Brief description of The Temple of

Philae

philea of temple the Egypt2

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The most Ancient were the remains of a Temple of Goddess hathor (Aphrodite), built in the reign of Nectanebus. The other ruins date for the most part from the Ptolemaic times, more especially with the reigns of Ptolemy Philadelphus, Ptolemy Epiphanes, and Ptolemy Philometor (282-145 BC), with many traces of Roman work as recent in

Philae

, dedicated to Ammon-Osiris, was approached from the River through a double colonnade In front of the propylaeum were two colossal lions in granite, behind which stood a pair of obelisks, each 44 feet High. The propylaeum were pyramidal in form and colossal in dimensions. One stood between the dorms and pronaos, another between the pronaos and the portico, while a smaller one led into the adytum. At each corner of the adytum stood a monolithic shrine, the cage of a sacred hawk. Of these shrines one is now in the Louvre, the other in the Museum at Florence. Right left of the entrance into the principal court are small temples or rather chapels, one of which, dedicated to Goddess hathor, is covered with sculptures representing the birth of Ptolemy Philometor. under the figure of the

god of

horus

. The story of God osiris is everywhere represented on the walls of this Temple, and two of its inner chambers are particularly rich in symbolic imagery. The soil of The Temple of philae was carefully prepared for the reception of its buildings – being leveled where it was uneven, and supported by masonry where it was crumbling or insecure. For example, the western wall of the Great Temple, and the corresponding wall of the dorms, were supported by very strong foundations, built below the pre- inundation level of the water, and rested on the granite which in this region forms the bed of the Nile. Here and there steps were hewn out from the wall to facilitate the communication between the Temple and the River. At the southern extremity of the dorms of the Great Temple was a smaller Temple, apparently dedicated to Isis

Egypt

ian Goddess ; at least the few columns that remained of it are surmounted with the head of that goddess. Its portico consisted of twelve columns, four in front and three deep. Their capitals represented various forms and combinations of the palm-branch and the lotus-flower. These, as well as the sculptures on the columns, the ceilings, and the walls, were painted with the most vivid colors, which, owing to the dryness of the climate, have lost little of their original brilliance.