Egypt Day 15 - Kom Ombo Philae and Agilkia Island

Itinerary Day 15:  Kom Ombo - Gebel El Silsila

"Here we visit the Greco Roman Temple at Kom Ombo. The temple building is totally symmetrical with two entrance's two halls and two sanctuaries dedicated to the Falcon God Haroeris (Horus the Elder) and the Crocodile God Sobek. We set off for the relaxing journey to the temple of Gebel el Silsila, another of our less frequented destinations. You will be amazed as we tie up alongside the Speos of Horemheb. If possible dinner will be served in the grounds of the illuminated temple or on the upper deck whilst soaking up the tranquil atmosphere with music to match the mood."

Journal: 
Actually we did none of that. We flip-flopped some sites between the itinerary for day 13 and today. We've already been to the Greco Roman Temple at Kom Ombo and the Speos of Horemheb is still in our future. As we are now the only passengers left on the boat, presumably the itinerary was juggled to coordinate travel logistics and accommodate our fellow passengers. Either that or Ismail modified the itinerary because it just made more sense this way. Doesn't matter. We totally trust the guy.

Unfinished Obelisk

Our first stop was the Unfinished Obelisk at the granite quarry in Aswan. An open air museum, an active archaeological site and a historical window into just exactly how they built and transported those things (no aliens needed). This is where the great Egyptian obelisks were quarried.

Philae and Agilkia Island

Next stop, a water taxi to the island of Philae and another relocated drowned temple complex...

... a temple complex originally sited on nearby Philae Island:

"The most conspicuous feature of both islands was their architectural wealth. Monuments of various eras, extending from the Pharaohs to the Caesars, occupy nearly their whole area. The principal structures, however, lay at the south end of the smaller island. The most ancient was a temple for Isis, built in the reign of Nectanebo I during 380-362 BC, which was approached from the river through a double colonnade. Nekhtnebef was his ancient Egyptian royal titulary and he became the founding pharaoh of the Thirtieth and last native dynasty when he deposed and killed Nepherites II. For the most part, the other ruins date from the Ptolemaic Kingdom, more especially with the reigns of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, Ptolemy V Epiphanes, and Ptolemy VI Philometor (282-145 BC), with many traces of Roman work in Philae dedicated to Ammon-Osiris."

The island was more underwater than not in the era of the Aswan Low Dam. In the sixties, like Abu Simbel, the ruins were relocated to higher ground on nearby Agilkia Island, and that is where we toured this day.

Temple walls and Turkish coffee.

I'm standing on Agilkila Island where the ancient temples stand now.
Behind me, Philae Island where the temples used to stand below water level.
And in the further distance,across Lake Nasser, the Aswan High Dam.

 Aswan High Dam

For millennia, the annual flooding of Nile Valley literally determined the ebb and flow of human civilization in Egypt. The floods depositing silt created the rich agricultural base that made the wealth and power of the great kingdoms possible. Transportation and communication on the Nile tied the kingdoms together. Barges lifted by the predictable floods moved tons of rock from quarries to the site of pyramids, temples and monuments that attract tourists today. The Nile floods made Egypt. But the Nile floods are no more.

In 1970 the annual flooding stopped with the completion of the Aswan High Dam, unarguably the most consequential construction project in the history of Egypt and perhaps all of Africa. It curtailed the destructive effects of the floods, generated a significant percentage of the country's electricity, permitted more predictable and reliable navigation on the Nile, spawned a fishing industry in the new inland freshwater sea, and made agricultural irrigation consistently productive. It's construction also had negative consequences, including the forced relocation of hundreds of thousands of people and drowning historic archaeological treasures. Other consequences are still being tallied and will continue to have ripple effects on the Mediterranean,  the river delta, wildlife, farming and culture for decades into the future.

Few would argue anything other than the benefits outweighed the costs, but the scales will be measured and balanced for decades to come.

Standing on the dam, contemplating it's meaning in the context of all we had seen, was a fitting finish the last upstream stop of our Nile cruise. It's all downstream from here.

Gamel Nasser played off relations with the US and the Soviet Union against each other during the cold war of the sixties. One benefit to Egypt was Soviet financial help building the Aswan High Dam. This massive monument to Egypt USSR friendship was erected to commemorate the completion of the dam.

I expect the Trump - Putin Friendship Monument planned for Central Park, NY to be even larger. 

Back to our cabin on the Amoura ...

Our cabin boy leaves us a new towel & blanket critter everyday. 

... and relaxing on the aft deck veranda with refreshments as we resume our cruise back North.

Sigrid says she is planning to move permanently to the Winter Palace in Luxor.

That's fine. I'll just stay on the Amoura.

Editors Note: I intend to pre-load and schedule automated blog posts with the daily itinerary for our Egypt and Jordan adventure. For those interested, this may be an easy way to follow along. Internet access is always a crapshoot. My hope is that by pre-loading the itinerary it will be easier to add some pics and journal commentary as time and the internet permits.

Egypt Day 13 - Kom Ombo, Nubian Village, Aswan Souk

Horus the Elder

Itinerary Day 13:  Kom Ombo / Aswan

"Enjoy the privilege and luxury of days gone by as we sail to Aswan, the gateway to Nubia and the Sudan. We arrive in the early afternoon , we will join our guide to visit to High Dam, the Unfinished Obelisk and granite quarries then to souk of Aswan if you wish to buy some of special spices in Aswan. Lunch on board. In the evening, You will have lots of time to prepare for our EGYPTIAN EVENING OF FUN, with Egyptian cuisine, Arabic Music. Dress in your bespoke Gallabeyah."

