This is the Temple of Horus. It is the most complete and best preserved cult temple in Egypt. It was dedicated to the falcon god, Horus. Temple construction began in 327 B.C. and lasted for 180 years. It was finally finished in 57 B.C. by Cleopatra VII’s father. It is also the second largest temple in all of Egypt. Like other temples that we saw, it was covered with inscriptions, hieroglyphs, and reliefs. They show religious ceremonies, tales of bravery, and the wisdom of the pharaohs and gods.

The first photo is the main entrance into the temple. As you can see, it is quite large and very well preserved. It’s a very pleasant looking photo, but what you need to consider what cannot be seen. It was about 110 degrees that day.

The temple had an outer wall, a large great courtyard, large outer and inner halls, several chambers, and a sanctuary that was surrounded by chapels and rooms and lots of passageways. The second photo is one of the passageways. I picked this one to show you because you can see some of the reliefs carved into the walls. The entire temple was covered with just such carvings. Vicky is smiling in the photo, but being in these passageways was like being in an oven and getting baked.

The third photo is the sanctuary or most sacred part of the temple. The large shrine in the back of the room is one-piece of polished granite that housed a solid gold cult statue of Horus, the falcon god. While the reliefs don’t stand out as well in this photo, you can perhaps see that all the walls in the sanctuary were carved with reliefs from floor to ceiling.

The next photo is the large great courtyard. I didn’t walk off how large it was, but it was a big space with many large pillars and relief carvings on the walls.

The next photo is in the hypostyle hall. You can also see the relief carvings on the pillars pretty well in this photo. We actually thought that these pillars were big – until we got to the Temple of Karnak in Luxor.

The last photo is an extremely telling one. Now think about this. This is ancient Egypt. This temple was started in 327 B.C. You can see the main entrance to the Temple of Horus in the background. Now, what do you see Vicky walking on in this photo?

It’s an ancient Egyptian handicap ramp. Those ancient Egyptians were so far ahead of their time, it baffles the imagination.