Fodor's Expert Review New Kalabsha
The largest freestanding temple in Nubia, the little-visited Temple of Kalabsha was built by Roman emperor Augustus, who reigned from 27 BC to AD 14. It's dedicated to Osiris, Isis, and Mandulis, an ancient Nubian sun god adopted by Ptolemies and Romans. He's often shown with an elaborate headdress of ram's horns topped with sun discs, cobras, and plumed feathers. The building was never finished, and only three inner rooms, as well as portions of the exterior, are completely decorated with reliefs.
Kalabsha's temple complex includes a mammisi (chapel depicting divine birth), a column-surrounded court and a hypostyle hall. Stairs from one of the sanctuaries go up to the roof, where you can soak up spectacular views of the temple, Lake Nasser, and the Aswan High Dam. In the 1960s, a German team moved the temple, saving it from the lake waters, and the Egyptian government thanked Germany with one of the original gates, now in Berlin.
Northwest of the Temple of... READ MORE
The largest freestanding temple in Nubia, the little-visited Temple of Kalabsha was built by Roman emperor Augustus, who reigned from 27 BC to AD 14. It's dedicated to Osiris, Isis, and Mandulis, an ancient Nubian sun god adopted by Ptolemies and Romans. He's often shown with an elaborate headdress of ram's horns topped with sun discs, cobras, and plumed feathers. The building was never finished, and only three inner rooms, as well as portions of the exterior, are completely decorated with reliefs.
Kalabsha's temple complex includes a mammisi (chapel depicting divine birth), a column-surrounded court and a hypostyle hall. Stairs from one of the sanctuaries go up to the roof, where you can soak up spectacular views of the temple, Lake Nasser, and the Aswan High Dam. In the 1960s, a German team moved the temple, saving it from the lake waters, and the Egyptian government thanked Germany with one of the original gates, now in Berlin.
Northwest of the Temple of Kalabsha, a walkway leads to the small rock-cut temple of Beit al-Wali. Ramses II commissioned this diminutive but colorful monument, probably for show instead of worship, and the walls depict scenes of the pharaoh clutching his enemies by the hair. Other reliefs demonstrate the riches of Nubia—including gold, ebony, ivory, leopard skins, monkeys, giraffes, lions, and gazelles—being awarded to Ramses II for his conquest.
READ LESS
