Egypt, a journey through History - From Luxor to Aswan

Egypt, a journey through History
A travel report

From Luxor to Aswan
Day 6
this day is a continuation of the previous page, Luxor and more
We arrived in the tiny town of Esna at almost 2 pm. Though we were naturally hungry, we had one more visit before going back to the ship and start our cruise upriver.
By the middle of the 19th century, the temple of Esna was found buried beneath the houses of this town on the margin of the Nile. The temple was dedicated to Khnum, the god regarded as the guardian of the Nile. Only a portion of it was recovered: the hypostele hall, with 24 columns whose capitals are buds and flowers. The capitals were not exactly on the top of the columns, in order to give the impression that the ceiling, decorated with stars, is not supported by them. To further help this illusion, scultped locusts were placed on the edge of a few of these capitols. Much of this hall had been damaged mainly by soot from the fire lit by people who inhabited the temple in a later period, but there was still some noticeable color on the columns.
Like the temples of Edfu, Kom Ombo and Philae that we would be visiting in the following days, this one is from the Greco-Roman period. The Greek, or Ptolomeic, period, lasted 300 years, from Alexander the Great, in late 3rd century b.C., to Cleopatra, after which Egypt became a Roman province. Both Greek and Roman rulers adopted the Egyptian cults, and the temples built by them kept the same basic concepts. One difference that Hassan showed us was that in the form of the bodies, now with more rounded shapes instead of the flat shapes we had seen in the tombs and temples we had visited.
After the late lunch, in which I asked for a steak to replace the preestablished fish as the main course, we went back to our cabin to write our travel diaries and watch on TV the memorial service that took place in front of Hatshepsut's temple, attended by president Mubarak. The boat cruised from Esna do Edfu that afternoon.
Captain's Dinner that night, with tables disposed in an U-shape. The head of each of the many crew groups were introduced and had dinner with us. To our surprise, the captain in this hotel-boat is actually the hotel manager. Hassan sat with us and almost did not eat, so busy he was telling us interesting things about history and myths. Later that night, some of the crew members presented a Nubian dance and music show at the boat's disco. The Nubians are the native people of southern Egypt and Sudan.
Day 7 - "I woke too early, but at least I watched from our cabin's window a beautiful sunrise on the Nile."
Breakfast was served at 7 am and after it we left for our tour in Edfu. We were taken by carriages to the temple of Horus, the falcon-headed god. The pylon, a giant wall that was the entrance to the temple's court, once had gold-leaved cedar doors. The ample court has reliefs depicting the myth of Horus, son of Osiris and Isis. In front of the gate that leads to the hypostele hall, there are two huge granite statues of falcons, one partially destroyed. The one that is complete has a frowned forehead that give it a grumpy look. Two other halls lead to the sanctuary, where a gold statue of Horus was kept on his barque (a model of which is displayed now in another room). The pharaoh used to ask for advice from the god and a priest answered him from a concealed chamber! Some other rooms can be seen, like the laboratory, with inscriptions of potions and medicines.
Back to the boat after maybe two hours, we started the 5-hour cruise to Kom Ombo. Before and after lunch, we had a lot of time to enjoy the views of the green river margins and the desert not far from it. Less than 10% of Egypt's land is fertile, most of it along the Nile, where over 90% of its population live.
We arrived at Kom Ombo late that afternoon and from the boat the temple was already seen, over a hill close to the river. The main characteristic of this temple is that it is dedicated to two gods: Haroeris, the falcon god of medicine, and Sebek, the crocodile god - crocodiles used to be found at the bend of the river where Kom Ombo is located. There are mummies of crocodiles in a room next to the temple's entrance. The temple has two aisles, each one leading to each god's sanctuary, of which no walls remain. Besides the usual religious scenes, there are carvings showing their calendar (each year was divided in three seasons: flood, seeding and harvesting) and some of their medicine knowledge. We were told that ancient Egyptians knew the importance of breast-feeding for a baby's health and that they also practiced family planning.
