Esna is a small rural town on the left bank of the Nile
This small market town lies about 55 km south of Luxor on the west bank of the Nile. Besides its Temple of Khnum, it’s mainly known for the sandstone dam across the river, built in 1906 at about the same time as the first Aswan dam. Cruise ships and barges usually have to queue a while for their turn to pass through the barrages, though waiting time has been considerably reduced by the building of a second lock. It’s a typical dusty town, not geared towards tourists save for the souvenir-sellers, and there is nothing to keep you here once you’ve finished at the temple. You can be in and out in under two hours, which will keep the local police force happy. If you do stop off to see the temple after a felucca trip (most of which finish 30 km south of Esna), you’ll find stalls serving simple food in the souk.
The hypostyle hall’s Outer Faade is decorated from left to right with the cartouches of the emperors Claudius, Titus and Vespasian Inside the lofty hall 18 columns with capitals of varying floral designs support the Astronomical Ceiling which, although once a beautiful and complex spectacle, is barely visible today because it was blackened by the wood fires of a Coptic village once housed within the temple. In places various deities and animals, including winged dogs, two-headed snakes and the pregnant hippo-goddess Taweret can be seen intermingled with signs of the zodiac. The hall’s columns are inscribed with texts detailing the temple’s various festivals. On the lighter side, look out for the cross-legged pharaoh, frogs on top of a capital representing the goddess Heqet and a column engraved with countless crocodiles. Around the northern outer walls at the back of the temple are texts to Marcus Aurelius while Titus, Domitian and Trajan slay their Egyptian enemies on the eastern and western outer walls.
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