On the east bank of the Nile 23km north of Edfu is one of the oldest settlements of Upper Egypt. The ancient town of Nekheb was called Eleithyiaspolis in classical times and comprises of monuments spanning periods of Egyptian history from Predynastic through to Ptolemaic. El-Kab and its sister site of Hierakonpolis on the west bank of the river were the home of Nekbet, the vulture goddess of Upper Egypt.
Tomb of Ahmose Pennekhbet (EK2)
Ahmose Pennekhbet was ‘Overseer of the Seal’ in early Dynasty XVIII. Biographical texts and portrayals of Ahmose with his son and other relatives can be seen around the door jambs.
Tomb of Paheri (EK3)
Paheri was a Mayor of Nekheb during Dynasty XVIII. The well-preserved paintings in his tomb show scenes of offerings at his funeral procession and agricultural scenes of daily life. In a niche in the rear wall is a statue of Paheri with his wife and mother.
Tomb of Setau (EK4)
Setau was a priest in the service of Nekhbet during the reign of Rameses III. On the outside wall of his tomb is a stela showing Setau and his wife adoring Re-Horakhty and Khepri. The paintings inside show the tomb-owner with his relatives in various offering scenes and a depiction of the Barque of Nekhbet with jubilee texts of Rameses III on the west wall.
Tomb of Ahmose, son of Ibana (EK5)
Ahmose in his biographical texts is described as ‘Captain of Sailors’ and was prominent in the wars of liberation against the Hyksos rulers when the southern princes laid siege to the town of Avaris in the Delta. The text tells of the favours Ahmose was granted for his part, including the award of the ‘gold of honour’ and tells that he was given four slaves by His Majesty from the booty he carried off. He was the Grandfather of Paheri (EK3) who is seen offering to him in the tomb. A separate burial chamber opens off to the east.
Tomb of Renni (EK7)
A mayor of Nekheb during the reign of Amenhotep I, Renni’s tomb depicts the usual agricultural scenes, banquet scenes and funeral procession. The remains of a statue of the tomb-owner flanked by two jackals can be see in a niche in the rear wall. The ceiling of this tomb is beautifully painted to represent the cloth roof of a tent or canopy.
There are also Middle Kingdom tombs at El-Kab which are presently inaccessible.
If you have time (and permission) to drive down the Wadi Hellal road which runs 4km west towards the desert, there are many other sites to visit. You will need to collect a guard with the keys to the monuments at the resthouse. At the entrance to the valley is a Ptolemaic rock-sanctuary dedicated to Seshmetet. Just to the southeast higher up the hillside, is a temple of Nekhbet consisting of two halls with Hathor columns and a rock-cut sanctuary. This was built by Rameses II, restored by Ptolemies VIII-X and has a stela of Rameses II cut into the façade. The reliefs inside the temple are not well-preserved, but the steps leading up to it and the courtyard have been recently restored. Back towards the road is a structure called locally el-Hammam (the bath), a square single roomed chapel dedicated to local gods and to the deified Rameses II by his Viceroy of Nubia, Setau (a different person to the owner of tomb EK4).
Further along the valley road is ‘Vulture Rock’, so-called because its shape seen at a certain angle (and with imagination) resembles the shape of a vulture. The faces of the rock are covered with petroglyphs and Old Kingdom inscriptions probably made by pilgrims passing this way on the ancient desert road. Several Old Kingdom kings are named on smooth panels cut into the rock, the earliest cartouche is that of Snofru. There are also Late Period primitive rock-carvings.
A little further on is a small temple dedicated to Hathor and Nekhbet, built by Tuthmose IV and Amenhotep III. The single chamber was apparently a way-station for the barque of Nekhbet when the statue of the goddess was brought to her desert valley. Quite a lot of colour still remains on the wall reliefs inside the temple, depicting Tuthmose IV and his son Amenhotep III. The building was restored in late antiquity and brightly painted scenes of rituals as well as the vulture goddess still can be seen. On the chapel façade is a text by Prince Khaemwaset, the son of Rameses II, announcing his father’s jubilee in year 42, as well as graffiti by other passing travellers.
In December 2000 news was announced that Belgian archaeologists have discovered a small and mostly intact cemetery at El-Kab which has been dated to Dynasty II. The 35 graves, mostly belonging to infants, are reported to be circular stone structures sometimes arranged around natural boulders and 18-20m in diameter. This type of tomb has not been seen before in Egypt and they have been compared to Neolithic burial mounds in Europe. Although there is no evidence of wrapping or mummification, the largest tomb contained fragments of a pottery coffin. It is suggested that the new cemetery represents a ‘missing link’ between the Late Predynastic and Early Dynastic burial ground found within Elkab’s town walls and a recently discovered Third Dynasty mastaba.
During 2003 a team of conservators led by Vivian Davies of the British Museum, began work on the Dynasty XVII tomb of Sobeknakht, a governor of Nekheb. The cleaning process revealed an inscription of a previously unknown attack on Egypt by the Kingdom of Kush and their allies from Punt. The biographical text tells of the Kushite raid and subsequent counter-attack by the Egyptians. Egyptologists are regarding the text as one of the most significant inscriptions about Dynasty XVII military history found to date. Evidence corroborating these events have also recently been found in Sudan, where archaeologists discovered a vessel that was once in Sobeknakht’s tomb.

