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Many of the temples in Egypt are in ruins, but there are still a few examples of ones which are more or less complete. One of these can be found in the town of Edfu, which is between Luxor and Aswan.
This temple was dedicated to the god Horus, who is shown all over the building as a human body with a falcon's head. The main entrance is however flanked by two big statues showing the god as a falcon. Sven reckons that with Horus on his side no one will want to get in his bad books.
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| Like Sven, and Eric before him, Horus was obviously a bit of a trend-setter amongst the Ancient Egyptian gods. This statue shows him wearing the royal crown which Sven thought made him look really important. The best Sven could manage was a rather fetching scarf, which the market trader took back off him when he wouldn't buy anything else.
Statues like these were common in Ancient Egyptian temples, there are four large statues of Horus remaining at Edfu and when the temple was in use there would have been hundreds of smaller ones too. These were often left by pilgrims who hoped that they would make the gods happy. |
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| The most sacred place in an Egyptian temple was the 'holy of holies', a small darkened room where the main statue of the god was kept. In Edfu the shrine which held this statue is still in place.
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Another unique thing on display at Edfu is the sacred barque, or boat, in which the statue of the god was transported out and about for his various festivals. This barque features prominently in the decoration of the temple walls and by an amazing piece of luck parts of it were found when the temple was excavated.
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Another amazing thing about the temple of Edfu is how well preserved some of the carvings on the walls are. This winged scarab beetle is a good example of how much detail the ancient craftsmen could get into their carvings. Sven was amazed by the fact that each feather on the beetles wings has been carved individually. |
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