Egypt > Aswan in general > Aswan Elephantine EG00502jhp
Images in this gallery relate to Aswan in southern Egypt covering the city, the River Nile and related sites except for more important places such as Philae, The Nubian Museum and Seheil Island Rock carvings.
© Jim Henderson
Photographer: | Jim Henderson | |||
Collection: | Aswan in general | |||
Filename: | Aswan Elephantine EG00502jhp |
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Upload Date: | 2016-01-13 09:07:54 | |||
Photo Size: | 6.4mb 3567x5322 pixels | |||
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Caption: | Elephantine Island Aswan Egypt restoration temple buildings mudbrick visited duringa separate excursion and not usually included in standard Nile package tours. Taking a ferry over and paying for a museum and island visit is straight forward. This photo was taken in 2000 when restoration and excavation was ongoing and is record of progress at that time. It is also interesting to visit the famous Nilometer which was used for recording the start of the annual flooding of the Nile or inundation. The Nilometer is situated directly across from the equally famous Old Nile Cataract Hotel, written about in Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile and which featured in the film of the same name. The island would have had strategic importance given its size and predominant position in the centre of the river.There are the remains of several Temples to various Gods associated with the Island, the most notable being Khnum, the ram-headed provincial God of the region, Lord of the Cataract and Hapy, the Nile God. Khnum’s consorts were Satet/Satis and Anuket. Pre-historic remains and carvings have been found and occupation of the Island spanned almost the whole history to Egypt including a gateway showing Alexander 11 and Greco-Roman Necropolis of the Sacred Rams. Considerable occupation of the Island by high officials is evidenced by the spread of houses and shown in some of these photos. There is also evidence of a Jewish settlement from Aramaic papyri finds. A small but interesting Museum exhibits finds from all the periods of occupation and is well worth a visit. No photography was allowed. There is also a garden museum with statues of Middle Kingdom local nomarchs. As several of the photos show is partially restored Temple of Satet with some painted relief blocks in place and the areas not found left a drawings showing figures in position. There was evidence of considerable reusing of older buildings particularly by the ruler Nectanebo 11, see also his naos, and later Alexander and two temples attributed to Amenhotep 111 and Tuthmosis 111 that existed at the time of the French expedition in 1800 where subsequently destroyed during civil unrest. |
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