Gebel Silsila is the name given to a rocky gorge between Kom Ombo and Edfu where the River Nile narrows and high sandstone cliffs come right down to the water’s edge. There was probably a series of rapids here in ancient times, dangerous to navigate, which naturally formed a frontier between the regions of Elephantine (Aswan) and Edfu. In Pharaonic times the river here was known as Khennui, the ‘place of rowing’. On the West bank there is a tall column of rock which has been dubbed ‘The Capstan’ because of a local legend which claims there was once a chain (Silsila in Arabic) which ran from the East to the West Banks. Arthur Weigall in his ‘Antiquities of Egypt’ states that the name Silsileh, is a Roman corruption of the original Egyptian name for the town, Khol-Khol, meaning a barrier or frontier.
It is hardly surprising that by Dynasty XVIII, travellers had developed the custom of carving small shrines into the cliffs here, dedicating them to a variety of Nile gods and to the river itself. Smaller shrines were cut by Tuthmose I, Hatshepsut and Tuthmose III, before Horemheb constructed his rock-cut temple here, then many of the Dynasty XIX or later kings left their mark in some way. Gebel Silsila became an important cult centre and each year at the beginning of the season of inundation offerings and sacrifices were made to the gods associated with the Nile to ensure the country’s wellbeing for the coming year.
On both banks of the Nile the massive quarries produced the sandstone needed for the prolific construction of monuments during Dynasty XVIII, at first in small quantities and as the skills of the workmen grew, the stone was more extensively quarried to build great monuments such as the colonnade of Amenhotep III at Luxor, the Karnak Temple of Amenhotep IV, the Ramesseum and Medinet Habu, to name but a few. By Ptolemaic times most of the Upper Egyptian temples contained monuments built from Gebel Silsila sandstone. Because of the sanctity of the site, the sandstone was considered to have an extra holiness.
Gebel Silsila West
The steep sandstone cliffs of the West Bank are cluttered with grafitti, shrines and stelae, including 33 rock chapels. Dynasty XVIII saw the construction of shrines by Tuthmose I, Hatshepsut, Tuthmose III and Horemheb and in Dynasty XIX, Rameses II, Merenptah, Siptah, Seti II, Rameses III and Rameses V had elaborate stelae carved on the rocks. Seti I left an inscribed Hymn to the Nile and inaugurated two festivals, which were continued to be endowed by Rameses II and Merenptah.
The most prominent deity depicted here appears to be Sobek the crocodile god, ‘Lord of Khennui’, who with Haroeris (Horus the Elder) is one of the twin gods of Kom Ombo. Hapi as god of the Nile also received a large share of offerings. The site’s proximity to Aswan meant that the Triad of Elephantine, Khnum, Satet and Anuket were worshipped here. Tauret the hippopotamus goddess is also featured at Gebel Silsila, especially in the Speos of Horemheb.

Towards the southern end of the west bank of the river, three shrines were constructed by Merenptah, Rameses II and Seti I (from north to south), with a quay in front of them, but Seti’s shrine and the quay were destroyed by an earthquake. These shrines are now most easily accessible by boat. To the north, sheer quarried rock faces that look like sliced blocks of cheese, contain mason’s marks, artisans’ drawings and other evidence of ancient workings. A rock-cut staircase leads hopefully up one side of these cliffs, only to vanish at the top leaving you almost stranded. There is, however a rough rocky path that leads past ‘The Capstan’ and on to the royal shrines.

