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ASWAN DAM AND TEMPLE OF PHILAE (PHOTO BLOG VIII)

Aswan Dam and Temple of Philae

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Majestic Egypt VIII (Photo Blog VIII)

By Dr. Narasinha Kamath

After we completed our tour to Edfu Temple, we sailed in cruise ship to the last stop that was Aswan. We had a very nice time at the cruise ship for about 3 days and every one of us was disappointed to leave the ship. But like all of us know, for every beginning there is an end that follows it.

Just before disembarking to Aswan (Photo 1)

After disembarkation in Aswan from Cruise Ship Royal Lotus (Photo 2)

Early morning, we disembarked our cruise ship “Royal Lotus”. Our sightseeing bus was ready right across the pier. And our next sightseeing tour was a visit to Northern granite stone quarry (about more than 3,500 years old) which still has an Unfinished Gigantic Obelisk and information on 5,000 year old ancient techniques of sculpting an obelisk from a single granite stone and other granite statues. And after the visit to the quarry, we were to visit Aswan Dam and after visit to Aswan Dam we were scheduled to visit one of the most ancient Temple of Philae all of these sightseeing places were within 30 minutes to 45 minutes drive. Following 3 paragraphs describe about these 3 sightseeing places.

UNFINISHED OBELISK IN ASWAN :

Famous Unfinished Obelisk in Northern Quarry of Aswan with Crack at the Top (Photo 3)

Another photo of Unfinished Obeliskwith crack on the Top (Photo 4)

In my earlier travelogue on my Egypt Tour, you have already seen photos of very tall obelisks inside Karnak Temple. Since Pharaoh’s time (about 5,000 years back), Pharaoh Kings and Egyptians living at that time strongly believed that Cosmic Energy can be drawn from universe back to Earth using Obelisks pointed towards the sky. This is the reason why the topmost part of an Obelisk had a pointed structure like a needle. From religious point of view, Obelisks were very important at that time. So Obelisks were produced from a large granite stone and transported at great cost to various Temples of Ancient Egypt. Sculpting an Obelisk out of a single granite stone in a quarry was a very laborious task.

Northern Quarry (Photo 5)

Northern Quarry (Photo 6)

Northern Quarry (Photo 7)

So it was but natural that Pharaoh Kings over a period of time built Obelisks at the entrance of various Temples of Egypt for religious reasons.

There were several techniques for splitting of hard stone away from its surrounding rock.

One of the in genuine methods used by ancient Egyptians was to cut the groove along the lines drawn forming an Obelisk and drive wooden wedges inside the groove which were then soaked with cold water. So the force of swelling wood would split the granite and obelisk form thus created was then finely finished on the spot using primitive tools and then was transported to Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple through the Nile River using a boat.

Ancient Egyptians had very primitive cutting tools during their times and creating a nicely finished Obelisk using these primitive tools is considered to be an amazing feat by archeologists. It seems that the unfinished Obelisk (see the photo below) which would have measured 42 meter length and would have ultimately weighed about 1220 tonnes, developed a flaw (crack) during quarrying and was never completed and was left to lie still attached to the granite rock for next 3,000 years. However, this unfinished Obelisk became a major tourist attraction for centuries.

It seems that the granite used for burial chamber of Great Pyramids of Giza as well as some fine granite stones used for the construction of Great Pyramids came from this Northern quarry. Archeologists were amazed to see the primitive tools that the artisans used in the quarry to shape the granite stone.

To the south of unfinished Obelisk, archeologists also found instructions given by Pharaoh Kings to the sculptors on how to cut, carve and transport the stone written in ancient hieroglyphic script.

Also archeologists found the depressions made from the hewing of seven large obelisks erected at Karnak Temple.

This site is now landscaped with a board walk and viewing platform to see the unfinished Obelisk and many other sites within the quarry. And thousands of visitors come here to see unfinished Obelisk.

