Philae and Mediaeval Tradition

Philae  and Mediaeval Tradition
Christianity finally came to the island of Philae and, after the Arab conquest, many of its inhabitants embraced Islam. There being no further need for isolation from the mainland, the population gradually dwindled. By the Middle Ages the island was deserted. It was then that there developed a tale that is strongly reminiscent of the myth of Isis, searching for her loved one Osiris.

Philae

It was said that a certain Zahr el-Ward, ‘Rose Blossom’, beautiful daughter of a grand vizier, fell in love with a young man called Anas el-Wogud. The youth was not accepted by the girl’s father who, to protect his daughter, shut her up in the temple of Isis on Philae and told her lover she had gone away.

Anas was not content with the explanation and searched the country for her. Through the Delta and Upper Egypt he went, searching everywhere, until he finally found her on the island. Unfortunately he could not cross the river which was filled with crocodiles, and it was only because he was known throughout the land for his kind and tender heart, and his love of all creatures, that one of the crocodiles allowed him to climb on its back and swim across the river with him.

Philae Island

Meanwhile the beautiful Zahr el-Ward had been planning her escape. Not knowing that her lover knew her whereabouts, she managed to slip out of the temple and find a boat. It is fortunate that the crocodile bearing the lover and the boat bearing the girl met in midstream, where they were reunited much as Horus and Hathor were annually reunited in the ‘Good Union’ (pages 159, 171).

When the father realised that he could not come between the lovers, he allowed the wedding to take place in the Osiris Room on the roof of the sanctuary of the temple of Isis.

Posted in: Philae and Mediaeval Tradition