Aswan

First stop Philae Temple. This Temple is dedicated to Isis, the Goddess of Love. It is on an island a bit south of the old dam. It was originally a little further south, but when it was threatened to be flooded by the new dam, the temple was isolated with a moat and deconstructed. They cut the complex into 45,000 blocks and meticulously reconstructed it on the higher island. In fact, they enlarged the island to be able to accurately rebuild the temple. The project took 8 years to complete and was completed in 1974.

There is an example of the last known hieroglyphics at the entrance to the building. But it is not the traditional Egyptian hieroglyphics. At this point the Greek influence has intervened and the hieroglyphics have morphed introducing different symbols that made the writing harder to decipher. So many of the skills gained in translating hieroglyphics had to be updated to transcribe this.

So in Egyptian mythology – Isis embodied all things good. Her husband and his brother were put on this earth by their father Ra – the brother (Set) was evil and her husband, Osiris, was the opposite. Osiris became King and Isis was the royal Queen. Set murdered Osiris and cut his body in 14 pieces and sent it down the Nile. Isis traveled the Nile to collect all 14 pieces but was missing one. She put him back together to have him mummified but because of the missing piece, she had his arms cross in front of his body.

It is said that mummy’s continued to be wrapped with their arms like this out of respect for Osiris. But remember this is mythology and I found that that actual practice didn’t begin until the time of Ramses. But we are going with the Osiris theory so the story can continue. It is said when Isis found the body parts and put Osiris back together to be mummified, that he planted a seed in her to bear an heir. Thus she gave birth to Horace. The story really goes awry here, but it puts into perspective a single mother raising the future King.

When the Christians came to the temple, they didn’t like the symbols of Isis and actually defaced and removed all of her likenesses. They replaced the face of Isis with the face of Mary.

Other scenes from the temple.

I saw Jim’s picture of these and at first thought they were a statue

And there were other beauties at the site

And a quick drive to see the “new” Aswan dam

And then enough of the ruins. Back to the boat. We spend the afternoon on a small boat traveling the Nile. A quick stop at the botanical gardens.

And some took a dip in the Nile

Others just took in the scenery from sand dunes to the river.