The temple closes late and we stayed there until dark. It is beautifully illuminated and the side lights on the walls give a nice effect on the reliefs. Outside the temple, a small market where I bargained for a basalt figure of Bastet, the sacred cat, before returning to the boat. There was going to be a costume party that night and we rented our caftans on board.
Oriental buffet was the dinner, nothing special. Desserts looked beautiful but were deceptive. After dinner, we dressed our black caftans with colored strasses. Esam did our make-up and I liked the delicate one he did on me, while Beth enjoyed the more expressive one he did on her. He also put scarves with the same kind of strasses on our heads. We were late for the rehersal on a comic sketch our group would have to present, The Murder of Julius Caesar, in which Beth and I played his belly dancers. Belly dancers in caftans, looking more like gipsies? Nevermind. It was fun in the end. Later there were also games and I got a table bell decorated with Nefertiti's bust.
Day 8 - "Hassan asked us to tell our friends that Egypt is beautiful and safe."
It was a lazy day, in which our first activity would start at 10 am, so we could wake up late. The boat was already anchored in the beautiful city of Aswan. After breakfast I wrote my last postcards. We left for a 1 1/2 h felluca ride - these are the traditional sailboats of the Nile and it was delicious to take this relaxing ride on a fresh sunny morning. On the way, we saw Elephantine and Kitchener Islands and, on the left margin, the tombs of the nobles and the Monastery of St. Simeon. One of the guys of the Nubian crew gave us necklaces made of perfumed seeds. We had time for a stroll along the river before going back to the boat for lunch.
At about 1:30 pm we left on a bus for our last guided tour. First we saw an unfinished obelisk in one of the granite quarries in the Aswan region that supplied the monuments. The obelisk was actually abandoned after a huge crack was found.
We crossed the river along the old Aswan dam, built in the turn of the century by the British, then we stopped on the new Aswan dam upriver from the first one and built by the Russians during the 1960s. This dam formed Lake Nasser, the world's largest artificial lake, 500 km long, partially in Sudan. The formation of the lake forced Nubian farmers to leave their lands. Besides, many monuments were at risk. Some of them were saved, but some were lost to the waters.
Among the ones that were saved, there is the temple of Isis on the island of Philae. After the construction of the old dam, this temple was already submerse for half of the year. In the 70s, it was transferred stone by stone to another island, now also called Philae. Crossing the first pylon, we see two colonnades, each with a different capital, some apparently unfinished. Christians, who used the temple for dwelling, defaced most of the reliefs that show gods. There is a Christian altar inside. A green dimmed light inside the sanctuary adds an eerie mood and also enhances the details of the fine reliefs on the walls. The rocks and vegetation around the temple give it a very different aspect from the other temples we had seen. We would have liked to stay until sunset, but we left at 4 pm back to our boat in Aswan.
Beth and I walked to a garden on a hill overlooking the Nile, where we waited for the sunset. Since it was Friday, their weekend, families were there and, as usual, kids greeted us. A man approached at started talking to us. His name is Ismail and he is a diving guide at the Red Sea, but the lack of tourists made him stay in his home there in Aswan.
Back to the boat, we had our shower before dinner - Italian buffet this time. Hassan came to say good-bye to us, while Adel, the tour organizer, stopped at our table and told us stories about the different kinds of tourists he had already met. Ashraf, Kimidar's rep in Aswan, came to arrange the details for next day, when we would leave the boat. There was no special entertainment that night, as we all had to pack.

Egypt, a journey through History

The report
In and around Cairo
Hurghada and the Red Sea
Luxor and more
From Luxor to Aswan
Aswan and Abu Simbel
The info
Geography and History
Related sites
Photos

text and photos © Maria Adelaide Silva
no reproduction is allowed without the author's agreement
If you have any comments or suggestions, send me an e-mail!
