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Main article: Egypt
Kom el-Ahmar (Nehen, Hieraconpol)
Main article: Nehen (Hieraconpol)
100 km south of Luxor and 26 km from Esna, on the western bank of the Nile, was the very ancient city of Nehen, modern Kom el-Ahmar ("Red Mound").
El Qab (Neheb)
Main article: Neheb (El Qab)
Esne (Ta Sni, Latopolis)
On the west bank of the Nile, there was a city now called Esne. In Egyptian, the place was called Inuet or Ta-Sni - hence the Coptic Dream and the Arabic Esne, the Greek Latopolis.
Here, already in the time of Thutmose, ІІІ worshiped, as in Elephantine, the god Khnum. Hnum, who had long been known as the main god in this territory, was considered the god of fertility; his incarnation was the oval.
At the same time, Hnum was considered as a demiurge who created humanity from clay on a potter's wheel; it was believed that in the same way he created the newborn pharaoh every time.
As the wife of Hnum, the goddess of earthly fertility Nebtu (or Heaven, which means "lady of the district") appeared, and as a son - the god Heck. Very little is known about these two deities.
The local goddess Menhet was also worshipped here.
When and how the cult of Nate was established in Esna, the goddess Saisa (Lower Egypt) is unknown, but she pushed back the goddess Nebta and began to be considered the wife of Khnum. Her name was part of the theophoric names of two queens of Tinis time - Meritneit and Hetepneit. The Greeks, in particular Herodotus, identified Egyptian Nate with Greek Athena. Both Delta and Sais had theogony and cosmogony, led by Nate.
Having settled in Esna, the goddess Nate did not lose her two-domed appearance - a characteristic feature that she differed in Saisa, where she was considered both a god and a goddess - the creator of the universe. In Saisa, Nate was not associated with any god, and this is logical. Having appeared in Esna and becoming the wife of the god Hnum, she, contrary to logic, retained her double-headed character and the role of the supreme demiurge. The divine pair Hnum - Nate embodied a clear contradiction, however, in the religious consciousness of the Egyptians who inhabited Esne, this fully fit, as evidenced by the relevant texts.
An Egyptian temple of Roman time rises in Esne. The texts of this temple date back to the І- ІI centuries C.E. and, therefore, largely reflect the views of this period.
Edfu (Dzeba, Behdet)
Edfu (Arab, dr.-egip. Dzeba, or Behdet; Greek "Apollonos polis megale") is a city in Upper Egypt, on the western bank of the Nile, between Gebel Silsila and Thebes.
The cult of the solar deity Choir of Behdet and Winged Disk as the sacred coat of arms of the united Egypt
The cult of the Choir in Edfa went back to the time of the Ancient Kingdom, and it dates back to the era before the unification of Egypt. The Edfu choir was considered the husband of the goddess Hathor (from Dendera), and their son was Horsmataui ("The choir is the unifier of the Two Lands").
The Behdetsky Choir is a solar deity - Winged Disk (sun). In later times, his image became the universal emblem of divinity and higher holiness, it is available at the entrance to all Egyptian temples. However, the Winged Disk is no later an invention of Egyptian mythology and art, it is already found during the V dynasty with the following accompanying words: "Good God, Lord of Both Lands." As you know, this is the usual epithet of any pharaoh. Thus, the Winged Disk is both the deity of the sun, the Behdet Choir, and the generalized prototype of the pharaoh. A. Gardiner shares the opinion of K. Zete that the Winged Disk is a kind of sacred coat of arms symbolizing a single Egypt, and the wings of the disk are Upper and Lower Egypt.
In Edfu there is a large temple built during the time of the Lagids - the pearl of Egyptian architecture of the Greco-Roman time. It is dedicated to the god Hor Behdetsky.
The temple was erected on the site of an older temple. Numerous texts covering its walls tell of the construction of the temple, which began under Ptolemy І Everget in 237 BC. The temple was opened during the reign of Ptolemy X Alexander (107-88 BC) and was completely completed under Ptolemy KhІІІ Neos Dionysia in 47 BC.
This temple was preserved better than all other temples of ancient Egypt, moreover, it can be said without exaggeration that by the 20th century it had reached us almost intact.
The incarnation of the Choir in Edfu was the falcon. Near the temple there was a poultry house for falcons. Priests in the temple played a ritual drama on certain days containing episodes from the Choir's struggle against their enemies.
The myth of the Choir of Behdet, captured on the walls of the Edfu temple, is a religious drama, the content of which boils down to the following. The Behdet choir in the form of the Winged Disc (sun) accompanies the great god-king Ra-Harahti in Nubia, who leads an countless army. The Behdet Choir has seen the enemies of the god, and Ra-Harahti allows him to destroy them. Enemies turn into crocodiles and hippos trying to attack Ra-Harahti, but the Behdet Choir pursues and smashes them. The leader of the enemies, the god Seth, is destroyed. The Chorus, the son of Isis, joins the Choir of Behdet, and together they pursue fleeing enemies all the way to the sea.
Thus, the victory of Ra-Harakhti is mainly the victory of both Choirs - the Choir of Behdet and the Choir, the son of Isis. The Behdet Choir performs in myth as a solar deity.
As noted by [1], from a satellite and defender of the solar god, the god Seth turned into the leader of his enemies. In Greco-Roman times, Seth was seen as a devil or Satan, the patron saint of all things foreign and an enemy of the Egyptian gods. At the same time, the essence of the myth remained the same: the eternal struggle of light and goodness with evil, permeating and memorial texts. At first, this struggle was thought of as a clash of two opposite, mutually exclusive physical principles: light and heat with darkness and cold, but gradually it was transferred to the spiritual and moral sphere, becoming a struggle between good and evil - the moral principle began to pave its way in the thick of ritual-magical views.
