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Philae Temple

In Aswan, you can witness the Nile’s beauty, the Nubians’ colours, and temples in many places, such as Philae Temple. Many of the temples in Aswan were on islands, so when the Nile flooded, the waters covered them.

Philae Island is one of the most important islands of Aswan. Since Isis was the island goddess, many temples were dedicated to her. These temples were built during the time of the Ptolemies and the Romans. Philae Temple is a famous temple on the island.

How did Philae Temple originate?

It was the Ptolemies who built the Philae Temple. The temple was created to honour Isis, the goddess of motherhood, healing, and childbirth, and her husband, Osiris, and his son, Horus, were kept there.

The temple is significant because it is one of the few places where the ancient Egyptian religion survived after the arrival of Christianity in Egypt until 550 AD. The early Christians converted the temple into a church, and there, they dismantled and destroyed many statues of the ancient gods.

After constructing the Lower Aswan Dam, the water level rose enough to cover Elephantine Island. Then the area sank when the High Dam was built, so it was moved to another, higher island.

Moving the Philae Temple:

The temple is not where it was before. The temple was on the island of Philae, but it was under water due to the annual flood, and it remained that way after the construction of the lower Dam.

During the construction of the High Dam, the temple was flooded and is likely to be lost forever. In 1960, UNESCO dismantled the nearly 40,000 stones in the temple and moved the “Agilkia Island” to where it once was. The structure was carefully moved, stone by stone.

How was Philae Temple built?

The temple was built in the New Egyptian Empire style, but it also had some features from the Greco-Roman era, such as the Nilometer, which was used to measure the purity of the Nile River and the water level during the year. Flood.

In front is a door 18 meters high. Then many different columns lead to other rooms. There is also the House of Birth, about how Horus was born.

The walls are painted and are in better condition. Tales of Isis and Osiris are written on the walls. There are also inscriptions from the Christian, Roman and Egyptian eras.

Temple Myths: When Osiris married the goddess Isis, his brother Set killed him and cut him to pieces, according to the story.

Then he gave six pieces of Osiris’ body to everyone in Egypt. Isis’s husband died, but she found his dead body and woke him up. Then Isis gave Seth a place to stay on the island of Philae.

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