Philae Island is an island on the Nile River, now submerged by the Aswan Dam. Before the dam was built, it was located between the first and second waterfalls, and a complex of ancient temples was built on the island. In 1902, with the construction of the Aswan Dam, the area was flooded. The temple complex was later dismantled and moved to the nearby island of Agilikia as part of UNESCO's "Nubia" campaign plan, to protect it and other complexes before the new dam was completed in 1970.
Philae is mentioned by many ancient writers, including Strabo, Diodorus, Ptolemy, Seneca, and Pliny. this name was the name of two small islands located at 24 ° N latitude, above the first waterfall near Aswan. the distance between these islands and Aswan is estimated about 100 kilometers.
Before the flood, it was only 380 meters long and about 120 meters wide. It consists of cinnitic stone: its sides are steep, and above it a high wall has been constructed covering the entire island.
Philae was a burial site for Osiris, drawing great respect from both the Egyptians in the north and the Nubians in the south. And he considered that walking there was pointless and blasphemous other than the priests. It was also reported that neither the birds nor the fish approached its shores. In the nineteenth century, William Banks took an elephant obelisk and transported it to England. When I compared the Egyptian hieroglyphs to those in the Rosetta column, it shed much light on the Egyptian alphabet.
The Elephantine Islands not only had priestly residences, but it was a center of trade between Meroe and Memphis. The adjacent granite quarries also attracted a number of miners and masons. To facilitate this passage, a road was built on rocks along the eastern bank of the Nile, parts of which have been preserved.
Elephants were also distinguished by the individual effects of light and shadow emanating from their location near the Tropic of Cancer. As the sun approached its northern limit, the shadows from the protruding cornices and temple molds sank below and under the flat surfaces of the walls, until the sun reached its highest altitude, covering the vertical walls in darkness. Shadows, and make a striking contrast with the bright light illuminating all surrounding objects
Buildings
In Philae , the temple complex included monuments from different eras mainly focusing on the southern tip of the island. The oldest was a temple dedicated to Isis, as the original buildings were dedicated to it. Buildings were also constructed during the reign of Ptolemy, but traces of buildings from the Roman period dedicated to Ammon-Osiris have also been preserved. Christian church ruins were also found.
Moving buildings
In 1902, with the construction of the first dam of Aswan, the island began to sink gradually, and the buildings were covered with water. The only times the complex did not have a submarine were when the dams were open from July to October and the buildings were visible.
The temples have been nearly intact since ancient times, but with each flood from the dam the situation worsened and in the 1960s, the island was submerged by up to a third of the buildings year-round.
In 1960 UNESCO launched a project to try to save buildings on the island from the devastating effects of the ever-growing Nile water. First, the construction of three dams and the creation of a separate lake with the lowest water level.
After the water was drained artificially, the monuments were cleaned and measured using photogrammetry, a method that allows for an accurate reconstruction of the original volume in building elements used by the ancients. Each building was then dismantled into about 40,000 blocks, and then transported to the nearby island of Agilikia, located on higher ground about 500 meters away.
Agilikia Island
The archaeological site of Agilikia
Is an island in Egypt on the Nile River in Lake Nasser, which was created through the construction of the Aswan Dam. The island is famous for its archaeological site, which is a temple building complex that was relocated there from the neighboring Philae Island when it was flooded by the dam. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Visiting dates: -
From six in the morning until five in the evening.Ticket price:-
Entrance ticket price for Egyptians: -
The price of the entry ticket for Egyptians is 20 Egyptian pounds, on different days.Ticket price for Egyptian students: -
The price of a ticket for students is 5 pounds, provided that the university card for the current academic year is shown.Ticket price for foreigners: -
The price of entrance ticket for foreigners is 140 pounds.Ticket price for foreign students: -
The value of an entry ticket for a foreign student is 70 pounds.
0 Comments