Elephantine (
Arabic: جزيرة الفنتين) is an
island in the
River Nile, located just downstream of the
First Cataract at . It measures some 1.2 km from north to south, and is about 400 m across at its widest. It is a part of the modern
Egyptian city of
Aswan.Known to the
Ancient Egyptians as Abu or Yebu, Elephantine stands at the border between Egypt and
Nubia. The island was an excellent defensive site for a city and its location made it a natural transshipping point for river trade. According to
Egyptian mythology, here was the dwelling place of
Chnum, the ram-headed god of the cataracts, who controlled the waters of the Nile from caves beneath the island: he was worshipped here as part of a triad comprising him, his wife
Satis, and their daughter
Anuket. There are records of a temple to Chnum here as early as the third dynasty, and most of the southern tip of the island is taken up by the ruins of the later temple to him that was completely rebuilt in the Late Period (
30th dynasty). In ancient times, the island was an important
stone quarry provinding
granite materials for monuments.
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