation in the wall was carved out where they could put the Lord's Supper, which consisted of the bread and the chalice. The guide himself was of the Coptic religion and so he revealed these things to us. There are also other crosses carved in the stone throughout the temple.
The Temple of Philae is a place of columns and master stone work just like the other temple we saw on this trip. After touring through the temple we had some time to sit down and drink some much needed water and rest awhile before we got in the small tourist boat and went back to the main land.
AROMA THERAPY
The next place we went was a place where they try to sell you bottles of fragrances. It was like the one we went to in Cairo. It was interesting. I ended up buying a box. I bought them with the view of reading more about them when I got back to the States. The people of ancient Egypt used fragrances for different things. I thought I would find out what they used the different scents for. One day I will look into it.
Toward the evening we made it to Kom Ombo, about thirty miles from Edfu. The town of Kom Ombo is populated by relocated Nubians. The temple is dedicated to the crocodile headed god Sebek, and the falcon headed god Heruur. Over the centuries the temple was ruined by the flooding of the Nile. It is a temple of courts, colonnades, halls and santuaries. All the walls and columns are decoded with reliefs, hieroglyphs and symbolic representations of other things. The Romans and Greeks also had something to do with the temple.
Points of interest; On one of the outer corridors there is a relief carved in the wall of a surgical instrument box. The guide said that it is usually hotter in Egypt this time of the year. It was pretty hot, but as the sun began to go down in the sky it became a little cooler. We spent about an hour following the guide around as he pointed out different reliefs and hieroglyphs in the temple. He also showed us the coffins that crocodiles were buried in in the olden days.After the tour we went back to the ship and went to dinner. It was held on the upper deck and they had Egyptian bbq.
ASWAN - The gateway to Africa
Aswan is a frontier city with a large market. It used to be the capitol of Egypt but it was called by a different name. Aswan is the Arabic name given to it. It is a crossroads of an ancient caravan route. The atmosphere of the city is tranquil and orderly. It is an enchanting and magical place. You will find Egyptian and Nubian heritages here. The Nubians who live in this area used to live south of Aswan but when the High Dam was built president Nassar moved them into Aswan. What used to be Nubian land is now Lake Nassar. Thousands of date palm trees where destroyed when the water rose on the south side of the dam and many Nubians are still bitter about this relocation.
Nubians are dark skinned, non Arabic speaking people living between Aswan and the Sudanese border. People from old Nubia rarely interacted with the Egyptains intil they were resettled north of Aswan in 1963. The Egyptians now recognized the Nubians as an ethnic race. Many barriers between the Egyptians and Nubians have been broken down since the Aswan Dam was built.
The city of Aswan in located on the east side of the Nile River. It is about 185 kilometers from Luxor. It is a very dry and desert-like area. It is the southernmost major city in upper Egypt. It is called upper Egypt because it sits at a higher altitude then lower Egypt which is up north where the pyrimids are. The river Nile flows north. It starts in four or five countries in Africa. Some of these are Sudan, Ethiopia and others.
Granite is found in this part of Egypt. It was used to build the temples and monuments of ancient Egypt.
In the past Egypt had been hostile to Isreal, and that is the reason the United States wouldn't help Egypt financially when it wanted to build the Aswan Dam. Russia helped instead.
The next morning I woke up. We were in Aswan. We had sailed all night. We were parked next to a fairly modern boat that had a grass roof. Since it rarely rains in Egypt the grass roof is inexpensive and useful. There was a sign on the roof of the ship that said, Bill's Bier". I think they meant Beer.
THE TEMPLE OF PHILAE
After breakfast we were off to the Temple of Philae. We took a bus as far as we could and then went by boat to the island where it now stands.
This temple was relocated from its origional location like many other ancient monuments in Egypt. When the High Dam was built they had to move the temple stone by stone to a differnt location on higher ground. As it was the temple was under water a couple months of the year because of the flooding of the Nile River. It was moved to Agika Island. It took seven years to relocate it. It is a temple that has beautiful carvings on the walls of the pylons.
Temple of Philae
As with many of the temples in Egypt it was used as an early Coptic church in Roman times as evidenced by a cross which was carved in the stone on the outside of the entrance of the temple, and on the inside where an altar was built and an indentation in the wall was carved out where they could put the Lord's Supper, which consisted of the bread and the chalice. The guide himself was of the Coptic religion and so he revealed these things to us. There are also other crosses carved in the stone throughout the temple.The Temple of Philae is a place of columns and master stone work just like the other temple we saw on this trip. After touring through the temple we had some time to sit down and drink some much needed water and rest awhile before we got in the small tourist boat and went back to the main land.
AROMA THERAPY
The next place we went was a place where they try to sell you bottles of fragrances. It was like the one we went to in Cairo. It was interesting. I ended up buying a box. I bought them with the view of reading more about them when I got back to the States. The people of ancient Egypt used fragrances for different things. I thought I would find out what they used the different scents for. One day I will look into it.
posted by THE REAL MIKE BAILEY at 5:24 PM
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