Ancient Egypt’s Philae Temple

One of my favorite places we visited in Aswan was Philae Temple and looking back on it now, I think it was because of the water approach. Philae is an island in Lake Nasser, not far from the Aswan dam, and can only be accessed by boat. When it was built 2,000 years ago in honour of the god Isis it was located by the First Cataract and marked the Southern most part of Egypt. Today the Egyptian border extends 315 miles further south.

Over the centuries not only Isis was worshiped in this sacred space but also Osiris, Nephthys, Hathor, Khnum and Satet. And as we saw in a few of the temples we visited over the course of Egyptian adventure, while the temple was started by Egyptian pharaohs it was completed completed by the Roman Emperors. What was unusual though was in spots the Egyptian gods were removed from the stone and and you could see the spaces of the temple that had been used as a Christian church, with crosses carved into the reliefs (see below for a photo).

Walking between the massive temples I loved that this island was surrounded by palm trees and crystal blue water, it gave it a very tropical feel and an interesting juxtaposition with that much history. Oh, and there were stray kittens all around the island (who were well fed by the locals) and were oh so cute! After a visit, I can see why it is #2 of 34 things to do in Aswan (according to Trip Advisor), the boat journey alone  is reason enough to visit!

Would you visit Philae Temple?