The first monument here is a large rock stele at right-angles to the river, built by Rameses III and dated to Year VI of his reign. The first of the royal shines was built in the first year of Merenptah and like the other two was recessed deep into the rock behind two columns and a cornice. The king is seen worshipping a variety of gods and the inscription depicts a Hymn to the Nile. To the south is a small stele of Merenptah on which the king offers a figure of Ma’at to Amun-re. Behind him stands the Vizier Panahesy and another official. Sadly in June 2012, the lower part of this stele has been badly damaged by thieves attempting to remove it from the rock.
The second shrine belongs to the early reign of Rameses II and also shows the king worshipping several deities. Queen Nefertari is seen before a figure of the hippopotamus goddess Tauret who is dressed in a very unusual robe. To the south of the Rameses shrine is another small stele to Merenptah on which the King is joined by the High Priest of Amun, Roy. A small figure of King Amenhotep I stands beside this stele.

The third shrine and the earliest in the group was mostly destroyed by an earthquake. It was built for Seti I and seems to have been in a similar style to the other two royal shrines.

Further north, the visitor can see the majority of rock-shrines, some with elaborate chapels containing statues of the owners and with beautiful decorated ceilings. Many of these shrines have been damaged by quarrying or earthquakes and are now open to the elements, but they can be seen from the wide path that runs along the river bank. The shrines belong to high officials, priests, royal scribes and nobles of the time. There is also a Dynasty XVIII tomb belonging to Sennefer, a libation priest from Thebes who was buried here with his wife Hatshepsut. The tomb is now open to the sky, and the remains of five seated statues as well as hieroglyphic inscriptions can be seen, close to the water’s edge.

At the northern extent of the quarries there are three large rock-stelae carved for Rameses V, Shoshenq I and Rameses III (from north to south). The stele of Rameses V, one of his largest known monuments, contains an inscription dedicated to Amun-Re, Mut, Khons and Sobek-Re of Khennui. Shoshenq’s stela tells of how the king quarried here for his building works at Karnak in year 21 of his reign. On the stele of Rameses III, the king is seen offering a statue of ma’at to Amun-Re, Mut and Khons.
The Speos of Horemheb
Horemheb was the last king of Dynasty XVIII and he carved a much larger rock-chapel, or speos, out of the hillside at the northern end of the site. The chapel was dedicated to Amun-Re as well as other deities that were connected to the River Nile.

The monument consists of a façade of five doorways separated by pillars of differing widths, behind which is a long transverse hall with vaulted roof and a smaller oblong chamber, the sanctuary, to the rear. All the walls are covered in reliefs and inscriptions, in some places quite damaged, but in others there are some very fine high quality reliefs. Horemheb himself never finished the speos, and the decoration was later completed by subsequent kings and nobles who carved their own stelae and inscriptions on the walls.

The deities depicted on the walls, besides Amun-re, are Sobek in the form of a crocodile, the ram-headed god Khnum of the First Cataract, Satet of Elephantine, Anuket, goddess of Sehel, Tauret as a hippopotamus and Hapi, god of the Nile. As well as those of Horemheb, cartouches of Rameses II, Merenptah, Amenemesse, Seti II, Siptah and Rameses III appear in the reliefs.

On the southern end wall, the benevolent goddess Tauret is seen in rare human form, suckling the young King Horemheb. Behind her is a damaged figure of Khnum and to her left, Amun-Re and Sobek of Kennui.
The western wall depicts one of the most noted reliefs of Horemheb, the king’s ‘Triumphal Procession’ after his victory in Nubia. Horemheb is shown seated on a portable lion-chair which is carried by twelve soldiers wearing plumes of feathers. At the front and back of the king are his fan-bearers, protecting Pharaoh from the sun. His entourage include rows of priests, soldiers, a trumpeter and several groups of captured prisoners, all depicted in a very natural style, almost echoing some of the Amarna Period reliefs. The inscription above the king extols his victory over the people of Kush.

Another important relief here depicts a list of four Heb-sed festivals of Rameses II in the 30th, 34th, 37th and 40th years of his reign, which were supervised by his eldest son, Prince Khaemwaset. This prince, renowned for his priestly wisdom as well as his restoration works, appears in several places in the chapel, along with his mother Queen Asetnefert and Princess Bentanta, as well as other favoured officials of the reign. Khaemwaset presumably died before the 42nd jubilee of Rameses II was celebrated at Gebel Silsila as this was conducted by the Vizier Khay, who also has a presence in the speos. Merenptah, the son and successor of Rameses II is depicted on a stele with his wife Asetnefert and his Vizier Panehesy adoring Amun-Re and Mut.
On the northern end wall there is a niche with six figures cut in high relief, depicting (from west to east) the Vizier Panehesy, the goddess Ma’at, a male relation Amennakht, a female relation ‘Songstress of Hathor’, the god Ptah and finally Ra’y, a female relation with the title ‘Songstress of Re’. This is a rare relief where a private family is seen in the presence of the gods. Many other stelae and reliefs line the walls of the hall, giving the names of Dynasty XIX kings and their officials.

