EDFII, (Coptic tb6). A town of Up per Egypt, on the left bank of the Nile (latitude 25° 1' north. longitude 32° 16' east), about GO miles above Thebes. The chief local deity was Horns (q.v.), whom the Creeks identified with Apollo, and for this reason called the place ApolIlliopolis. As Aponinopotis .11ama it was distinguished from .1 rollinopolis Parra (the modern Qui:), the seat of worship of the god Haro&is (q.v.). Edfu was celebrated in Egyp tian mythology as the scene of one of the great contests between Ilorus and Set. The legend is given in full in Wiedemann's Religion of the Ancient Egyptians (1S97). The great temple of 'torus at Edfu. which stands to-day almost intact, is in a better state of preservation than any other Egyptian temple. It was begun on the site of an older temple in me. 237. under the reign of Ptolemy M. (Euergetes I.) , and was completed and dedicated under Euergetes II. about a century later. Considerable additions were made to it by later monarchs down to the year rt.c. 57. Including the court, it is some 451 feet in length and its facade is 250 feet wide. A gateway, 50 feet high, between two immense py lons, over 100 feet in height and covered with in scriptions. give: entrance to a splendid court (161 X 140 feet) inclosed by a double colonnade of 32 pillars, each of a ditTerent-design. At the up per end of the court is the great portico, its roof supported by eighteen pillar. and then comes a
hypostyle ball of 12 pillars. This gives access to two successive vestibules leading to the sanctuary, which is surrounded by an open corridor. A number of chambers, ranged :lbw the wall of the temple. open into this corridor. From the pylons extends the outer wall which ineloses the court and all the temple buildings in a single great quadrangle. The principal buildings are richly decorated with sculptures and paintings. and contain numerous inscriptions, chiefly of a re ligious or mythological character. Both the court and the temple were formerly nearly cov ered up with rubhish. and Arab hovels were built against tl.e walls and even upon the roof; lint early in the sixties Mariette, by permission of the Khedive. cleared away the di•bris and re moved the wretched buildings which encroached upon the temple.
The so-called Birth House, built by Energetes IL and decorated by Soter 11., stands near the entrance of time great temple of Horns. It is surrounded by a gallery whose roof is supported pillars adorned with figures of the god Bes. Consult: Lepsins, Brio' r (Inc t I h in n, etc. (Berlin, 1352) ; Brugseh, Reis,berichte tus Aegyptcn (Leipzig, 1355): Marlette. Monu ments of I Egypt (London, Is77),