Photo : Olaf Tausch — CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Luxor · Esna
Temple of Esna
A hypostyle hall on its own, at the bottom of a pit, under the town that grew over it.
Of a large temple of Khnum, the ram-headed god who shapes human beings, only the hypostyle hall is left, built under the Roman emperors. It stands several metres below the level of the town: Esna's ground has risen century after century, and you go down to the temple by a stair, between the houses and the market stalls. Its twenty-four columns carry capitals of which none repeats its neighbour — palm fronds, lotus, bunches of grapes — and the ceiling keeps figures of the sky that cleaning campaigns have brought back to their colours. The texts on the walls are among the latest hieroglyphic writing produced, and the scribes went so far as to write whole hymns using only the ram sign and the crocodile sign.
The extra bit
The hall is roofed, so it is in shade from morning to evening. Better to come when the sun is high above the pit: the light then falls between the columns instead of only on the lip of the excavation.
Know before you go
Esna is halfway between Luxor and Edfu: you stop there, you do not stay. The temple is being cleaned and excavated in sections, and parts of it can be under scaffolding with no notice given; the ticket window will tell you what is visible that day. The cruise boats queue at the Esna lock, which fills the town in waves. The lane down to the temple is lined with stalls, and you will be followed as far as the ticket desk.
