Edfu, January 2002
The temple of Horus at Edfu, about 100 km south of
Luxor. Built around 200 BC, it is much more recent than the
temples at Karnak or Luxor, and is mostly intact,
but is built to a similar pattern. Without seeing the
temple at Edfu, I would have found it very difficult
to imagine, from the ruins at Karnak and Luxor,
what a complete Pharaonic temple looked like.
The entrance leads to a courtyard, beyond which is
the hall of pillars:
The roof is intact at Edfu and (unlike Karnak) the walls
have no openings, so the temple must have artificial
light inside; presumably in ancient times, oil
lamps were used. As at Karnak and Luxor, the inner
walls are covered with illustrated religious
texts:
Of course the outer walls have texts and pictures too,
and some are in better condition than the older examples at Karnak and Luxor:
