The Inscriptions of the Ptolemaic Temple of Edfu
Temple Houses One of the Largest Collections of Hieroglyphic Texts
This project was finished in 2017.
How did the Ptolemies live in Egypt? What can we learn about their religion, their political history and their administration? It was about these key issues - and a lot more - that the scholars of the Edfu-project dealt with by translating the hieroglyphic texts of the temple of Edfu, and by annotating and digitising the extensive data sets.
The Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities had been in charge of the Edfu project from 2022 until its completion in 2017. Prior to this, it had been funded and supervised by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
The Ptolemies came to Egypt in 332 BC with Alexander the Great and ruled the country until the Romans conquered it 30 BC. During this time they built impressive temples, including the one of the god Horus in Edfu, about 100 kilometers south of Luxor. This temple is almost completely preserved. The inscriptions are one of the most extensive collections of hieroglyphic texts of the ptolemaic period, and are therefore of great importance for philology.
Information documents on the Edfu Project PDF