Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Aswan Chronicles : Day One “Part Two at Temple of Philae"

This part two of my Day one in Aswan Chronicles, you can read my first part here.

Already I visit so many places on Day one and took 4 GB of photos and videos, so you can imagine how I am trying to organize and edit everything properly before uploading and publishing it.

There was a very small number of foreign tourists in the city despite it is a golden season for Aswan now, the city is surviving on the local tourism. The Esna lock strike was devastating to the industry according to our tour guide as the city depends on the Nile Cruises.

He also told us that thousands of irrigation workers and employees are threatening to cut again the channel by the end of the month if their main demand is not met: To be fully appointed.

They suspended their strike after the massacre of Port Said.

Some tour guides do not like the revolution as it harmed their business.

The beautiful island of Philae is more than great as you will see in the photos. I am speechless after visiting it. I took over 100 photos there and I think you should bookmark this set in order to enjoy it. Please browse till the end as I spent hours uploading it !!
The Temple of Philae "2012"

I knew for the first time that the early radical Christians destroyed many of the images featuring ancient Egyptian gods including a beautiful depiction for Isis breastfeeding Horus.

Defaced ancient deities inside Egypt's Temple of Philae
The defaced deity at the temple of Philae 

It is at the Holy of Holies and the head of Isis was removed by the radical Christians as they felt there was a resemblance between it and between the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus.

Before heading to the Holy of Holies, there was this simple old Upper Egyptian Man with that traditional wear and grey moustache listening with us to the explanation and description of the Holy of Holies, then he headed with us and I found him telling his companion "this is the altar" and "here is the picture of that lady whom they removed her head".

That old man asked our tour before leaving from what books he knew this stuff and he told him the books of Dr.Selim Hassan."The Godfather of Egyptian Egyptologists"
Hieroglyphs inside Egypt's Temple of Philae
Hieroglyphs inside Egypt's Temple of Philae

It gives me the creep on what the radicals can do and it also gives me an idea on how the early Muslims are not like the so-called modern Salafists who want to cover the ancient Egyptian statues with wax !!

Anyhow to be honest I saw a group of Salafist men visiting the temple in my way out. “It turns out the MB is offering trips for Luxor and Aswan to promote local tourism from what I understood !!”

First time to see all these French inscriptions in the 19th century, disgusting just like Ahmed loves Mona Shit inscription.
Inscriptions inside Egypt's Temple of Philae
Europeans had their share from leaving their print in the temple 
I think I should have stayed more time in that amazing temple, my first ancient Egyptian temple in amazing Aswan.

Inside Egypt's Temple of Philae
The small temple 
I wish that I was able to take more photos for that small temple beside it.

Aswan: Temple of Philae

Of course one of the important lessons I learned in Philae is that the rulers of this country always use religion to win the heart and mind of the Egyptian people since ancient Egypt.

The Ptolemaic dynasty used religion to come close to the Egyptian people so all the kings and queens of ancient Egypt.

This shows you how religion and politics are mingled in Egypt and how religion is playing an essential role in this nation.

3 comments:

  1. And you had absolutely nothing to say about the 'peoples' of Aswan and Nubia minor, the Nubians or their plight, their culture, history and challenges.
    Just typical...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So much hate , so much to the level that blinds you from seeing that this is not a political post
      Just typical indeed Taharqa

      Delete
  2. In part 1 you mentioned Nasser, those who gave their lives building the dams, Sadat and Al-Awa - and you completely neglected mention of the Nubians and their sacrifices and the 'real' issues surrounding the dam - and then you stated that that post was not political in spite of the fact that you mentioned

    In part 2 I admonished your lack of any reference to the culture and history of the indigenous peoples of the area and your reply insinuates that culture and history are supposed to be political?

    Such shameless, barefaced double standards.

    Exactly the type of mentality that was abundant in the 'old' dictatorial Egypt would say...

    Plus que ça change, plus que c'est la meme chose

    Writing about Aswan and not mentioning the Nubians is moral bankruptcy.

    ReplyDelete

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