Aswan, past and present

In Aswan, a felucca ride was a nice way to close our cruise. The then recently open Nubian Museum teaches a lot about the Nubian, the people of Upper Egypt. The Temple of Isis, reconstructed at a new Philae island, was interesting, but more impressive was the Abu Simbel temples near the border of Sudan. The cities of Edfu and Kom Ombo also have interesting temples.

Quick Tips:

The Old Cataract Hotel is worth a visit, displaying a bit of the elegance of early 20th century in its moorish architecture. If you can, stay at the New Cataract next to it - breakfast is served in the old hotel.

For more information and images about Aswan and Egypt, check my Travel Report: http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/4363/egypt/eg_main.html.

Best Way To Get Around:

We arrive in Aswan as part of our Nile cruise package, so we had transportation to the sites. Abu Simbel was an extra tour, but we bought a package.

This hotel was built in the 60''s, next to the famous and elegant Old Cataract, sharing some facilities with it - our breakfast was taken at a magnificent dining room with moorish decoration at the Old Cataract, for instance. The room have great views of the Nile, but I highly recommend one of the hotels'' terraces for a sunset view. Rooms at the New Cataract are good and comfortable.

Abu Simbel is 40 min away by plane from Aswan, leaving at about 10 am. We took window seats on the left and the view of the temples prior to landing was exciting. The temples, carved in sandstone under Ramses II over 3000 years ago, had been almost completely buried for centuries until they were rediscovered in the beginning of the 19th century.

Like many temples and archeological sites, Abu Simbel temples were threatened by the formation of Lake Nasser. A campaign led by Unesco raised funds and technical assistance to remove these two temples, something that had not been attempted before. Blocks were carefully cut and reassembled 210 m far and 60 m above their original location, a work that took two years of planning and other two for its execution.

Upon arrival we were taken by bus to the site and the entrance fee we paid included the services of a guide, who led us during a quick 90 min tour through the two temples. The largest was built by Ramses II and dedicated to the sun god Re-Herakhte. Four huge statues (23 m high) of the pharaoh, one of them partially destroyed, dominate the façade.

Next to this temple, we saw the smaller temple dedicated to Hathor, wife of Re-Herakhte, but built for Nefertari, Ramses' wife. Again four statues of the pharaoh, flanking two of Nefertari, dominate the façade. We were then taken inside the false mountain built over the rebuilt blocks cut from the original site. There is an immense concrete structure over which rocks and sand were placed to conceal it. Being inside the concrete structure sort of broke the magic of the temple, giving a feeling of being inside a Disney world attraction.

After the construction of the old Aswan Dam early in the 20th century, the temple of Isis on the island of Philae, already used to be submerse for half of the year. In the 70s, as the new dam was constructed, 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.

This is a very spacious museum, with panels in Arabic and English telling the history of these people. There was so much information, but organized in a way that it goes back and forth in time, that we got a bit confused in the end. I was surprised by the variety of granite colors shown in the many statues and by the delicate work of some ancient items displayed there.

There were also displays about Aswan Dam and the lost archeological sites. Among the temples that have been saved from Lake Nasser waters are those of Debod and Dendur, now in Madrid and New York, respectively, and a third one whose name I forgot. Some like Abu Simbel and Philae were relocated, but many are underwater, probably lost forever.

We spent almost 3 hours there. There was still a bit to see, especially regarding the more recent history of the Nubians, but we were satisfied with what we had been able to see.

Nubia means the "Land of Gold". Once the ancient kingdom of Kush, Nubia stretches from Aswan down to Khartoum in Sudan. Once mercenaries or traders, Nubians still have distinct traditions, architecture and languages. With the construction of the Aswan Dam, when their fertile lands close to the Nile were lost to the lake, many Nubians were relocated elsewhere.

The cities of Edfu and Kom Ombo are not very far from Aswan (100 and 40 km, respectively). Both have interesting temples from the Greek period, begun at the second century BC.

Our tour in Edfu started with a carriage ride 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 hypo stele hall, there are two huge granite statues of falcons, one partially destroyed. Two other halls lead to the sanctuary, where a gold statue of Horus was kept on his small boat (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. Our visit lasted less than two hours.

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 and some of their medicine knowledge. The temple closes late and we stayed there until dark. It is beautifully illuminated and the sidelights on the walls give a nice effect on the reliefs. Outside the temple, there was a small market where I bargained for a basalt figure of Bastet, the sacred cat.