S tone sentinels of the falcon-headed god Horus watch over the Great Pylon, while stone reliefs on either side of the gate sing the praises of Ptolemy King Neos Dionysos.
the relief of Neos Dionysos (Ptolemy XII) holding his enemies by the hair, ready to smite them in front of Horus – a fittingly bloody show of pharaonic strength intended to awe his Egyptian subjects as they entered..

Forecourt: The Colossal Courtyard
Surrounded on three sides by 32 towering columns, the huge Forecourt would originally have had a great altar in the center, where the temple priests made offerings to Edfu’s gods surrounded by the town people. The columns are richly decorated with floral and palm capitals, and the golden-hued stone walls are covered in reliefs of the gods Horus and Hathor. Just to the left of the entrance into the Vestibule, the surviving black granite statue of Horus, which would have originally been part of a pair, wears the double crown of Egypt and guards the door into the farther reaches of the temple.

The rear walls of the colonnade are covered with three rows of large reliefs depicting the Pharaoh (Ptolemy IX Soter II or Ptolemy X Alexander I) holding converse with the gods or with the victorious god Horus. Similar representations are repeated all over the temple. On the sides of the pylon, the pharaoh is shown, with the Lower Egyptian crown on the west side and the Upper Egyptian crown on the east side, proceeding to the temple and being sprinkled with the water of consecration by Horus and Thoth

Having passed through the grandiose Forecourt, you come to the much more human-scale Vestibule decorated with 12 columns topped with elaborate floral capitals. Just as you enter are two small rooms. The western room is the Hall of Consecration, with a beautiful relief on its rear wall depicting gods Horus and Thoth pouring sacred water over the pharaoh. The eastern room was the temple’s Library, with a list of books it once contained still inscribed on the wall along with a depiction of Seshat the goddess of writing.

On the walls are four rows of incised reliefs showing Pharaoh Euergetes making offerings to the gods or performing ritual acts (e.g. laying the foundation stone of the temple, in the bottom row on the left-hand wall). Above are a band of astronomical representations and an ornamental frieze consisting of the names of the pharaoh guarded by two falcons. Below, just above the floor, are Euergetes, his wife Cleopatra, and a long file of local gods bringing offerings to the three principal divinities of Edfu.

On the architrave of the door leading into the Hypostyle Hall is an interesting relief of the solar barque, guided by two falcon-headed Horus figures, with the sun worshiped by Thoth and Neith. At the sides, in the attitude of prayer, are Ptolemy IV Philopator (left) and the Four Senses; to the right, sight and hearing, to the left, taste (symbolized by the tongue) and reason.

A doorway leads into the Hypostyle Hall, with its roof supported by 12 columns and book-ended by two small chambers, which access the inner passage around the temple. The left-hand chamber functioned as the temple’s laboratory, where incense and perfumes were mixed by the priests in preparation for rituals

First and Second Antechambers: Inner Altars of the Priests

Beyond the Hypostyle Hall, the First Antechamber was an altar area where offerings were left for the gods by the temple priests. A staircase here leads to the roof, which is unfortunately not able to be accessed by visitors.

The mural reliefs upon the walls here depict the procession of priests, headed by the pharaoh, ascending (east side) and descending (west side).

The First Antechamber leads onto the Second Antechamber with a small court of offerings. This room would be the priests’ last port of call to make offerings to the gods before entering the holy of holies itself in the Sanctuary.

Don’t Miss: On the ceiling, a mural depicts the sky goddess Nut, with the various figures of the sun in boats beneath her.

Sanctuary: The Room of the Gods

Lit by three small square apertures in the roof, the sanctuary was where the golden statue of Horus once stood upon a granite shrine (still in situ today), which is a relic of the pre-Ptolemaic temple. A corridor runs around the sanctuary leading off into several dark chambers, which are decorated with well-preserved and colorful reliefs. In the northern chamber is a replica of the wooden barque (the original can be seen at the Louvre in Paris), which would have held the golden statue of Hathor on festivals and during processions.

The most interesting reliefs in the sanctuary are those in the bottom row on the right-hand wall. Philopator is depicted removing the lock from in the Temple of Horus, Edfu Horus’ chapel; opening the door of the chapel; standing before the god in a reverential attitude with his arms hanging by his sides; offering incense to his deified parents, Euergetes I and Berenice; and offering incense before the sacred barque of Hathor.

Inner Passageway: Passage of Victory

The Inner Passageway runs around the back half of the temple, entered from the Hypostyle Hall, and is decorated with reliefs and inscriptions.

The interesting reliefs on the west wall depict the battles between Horus and the god of the underworld, Seth. In the frieze of scenes, Seth is depicted as a hippopotamus that the king and Horus are hunting. In the first scene (below, right) the king tries to spear a hippopotamus, which turns aside; Horus does the same, holding a chain in his left hand and a spear in his right, with his mother Isis beside him and a small Horus at the helm of the boat, to the rear.

In the second scene, the king stands on land on the left, with two ships in front of him, in which are Horus and an attendant; Horus holds the hippopotamus with a chain and plunges his spear into its head. In the fifth scene, the hippopotamus lies on its back with its hind legs chained. In the seventh scene Horus, in a sailing boat, aims his spear at a hippopotamus, whose hind leg is tied in a cord held by Horus and its head in a cord held by Isis, kneeling in the bow of the boat. The king, standing on the shore with two attendants, aims his spear at the animal’s head.