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| Egypt Flights Home »Tourist Attractions in Luxor »The Ancient Cities of Idfu and Isna |
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The Ancient Cities of Idfu and Isna |
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Some of the most important cradles of ancient civilization had grown around numerous rivers like those of Euphrates and Tigris in South-East Asia, Yangtze in China and Indus in India, but the civilization which had the most intimate connection with a river had been Egypt with the river Nile blessing the country with fertile land and the primary means of livelihood. This accounts for some of the most important ancient Egyptian cities being built on the banks of the Nile which are today highly acclaimed for their architectural extravaganza, witness to what used to be the largest civilizations of all times. Out of these, the present city of Luxor draws hundreds of thousands of tourists the year round, for its depiction of the cultural past and a few kilometers away from this city are located the two ancient cities of Idfu and Isna which had held places equal eminence in the Egyptian as well as Greek era and today have made place for themselves in the tourism circuit of Egypt.
The ancient cities of Idfu and Isna form an essential part of the tourist attraction spots that can be explored from the city of Luxor as both the ancient cities of Idfu and Isna are a few miles away from the Luxor, which was in the past the site of the ancient city of Thebes. The Egyptian city of Idfu is located at a distance of about 66 miles from Luxor and was a capital city of the second nome of Upper Egypt. Idfu is world-renowned for its Temple of Horus built between the time periods of 237 BC to 57 BC and is regarded as the best preserved of the Egyptian Temples, built out of sandstone overlooking the Nile. However, the settlement during the times of ancient Idfu is situated a few kilometers away from the temple and is known as 'Wetjeset-hor' with a Latin name of Apollinopolis Magna which throws light on the prominence of Idfu in the times of Antiquity. Other places of importance in Idfu comprise of tombs and mastabas from the Old Kingdom and a few pyramid ruins dating back to the times of the Third Dynasty.
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The ancient city of Isna, although today an important weaving center of Egypt, is also associated with much importance to the times of ancient Egyptian era and Greek periods being called in antiquity as 'Iunyt' and by the Greeks as 'Latapolis' after the name of the fish 'lates', found in large numbers in the river Nile. Located at a distance of about 33 miles from the city of Luxor, Isna is home to numerous ruins out of which the Temple of Khnum is certainly worth a mention especially for its astounding architecture. The temple was built of red sandstone and consisted amongst others pillars with varied designs and a fantastic gateway. The entire temple was dedicated to the tutelary deities of Kneph, Neith and Hak.
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The temple was primarily restored during the times of the Greek era. The other ruins of the ancient city of Isna have not yet been excavated as most of them are buried under the modern buildings which came up in the recent years.
Although the ancient cities of Idfu and Isna are of little importance to tourists today, they are of great importance to Egyptologists and archaeologists for they are perhaps the only remaining evidence of ancient Egyptian history and the old kingdom from the times of pre-dynastic periods, which have withstood the test of time to provide its visitors with amazing accounts of the past glory of Egypt.
Egyptflightshub.com brings to you researched information on not only the ancient Cities of Idfu and Isna, but on all the various important aspects of Egypt. So browse through its links to know more about the land of the River Nile
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