The Elephantine Island is located in a strategic place in front of the first cataract of the Nile, which allowed to control the trade routes of the south of the country. It is 1350 m long and 780 m wide.
The Elephantine Island ¨The gateway to the south¨.
Where is Elephantine Island located?
The island is in the Nile, opposite the city of Aswan in Upper Egypt. Elephantine is known as the “gateway to the south”, as it was the southernmost city of Egypt and the starting point for Sudanese trade. Today, the island is the site of two Nubian villages.
What does its name “Elephantine” mean?
The island was known in ancient Egyptian texts as “Abu” (meaning “elephant”), as the island was an important port for receiving African ivory extracted from elephant tusks. Then, in the Greek language, it became the word “elephas” (Elephas-ελέφας) meaning “elephant ivory”.
What are the points of attraction will visit on the island?
There are several interesting places to visit on the island, the oldest construction on the island took place in late prehistoric times and extended to the early Islamic era, i.e. it includes the history of ancient Egypt in all times and even the Greco-Roman era. The island has the Aswan Museum at the southern tip of the island.
The first temple belongs to the first and second dynasty, in the range of 2800 BC, and the second temple for the beginning of the sixth dynasty, ie within 2250 BC, and the third was built by Senusert, the first in 1950 B.C.
There is also the temple of the god “Khnum”, which only the two pillars of the main entrance remain, and near it, there is a cemetery of rams for the same dynasty, also the kings of the 26th dynasty showed great interest in the island and established a stopover for the Nile, and after them the Ptolemaic kings and some Roman emperors whose names were recorded on the walls of the temples.
On the door of one of the southern rooms of the temple, there is an inscription depicting Alexander II in the form of an Egyptian king, as he offers offerings to the various deities and his name is written in hieroglyphics, with the formula “Step-in-Ra-Mary-Amun” (chosen by Ra and loved by Amun).
The Elephantine Museum
The Elephantine Museum is located in the southeastern part of Elephantine Island. It includes antiquities dating from the Predynastic era, as well as some statues of kings and individuals, some mummies of rams, symbol of the god Khnum, architectural and decorative elements, several coffins, and tools of daily life for the ancient Egyptians, and some funerary paintings.
List of archaeological remains
The Temple to the god Jnum.
The Temple of Heqa-ib.
The small Pyramid of Elephantine, one of the pyramids of the Ancient Empire.
The nilometer.
Inscriptions engraved on rocks, from various periods.
