Elephantine is the largest island in the Aswan area, almost a thousand kilometers away from the great pyramids on the Giza plateau. It is also one of the oldest Egyptian cities with remains dating back to the Predynastic period, more than five thousand years old.
The current name of the city, Elephantine, means “City of Elephants” and derives from the name given to it by the Greeks. When approaching the city by a fast river sailboat, called a felucca, one can see rows of rocks that resemble caravans of elephants, with their legs and trunks immersed in the waters of the Nile, which could be a natural reason for the origin of this name. There are opinions that elephants used to inhabit this area, and it is also believed that the city got its name because of its important position on caravan routes as a market for ivory.
Above the ancient city, which is now almost entirely in ruins, hangs the breath of many past eras – splendid prosperity, but also devastation, the lively hustle and bustle of hardworking people, as well as the muffled blows of furious hordes… How much of all this is only here on Elephantine. Once upon a time, on an island in a corner of the world, fell into oblivion? How much of it did the powerful currents of the Nile forever carry away, leaving us only with faint echoes of life from a distant time?
The Triad from Elefantine
According to the preserved mythical tradition, a sacred river Nile springs from a hidden cave on the island, which the Egyptians considered to be the source of life and a reflection of the heavenly river flowing through cosmic expanses. The guardians of this mythical spring were the gods Khnum, Satit, and Anuket, known as the Triad from Elefantine.
Khnum is believed to be a very ancient deity and was initially the god of water, the origin of life. His name means to shape, to create, and in some papyri, he is described as the father of beginnings, the creator of all things. He is also the creator of humans – the first man, and he shaped the entire world out of clay on a potter’s wheel. When shaping an individual human, Khnum creates two representations – one that is connected to the transient body, and the other that represents their vital spirit or Ka, which continues to live on. After the physical death of his doppelganger, he was revered in Elephantine as the Sun Ram god, embodying fertile power, life-giving force, and renewal. He was depicted as a man with a crown and the head of a ram with horizontal, wavy horns. He also appeared in the form of a mummy symbolically connected to cosmic life and the continuity of existence in invisible dimensions. As evidence of the importance of his cult on the island, numerous mummified rams were found in stone sarcophagi. The main temple dedicated to him, whose current ruined form dates back to the XVIII dynasty during the reign of Queen Hatshepsut, confirms the significance of his cult. However, there are indications that a temple dedicated to Khnum existed at this site as early as the first dynasties of the Old Kingdom and was restored during the Middle and New Kingdoms.
The other important deity in the triad was Satet, the daughter of the Sun god Ra, protector of her father and the pharaoh. She was depicted as a woman with a white crown and a sun disk on her head, holding a scepter and ankh, the key of life, in her hands. Sometimes she had antelope horns She personified the speed of thought and speed in general. Her name means “she who flies like an arrow.” She ruled over the rapids of the Nile, and she was compared to Sotis, the star Sirius, whose appearance heralded the rise of the Nile. That is why she was sometimes depicted with a star on her head, carrying jugs of water. The sanctuary dedicated to Satit, found at a pre-dynastic site, went through many phases of reconstruction, the most important of which occurred during the Middle and New Kingdom periods, with the last one taking place in the Ptolemaic era. Unfortunately, the sanctuary, like many temples, was later used as a quarry. Through the painstaking work of archaeologists, the temple was reconstructed from scattered remains. Research has shown that the elements of the temple were carefully aligned with the position of the star Sirius and its heliacal rising, which is associated with the annual flooding of the Nile. Within the temple complex, there was a nilometer – a staircase with markings for measuring the height of the river on the eastern bank.
Khnum and Satit had a daughter named Anuket, the goddess of water and the cataracts, as well as the goddess In war, money, and protector of children. Her name means to embrace, encompass, as the Egyptians believed that Anuket brought fertility to the fields during the floods of the Nile and ensured a good harvest. She is recognizable in depictions with a crown adorned with tall feathers of the ostrich, and sometimes the crown includes a cobra, the ureus. In her hands, besides the universal symbol of the ankh, she holds a staff of papyrus. She was dedicated to the gazelle, so she is also encountered in the form of this animal or with its attributes. Her cult center was located on the island of Sahal, south of the nearby Aswan.