The sanctuary to the rear of the vaulted hall contains seven very damaged figures which are said to depict Sobek, Tauret, Mut, Amen-Re, Khons, Horemheb and Thoth. The side walls show a wide variety of gods and demi-gods, while the walls inside the doorway have reliefs of the Elephantine Triad, Khnum, Satet and Anuket as well as Osiris and the scorpion goddess Selkhet. Tauret presides over a symbolical representation of the union of Upper and Lower Egypt.
Gebel Silsila East
The east bank of the Nile contains the more spectacular quarries of Gebel Silsila which were most exploited during the New Kingdom, particularly under Rameses II, who employed three thousand workers to cut stone for the construction of the Ramesseum on the west bank at Thebes. Many shrines and stelae were cut into the rock here too and the names of kings who worked the quarries are attested by their officials who gave detailed accounts of their work.

The inscription on a large stele of Amenhotep III records the transport of stone for the construction of a temple of Ptah. His son Amenhotep IV, who later became Akhenaten, also has a stele here on which he worships Amun and records that he quarried stone for an obelisk to be erected in his Temple of the Sun at Karnak. Stelae of Seti I and King Apries can also be seen. Among the grottos and shelves of quarried sandstone, several unfinished sphinxes remain, of both the ram and human-headed variety, forever rooted to the bedrock. At the foot of the hills, there are a number of small rock-cut tombs. Rameses II built a temple at Gebel Silsila East, but this has now been destroyed.

Unfortunately, the east bank quarries are now officially closed to visitors without special permission.

