"Best Preserved Cult Temple in Egypt" a Idfu Travel Page by atufft

The name appears phonetically related to the Coptic name for the city, Atbo, which in turn appears related to the ancient Egyptian name, Tbot. The Greeks called the city Apollinopolis Magna. Near the temple there is a mound of rubble believed to be the original town of Djeba. In any case, the town is the capital of the second nome (Horus) and has been a religious center for a very long time. The town remains today an important tranportation center, which, if were also a market town, would have provided cause in ancient times for it to also be founded as a religious center. The temple is devoted to the god Horus.

The city of Idfu surrounds the Temple closely, reducing it's land access popularity. Most tourists, therefore, find the temple by way of a cruise up or down river; however, as we typically do things the hard way, we came by local mini-van transport to the crossroads near the highway. From there, we had to ride in the back of a mini pick-up truck transport that had benches on either side for seating and a low overhead shell to shade us from the sun. We wouldn't have it any other way. We had plenty of time to browse the temple, before returning to the van stop and catch another destine for Luxor. Idfu is a sugar and pottery center, some 53 km of Esna, which itself is south of Luxor. It's a friendly town with few vendors to bother the visitor, except along a well defined section just before the Temple.

The last of the great Ptolemaic projects begun in 237BC by Ptolemy III and completed some 200 years later under Ptolemy the XIII--Cleopatra's father. Lonely Planet writer's argue that the temple is basically a copy of archaic architectural forms--the pylon and hypostyle hall--lacking unique architectural design, but that it also represents a clear model for understanding the earlier temples found at Luxor. At any rate, the temple is in excellent condition, having a solid foundation above the river and retaining most of its original stone roof.