Historical Continuity
Few cities from Egypt’s distant past have had such a long historical continuity as Elephantine. The main city core and the temple area located on the southern part of the island were inhabited since prehistoric times and survived destruction and changes until the Islamic era.
Elephantine was the capital of the First nome (province) of Upper Egypt and was likely annexed to Egypt at the beginning. From the dynastic period, Elephantine had strategic importance as a natural barrier towards Nubia, right by the first cataract. Located on a rocky plateau fifteen meters above the river, it was also nearly infertile and had to import food from the northern regions, among other things, owing its existence to effective military organization, trade, and abundant mineral reserves nearby.
Recent excavations have revealed a layer of votive figurines from the early dynastic period. A small stepped granite pyramid from the IIIrd dynasty still remains. Manetho mentions that the Vth dynasty originates from Elephantine, but there are no reliable evidence for that. There are records of visits from kings such as Merenre from the VIth dynasty who received honors from Nubian rulers in Elephantine and decided to appoint a nome governor. The purpose of this visit was connected not only with strengthening relations with Nubia but also with continuing expeditions into Africa and improving the roads in the region. There is little information about Elephantine. It was an Egyptian port town located near the First Cataract of the Nile. Towards the end of the Old Kingdom, the administrators of the First Nome became powerful like local kings, performing religious, legal, military, and economic functions. From that period, apart from the tombs of the city’s rulers on the eastern part of the island, there is a funerary chapel of Hekaib, the ruler of Elephantine from the VI. Dynasty, near the Khnum temple. Hekaib received divine honors after his death and continued to be the object of local worship until the Middle Kingdom period. The tombs of such nobles from later periods are not located on the island but on the western bank of the river, carved into the rock. They have an interesting architectural structure – a steep staircase that emerges from the river and leads to an open courtyard from which one enters a long, painted corridor. By passing between tall columns, one eventually reaches a deep burial chamber. In this way, the deceased was placed in the very heart of the rocky slope, connected to the living river and its eternal flows.
In the wars of the First Intermediate Period, Elephantine was heavily affected and its rulers lost their power. She fought against the Coptic dynasty, maintaining her strong influence throughout the XI dynasty, during the Middle Kingdom period. At that time, the city came under more direct central authority, although it also experienced a great prosperity. From the Second Intermediate Period, there are generally unclear and hazy traces in Egypt, and the only papyrus found in Elephantine dates back to the XIII dynasty.
From the New Kingdom, there are remains of the mentioned temples dedicated to Khnum and Satit that were renovated at that time, as well as fragments of reliefs, most of which were not found in their original positions. Almost nothing remains of the two smaller temples built by Thutmose III and Amenhotep III. These temples, which had been remarkably well preserved for over three thousand years, resisting the passage of time, were completely demolished by the ruler of Aswan at the beginning of the 19th century. Our ideas about how they looked are thanks to Napoleon’s amazed and fearless explorers who made precious sketches and descriptions shortly before their destruction. The calendar from Elephantine, which is also dated to the reign of Tutmosis III, was found in fragments.
Among the important archaeological remains from later periods, there are ruins of a temple from the Ptolemaic era, as well as coins, artworks, and everyday objects from the same period. Mummified rams wrapped in pieces of golden paper have also been discovered, confirming the long-standing worship rituals of the Ram God. When it came under the rule of the Roman Empire, Elephantine experienced a cultural decline, but some structures, including the Nileometer, were restored and remained in use until the 19th century.
Today, this once glorious and influential city, like many ancient Egyptian cities, can be found in travel packages, and the entire island can be toured by a felucca skillfully manned by local inhabitants. A part of Elephantine’s wealth can be explored in a beautiful botanical garden, while another part of the island is still inhabited by Nubian villages and friendly people. but equally distant from this mysterious city like all of us who pass through it in just one day… Does an insurmountable gap of time separate us from the inhabitants of old Elefantine? It is unlikely that we will be able to, like the ancient Romans, restore the life of this abandoned city for centuries, which archaeologists and their unknown helpers are diligently and devotedly trying to do, but maybe we will succeed in rearranging the scattered remains and fragments of messages into a path that will lead us to the very source and heart of the former inhabitants of this city… a city that lies almost unreal under the bright sun, eternally guarded by the waters of the sacred Nile…