The town away from Edfu, for the western bank of Nile 56km southern area of Esna and 105km north out of Aswan, try today an essential middle to own sugar manufacturing and you will ceramic-and make. Your website out of Edfu Share with is actually labeled as Wetjeset-hor (traditional label Apollinopolis Magna), where the latest jesus Horus is worshipped and you can where the battle anywhere between Horus and his awesome old-fashioned enemy Seth inside the ancient myths happened. Even though it try well covered by the desert sand and human settlement particles, Edfu forehead is actually decided to go to by many early traveler. The latest sand features aided to preserve this building which had been receive getting nearly totally intact when it was cleared and you will excavated because of the Auguste Mariette on 1860s.
The modern area derives their term regarding the old Egyptian Djeba that has been centered into the a beneficial mound on eastern financial
Of all the temple stays when you look at the Egypt, the Temple off Horus at the Edfu is among the most better-preserved plus the only 1 we realize to own become accomplished. Constructed from sandstone blocks the large Ptolemaic forehead try created over this site regarding a smaller prior to temple, depending eastern to help you west, with the lake. The afterwards construction face northern so you’re able to south and you can makes new ruined remains of your earlier temple pylon to be noticed on the eastern region of the very first judge. From building messages when you look at the afterwards Ptolemaic temple and this endures today, we know that this is begun by Ptolemy III Euergetes We inside the 237 BC, but was not completed up until 57 BC.
Absolutely nothing is well known in regards to the basic forehead out of Horus on Edfu, but there is however inscriptional facts you to definitely This new Empire rulers Seti I, Rameses II and you will III performed remodeling indeed there
Until recently, everyone approached the fresh new forehead early in the day their big housing wall structure for the western top, carved which have rates of one’s Ptolemaic kings providing to several deities. There is today a recently built advisor park, cafeteria and you may open-heavens art gallery that leads right to the leading of forehead. The first construction we arrived at, on southern area-west area before the great temple pylon, was a square colonnaded building unusual so you’re able to Graeco-Roman temples, called a great mammisi otherwise birth-house, designed to celebrate this new divine beginning out of Horus. The brand new Roman mammisi in the Dendera was modelled on this structure. Reliefs inform you new jesus Bes, beginning scenes while the newborn young buck out-of Horus and Hathor, Ihi (Harsomptus), nursed from the Hathor about marshes.
Carvings to your big dual towers of your 36m higher entrance pylon are almost mirror photographs of any other with the old-fashioned scenes of king smiting their opponents just before Horus. We are able to plus clearly understand the Web stranice mast grooves for the flags that would provides fluttered in the entry. One or two statues of one’s Horus falcon stand until the head portal. Within the access is a smooth courtyard flanked by colonnades on the fresh eastern and you can western and on brand new southern hence illustrates save carvings of ‘Feast of the Breathtaking Meeting’. It was an extended and you will extremely important festival where in actuality the cult sculpture out of Hathor of Dendera is actually brought to Edfu towards an excellent barge that have much elaborate routine and you can celebration, meet up with their particular consort Horus for their annual reunion. Other ceremonies of your own festival is seen inside the walls of your own courtyard.
In the future ‘s the head temple facade in front of and therefore stands the latest popular huge black colored granite statue regarding Horus since the a falcon, putting on the fresh twice crown off Higher and lower Egypt. New facade enjoys screen walls with interested articles on the usual sorts of Later Period and you can Ptolemaic temples.