Fodor's Expert Review Temple of Horus

Edfu's magnificent Temple of Horus is one of ancient Egypt's most intact temples, thanks to dry desert sand burying it for centuries, and it's a breathtaking sight. Built during the Ptolemaic Dynasty (305–30 BC) of the Greco-Roman Period, the temple rests on much earlier foundations.

The enormous, 37-meter-tall (120-foot-tall) Pylon, fronted by a pair of granite statues of Horus as a falcon that look miniscule in comparison, leads into the open Courtyard with a single row of columns on three sides. At the far end, in front of the Hypostyle Hall, are two more statues of Horus. The column capitals come in a wide variety of floral motifs, including palm leaves, lotus, and papyrus. A library was once located on the eastern side of the Hypostyle Hall, and hieroglyphs on the walls list the names of the books.

Beyond the Hypostyle Hall is a series of side chapels and chambers encircling the sanctuary. Carvings on the walls detail the construction of the temple, down to the specific day that work on it began: August 23, 237 BC. The inner rooms of the temple are dark and atmospheric and were originally illuminated only by shafts of light from narrow slits in the ceiling, which are still in place, today helped by modern lights along the floor. The once richly colored walls, decorated with scenes of pharaohs making offerings, would have shone and glimmered like jewels in the half-light, and it's easy to imagine priestly processions passing through the temple, chanting and praying amid clouds of incense. One of the side rooms, dubbed the Laboratory, lists the ingredients and recipes for perfumes and essences used in temple rituals.

In the Sanctuary is a reproduction of a barque, the sacred boat used to transport the statue of Horus for festivals and downriver to Dendera to be reunited with his wife, Hathor. A large granite shrine made during the reign of Nectanebo II (358–340 BC), a relic from the previous building and the oldest part of the temple, looms eerily at the back of the Sanctuary.

A stone enclosure wall wraps around the back half of the temple, and it has carvings of Horus defeating the god Set, who killed Horus's father Osiris. This area is one of the few places where this myth is illustrated. Set is shown as a small hippo, easily conquered by the huge figure of falcon-headed Horus.

On the eastern side of the temple is the Nilometer, a gauge used to measure the height of the Nile and to calculate taxes. If the river level was high, the harvest would be bountiful and so would the tax revenues.