Rio de Janeiro, February 7, 1998
Updated on September 13, 1998

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From Luxor to Aswan Day 6 this day is a continuation of the previous page, Luxor and more We arrived in the tiny town of Esna at almost 2 pm. Though we were naturally hungry, we had one more visit before going back to the ship and start our cruise upriver. By the middle of the 19th century, the temple of Esna was found buried beneath the houses of this town on the margin of the Nile. The temple was dedicated to Khnum, the god regarded as the guardian of the Nile. Only a portion of it was recovered: the hypostele hall, with 24 columns whose capitals are buds and flowers. The capitals were not exactly on the top of the columns, in order to give the impression that the ceiling, decorated with stars, is not supported by them. To further help this illusion, scultped locusts were placed on the edge of a few of these capitols. Much of this hall had been damaged mainly by soot from the fire lit by people who inhabited the temple in a later period, but there was still some noticeable color on the columns. Like the temples of Edfu, Kom Ombo and Philae that we would be visiting in the following days, this one is from the Greco-Roman period. The Greek, or Ptolomeic, period, lasted 300 years, from Alexander the Great, in late 3rd century b.C., to Cleopatra, after which Egypt became a Roman province. Both Greek and Roman rulers adopted the Egyptian cults, and the temples built by them kept the same basic concepts. One difference that Hassan showed us was that in the form of the bodies, now with more rounded shapes instead of the flat shapes we had seen in the tombs and temples we had visited. After the late lunch, in which I asked for a steak to replace the preestablished fish as the main course, we went back to our cabin to write our travel diaries and watch on TV the memorial service that took place in front of Hatshepsut's temple, attended by president Mubarak. The boat cruised from Esna do Edfu that afternoon. Captain's Dinner that night, with tables disposed in an U-shape. The head of each of the many crew groups were introduced and had dinner with us. To our surprise, the captain in this hotel-boat is actually the hotel manager. Hassan sat with us and almost did not eat, so busy he was telling us interesting things about history and myths. Later that night, some of the crew members presented a Nubian dance and music show at the boat's disco. The Nubians are the native people of southern Egypt and Sudan. Day 7 - "I woke too early, but at least I watched from our cabin's window a beautiful sunrise on the Nile." Breakfast was served at 7 am and after it we left for our tour in Edfu. We were taken by carriages to the temple of Horus, the falcon-headed god. The pylon, a giant wall that was the entrance to the temple's court, once had gold-leaved cedar doors. The ample court has reliefs depicting the myth of Horus, son of Osiris and Isis. In front of the gate that leads to the hypostele hall, there are two huge granite statues of falcons, one partially destroyed. The one that is complete has a frowned forehead that give it a grumpy look. Two other halls lead to the sanctuary, where a gold statue of Horus was kept on his barque (a model of which is displayed now in another room). The pharaoh used to ask for advice from the god and a priest answered him from a concealed chamber! Some other rooms can be seen, like the laboratory, with inscriptions of potions and medicines. Back to the boat after maybe two hours, we started the 5-hour cruise to Kom Ombo. Before and after lunch, we had a lot of time to enjoy the views of the green river margins and the desert not far from it. Less than 10% of Egypt's land is fertile, most of it along the Nile, where over 90% of its population live. We arrived at Kom Ombo late that afternoon and from the boat the temple was already seen, over a hill close to the river. The main characteristic of this temple is that it is dedicated to two gods: Haroeris, the falcon god of medicine, and Sebek, the crocodile god - crocodiles used to be found at the bend of the river where Kom Ombo is located. There are mummies of crocodiles in a room next to the temple's entrance. The temple has two aisles, each one leading to each god's sanctuary, of which no walls remain. Besides the usual religious scenes, there are carvings showing their calendar (each year was divided in three seasons: flood, seeding and harvesting) and some of their medicine knowledge. We were told that ancient Egyptians knew