Mysterious Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut (1473 BC-1458 BC) was very fond of erecting Obelisks. In fact, under her supervision, her artisans sculpted 2 longest Obelisks which were installed inside Karnak Temple about 3,500 years ago. One of the these 2 obelisks got destroyed but second one still stands gloriously inside Karnak Temple (see below photo) on which Queen Hatshepsut’s name is inscribed. Even after almost 3,500 years this Obelisks looks dazzling which is made out of Red Granite (from Northern Quarry of Aswan) and is considered to be the tallest Obelisk in Egypt today. It is 97 feet tall and estimated to be weighing about 320 tons (some estimated it as weighing 700 tons).

Tallest Obelisk in Karnak Temple built by Queen Hatshepsut (Photo 8)

Tallest Obelisk from a distance (Photo 9)

ASWAN DAM:

In June 1902, one year ahead of schedule, John Aird and Company of London completed the most ambitious project of 20^th Century that was Aswan Dam at Aswan. This Dam was a grand achievement of British Colonial Era. It was a marvel of Civil Engineering. Dam improved the irrigation of all of Egypt. This 1902 Dam was a stepping stone along the historic path that lead to construction of High Dam in 1960’s which was of course President Nasser’s dream project.

Construction of High Dam of Aswan (see few photos below), was to form a massive lake called now as Lake Nasser which is about 300 miles in length. High Aswan Dam controlled the annual flooding of Nile River and helped irrigating agriculture which was very crucial to Egypt. Initially, USA and Britain were to finance the Project. But offer was withdrawn by USA and Britain and President Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal and made an announcement that income from Suez Canal will fund the project of High Dam. President Nasser went on to take Soviet help for additional finances and finally Soviet Engineers completed the construction of High Dam of Aswan on July 21^st, 1970.

Aswan Dam (Photo 10)

Aswan Dam (Photo 11)

Aswan Dam Description (Photo 12)

Aswan Dam (Photo 13)

Photo taken at Aswan Dam (Photo 14)

Photo taken at Aswan Dam (Photo 15)

Photo taken at Aswan Dam (Photo 16)

Photo taken at Aswan Dam (Photo 17)

TEMPLE OF PHILAE (NEAR ASWAN):

The Temple of Philae is one of the most ancient Temples of Egypt. Construction of this Temple was started by King Ptolemy II and later was completed by Roman Emperors. The Temple was dedicated to Goddess Isis who was very important to ancient Egyptians as she was associated with funeral rites. Goddess Isis was immensely popular where pilgrims would come from all over Mediterranean. Original Temple of Philae was completed over a span of 800 years and it was one of the strongholds of Ancient Egyptian Religion which continued to flourish into 6^th Century AD almost for 4,000 years. In 550AD, after the Temple was closed by Emperor Justinian and converted to a Christian Church, the worship of Ancient Goddess Isis was ended after 4,000 years as Emperor called Goddess Isis as one of the pagan or false Goddess. This shows that even a Religion which survived for 4,000 years can vanish.

After High Dam of Aswan was completed, Temple of Philae was almost flooded and lost in the water. Fortunately, with the joint operation of UNESCO and Egyptian Government

Philae Temple was dismantled from its original site and reassembled on Agilika Island 550 meters from original site. It was a Great Engineering feat once again. First the flooded water was pumped out dry and then every stone block of Temple complex was labeled and removed and reassembled like a jigsaw puzzle to a new site 550 meters away on high ground of island Agilika. The whole project of reassembly took almost 10 years and finally in 1980 it was completed and thus saved one of Egypt’s most beautiful Temples from certain destruction.

I think photos of Temple of Philae pasted below will speak for the beauty of the Temple.

I have attached below photographs of my visit to Temple of Philae in Egypt. I have numbered all the photographs. Please let me know which photos you liked.

(Egypt Tour Travelogues to be continued…..)

Photographs: By Dr. Kamath and Lalita Kamath

Approach to the Temple of Philae on Agilika Island (Photo 18)

Another photo of Approach to Temple of Philae by boat (Photo 19)