The town of Edfu, on the west bank of the Nile 56km south of Esna and 105km north of Aswan, is today an important centre for sugar production and pottery-making. The modern town derives its name from the ancient Egyptian Djeba which was established on a mound on the east bank. The site of Edfu Tell was known as Wetjeset-hor (classical name Apollinopolis Magna), the place where the god Horus was worshipped and where the battle between Horus and his traditional enemy Seth in ancient mythology took place. The main monument at Edfu is the Ptolemaic Temple of Horus of Behdet on the edge of the town. Even though it was well covered by desert sand and human settlement debris, Edfu temple was visited by many early travellers. The sand has helped to preserve the building which was found to be almost completely intact when it was first cleared and excavated by Auguste Mariette in the 1860s.
The Temple of Horus
Of all the temple remains in Egypt, the Temple of Horus at Edfu is the most well-preserved and the only one we know to have been completed. Built from sandstone blocks the huge Ptolemaic temple was constructed over the site of a smaller earlier temple, oriented east to west, towards the river. The later structure faces north to south and leaves the ruined remains of the older temple pylon to be seen on the east side of the first court. Little is known about the first temple of Horus at Edfu, but there is inscriptional evidence that New Kingdom rulers Seti I, Rameses II and III did building work there. From building texts inside the later Ptolemaic temple which survives today, we know that this was begun by Ptolemy III Euergetes I in 237 BC, but was not completed until 57 BC.
Until recently, visitors approached the temple past its massive enclosure wall on the western side, carved with figures of the Ptolemaic kings offering to various deities. There is now a newly constructed coach park, cafeteria and open-air museum which leads directly to the front of the temple. The first structure we come to, at the south-west corner before the great temple pylon, is a rectangular colonnaded building peculiar to Graeco-Roman temples, known as a mammisi or birth-house, built to celebrate the divine birth of Horus. The Roman mammisi at Dendera was modelled on this structure. Reliefs show the god Bes, birth scenes and the infant son of Horus and Hathor, Ihi (Harsomptus), nursed by Hathor in the marshes.
Carvings on the massive twin towers of the 36m high entrance pylon are almost mirror images of each other with the traditional scenes of the king smiting his enemies before Horus. We can also clearly see the mast grooves for the flags which would have fluttered at the entrance. Two statues of the Horus falcon stand before the main gateway. Inside the entrance is a paved courtyard flanked by colonnades on the east and west and on the south which depicts relief carvings of the ‘Feast of the Beautiful Meeting’. This was a long and important festival in which the cult statue of Hathor of Dendera was brought to Edfu on a barge with much elaborate ritual and celebration, to meet her consort Horus for their annual reunion. Other ceremonies of the festival can be seen around the walls of the courtyard.
Ahead is the main temple façade in front of which stands the famous colossal black granite statue of Horus as a falcon, wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. The façade has screen walls with engaged columns in the usual style of Late Period and Ptolemaic temples.
Inside, the first thing which strikes the visitor is the almost deafening twittering of birds up in the roof. This is the outer hypostyle hall or pronaos, with 18 tall carved columns to support a ceiling decorated with astronomical figures representing the sky. The usual offering scenes decorate the walls but there are also well-preserved reliefs from the temple foundation ceremony. In the south wall there are two small chambers: a robing room (House of the Morning) on the west and the library (House of Books) on the east.
The inner chambers of Edfu temple are similar to Dendera. The second hypostyle hall, the naos or Great Court, is older and smaller than the pronaos. The ceiling is supported by 12 slender columns. This hypostyle has a number of chambers leading off to each side, including two ‘Chambers of Offerings’ and a laboratory with texts describing recipes for incense, ointments and other temple necessities. On the opposite (eastern) side of the second hypostyle is the treasury where gold, silver and precious stones would have been stored along with protective amulets and valuable ritual implements.
Beyond is a small transverse hall leading to the eastern and western staircases giving access the roof, which still provides wonderful views of the temple site. A procession of priests carrying ritual implements and standards is carved on the walls of both staircases. Nearby is an open-air offering court where there is a kiosk-like shrine, ‘The Pure Place’, which is echoed at Dendera Temple and which also has a ceiling depicting the sky-goddess Nut.
Next we come to the holy of holies, the sanctuary which was the most sacred area of the temple. The sanctuary contains the oldest object in the temple, a granite naos shrine which would have contained the cult statue, with cartouches of Nectanebo II of Dynasty XXX. This must have come from an earlier building. In a chapel behind the sanctuary there is a low pedestal, also from an earlier structure, on which stands a reproduction of the barque of Horus. There are a number of chambers surrounding the sanctuary dedicated to various gods and the daily rituals of the temple, some having hidden chambers within their walls. These rooms also contain the crypts, but they are undecorated and inaccessible to visitors.
Around the inner temple is an ambulatory or corridor carved with more foundation and building texts and also scenes from the Edfu Drama, the ‘Triumph of Horus’ that tells the story of Horus’s mythological triumph over Seth which was celebrated each year as a mystery play. On the inner face of the northern enclosure wall is a beautiful set of reliefs depicting another important ritual celebrated at Edfu. This was known as the ‘Installation of the Sacred Falcon’ in which a live falcon representing both the god Horus and the king, was crowned.
Since the first excavations many people have worked to understand Edfu temple. Serious ground-breaking studies have been undertaken in an attempt to clarify the complicated hieroglyphic texts which are now revealing so much about ancient Egyptian religion and mythology. The Ptolemaic carving on the stone walls of Edfu temple, unread for two millennia is now considered by Egyptologists to be a vast and highly important source of knowledge of temple ritual and Egyptian history.
Nearby monuments
To the west of the temple is the huge mound of the ancient town site, Tell Edfu, which has been excavated periodically since the 1920s. It is currently being excavated by Dr Nadine Moeller’s team. This is a settlement site which includes walls and building remains from the Old Kingdom through to the Late and Ptolemaic Periods. One of the earliest walls found in situ dates to the First Intermediate Period, confirmed by red pottery bowls of the period. During recent excavation seasons several large granaries have been found within the mound as well as a courtyard and a possible columned hall which may have been an important dwelling or administrative building. Seal impressions are thought to date the building to Dynasty XIII.
The oldest cemeteries within Tell Edfu are to the south-west of the Temple of Horus and contain several Old Kingdom mastabas, including the mastaba of Isi, a Dynasty VI provincial governor, as well as more recent burials. Several ostraca have been found in demotic and hieratic script, which give details of the administrative system of the town.
In the hills beyond the town are the tombs of the elite of Edfu but these are largely unexplored and not open to visitors.
A number of robbed oval graves have been found which are thought to be possibly from the Early Dynastic Period.
The remains of one of seven small provincial step pyramids built along the Nile Valley, is situated about 5km north of Edfu near the west bank village of Naga el-Goneima. The structure was built from rough reddish sandstone and rises to a present height of 5.5m. The pyramid has been loosely attributed to King Huni of Dynasty III. The purpose of these pyramids is not known.
How to get there