Greek Temples and Crocodile Gods

Hello and welcome to my Egypt travel diary. This is day 5.

DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 6 | DAY 7

I took one week of annual leave to explore one of the most ancient civilisations, and it was incredible. I hope you enjoy peeking into my travel journal.

I was woken up with a big bump in the middle of the night, which I can only assume was us going through the Esna Lock. It didn’t keep me wake though, as my brain registered what is was and then promptly fell back asleep. Of course, Amy slept through it.

The cabin we are in is located on the east side of the boat, so the sun started to stream through the curtains around 6.30am. What a sight to wake up to. The air is foggy and the water is so still and calm.

All the boats are starting to line up and take their place next to each other. To get from the outer boat to the shore, you need to walk through a couple of other boats first. It’s pretty ingenious to reduce the docking length raised for so many boats.

We are leaving the boat at 8.00am to visit Edfu Temple. As such, we make our way down to breakfast to fill our bellies for the first sightseeing location of the day. I get a yummy omelette and other goodies.

After breakfast, we make our way to the foyer to meet the rest of the group. We are a private tour amongst other tours. Our guide just looks after the eight of us. He has organised a horse and carriage to take us to the temple grounds.

We climb aboard the carriage and set off through the streets of Edfu. We arrive in a few minutes and make our way to the ticket office.

Once inside the grounds, our guide explains the history behind this temple. It was actually built by the Greeks. The Greeks ruled Egypt for 300 years during the Ptolemy years. Cleopatra being the last Greek ruler.

The Greek rulers built these temples honouring the Egyptian gods for political reasons, basically. Keep the people happy and they will happily allow you to rule, and all that.

The temple is honouring the god Horus. The story starts that two brothers marry their own two sisters. But one brother wants the other sister, so he plans to murder his brother, Isis. Osiris is already pregnant with child. The child will go on to become Horus. Instead of killing his uncle after learning he killed his father, he forgives him instead. Horus’ wife only spends one month a year here with Horus, which give the temple its nickname as the Honeymoon Temple.

That was a convoluted story.

The temple survived over the years because it was buried in the sand. Where other temples have suffered the effects of earthquakes over the centuries, the sand insulated the temple from the shocks. It’s incredible to think that it is largely original.

The temple has suffered some damage, though. During the persecution, Christian’s hid in the temple. They used fire which left thick soot on the walls and ceilings. Additionally, they tried to chisel the gods from the walls.

There is paint on the walls, but because the Greeks did not know the secrets that the Egyptians did,l to preserve it, it has faded over the years and only small parts of painted areas remain.

There is the sanctuary room in the temple which holds a replica of the funerary boat. The original being taken to the Louvre.

The temple is beautiful, but very crowded! Soon, it is time for us to head back to the boat to start sailing again.

A short while after returning, I have an appointment for a massage. I figure it might help me to actually relax and stop being such a wound-up spring. I’m pretty sure the massage was the best I’ve had. It was so relaxing. Afterwards, I go in the sauna and steam room.

The steam room was a weird experience. It’s basically a white cubicle the is full of steam. It felt like sensory deprivation without my glasses on because I couldn’t see a thing. Everything was just white. I just stood still for 5-10 mins not really moving or knowing what to do. Once out, I have a shower and head back to my room. My skin is so soft now.

Lunch on the boat, filled by Amy and I spending some time in the sun on the top deck. It’s nice, but the sun moves into a bad position and we are flooded with direct sunlight. We decide to head back to our room to await the next stop at Kom Umbu.

The boat docks and we walk the short distance to the Kom Umbu temple. This temple is for two gods, Horus and Sobek. Horus is the falcon god whereas Sobek is the crocodile god. The temple was built by the Greek rulers.

The temple also has a well, which is a unique feature. It is here so people didn’t have to collect water from the river and be at risk of a crocodile attack. It also served to measure how high the flood waters rose in order to charge for taxes. Lots of water meant a good crop, which meant more tax.

Here there is also evidence of medical carvings and birthing carvings. The medical ones show implements to be used during surgery and mummification. The birthing ones show the position in which a woman should give birth, which is crouching.

There is still some paint on the reliefs here, and Amy and I are amazed that the clothes are decorated. I always assumed that the gods wore plain white tunics.

After we look around the temple for 10 minutes, we head to the crocodile museum. The museum shows mummified crocodiles. Some were even buried in coffins. It’s interesting seeing how these animals were treated because everyone thought they were gods.

We walk back to the boat and ward off the touts who are trying to sell us stuff. It’s a little heartbreaking to see kids selling stuff, but money is money.

After we get back to the boat, Amy and I hang out in our room for a bit. I then go to the sundeck to watch as we leave the city behind. It’s pretty, but there are some bugs attracted to the lights. So, I go back and wait around until it’s time to go to dinner.

Another fantastic day!

More journal entries from this trip

My Egypt Travel Stories / Day 1
My Egypt Travel Stories / Day 2
My Egypt Travel Stories / Day 3
My Egypt Travel Stories / Day 4
My Egypt Travel Stories / Day 6
My Egypt Travel Stories / Day 7

More posts you might like

Spend an amazing long weekend in Jordan
Greece Travel Journal / Day 1
From Monuments to Markets: One Day in Tashkent Itinerary