Edfu (Ancient Egyptian: bḥdt, Arabic: إدفو pronounced [ˈʔedfu], Sahidic Coptic: ⲧⲃⲱ, ⲧⲃⲟ, Bohairic Coptic: ⲑⲃⲱ, ⲁⲧⲃⲱ; also spelt Idfu, or in modern French as Edfou) is an Egyptian city, located on the west bank of the Nile River between Esna and Aswan, with a population of approximately 60,000 people.

According to Notitia Dignitatum, part of Legio II Traiana Fortis was camped in Apollo superior, which was the Roman name for the town.

Although unassuming and unglamorous to the visiting tourists, Tell Edfu is a monument that contains evidence of more Egyptian history and is of more archaeological interest than the Ptolemaic temple.

Although major parts of the settlement show severe signs of erosion, cut away or have been exposed during sebakh-digging, enough is preserved to gain information from as far back as the Predynastic Period.

The remains of the settlement (tell) provides an insight into the development of Edfu as a provincial town from the end of the Old Kingdom until the Byzantine period.

Today, the ancient mound of Tell Edfu is preserved in some areas up to 20 m high and contains complete archaeological sequences of occupation dating to the Old Kingdom until the Graeco-Roman period, more than 3000 years of history, therefore providing ideal conditions to study the development of a provincial town.

The top layers of the settlement containing the Byzantine, Roman and Ptolemaic remains and the Old and Middle Kingdom cemetery at the southern western corner were recorded by a Franco-Polish expedition in 1937–39.

The expedition was organized in cooperation between the University of Warsaw and the Institut français d’archéologie orientale (IFAO) in Cairo,[3] and was directed by B. Bruyère, J. Manteuffel and Kazimierz Michałowski.

So far the administrative centre of the ancient town has been discovered with remains of a columned hall dating to the late Middle Kingdom as well as a large granary courtyard that functioned as a grain reserve for this provincial capital.

At least seven large round silos have been excavated here with a diameter between 5.5 and 6.5 meters which makes them the largest ones so far discovered within an ancient Egyptian urban centre.

The remains of one of seven small provincial step pyramids built along the Nile Valley, is situated about 5 km south of Edfu near the west bank village of Naga el-Goneima.

The structure was built from rough reddish sandstone and rises to a present height of 5.5 m. The pyramid has been loosely attributed to King Huni of the Third Dynasty.

Before the beginning of the New Kingdom, the necropolis was transferred to Hager Edfu, to the west and then in the Late period to the south at Nag’ el-Hassaya.

As the Sixth Dynasty and the Old Kingdom drew to a close, local regional governors and administrative nobles took on a larger power in their areas, away from the royal central authority.

The later structure faces north to south and leaves the ruined remains of the older temple pylon to be seen on the east side of the first court.

The smaller temple, sometimes, but improperly, called a Typhonium, is apparently an appendage of the former, and its sculptures represent the birth and education of the youthful deity, Horus, whose parents Noum, or Kneph and Athor, were worshipped in the larger edifice.

The wings contain ten stories, are pierced by round loop-holes for the admission of light, and probably served as chambers or dormitories for the priests and servitors of the temple.

The sculptures, although carefully and indeed beautifully executed, are of the Ptolemaic era, the earliest portion of the temple having been erected by Ptolemy VI Philometor in 181 BC.