The temple ruins at Abydos

IN ABYDOS

Ida Uhse writing about the visit to Abydos:
“Abydos, 5th of Jan. We left El-Balyana at 8am and rode for two hours to the ruins of Abydos, Egypt’s sacred city, formerly a great city, now a small village. This was the location of the famous tomb of Osiris, and any pious Egyptian would have liked nothing more than to be buried here.

The Temple of Seti, dedicated to Osiris, is an admirable structure with great hypostyle halls and reliefs on the columns and walls, the so-called Gallery of Kings and the famous Abydos King List consisting of images from the lives of King Seti, Ramesses II and other kings.

There are also delightful reliefs of kings on the other walls. A few minutes from the temple is the Temple of Ramesses II, which has a courtyard, rows of columns, a chapel, murals and reliefs; unfortunately they have all been severely vandalised. There is also a Coptic monastery nearby, not much to see. We had our packed breakfast among the temple ruins. The boat then continued on to Quena, it was a mild and beautiful evening.