About Travcotels Choose a River Nile Cruise Ship River Nile Cruise Itineraries Nile Cruise Ship Entertainment Map of the River Nile Nile Cruises Visits Highlights Nile Cruises Schedule traveller Tips Getting to Luxor / Aswan Interesting Links

Visit Highlights
l Luxor l Aswan l Abu Simbel l Edfu l Esna l Kom Ombo l

Esna

Esna and the West Bank
Located 58 kilometres to the south of Luxor, Esna is a large village on the west bank of the Nile. It was here that the cult of Khnum was celebrated, the ram-headed god who fashioned man from a potter's wheel. The Temple of Esna is dedicated to this divinity. The temple was discovered by Champollion in 1828 and was actually a reconstruction from the reign of Ptolemy VI in the 1st century AD, of a building from the 18th Dynasty. All that remains is a large hypostyle hall with 24 columns.