Elephantine Island in Aswan
Elephantine Island is a small island located in the middle of the Nile, facing Aswan, the beautiful city of Upper Egypt. Elephantine Island is a classic and unmissable destination for tourists visiting Aswan. For centuries it was the beating heart of this city, inhabited even since 3,000 BC, and most tourists when they make a trip to Egypt must necessarily visit the elephantine island as it is considered a very famous tourist symbol in Aswan.
Contrary to what one might think at first glance, the unusual name of the island has nothing to do with the presence of large mammals. No elephant lives on the island, rather the origin of this peculiar name is thought to come from the gray granite boulders present in the southern part of the island, whose profile evoked a group of elephants. According to others, the name would instead be attributable to the shape of the island itself, similar for some to that of an elephant tusk.
The tourist value of the island and its location
In the Pharaonic era, the city of Aswan was located exactly on this strip of land. It was a commercial town and at the time it was known by the name of Swenet, which shielded itself from the turbulence of the river currents as protection from enemy attacks. Its position, just below the cataract, made it an important commercial crossroads, where caravans from the south unloaded their goods so that they were later transported north.
Although small, the island offers a variety of attractions that it would be a shame to miss out on a visit to beautiful Aswan.
What to visit apart from the elephantine island
In addition to the ancient Pharaonic settlement, it is possible to visit the late Pharaonic Temple of Khnum and other small monumental complexes partially found, consisting of a few ruins scattered throughout the rest of the island. It also houses the Aswan Museum and an ancient kilometer.
Of the initial nucleus of the city of Aswan, which was precisely located on the island, there are some testimonies of the small temples of Amenhotep III and Ramesses II, unfortunately, demolished in 1822; but the drawings made during the Napoleonic expedition have been preserved.
Under the remains of the XVIII dynasty, structures dating back to the Old Kingdom and the first dynastic period have been found. The aforementioned Temple of Khnum, lord of the cataract, was erected by Ramesses II, and later restored under Nectanebo II (360-342 BC), Ptolemy VI and VIII, and Augustus.
On the island, adjacent to the temple of Satet, in the Ptolemaic age, as in many other places scattered along the river, a kilometer was built. The structure of the Nilometer is stepped and is carved out of the rock, used, as the name suggests, as a tool to measure and monitor the water level. The walls of the Nilometer are marked in Arabic, Roman, and Pharaonic numbers.
On the island, there is also the necropolis of the nomarchi dating back to the period from the end of the Old Kingdom to the XII dynasty. Important was the discovery, which took place between 1898 and 1900, of papyrus which bears texts in Aramaic; the texts date back to around 494-410 BC and would belong to the archives of the Jewish military colony that had settled in Elefantina before the Persian conquest. The Jews had also erected a temple, inside the Khnum enclosure, perhaps in the 7th or 6th century. BC, which was however destroyed by the Egyptians in 410.
The island is home to the necropolis of the sacred rams of Khnum, dating back to the Hellenistic-Roman age, in which the mummies of the animals were enclosed in sarcophagi embellished with golden masks.
The two beautiful Nubian villages
In the center of the island, a large group of palm groves hides two beautiful and colorful Nubian villages that regularly host foreign visitors. The first Nubian village is the village of Siou and the second is called the village of Koti. The two villages are connected by a path, together they make up the remains of three distinct settlements.
In the north of the island, there is a luxury hotel, the Movenpick Aswan. The Nubian villages are home to the increasingly rare remains of ancient people, their music, language, and traditions that offer a glimpse of another world and another time.
The island of Elefantina is very easy to reach. Once in Aswan, it is possible to reach Elephantine Island by ferry or by renting a felucca, both available at any bank of the river.
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