The second part of the myth is a mystery committed in the temple. Moreover, the main character is named here by the Choir of Behdetsky, the image of which merges with the Choir, the son of Isis. Pharaoh and Isis, the mother of the Choir, the god Toth, the priest-reader, etc. participate in the dialogues. Both parts of the myth are illustrated in reliefs. The mystery was played at the temple annually in the first half of January.
In later times, the Behdet Choir was revered as one of the most important gods in the country.
The temple of the Choir was excavated by O. Mariett, as the structure was covered with various kinds of deposits. Today, the Edfu Temple is not a picturesque ruin, but a miraculously preserved temple of antiquity. From the upper platform of its pylon, where two stairs of 242 steps with 14 platforms lead, an enchanting landscape opens, watered with unflappable calm.
Gebel Silsila
Accustomed to the regularity of the Nile spills for thousands of years, the Egyptians explained both the spills and their absence by the manifestation of the divine will of a mighty and great river. Neil, on whom the well-being of the whole country depended, naturally, could not help but be in the eyes of people a local deity worshiped him and made sacrifices in different places. This faith manifested itself especially strongly in Gebel Silsila.
The Nile here flows along a ravine in the cliffs through which the great river has broken its way. During the New Kingdom, chapels were carved in Gebel Silsila and hymns were inscribed to the god of the river - Hapi.
Kom-Ombo
In the area currently known as Kom-Ombo, on the eastern slope of the hill, above the bend of the river, the Egyptian temple of Roman time is quite well preserved. It was a temple of two deities who dominated it on equal terms - the crocodile god Sebek and Harur (Choir the Veliky is one of the hypostases of the god Choir).
It has been established that there was a temple here before dating back to the XVІ dynasty, but whether it was dedicated to two gods is unknown. How to explain the combination of Sebek and Harur is difficult to say, but the fact is obvious. Each of these gods was endowed with a "family" by the priests of Kom-Ombo.
Aswan
Stone quarries
Aswan quarries are located along the Nile near the town of Aswan. There are several famous places here: Shellal, consisting of northern and southern quarries on an area of about 20 km2 on the western shore, as well as the islands of Elephantine and Seheil. Some of the notable monuments found at the site are:
- The unfinished obelisk is still in place, in the northern quarry
- Incomplete partially processed obelisk base discovered in 2005
- Granite sarcophagus in burial chambers of Third Dynasty pharaoh Josera in Saqqara and Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Snofru in Dahshur
- The King's Grand Gallery and Chamber in the Khufu Pyramid, as well as his granite block sarcophagus
- The sarcophagus and the lower layer of the outer cladding of the pyramid of Hefren in Giza, as well as the statue of Hefren, all made of granite
- The burial chamber and the lower layers of the outer lining of the Menkaur pyramid in Giza are made of granite
- Cleopatra Needles ( transferred from Alexandria to London and New York).
Elephantine and Sehel Islands
At the first threshold of the Nile is the island of Elephantine. At the southern end of the island during the time of Ancient Egypt, there was a temple of the god Hnum, depicted as a man with a ram's head. Hnum iskoni was considered a lord and demiurge in the territory adjacent to the first threshold.
The wife of the god Hnum was the goddess Satis, and the goddess Anuket was the daughter. Both of these goddesses, whom Egyptian iconography portrayed as anthropomorphic, appear to have been revered iskoni in territories located south of Egypt, hence deities "borrowed" by Egyptians from southern neighbors. The goddess Anuket was considered the mistress of Sehel, one of the islands of the archipelago of the first Nile threshold.
Biget ( Abaton) and Filet Islands
In Greco-Roman times, the cult of the god Osiris and the goddess Isis flourished on two islands of this archipelago. When exactly their cult got here and established itself here is unknown. On the island of Biga, known in Greco-Roman time as Abaton, the ashes of the god Osiris allegedly rested. Access to Bige was extremely difficult, especially for foreigners.
On the nearby island of Filae, a temple was erected in honor of the wife of Osiris, the goddess of Isis, and their son, the god Horpakrat (meaning "Choir Child"). Every ten days, the goddess "visited" the grave of her late husband (her idol was taken there), where a funeral libation with milk was performed.
On Fila, along with the temple of the goddess Isis, there was a temple in honor of the goddess Hathor; the service in it was accompanied by night singing and dancing.
Finally, here, on Fila, a small temple was erected in honor of the healing god Imhotep, whom the Greeks called Asclepius.
Later cults continued to coexist peacefully with older ones.
In Greco-Roman times, the cult of the goddess Isis in Egypt was very popular. The same should be said of the temple of the goddess Isis on the island of Filae. It was visited not only by Egyptians, but also by crowds of Greek pilgrims who left numerous graffiti on the walls of the temple. A little later, already during the time of Christianity, the temple of the goddess Isis on Phil enjoyed exceptional attention and veneration among the Blemmian tribe, who inhabited territories south of the first threshold during this period. The goddess Isis was considered by the Blemmians to be the mother goddess, the highest deity. Her cult on the island of Filae was liquidated administratively under the Byzantine emperor Justinian in 535 CE. It was the last hotbed of paganism in the territory of Egypt[2].
The temple of Isis on Fila is one of the pearls of Egyptian architecture of the Greco-Roman time. In ancient times, it was the object of pilgrimage and continues to attract numerous tourists to this day.
Calabsha Island
Abu Simbel
Notes
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