Contest #47
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How to Play
To participate, just make your guess in the comments section for each photo. Guesses will be held until the end of the contest, when they will all be made public. Anything and everything is fair game for getting a correct answer. Each contest will last 2-3 days, so submit your guess as soon as you have an idea.
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This is the island of Agilkai, in the Nile river, the new site of the Philae temple complex. The complex used to be in a different location 550m away, but was moved because it was threatened by the higher water level in the Aswan Dam.
Comment by brian t | August 3, 2008
Philae Island near Aswan Egypt Temples of Isis
Comment by Ewen M | August 3, 2008
Philae temple complex (moved to Agilika island) on the Nile River, near Aswan, Egypt
Comment by Milosh, Serbia | August 3, 2008
The island of Philae - Egypt.
Shadows of the temple were the giveaway. Columns definitely implied Doric construction - Greek/Roman. Boats looked like river boats. Search for temples on a river island and… Bingo.
Fun one - thanks.
Comment by PK | August 4, 2008
Agilika Island - home of the Philae Temples. The temples used to be on Philae Island, south of the Aswan Dam. They were moved to the current location after the original location became submerged by the building of the Aswan Dam.
The key for me in solving this puzzle was the multi-columned structure on the east side of the island. I had been looking all around the Greece until discovering a picture of this structure.
Comment by ACG | August 4, 2008
Not sure but I’m gone all week no time to research.
I will guess… Malta
Comment by ltrairder (formerly Brian) | August 4, 2008
This is the Philae temple, between the Aswan high dam, and the city of Aswan. I love this place …
oh by the way, responding to your inquiry : I put now a “T” behind Michael, therefore you can trace me ! Now, I am “Michael T”, not Michael anymore
Thanks.
Comment by Michael T | August 4, 2008
Wow… It’s not Alcatraz, too many other islands are close by. It looks like an arid environment, near Mexico?
The shadows hint at a Spanish Mission, like the Alamo. The building on the right looks like a miniature version of the Acropolis. Is this in the Mediterranean?
Any chance of partial credit?
Comment by Andy McConnell | August 4, 2008
I haven’t found it (yet?) and I’ve searched all of antiquity (and google).
This is driving me insane, just thought I’d share.
Comment by David S | August 4, 2008
Agilkia Island in the lake created by the low Aswan dam. This is where the temple complex from Philae Island was relocated by UNESCO.
It took me quite a while to find this. At first it looked like a coastal island in the Persian Gulf or Greece to me. Maybe a protected bay somewhere in a very dry climate, probably a significant tourist attraction judging by the boats. The boats also appeared to be mostly pastel colored indicating they probably were wooden and local build not factory made. This said lower-income country or back-water area (no pun intended).
Deciding that it looked more coastal and not really right for ancient ruins (Ha!) I looked mostly along Mediterranean and Middle East coastlines with some side trips to the Baja Peninsula, coastal Mexico, and Chile. I didn’t start with lakes until today after exhausting the coastal areas. In hindsight, I probably should have quit the coastal areas more quickly as almost none had water that appeared jet black with no waves. That should have pointed me towards large lakes in arid regions straight away.
Comment by Keith M | August 5, 2008
the temple of Philae, Eygpt
I had a feeling it was something like this, but I kept getting stuck in Greece… whew that one was Hard!!!
cheers,
-Skip
Comment by Skip | August 5, 2008
oh my god
I can’t believe I finally found this (I also can’t believe how much time I wasted looking for it.) It looks like the island is Philae, in the lake between the high and low dams at Aswan @ 24.024 32.884
I won’t even begin to describe how I finally found it, suffice it to say flickr, google, etc have been open in multiple tabs for quite some time now.
A few things I noticed about the picture that ultimately helped:
- It is a very high resolution shot
- The water is black and the shore has no waves, indicating an island in a lake , river or bay
- The vegetation is dark and the shore is very rocky
- The large number of boats indicates a nearby population center
Argh, its even a UNESCO WHS which I thought I had searched through already. Of course in retrospect, this was much harder than it needed to be
Comment by David S | August 5, 2008
Spitsbergen. just a wild gues.
Comment by Willem | August 6, 2008
The Island of Philae, on the Nile in Egypt.
Hopefully this will post (I’ve only got my iPhone at this conference). I was lucky to be able to find it with just Google maps on here!
Comment by jvo | August 6, 2008
Phlae, Temple of Isis, Egypt
This is Pan…
Comment by Pan | August 6, 2008