“Philae Temple,” thought to be of Nubian origin and meaning the “the temple on the island of the past,” like Abu Simbel, garnered international attention and adoration in the 1960s when a campaign was launched by UNESCO to save it from rising waters behind the newly-built Aswan High Dam. Block by block, the temple was dismantled, moved, and rebuilt from the Philae Islands to the nearby Agilkia Island. Its history however, extends much further beyond its rescue campaign, and serves as an example of Egyptian ingenuity and a monument to the land’s varied history to all those who visited Egypt. Although its name’s association with the passage of time has nothing to do with its longstanding history to date, it is a well-deserved aptronym. Before the High Dam The first significant holy place to be built on the islands of Philae was built by Nectanebo I, one of the last native-born rulers of Egypt. He built and dedicated the temple to the goddess Isis in the early fourth century B.C. Following him, the Ptolemies, who adopted many Egyptians deities into their pantheon, including the goddess Isis, built two-thirds of the…
Philae Temple: ‘The Temple of Time’ as a Marker of Egyptian History
August 3, 2023
