The Upper Egyptian city of Esna is located almost 60 kilometers to the south of Luxor. The Ptolemaic-Roman temple, which was dedicated to the ram-headed god Khnum, who formed humans on his potter's wheel, is located directly in the city, just a few meters from the banks of the Nile. Ptolemy VI (180-45 BC) began construction of the temple and the Romans added the Hypostyle Hall, the only section of the temple that has been excavated and can be visited today, with well-preserved carvings from the 3rd century. The temple now lies in a nine-meter-deep pit where desert sand and debris had accumulated for 15 centuries since it was abandoned during the Roman period. Most of the temple, which is similar in size to the temples of Edfu and Dendera, is still covered by the ancient city of Esna.