home | history | nations | cities | races | people | contact

Elephantine

Elephantine, known as Abu to the Egyptians, was located on an island in the middle of the Nile, opposite Aswan and near the First Cataract. It was sacred to the the ram-headed god Khnum and his consort Sati, and the goddess Anuket of nearby Sahel. There was a New Kingdom temple there as well as an older temple to the north. On the west bank of the Nile, carved high on the cliff opposite the city, are the tombs of the Old and Middle Kingdom nobles of the region. During the Old Kingdom it was called "The Door to the South" because it was the southernmost city of Egypt and the starting-point for trade with Kush. During the Middle and New Kingdoms it was a center for the Egyptian administration of Nubia.

The quarries near Elephantine yielded the best granite in Egypt, and were in use as early as the reign of Djoser, who used its stone in the chambers of his step pyramid.