The Temple of Isis at Philae

Kiosk of Nectanebo

Ornate lintel

1st Pylon, Philae

"Un-Egyptian" Lion

The Mammisi

Collonade

Seated Gods

Horus and Isis

Gods and Kings

Trajan's Kiosk

(Tour arranged and organised by Cecelia and Lindy at Egypt & Beyond.)

On our February 2008 visit to Aswan, one of the fascinating places we visited was the Graeco-Roman temple of Isis on the island of Philae. Although this island is generally known as Philae, its name is actually Agilkia.

When the first Aswan dam was built by the British in the early part of the 20th century, the original Philae Island was partially flooded every year during the inundation and visitors to the region were even able to sail in and out between the temple columns! When the new High dam was built in the 1960’s, the Philae temples seemed destined to be lost forever under the waters of the new dam; but as with the Abu Simbel temples, the temples of Philae were saved from this fate by massive Egyptian and international efforts and, like the Abu Simbel temples, the Philae island temples were dismantled and reconstructed on the nearby island of Agilkia; this island was prepared and landscaped so as to resemble as closely as possible the original Philae Island.

Although the island is covered in ruined structures. they are all from relatively late in Egypt’s ancient history; the earliest evidence of a temple dates only to the time of the Nubian king Taharqa (25th Kushite Dynasty 690-664BCE). The next identifiable structure is the kiosk of one of the last native Egyptian pharaohs, Nectanebo I (380-362BCE) – this small open structure is hardly noticed by visitors although it is very close to the present day landing area; it is in fact, very nice and worth looking out for; the screen walls are connected by Hat-hor columns; the walls topped with uraei.

From here a processional way leads to the main temple dedicated to the goddess Isis. Construction of the temple was started under the Ptolemies but it was only completed during the Roman period.

The processional way is flanked by two colonnades – to your right, the unfinished eastern colonnade and to your left the completed western colonnade; have a look upwards at the columns here; you’ll see that each column is topped by a different but beautifully sculpted and very ornate capital.

Moving further along, one comes to the first pylon of the temple; the main decoration depicts the king Ptolemy XII in the ancient traditional ‘smiting’ pose – he’s shown smiting his enemies in front of the goddess Hat-hor. The outline of the figures can still be seen but details like faces and clothing have been meticulously destroyed sometime in the ancient past.

Approaching the portal of this pylon, take a look at the two stone lions flanking the steps – these look very un-Egyptian; another unusual feature is the door in one pylon tower that leads into the ‘mammisi’ or birth house, of Ptolemy VI. Reliefs in the mammisi, as can be expected, are mainly connected with the birth of Horus, son of Isis.

Going through the portal you find yourself in a great court in front of the second pylon, with another colonnade to your right and the wall of the ‘mammisi’ to the left.

Moving on through the portal of the second pylon takes you into the hypostyle hall of the main temple; especially noteworthy are more ornate capitals of the columns here. (Much of the decoration was chiseled away when the building was being used as a Coptic church).

Beyond this are the chambers of the inner temple with the sanctuary dedicated by Ptolemy III and his wife Berenike to Isis. Only the pedestal that once held the granite shrine remains – as with other temples, the shrines have been removed and today stand in various European museums.

A number of other small religious structures are to be seen although these are usually ignored by the ordinary tourist. But of the subsidiary buildings on the island the most visible and impressive is the Kiosk of Trajan which has the nickname of ‘Pharaoh’s bed’. Today it’s roofless but is assumed to have once had a wooden roof, long since rotted away. It’s still a magnificent building and as with the Nectanebo kiosk, screen walls are connected by fourteen columns; these support the architraves that span the great empty space. Two wide doorways face east and west – it’s believed that in antiquity the eastern doorway led to the quayside – which suggests that the kiosk may have functioned as a formal gateway to the temple precinct.

There is something else that is interesting about Philae temple - this is where the last known hieroglyphic inscriptions are found – these date to 394CE although Demotic graffiti found here date to 425CE; thus they are the last dated inscriptions of a script that originated about 3500 years earlier.

Here, the last of the men who understood and wrote the old language retreated after a decree of Constantine the Great made Christianity the official religion and banned the old one. Because of the relative inaccessibility of Philae, the priests of Isis were able to continue performing the ancient rituals and Philae became an island retreat for the followers of the old gods; but in 550CE, by decree of the emperor Justinian, the temple was converted into a Christian church. The ultimate fate of the followers of Isis on Philae is unknown but for about 1500 years there was no one who could read or understand the hieroglyphs; however the chance discovery of the ‘Rosetta Stone’ at Rosetta in the Delta provided the key to understanding the ‘glyphs, and its thanks to the work of such men as Jean-François Champollion and Thomas Young that we are able to read texts unread for centuries and through them to learn and understand as far as we can, the fascinating history of Ancient Egypt.

To find out how you can visit these fascinating sites, please contact us on +27 11 678 4777 or +27 11 478 2884 or email us on: info@egyptandbeyond.co.za.

 
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