Nile Cruise — More Sights at the Temple of Edfu

Today I present to you the Temple of Edfu, concentrating most of today’s images on the sanctuary, with a few of the courtyard between the sanctuary and the pylon. One exception to that is the photograph below of the nearly ubiquitous souvenir vendor stalls that seem to proliferate outside most entrances/exits to Egypt’s antiquity sites:

Below is a diagram of the Temple of Edfu. In the middle of the sanctuary is a feature labeled naos, which I’ll explain in a moment:

Naos is the egyptian hieroglyph representing the word “shrine”. As one might suspect from its location at the center of the sanctuary, this particular naos (shrine) is a significant feature of some importance. And indeed it is, as this shrine predates the entire temple (started 237 BC; completed 57 BC). It is a relic from a shrine dating back to Nectanebo II, the last of the native Ancient Egyptian rulers before the Ptolemaic (Greek) Kingdom. It would be 1952 before a native Egyptian, Gamal Abdel Nasser, would once again rule Egypt. Here, in the inner sanctuary, is the shrine of Nectanebo II:

So much for today’s history lesson. Here is today’s photo gallery/slide show of the Temple of Edfu’s sanctuary, including some of the chapels and chambers, and the courtyard that separates the sanctuary and the pylon:

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