Overnight we sailed to the city of Edfu, a city of about 60 thousand people. It is situated on the west bank of the Nile. This area is known for being the location of the Temple of Horus, which is what we were there to see.

We took a horse carriage ride through part of the city to get to the temple.

The Temple of Horus, also known as the Temple of Edfu, is a Ptolemaic temple that was built between 237-57 BC for the Egyptian god Horus. This temple is nearly intact. Horus is represented in hieroglyphics with a falcon. In Egyptian mythology he was the son of Isis and Osiris and was the god of the sky, with the sun being his right eye and the moon his left eye. His story is told in carvings and hieroglyphs throughout the temple. The god of the desert, Set, killed Horus’ father. Horus had many battles to avenge his father’s death. He eventually decided to exile Set instead of killing him, but in the process of these battles, Horus lost one of his eyes.

The Eye of Horus is a common hieroglyph and is a symbol of protection, health, and medicine. This was eventually transformed into the Rx that physicians write on prescriptions today.

In the afternoon we had a talk from our 3 egyptologist guides (who are awesome) and a cooking demonstration of shawarma while we were sailing on to the next port.