Egypt: Day 3
September 18, 2022



Above: A view of the Nile from Sehel Island.



1 to 6 show views around the Nile River basin from Sehel Island.

7 and 8 show the top of the Famine Stela on Sehel Island, where Pharaoh King Djoser on the left is addressing the Elephantine Triad of gods
Khnum, Satet and Anuket. The story is set around 2660 BC, but the stela was inscribed during the Ptolemaic Kingdom, somewhere around 200 BC.

The text says the king is upset and worried as the land has been in a drought and famine for seven years, the Nile has not flooded the farmlands,
Egyptians are suffering, and are desperate and breaking the laws of the land. Pharaoh Djoser asks the priest staff and high lector priest Imhotep
for help. He informs the pharaoh that the flooding of the Nile is controlled by the god Khnum at Elephantine from a sacred spring on the island,
where the god resides. Imhotep travels there and in the Temple of Khnum, called “Joy of Life”, Imhotep purifies himself, prays to Khnum for help
and offers “all good things” to him.

Suddenly he falls asleep and in his dream Imhotep is greeted by the kindly looking Khnum. The god introduces himself to Imhotep by describing who
and what he is and then describes his own divine powers. At the end of the dream Khnum promises to make the Nile flow again. Imhotep wakes up,
writes down everything from the dream, and then returns to Djoser to tell what has happened. The king is pleased with the news and issues a decree
in which he orders priests, scribes and workers to restore Khnum´s temple and to make regular offerings to the god. In addition, Djoser grants the
Temple of Khnum at Elephantine the region between Aswan and Tachompso with all its wealth, as well as a share of all the imports from Nubia.

9 to 11 show the group walkin down the hill of the Famine Stela, L to R, Kim, moi, Karl, Robert, Ahmed, Jered, Stephaniem, Emina, Marion and Ian.




Touch a picture number












Select:
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14