The temple of the goddess Isis at Philae is one of the most beautiful in Egypt, not as large as some but structurally largely complete, which is fitting for the temple believed to be the last to operate under the ancient Egyptian religion, having only formally closed for pagan worship in the 6th century AD.

It was also the first of Egypt's great temples I ever saw in person and left me spellbound, and thus it was fitting that this should again be the first we visited on this trip.

The temple sits in a uniquely picturesque setting on a small island in the Nile south of Aswan and thus has only ever been approached boat. The complex consists of the main temple building dedicated to Isis (wife of Osiris and mother of Horus) whose inner sanctum is entered via a forecourt with towering pylons guarding the inner and outer entrances. All this is approached from the Nile through an open court flanked by lengthy colonnades making an unforgettable first impression.

There are several subsidary buildings of note around the site, the most imposing of which is undoubtedly the large rectangular colonnaded structure known as 'Trajan's Kiosk', which features some beautifully carved capitals.

The temple is relatively new by Egyptian standards, begun under one of the last of the native pharoahs, Nectanebo I (c380-62 BC) but mostly dating to the Ptolemaic period (as do many of the better preserved temples in the south of the country).

The temple's long use and later conversion to a church along with its remote location helped preserve it more or less completely over the centuries, but in the 20th century it faced its biggest threat, the construction of the Aswan dams which are located either side and caused Philae island to flood. The first dam (built 1902) caused the temple to be inundated for much of the year (thus washing away all the remaining paintwork from the interior; 19th century watercolours record what a loss the coloured details were). The bigger threat came in the 1960s when the Aswan High Dam was built to the south, causing the water levels to rise enough to completely submerge most of the temple. For some years all that could be seen of Philae were the four main towers and the columns of Trajan's Kiosk emerging from the waters.

Fortunately salvation came in the 1970s following the campaign to rescue and relocate the Nubian temples further south also threatened by the rising waters. Following the construction of a coffer-dam around the temple the entire temple complex was dismantled and rebuilt on higher ground on the adjoining island of Agilika where it can be enjoyed in its full splendour today.

For more on this wonderful site see below:-