Esna
To see our other stops in
Egypt click on:
Giza and Cairo, Nile, Luxor east, Luxor
west, Esna,
Edfu, Kom
Ombo, Aswan,
Abu Simbel,
Hurghada, Memphis, People, Flowers, birds, and bugs
We
passed through a bazaar on the way to the temple of Khnum at Esna.
The temple was buried by
silt from
the Nile floods and the city was built over it.
It was discovered and
excavated and
so it sits in a pit in the middle of the town.
Egyptologists would like
to extend
the excavation.
To do so they would have
to destroy
the homes of people some of which have been in their family for many
generations.
Here is where we entered
the pit
The mud of the Nile has
preserved the
carvings and the original paint.
Every inch of the
columns are covered
with hieroglyphics.
More carvings on the
walls inside and
out.
The heads and bodies of
those who had
been defeated were depicted in this image.
The Egyptians were
building this at
the direction of the Romans who controlled the area at that time.
The artisans expressed
their distaste
for their task by incorporating some interesting errors.
For example this foot
has six toes
and many of the figures are strangely proportioned.
A little ancient Greek
graffiti on
one of the blocks of the temple.
If you want to make a
name for
yourself as an Egypt expert just translate this panel.
The hieroglyphics that
make it up are
unique to this temple and have never been decoded.
I think a literal
translation is
"crocodile, crocodile, crocodile, crocodile, something else, crocodile,
crocodile, crocodile, crocodile, crocodile, crocodile,
... "
Or more figuratively "There are a heck of a lot of crocodiles around
here"
Khnum is the god of
creation.
Here is the entire story
of how
the first man was made of clay on a potter's wheel.
A detail of the creation.
The
Esna locks in
the distance.
There are more pictures of them in action on the Nile page.
To see our other stops in
Egypt click on:
Giza and Cairo, Nile, Luxor east, Luxor
west, Esna,
Edfu, Kom
Ombo, Aswan,
Abu Simbel,
Hurghada, Memphis, People, Flowers, birds, and bugs
Thanks
to many friends on the trip for sharing their photos with us and with
you.
Jerry and Carmen, Jeannie and Bill, Kathy and Howard, Jim and Lilly,
Randy and Trena, and Hoy and Nancy thanks again.
See
other places we have visited here.
Go
to our Personal
home page
Go to our Community
page
Go
to our Science
Fun page
E-mail Nancy
and
Alan