Trip To Egypt, Fall, 2004

The Trip To Egypt, 2004

Jim Hayes' Web Pages

Egypt Home
Day 1, Egyptian Museum, Cairo
Day 2, Pyramids and Sphinx At Giza
Day 3, Dahshur (Bent and Red Pyramid),
Day 3a, Sakkara (Stepped Pyramid)
Day 4, Abu Simbel
Day 4a, Aswan
Day 5, Philae Temple
Day 5a, Kom Ombo Temple
Day 6, Edfu Temple
Day 6a, Esna Temple
Day 7, Luxor, Medinet Habu, Village of Deir El Medina
Day 7a,Temple of Hatshepsut
Day 8, Valley of the Kings
Day 8a, Valley of the Queens, Luxor Museum
Day 9, Luxor, Tut's Tomb
Day 9a, Temples of Karnak and Luxor
Day 10/11, Cairo, Museum, Manial Palace, Churches and Mosque

Day 6, Edfu
Temple of Horus

Jan's Notes Jim's Photos And Comments

Edfu
Only fully complete temple in all Egypt. Won't use horse-drawn carriages here because didn't treat horses well=decision by N'l. Geographic.
Temple of Horus; built in Greek & Roman times 57AD; all Greek & Roman emperors are recorded here. Came for several rites:.
-birthday of Horus (falcon).
-annual victory over enemy (even if there wasn't actually a war)
-beginning of new year
-annual marriage of Horus to local goddess, Hathor, the Cow Goddess

Priest kept the power & offerings.

Was swamp area originally & they noticed many falcons by the area so they built shrine & it grew over time. The windows high up were for a system of communication by colored flags when the king or anyone else was coming. Sun disk-wings of Horus & cobra. Classic picture: king capturing an entire army by their hair. Ancient mud-brick wall surrounds every temple.
357BC
Huge door-from cedars of Lebanon-hinges still there. Never actually found a door; probably re-used or burned. Never found a crown of Ancient Egypt either-either disintegratable material like papyrus or easy to melt like gold or silver. We have their underwear (King Tut-Cairo museum) but not their crowns!

Temples never seen by commoners. Priests gathered in courtyard in the morning & reconnected to the god Amun Ra. They liked the heat-connection to god. Only senior priest went all the way to the sanctuary.

11 years ago, a tourist put a food in a crack in the stone floor & it swelled up & turned blue. Officials came to investigate & decided to remove the old stones & re-level for safety's sake. Found an older temple underneath that was 1200 years older. Older one knocked down by Greeks who used stones for the new temple. Officials decided to leave the older temple because they would have had to sacrifice this one which is the only complete temple there is. Brought stones out with colors but faded within a few years of exposure to lights.

Black granite statues of Horus. Local modern culture of Edfu: for manliness need to carry a cane and have a mustache.
Ancients loved ficus tree because evergreen. Also frankincense tree for incense. God Hapi=face of man & body of woman w/one breast under the arm=god of Nile. Nile feeds nations as mother feeds child.

Power of man + fertility of land. Found msg. to god: "I never polluted the waters of the Nile."

1 major myth=Isis & Osiris: 2 brothers married to their 2 sisters. Osiris married Isis & Set married Neftis. Osiris was good & Set was bed & he became jealous of Osiris. So Set announced a party. He brought a coffin & says this beautiful coffin is for me. Offers to order coffin for Osiris. Tells him to get in & measure him for coffin size. Osiris gets in and Set locks him in & throws him into the Nile. Isis wants to save him so she follows the floating coffin but loses him. Coffin is carried to Lebanon (even though in actual fact the Nile doesn't flow there). She becomes a palace chambermaid there to continue to search for Osiris. The king saw her & wanted her. She tells the king her story & it touches his heart so he orders the coffin found and carried back to Egypt on shoulders. They open it but Set is there, grabs the body & chops it into 14 pieces & scatters them all over the country. Isis travels around collecting them and finds 13, but the penis is missing. The Nile perch (fish) eat it. She wanted a child so much she made a clay penis. But she feared the bad brother would interfere so converted herself into a falcon & made love to Osiris who was resurrected just long enough to father a child & then died for good. His child is good.

Set is the God of evil. Set in hieroglyphics means bad. Isis is the goddess of love, happiness & motherhood. Osiris is the god of the underworld. Christian Mary is the "new" version of Isis. Issue of how to keep Egyptian gods but convert to Christian model. The story of the Crucifixion is really the story of Osiris. Christianity spread quickly because it was really the continuation of the previous peoples' beliefs so no war necessary.

Temple locale selected for bedrock, not sand & wind for best storage.

The temple

Our history lesson continues. The class listens closely as the teacher is so interesting!

