The temple may have been built in reaction to Manasseh's reinstitution of pagan worship or simply to

serve the needs of the Jewish community.[19]

Other features[edit]
The Aswan Museum is located at the southern end of the island. Ongoing excavations by
the German Archaeological Institute at the island's ancient town site have uncovered many findings
that are now on display in the museum, including a mummified ram of Khnum. A sizable population
of Nubians live in three villages in the island's middle section. A large luxury hotel is at the island's
northern end.

The Aswan Botanical Garden is adjacent to the west on el Nabatat Island.

Gallery[edit]


Nubian houses on central Elephantine Island

Verdant Elephantine Island, opposite Assuan, Egypt", 1908. Lantern slide. Brooklyn Museum

Island of Elephantine, by Edwin Howland Blashfield. Brooklyn Museum

 

Ruins on Elephantine Island in 2000

See also[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Elephantine.

 Sehel Island
 Temple of Satet

References[edit]
1. ^ "3bw" in Faulkner, Concise Dictionary of Middle
Egyptian cf. http://projetrosette.info/popup.php?Id=1012&idObjet=423
2. ^ Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, Third Edition (Merriam-Webster,
1997; ISBN 0877795460), p. 351.
3. ^ "Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United
Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
4. ^ Ian Shaw, Ed, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, New York, 2000, page 206
5. ^ "Then a king will come from the South, Ameny, the justified, by name, son of a woman of Ta-
seti, child of Upper Egypt""The Beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty". Kingship, Power, and
Legitimacy in Ancient Egypt: From the Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom. Cambridge
University Press: 138–160.
2020. doi:10.1017/9781108914529.006. ISBN 9781108914529. S2CID 242213167.
6. ^ "Ammenemes himself was not a Theban but the son of a woman from Elephantine called
Nofret and a priest called Sesostris (‘The man of the Great Goddess’).",Grimal, Nicolas
(1994). A History of Ancient Egypt. Wiley-Blackwell (July 19, 1994). p. 159.
7. ^ "Senusret, a commoner as the father of Amenemhet, his mother, Nefert, came from the area
Elephantine."A. Clayton, Peter (2006). Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-by-Reign
Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt. Thames & Hudson. p. 78.
8. ^ "Amenemhet I was a commoner, the son of one Sen-wosret and a woman named NEFRET,
listed as prominent members of a family from ELEPHANTINE Island."Bunson, Margaret
(2002). Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt (Facts on File Library of World History). Facts on File.
p. 25.
9. ^ "The XIIth Dynasty (1991–1786 B.C.E.) originated from the Aswan region. As expected,
strong Nubian features and dark coloring are seen in their sculpture and relief work. This
dynasty ranks as among the greatest, whose fame far outlived its actual tenure on the throne.
Especially interesting, it was a member of this dynasty – that decreed that no Nehsy (riverine
Nubian of the principality of Kush), except such as came for trade or diplomatic reasons,
should pass by the Egyptian fortress at the southern end of the Second Nile Cataract. Why
would this royal family of Nubian ancestry ban other Nubians from coming into Egyptian
territory? Because the Egyptian rulers of Nubian ancestry had become Egyptians culturally;
as pharaohs, they exhibited typical Egyptian attitudes and adopted typical Egyptian
 policies."F. J. Yurco. "'Were the ancient Egyptians black or white?'". Biblical Archaeology
Review. (Vol 15, no. 5, 1989): 24–9, 58.
10. ^ General History of Africa Volume II – Ancient civilizations of Africa (ed. G Moktar).
UNESCO. p. 152.
11. ^ Crawford, Keith W. (1 December 2021). "Critique of the "Black Pharaohs" Theme: Racist
Perspectives of Egyptian and Kushite/Nubian Interactions in Popular Media". African
Archaeological Review. 38 (4): 695–712. doi:10.1007/s10437-021-09453-7. ISSN 1572-
9842. S2CID 238718279.
12. ^ Lobban, Richard A. Jr (10 April 2021). Historical Dictionary of Ancient Nubia. Rowman &
Littlefield. ISBN 9781538133392.
13. ^ Morris, Ellen (6 August 2018). Ancient Egyptian Imperialism. John Wiley & Sons.
p. 72. ISBN 978-1-4051-3677-8.
14. ^ Van de Mieroop, Marc (2021). A history of ancient Egypt (Second ed.). Chichester, West
Sussex. p. 99. ISBN 978-1119620877.
15. ^ Fletcher, Joann (2017). The story of Egypt : the civilization that shaped the world (First
Pegasus books paperback ed.). New York. pp. Chapter 12. ISBN 978-1681774565.
16. ^ Smith, Stuart Tyson (8 October 2018). "Ethnicity: Constructions of Self and Other in Ancient
Egypt". Journal of Egyptian History. 11 (1–2): 113–146. doi:10.1163/18741665-
12340045. ISSN 1874-1665. S2CID 203315839.
17. ^ de Morgan 1894. J. De Morgan . Catalogue des monuments et inscriptions de l'Égypte
antique. De la frontière de Nubie à Kom Ombos. Vienne
18. ^ Meyboom, P. G. P. (1995). The Nile Mosaic of Palestrina: Early Evidence of Egyptian
Religion in Italy. BRILL. p. 52. ISBN 90-04-10137-3.
19. ^ Jump up to:a b Botta, Alejandro (2009). The Aramaic and Egyptian Legal Traditions at
Elephantine: An Egyptological Approach. T&T Clark. pp. 15–116. ISBN 978-0567045331.
20. ^ Grabbe, Lester L. (2011). A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period
(vol. 2). Bloomsbury T&T Clark. p. 103. ISBN 978-0567541192.
21. ^ Schama, Simon (September 2013). "In the Beginning". The Story of the Jews. PBS.
22. ^ A. van Hoonacker, Une Communauté Judéo-Araméenne à Éléphantine, en Egypte, aux vi
et v siècles avant J.-C, London 1915 cited, Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History, vol.5, (1939)
1964 p125 n.1

Further reading[edit]
 Bresciani, Edda (1998). "ELEPHANTINE". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. VIII, Fasc. 4.
pp. 360–362.

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Categories:
 Elephantine
 Aswan
 Islands of the Nile
 River islands of Egypt
 Archaeological sites in Egypt
 Historic Jewish communities in North Africa
 Khnum