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Aswan
Travel Guide
Aswan is considered as the smallest of the
three major tourist cities on the Nile.
Being the furthest south of the three, it
has a large population of Nubian people,
mostly resettled from their homeland in the
area flooded by Lake Nasser. Aswan is the
home of many granite quarries from which
most of the Obelisks seen in Luxor were
sourced. Aswan was the ancient Egyptians'
gateway to Africa.
In Aswan you will find most of the ancient
secrets of Egypt , discover the beauty of
nature and history together since its
located down the Nile and it’s the Egyptian
gate to Africa and it contains most of the
ancient temples and one of the most
magnificent temples with its own unrevealed
secret “ Abu-simble”
“Abu-simble” temple is Carved out of a
mountain between 1274BC and 1244BC, but lost
to the world until it was rediscovered in
1813 by Swiss explorer Jean Louis Burkhart.
Dedicated to Ramses II himself and gods Ra,
Amun, and Ptah. Features 4 20m+ statues of
Ramses. Its axis was positioned by the
ancient Egyptian architects in such a way
that twice a year, on February and October
20, the rays of the sun would penetrate the
sanctuary and illuminate the sculpture on
the back wall, except for the statue of
Ptah, the god connected with the Underworld,
who always remained in the dark. These dates
are allegedly the king's birthday and
coronation day respectively, but there is no
evidence to support this, though it is quite
logical to assume that these dates had some
relation to a great event, such as the
jubilee celebrating the thirtieth
anniversary of the pharaoh's rule. This
image of the king was enhanced and
revitalized by the energy of the solar star,
and the deified Ramesses II could take his
place next to Amun Ra and Ra-Horakhty. Due
to the displacement of the temple, it is
widely believed that this event now occurs
one day later than it did originally. Also,
look for a "Kilroy was here" on the lower
legs of one of the 4 giant statues of
Ramesses II, along with other grafitti,
formerly considered fashionable. Be sure to
follow the pathway inside the fake mountain
dome, to see how the mountain was
constructed.
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