Philae Temple

Small friends having big adventures

Just south of the town of Aswan is the spectacular temple of Isis at Philae. The temple here is actually from quite late in Egyptian history and is the home of the last recorded Hieroglyphic inscription.
The island setting for the temple is beautiful and the boat trip out to it gives the passing Ostrich some really good views.

The pylon gateway at Philae has some impressive reliefs carved on it. The photograph above shows the Pharaoh Ptolemy making an offering to Horus and Isis.
The photo on the right, apart from showing Sven with yet another sphinx, has the Pharaoh in a traditional pose called 'Smiting Asiatics' which also appears on Ramesses III's pylon at Medinet Habu. In this he is holding captive prisoners by their hair, and you can work out for yourself what he is going to do with the big club in his other hand.

Although the main temple at Philae is dedicated to the goddess Isis the complex also includes this nice little temple which is not dedicated to Isis but instead to Hathor. Hathor is usually shown in the form of a cow, or as a woman with cow ears.

Another famous building at Philae is this impressive gateway. This was built by the Roman emperor Trajan. For that reason it is called 'Trajan's Kiosk'.
Philae temple is even more impressive when you discover that is is not where it was originally built.

When the Aswan high dam was built the temple would have been half submerged if it had remained in it's original position on Philae Island. For this reason an international effort was mounted to move the entire complex piece by piece to a nearby island which was higher.

Sven was told that since the High Dam at Aswan was built there were no Crocodiles in the Nile. He thought he'd better keep a look out just in case.

Philae temple is not on Philae Island anymore. When a new dam was built the temple would have been flooded so the entire building was moved brick by brick to a nearby island.