Journal: 
The itinerary took a bit of a detour. The Unfinished Obelisk and High Dam will wait for a couple of days as Ismael had this day jam packed with other sites.

Our guides compare notes, discuss the itinerary ,& managing their clients.

Our first stop ...

Greco Roman Temple at Kom Ombo

"Greco-Roman" tells us the Temple was constructed quite late in the long arc of Egyptian Dynastic history. The temple is highlighted in guidebooks as unique the among panoply of  Egyptian Temples for it's split personality. It honors two gods with symmetric construction of two halls and two sanctuaries. Which begs the question - Why two gods when most Egyptian temples are dedicated to one? This is where a guide like Ismael comes in handy. He explains the core insight needed to understand this temple. To whit:

The priests supported themselves and the temple with  the offerings of worshipers. The temple was initially dedicated to Sobek the Crocodile God. Crocodiles infested the Nile, and crocodiles being crocodiles, would occasionally eat an unwary Egyptian or their livestock. To protect themselves offerings were made to Sobek at the Temple to appease his appetite.  Problem being, over the years, the faithful noticed that they were still being eaten by crocodiles no matter how much they offered to Sobek. So they started diverting their offerings to more appreciative gods. This becomes an existential problem for the Sobek Temple priests.

In Silicon Valley, we'd call the problem a failure to monetize intellectual property amid a declining base of Average Daily Users. Net net - our Priestly Venture Capitalists needed a marketing plan to actualize increasing eyeballs.  The solution: Repurpose assets and relaunch the temple to a new target demographic.

Enter "Horus the Elder"as distinct from "Horus the Younger".  Horus the Younger - the Falcon God, was the most famous and revered of all the Egyptian Gods. The son of Osiris, Horus fought evil Set, unified the kingdom and spawned a line of  Pharaoh god kings that ruled throughout Egyptian history. But Horus the Elder is not that god. He just sounds like him. Since Horus the Younger already had a spectacular Temple just up the river, our priestly entrepreneurs needed a different god just for them at Kom Ombo. So they create Horus the Elder out of whole cloth, vaguely related to Horus, with a new separate symmetric entrance to the temple and a new source of funds for the Temple. It's kind of brilliant really.  Behold the Temple of Sobek,.. But Wait!!

There's More!! You also get the Temple of Horus the Elder! 

Also at Kom Ombo Temple, the Nilometer offered a fascinating insight into Ancient Egyptian life. As explained by Wikipedia:

"The ability to predict the volume of the coming inundation was part of the mystique of the Ancient Egyptian priesthood. The same skill also played a political and administrative role, since the quality of the year's flood was used to determine the levels of tax to be paid. This is where the nilometer came into play, with priests monitoring the day-to-day level of the river and announcing the awaited arrival of the summer flood."

The Nilometer 

Nubian Village

The next stop was a tour of the Nubian Village Gharb Soheil. Getting there is half the fun, with a water taxi motorboat run through Nile River cataracts and past Elephantine Island.

This is a relocated village, as Nubians in this area were displaced to make way for the High Dam. The people were froced to transition from fishing and farming to attracting tourists to survive. We do our part. We walk through the village along the Nile, take in the brightly colored homes and spices in the village souk (market).

In the village itself we tour a "typical' home. The extended Rabee family lives there. Tourists traipse through their home as they go about their business of cooking, cleaning, selling craft items, and tending to penned baby crocodiles used for photo ops.

Sigrid takes the opportunity to engage in her favorite form of travel photography, shooting portraits of the locals.

It was already a long day, but at dusk we had one more stop...

The Aswan Souk

Ismael told us we could buy anything here, and I wouldn't argue.  

We were interested in spices, herbs and tea while in the Nubian village, but Ismael advised us to wait for the Aswan market. He lives near Aswan, shops here himself and took us to the store he patronizes, saying this was the place for spices. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the store or the friendly proprietor - but the carved concrete relief of the building where the store resides says "El-Azhar Agency - Established in 1937 - Hussien Shata. MW Recommended.

Saffron, teas, dried hibiscis flowers, and herbs were among our selections...

Now all we have to do is get it all past Customs. Just kidding (not kidding).

A long day, a fun day, but we had one more surprise. When we returned to the boat, I had a traditional gallabeyah presented to me by the captain and was instructed to wear it for dinner.   A gift for my birthday, or perhaps a farewell gift from the crew. I wasn't quite sure.

It was the last night for most of the other passengers, some departing that night some the next day, so it was a night of celebration, with traditional music by the crew, singing, dancing, and a terrific feast.

Everything was great. Sigrid was theoretically shooting the crew performance on video, but all we got out of her efforts with the camera was this one out of focus shot:

And the memories. We have the memories.

Editors Note: I intend to pre-load and schedule automated blog posts with the daily itinerary for our Egypt and Jordan adventure. For those interested, this may be an easy way to follow along. Internet access is always a crapshoot. My hope is that by pre-loading the itinerary it will be easier to add some pics and journal commentary as time and the internet permits. If there are no pics or commentary, you'll just have to wait until we get back.