View from the Portico of the
Temple of Edfou (Edfu)
Upper Egypt.

This view... looking across the peristyle court of the Temple... is one of striking magnificence;... The cloistered corridor, covered with painted hieroglyphics, offered its shelter from an Egyptian sun to the priests and those permitted to enter the sacred precincts. The vast faces of the towers are covered with gigantic figures... and represent the offerings made by the Pharaohs to the gods. The holes which admitted light through the walls of these towers, served also to attach the staffs of the standards, from which in days of ceremony, the flags waved over the groups in procession. In the foreground... how enormous are these capitals! and yet how beautiful their structure!... The enormous stones, which rest upon and stretch from column to column, are among the wonders of Egyptian structure.

Last modified on 11 April 2005