After a 3-hour drive from Luxor to Aswan our first visit is Philea temple. Dedicated to the goddess Isis, the Temple of Philae is located in a beautiful setting, The oldest monuments date from the 7th century BC. when Pharaoh Taharqa built an altar. The Isis temple consisted of three parts: a large courtyard, the front colonnade and three chapels in the back. This temple dates back to the 3rd century BC. and remained in use until 537. The temple was in danger of disappearing completely into the water during the construction of the Aswan Dam. The complex on the former island of Philae has gained great fame because it was completely cut into pieces and placed a little further on the higher island (Agilkia).

Before the High Dam was built, even with the old dam in place, the annual flooding of the Nile during late summer was unimpeded. These floods brought natural nutrients and minerals that enrich the fertile soil every year. But these natural floods varied, and as high and low water years both had their drawbacks, a desire developed to fully control the floods in order to protect and sustain the agricultural land. With the greatly increased reservoir storage of the High Aswan Dam, the flooding could be kept under control and the water could be stored for later discharge over several years. The Aswan High Dam is 4,000 meters (13,000 ft) long and at maximum, 11,000 cubic meters per second (390,000 cu ft / s) of water can pass through the dam. The reservoir, named Lake Nasser, is 500 km (310 mi) long [17] and 35 km (22 mi) at its widest. It holds 132 cubic kilometers (1.73 × 1011 cu yd) of water.

Archaeologists believe that Hatshepsut ordered the obelisk to be built and when the Egyptian obelisk was completed it would have a length of 42 meters. The obelisk is nearly a third longer than any other Egyptian obelisk erected. The creators of the obelisk immediately began carving into the rock, but fractures in the granite occurred and the project was abandoned. The bottom of the obelisk is still attached to the rock.