the importance of breast-feeding for a baby's health and that they also practiced family planning. The temple closes late and we stayed there until dark. It is beautifully illuminated and the side lights on the walls give a nice effect on the reliefs. Outside the temple, a small market where I bargained for a basalt figure of Bastet, the sacred cat, before returning to the boat. There was going to be a costume party that night and we rented our caftans on board. Oriental buffet was the dinner, nothing special. Desserts looked beautiful but were deceptive. After dinner, we dressed our black caftans with colored strasses. Esam did our make-up and I liked the delicate one he did on me, while Beth enjoyed the more expressive one he did on her. He also put scarves with the same kind of strasses on our heads. We were late for the rehersal on a comic sketch our group would have to present, The Murder of Julius Caesar, in which Beth and I played his belly dancers. Belly dancers in caftans, looking more like gipsies? Nevermind. It was fun in the end. Later there were also games and I got a table bell decorated with Nefertiti's bust. Day 8 - "Hassan asked us to tell our friends that Egypt is beautiful and safe." It was a lazy day, in which our first activity would start at 10 am, so we could wake up late. The boat was already anchored in the beautiful city of Aswan. After breakfast I wrote my last postcards. We left for a 1 1/2 h felluca ride - these are the traditional sailboats of the Nile and it was delicious to take this relaxing ride on a fresh sunny morning. On the way, we saw Elephantine and Kitchener Islands and, on the left margin, the tombs of the nobles and the Monastery of St. Simeon. One of the guys of the Nubian crew gave us necklaces made of perfumed seeds. We had time for a stroll along the river before going back to the boat for lunch. At about 1:30 pm we left on a bus for our last guided tour. First we saw an unfinished obelisk in one of the granite quarries in the Aswan region that supplied the monuments. The obelisk was actually abandoned after a huge crack was found. We crossed the river along the old Aswan dam, built in the turn of the century by the British, then we stopped on the new Aswan dam upriver from the first one and built by the Russians during the 1960s. This dam formed Lake Nasser, the world's largest artificial lake, 500 km long, partially in Sudan. The formation of the lake forced Nubian farmers to leave their lands. Besides, many monuments were at risk. Some of them were saved, but some were lost to the waters. Among the ones that were saved, there is the temple of Isis on the island of Philae. After the construction of the old dam, this temple was already submerse for half of the year. In the 70s, it was transferred stone by stone to another island, now also called Philae. Crossing the first pylon, we see two colonnades, each with a different capital, some apparently unfinished. Christians, who used the temple for dwelling, defaced most of the reliefs that show gods. There is a Christian altar inside. A green dimmed light inside the sanctuary adds an eerie mood and also enhances the details of the fine reliefs on the walls. The rocks and vegetation around the temple give it a very different aspect from the other temples we had seen. We would have liked to stay until sunset, but we left at 4 pm back to our boat in Aswan. Beth and I walked to a garden on a hill overlooking the Nile, where we waited for the sunset. Since it was Friday, their weekend, families were there and, as usual, kids greeted us. A man approached at started talking to us. His name is Ismail and he is a diving guide at the Red Sea, but the lack of tourists made him stay in his home there in Aswan. Back to the boat, we had our shower before dinner - Italian buffet this time. Hassan came to say good-bye to us, while Adel, the tour organizer, stopped at our table and told us stories about the different kinds of tourists he had already met. Ashraf, Kimidar's rep in Aswan, came to arrange the details for next day, when we would leave the boat. There was no special entertainment that night, as we all had to pack.
Egypt, a journey through History
The report In and around Cairo Hurghada and the Red Sea Luxor and more From Luxor to Aswan Aswan and Abu Simbel	The info Geography and History Related sites Photos
text and photos © Maria Adelaide Silva no reproduction is allowed without the author's agreement If you have any comments or suggestions, send me an e-mail! Rio de Janeiro, February 7, 1998 Updated on September 13, 1998