It was called “Elephantine Island” because it resembles an elephant standing in the water, or, as some say, an elephant’s tusk. The island has a lot to offer visitors to the beautiful city of Aswan.
Where is Elephantine Island?
Elephantine Island is 1,200 meters long from north to south and 400 meters wide at its widest point. It and the other nearby islands can be seen from the slope of the west bank of the Nile. They are just downstream of the First Nile River, on the border between Upper Egypt and Lower Nubia.
Elephantine Island can be reached by ferry or felucca, rented on the river bank in Aswan.
Elephantine Island in ancient times:
Before the city of Aswan was there, there was a pharaonic trading city called Swenet on Elephantine Island. The town was protected from the attack of the island and the raging waters of the first waterfall. It was an important trading center because it was just below the waterfall.
Caravans from the south unloaded their goods there to transport them up the river to the north. Elephantine Island was also once an important place for the ivory trade, and it supplied Egypt with granite to construct many of its buildings.
The late Pharaonic Temple of Khnum and other partially excavated ruins scattered around the rest of the island are all that remain of this pharaonic settlement. The island is also home to the Aswan Museum and the ancient Nilometer. The Nilometer is carved into the rock and looks like an old staircase leading to the water.
It has numbers written in Arabic, Roman, and Pharaonic languages. In the middle of the island, palm groves hide two Nubian villages. Tourists often visit these villages and enjoy the beautiful scenery along the river. At its northern end is also the Mövenpick Hotel Aswan, an upscale hotel.
Temples on Elephantine Island:
On the Elephantine island were the temples of Thutmose III and Amenhotep III. Still, they were destroyed when Muhammad Ali took over Egypt and made it an Islamic country.
Around 3000 BC, the Satet Temple was the first temple built on the island. Over the next 3,000 years, the temple was restored and rebuilt many times. Records indicate the existence of an Egyptian temple to Khunum during the Third Dynasty. During the Thirtieth Dynasty, before the Greco-Roman era, the temple was rebuilt entirely.
Nilometer:
Nilometer is another well-known place to visit on Elephantine Island. It was built to measure the level and clarity of the waters in the Nile during the annual flood season.
On Elephant Island, there are two measurements per kilometer. The most famous is the Nile passage connected to the Temple of Satis, one of the oldest nilometers in Egypt.
Museum in Aswan:
The Aswan Museum is a popular place for tourists to visit. It is located on Elephantine Island, southeast of Aswan. Since 1912, the public has been able to see the Aswan Museum. It has many artifacts that show the history of the Nuba region. Another part of the museum opened in 1990 and contained items such as pottery, mummies, weapons, and other items found on Elephantine Island. Many of these artifacts and artifacts were found by the German Archaeological Institute. They find a mummified ram from Khnum and a rare calendar called the Elephant calendar of things from the time of Thutmose III.
Jewish presence:
Around the 5th century BC, a Jewish community was on Elephantine Island. They built and took care of their temple, where they made sacrifices to many gods because they believed in many gods.
