Temple of Philae

The Temple of Philae was a temple dedicated to Sobek on Philae Island, located south of the city of Aswan in Egypt. The waters surrounding it were filled with crocodiles. In the 1960s, it was dismantled and reconstructed on a nearby island to protect the complex before the completion of the Aswan High Dam.

History

At some point in the 1st century BCE, the temple was taken over by Habibah, a member of the Order of the Ancients, who would stay in a room she could barricade and have surrounded by guards. The Hidden One Khepri, on a mission to assassinate Habibah, obtained a map of the temple in Aswan before swimming to the island while avoiding the crocodiles.

At Philae, Khepri waited for a time on the shore to dry out her clothes, so as to avoid leaving a trail or making noise, before infiltrating the temple. She found a group of guards around a locked door, sketched their locations on the map, and figured out a route that would allow her to kill them without being noticed. She then tried the door but found it barricaded from the inside, and decided to call out to her target, pretending to be one of the guards, to lure her out.

Habibah opened the door, looked at Khepri, and noted that she had not been expecting a woman, a sentiment that Khepri also admitted to before plunging her Hidden Blade into Habibah's heart. After Habibah expired, Khepri opened a chest, revealing half of an Isu dagger, and took it before leaving the temple. While swimming back, she noticed crocodiles entering the temple to consume the fresh bodies there.

Behind the scenes

Historically, the Philae temple complex was dedicated primarily to Isis, although several shrines dedicated to other Egyptian gods also existed on the island. However, Sobek was not one of the deities worshipped in the complex, and no temple dedicated to him is recorded to have existed on Philae.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Escape Room Puzzle Book