Philae Temple: An Honest Guide to Aswan's Island of Isis

What is Philae Temple, exactly?

Philae is a compact temple complex on a small island in the Nile, just upstream of Aswan. The main building is the temple of Isis: a first pylon, an open forecourt, a second pylon, a hypostyle hall and a dark sanctuary at the back. Around it sit smaller structures, including a birth house for Isis's son Horus and the kiosk named after the emperor Trajan, who appears in its reliefs and whose building was never finished.

The scale is modest by Egyptian standards. Karnak could swallow the whole island several times over. What Philae has instead is coherence and setting. You can take in the entire complex in an hour or two, and every approach to it is across water. That combination is rare in Egypt, where most great sites are reached by coach across dust.

Why does a temple built this late matter?

Most of what stands was built under the Ptolemies, the Greek dynasty that ruled Egypt after Alexander, and finished by Roman emperors. The oldest surviving building, the small pillared vestibule near the landing, is earlier, put up under Nectanebo I in the fourth century BC. Philae is still late by Egyptian standards, more than two thousand years younger than the pyramids at Giza. Some visitors treat that as a demerit. It is the opposite.

It stayed in use longer than any other Egyptian temple we know of. The last dated hieroglyphic inscription found anywhere was cut here, in AD 394, long after the script had died out elsewhere. A sixth-century writer credits the emperor Justinian with having the sanctuary closed by force, though how much worship was left to close is disputed and some scholars think the cult had already faded. Part of the hall later became a church, and Coptic crosses are cut into walls that once carried offerings to Isis.

How did the temple end up on a different island?

The first Aswan dam, completed at the start of the twentieth century and raised twice afterwards, put the original island of Philae under water for much of each year. For decades visitors rowed between the tops of the columns and looked down at capitals through green water. The surviving paint and much of the surface detail were washed away in the process.

The High Dam, finished in 1970, would have left the temple permanently waterlogged between the two dams. A UNESCO-backed rescue followed. A cofferdam was built, the water pumped out, and the buildings cut into tens of thousands of blocks and re-erected on nearby Agilkia island, which was reshaped to resemble the original. The work finished in 1980.

The joins are visible if you look, and worth looking for. Knowing the temple was rebuilt does not diminish it. It explains why the lower courses are so clean, why the plan sits slightly oddly on the rock, and why almost nothing here is quite where the priests left it.

Getting there: the boat is half the visit

You reach Philae only by boat, from a harbour south of the old Aswan dam. The crossing is short, ten or fifteen minutes in a small motorboat. The temple appears side-on as you come round, with Trajan's kiosk closest to the water. That first view from the boat is the best one you will get, so sit where you can see forward rather than facing your group.

The boat is normally a separate transaction from the site ticket, arranged with the boatmen at the landing and priced per boat rather than per person. Agree the fare and the waiting time before you step in, and be clear that the return is included. Rates change, so confirm the current going rate with your guide or hotel on the day rather than trusting anything written online.

What should you look for once you are on the island?

Start with the long colonnade running up from the landing, then the first pylon with its large carved figures. In the forecourt, look at the birth house on your left. The reliefs of Isis nursing the infant Horus in the marshes are often compared with later Christian images of the Madonna and child, though whether one influenced the other is still argued over.

Inside, take a torch or use your phone. The sanctuary rooms are dim and the carving is shallow. Look for the deliberate damage: faces and hands chiselled out by later Christian occupants, crosses cut over older scenes, soot on the ceilings. This layering is the most interesting thing at Philae and most tour commentary skips straight past it.

Outside the main enclosure, the Gate of Hadrian carries a relief of the Nile god in a cave among rocks, understood as the source of the flood. It is often empty while the forecourt is full. Trajan's kiosk, the roofless rectangle of columns on the eastern side, was left unfinished, which is part of why it photographs so well.

When should you go, and at what time of day?

October to April is the sensible window for Aswan. In summer the middle of the day is genuinely punishing, and Philae has very little shade. The island is small, exposed and stone-floored, and the heat comes back up at you. Bring water rather than planning to buy it once you have crossed.

Time of day matters more than season. The first boats of the morning are quiet. From mid-morning the Nile cruise excursions arrive in a block and the forecourt fills for two or three hours. Late afternoon empties again, and the low sun does more for the reliefs than any other light. If you can only choose one, choose early.

Is the sound and light show worth going back for?

Honestly, it depends what you want. The narration is dated and overwrought, the script leans on drama the site does not need, and the historical content is thin. If you want to learn something about Isis or the Ptolemies, you will not get it here. Judged as history, the show is poor and has been for years.

What is genuinely good is everything around the show. Crossing black water to a lit island is a real experience, the temperature is kind, and the buildings floodlit from below look better than they do at noon. Showings run in different languages on different nights, so check the schedule locally on the day. Go for the walk and the light, not the commentary.

How does Philae fit into an Aswan itinerary?

The standard Aswan half-day pairs Philae with the unfinished obelisk and a stop at the High Dam. The obelisk is quick and worth it, a colossal abandoned block still attached to the bedrock, cracked and left where it lay. The High Dam stop is a viewpoint and a monument, twenty minutes at most, and nobody has ever been sorry to skip it.

Philae deserves better than being the third stop of a rushed morning. Given two nights in Aswan, do Philae early on one day, keep the afternoon for Elephantine island or a felucca, and take the Abu Simbel run on the other. If you are on a Nile cruise with a fixed excursion, ask whether you can go independently at a quieter hour instead.

What do most visitors get wrong?

The commonest mistake is treating Philae as a photo stop. Groups are frequently on the island for forty minutes, which covers the pylon, the kiosk and little else. Ninety minutes is a fair minimum, and two hours is not too long if you are reading the walls. The island rewards slowness more than most Egyptian sites.

The second is arriving with the wrong expectation. Philae is not overwhelming, and straight after Karnak or Abu Simbel it can feel small. Judge it on what it is: an intact, legible temple in a remarkable position, carrying the fingerprints of Greeks, Romans and Christians as well as Egyptians. Very few sites in Egypt let you read that much history off one set of walls.