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A Temple Fit for a Goddess & Nubian DancersEgypt, Part 8
(by Patti Day-Miller - July 19, 2010)
The Temple of Isis, on the island of Philae, had been a place of pilgrimage for her cult worshippers for thousands of years (well into the Christian era). By Roman times, Isis had become the greatest of the Egyptian gods, worshipped throughout the Roman Empire, even as far as Britain. Isis was still being worshipped at Philae in 550 AD, when the emperor Justinian closed the temple complex.
After the first Aswan Dam was built, the temple became partly underwater 6-9 months most years, and tourists began using row boats to glide among the partially submerged columns and peer down to the sanctuaries of the gods below. When the High Dam was built, this was one of the temple complexes that UNESCO rescued and relocated (40,000 stone blocks) to the nearby island of Agilkia. The rescue effort even included landscaping this island to look the same as the Island of Philae.
On our boat trip to the island, our guide allowed a Nubian to travel with us and sell his peoples jewelry onboard, and promised that hed be returning with us, if we wanted to wait to make our purchases. The boats dock near the oldest part of the complex, the Hall of Nectanebo (4th century BC). From here one walks through the outer temple court (colonnades along both sides) to the entrance to the Temple of Isis.
Built in the late Ptolemaic and early Roman periods, the huge temple combines Egyptian and Graeco-Roman architecture. The first pylon shows Ptolemy XII killing his enemies, while being watched by Isis, Horus, and Hathor. The second pylon leads to a 10-columned hypostyle hall and beyond into the inner sanctuary of Isis where the goddess gold statue once stood inside a red granite shrine. The stone shrine is now at the British Museum, but the stone base that once held the barque in which the statue traveled is still in place.
The Temple of Hathor, on the eastern side of the island, contains playful reliefs of musicians, including Bes, the god of singing and childbirth, as well as an ape playing a lute. South of this by the waters edge is the 14-columned, unfinished but elegant Kiosk of Trajan, which has scenes of the emperor burning incense in front of Osiris, Isis, and Horus.
Fortunately the island also held a small, shaded outdoor gift shop and refreshment area. I say fortunately because it was over 100º that afternoon, and that ice cold Coca Cola tasted very refreshing. (Yes, I was drinking large amounts of bottled water, but the remainder of my water was pretty warm by then, and I can still remember how good that Coca Cola tasted/felt in my mouth and going down my throat.)
Then it was all aboard our motor boat, but alas, we were stuck in the mud and couldnt launch! We all moved up to one end of the boat, and eventually, off we went to huge applause and much laughter. The Nubian jewelry seller did good business that day on our motor boat, as we headed across the water back to Aswan.
Once back in Aswan, we were bussed to the ancient granite quarries to view the Unfinished Obelisk. Due to the 100º+ heat, it already being at a full day of sight-seeing, and the fact that it was a bit of a hike up the hill to view the obelisk, some of us decided to stay in the air-conditioned bus. But those who went found it quite interesting. Heres a brief synopsis of what they viewed.
This gigantic obelisk (from New Kingdom era) would have been the largest found in Egypt had it been completed (134 feet tall and 
aweighing 1,197 tons). Three sides of it were quarried when a flaw was discovered in the stone and it was abandoned, still partially attached to the parent rock. The Aswan quarries were Egypts main source of granite, a stone found only in this region of Egypt.
From here, it was back to our ship, where at 7 p.m. we would be treated to a show featuring Nubian music and dancers. But before that, some in our group had signed up for the felucca (small, twin-masted boat) sail around Elephantine Island, which they said was very relaxing.
A short history on the Nubians seems to be in order here. Aswan sits on what was once the northern border of Nubia. When the old Aswan Dam was built and then raised in 1934, the rising water flooded a large number of Nubian villages. Many Nubians moved north into Egypt at that time. (Villages close to Aswan—Elephantine, West Aswan and Seheyl—are made up of Nubians who moved at that time.) However many Nubians decided to stay in their homeland and build new villages on higher ground. When the High Dam was built creating Lake Nasser, all of Nubia went underwater, and the date plantations that had been central to their economy were destroyed. The Nubians lost their land and may lose much of their culture and traditions, since new generations are growing up as Egyptians. (In the 1960s 50,000 Nubians were relocated to government-built villages around Kom Ombo.) However, the Nubian culture is currently still very vibrant and perhaps most recognized for its music, which has a unique rhythmic quality that is more African than Egyptian or middle-eastern.
Three basic instruments are used: the oud (lute), the douff (a wide, shallow drum that musicians hold in their hand), and the kisir (a stringed instrument). Used together, these instruments create a very warm, harmonious, rhythmic sound. Our show with the Nubian musicians and dancers was very well received by our group, and some joined the Nubians in their dancing.
Then we had dinner at 8 p.m. and retired to our rooms, where we found yet another towel sculpture. This time it was a person, stretched out (as in sunbathing on the sun deck) and wearing Daves sunglasses. The next morning wake-up was to be at 4:15 a.m., luggage outside door at 4:30, leave the ship at 5:15, and head to the airport for the hour and a half flight to Cairo, The Mother of the World.
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