So there's this god named Hapi, see, with a, you know, uh, breast, under his arm, uh...

Horus

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The Trip To Egypt, 2004 Jim Hayes' Web Pages Egypt Home Day 1, Egyptian Museum, Cairo Day 2, Pyramids and Sphinx At Giza Day 3, Dahshur (Bent and Red Pyramid), Day 3a, Sakkara (Stepped Pyramid) Day 4, Abu Simbel Day 4a, Aswan Day 5, Philae Temple Day 5a, Kom Ombo Temple Day 6, Edfu Temple Day 6a, Esna Temple Day 7, Luxor, Medinet Habu, Village of Deir El Medina Day 7a,Temple of Hatshepsut Day 8, Valley of the Kings Day 8a, Valley of the Queens, Luxor Museum Day 9, Luxor, Tut's Tomb Day 9a, Temples of Karnak and Luxor Day 10/11, Cairo, Museum, Manial Palace, Churches and Mosque	Day 6, Edfu Temple of Horus

Jan's Notes	Jim's Photos And Comments
Edfu Only fully complete temple in all Egypt. Won't use horse-drawn carriages here because didn't treat horses well=decision by N'l. Geographic. Temple of Horus; built in Greek & Roman times 57AD; all Greek & Roman emperors are recorded here. Came for several rites:. -birthday of Horus (falcon). -annual victory over enemy (even if there wasn't actually a war) -beginning of new year -annual marriage of Horus to local goddess, Hathor, the Cow Goddess Priest kept the power & offerings. Was swamp area originally & they noticed many falcons by the area so they built shrine & it grew over time. The windows high up were for a system of communication by colored flags when the king or anyone else was coming. Sun disk-wings of Horus & cobra. Classic picture: king capturing an entire army by their hair. Ancient mud-brick wall surrounds every temple. 357BC Huge door-from cedars of Lebanon-hinges still there. Never actually found a door; probably re-used or burned. Never found a crown of Ancient Egypt either-either disintegratable material like papyrus or easy to melt like gold or silver. We have their underwear (King Tut-Cairo museum) but not their crowns! Temples never seen by commoners. Priests gathered in courtyard in the morning & reconnected to the god Amun Ra. They liked the heat-connection to god. Only senior priest went all the way to the sanctuary. 11 years ago, a tourist put a food in a crack in the stone floor & it swelled up & turned blue. Officials came to investigate & decided to remove the old stones & re-level for safety's sake. Found an older temple underneath that was 1200 years older. Older one knocked down by Greeks who used stones for the new temple. Officials decided to leave the older temple because they would have had to sacrifice this one which is the only complete temple there is. Brought stones out with colors but faded within a few years of exposure to lights. Black granite statues of Horus. Local modern culture of Edfu: for manliness need to carry a cane and have a mustache. Ancients loved ficus tree because evergreen. Also frankincense tree for incense. God Hapi=face of man & body of woman w/one breast under the arm=god of Nile. Nile feeds nations as mother feeds child. Power of man + fertility of land. Found msg. to god: "I never polluted the waters of the Nile." 1 major myth=Isis & Osiris: 2 brothers married to their 2 sisters. Osiris married Isis & Set married Neftis. Osiris was good & Set was bed & he became jealous of Osiris. So Set announced a party. He brought a coffin & says this beautiful coffin is for me. Offers to order coffin for Osiris. Tells him to get in & measure him for coffin size. Osiris gets in and Set locks him in & throws him into the Nile. Isis wants to save him so she follows the floating coffin but loses him. Coffin is carried to Lebanon (even though in actual fact the Nile doesn't flow there). She becomes a palace chambermaid there to continue to search for Osiris. The king saw her & wanted her. She tells the king her story & it touches his heart so he orders the coffin found and carried back to Egypt on shoulders. They open it but Set is there, grabs the body & chops it into 14 pieces & scatters them all over the country. Isis travels around collecting them and finds 13, but the penis is missing. The Nile perch (fish) eat it. She wanted a child so much she made a clay penis. But she feared the bad brother would interfere so converted herself into a falcon & made love to Osiris who was resurrected just long enough to father a child & then died for good. His child is good. Set is the God of evil. Set in hieroglyphics means bad. Isis is the goddess of love, happiness & motherhood. Osiris is the god of the underworld. Christian Mary is the "new" version of Isis. Issue of how to keep Egyptian gods but convert to Christian model. The story of the Crucifixion is really the story of Osiris. Christianity spread quickly because it was really the continuation of the previous peoples' beliefs so no war necessary. Temple locale selected for bedrock, not sand & wind for best storage.	The temple Our history lesson continues. The class listens closely as the teacher is so interesting! So there's this god named Hapi, see, with a, you know, uh, breast, under his arm, uh... Horus