Day 5 Egypt - Nile River

Today we were up at 6:00am (which was early when we ended last night at midnight) ate a great buffet breakfast, and were on our way by 7:00.  The day was spent cruising up the Nile River and visiting three Egyptian Temples.

 Here are some gigantic carvings.  When you see an animal head that is an idolatrous god of the Egyptians.  Human faces are the pharaohs and their wives petitioning the idolatrous gods for their approval for the afterlife.  This is a pharaoh's wife and the idolatrous god Horus.

 We took a small boat ride out to an island where the first temple was located.  This structure had been moved there when a dam was built that flooded the original location.  We were way down at the south part of Egypt near Aswan.

 This is Philae's Temple in Aswan.  The roman's built temples in Egypt in the same style as the Egyptians.

 They did use some Roman columns.

 This was our Egyptian tour guide.  She spoke good English and was very knowledgeable.  We were the red group.  You can see how big the temple structures were and the carvings.  The originally were all in bright colors but that had all faded away.

 A close up of some of the carvings which covered every inch of surface and were brightly colored.

 Another picture of the main temple.

 The middle of the day was spent in cruising up the Nile and enjoying the sunny weather and beautiful scenery.

 Elder John Madsen gave a talk on the ship and explained a lot of what we were seeing.  He also taught the history of Abraham and Joseph coming down to Egypt and their influence.  Then Moses being raised in Egypt and leading Israel on the Exodus to the promised land.  It's amazing how much of the Egyptian temple carvings and their beliefs had some similarities to our beliefs and temples of today.  They would get from their gods this key to eternal life and a staff for immortality.   They also had a Holy of Holies in each of their temples.

 More cruising along the Nile.  It was so peaceful.

 Next we went to tour the Kom Ombo Temple.  Now after the lecture we knew what to look for in their symbology.

 Temple grounds at Kom Ombo.

 In this carving and the first one in this post you can see the pharaoh petitioning the idolatrous god for favors in the next life.  The god Horus had the key for eternal life in one hand and and the staff for immortality in the other.  On his head was the hats symbolizing upper and lower Egypt.

 In a small museum we saw mummified crocodiles in honor of the idolatrous god Sobek.  They thought the spirits of the gods could inhabit the idol statues and carvings and so they could be heard by the idolatrous gods when they prayed and worshiped the carvings and statues.

Last stop was the temple at Edfu which we went to at night.  We were taken there by horse drawn carriages.  They had a light show there.  Lots to see.  After dinner we had an Egyptian type party with games on the ship.