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ASSUAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 787 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ASSUAN , or AswAN, a See also:

town of Upper See also:Egypt on the See also:east See also:bank of the See also:Nile, facing Elephantine See also:Island below the First See also:Cataract, and 590 M. S. of See also:Cairo by See also:rail. It is the See also:capital of a See also:province of the same name—the southernmost province of Egypt. See also:Population (1907) 16,128. The See also:principal buildings are along the See also:river front, where a broad See also:embankment has been built. Popular among Europeans as a See also:winter See also:health resort and tourist centre, Assuan is provided with large See also:modern hotels (one situated on Elephantine Island), and there is an See also:English See also:church. See also:South-east of the railway station are the ruins of a See also:temple built by See also:Ptolemy Euergetes, and still farther south are the famous See also:granite quarries of Syene. On Elephantine Island are an See also:ancient nilometer and other remains, including a granite gateway built under See also:Alexander the See also:Great at the temple of the See also:local See also:ram-headed See also:god Chnubis or Chnumis (Eg. See also:Khnum), perhaps on See also:account of his connexion with See also:Ammon (q.v.) ; two small but very beautiful temples of the XVIIIth See also:Dynasty were destroyed there about 1820. In the See also:hill on the opposite See also:side of the river are tombs of the VIth to XIIth dynasties, opened by See also:Lord Grenfell in 1885–1886. The See also:inscriptions show that they belonged to frontier-prefects whose expeditions into See also:Nubia, &c., are recorded in them. Three and a See also:half See also:miles above the town, at the beginning of the Cataract, the Assuan See also:Dam stretches across the Nile.

This great See also:

engineering See also:work was finished in See also:December 1902 (see See also:IRRIGATION: Egypt; and NILE). Above the dam the Nile presents the See also:appearance of a vast See also:lake. Consequent on the rise of the See also:water-level several islands have been wholly and others partly submerged, among the latter See also:Philae (q.v.). On the 'east bank opposite Philae is the See also:village of Shellal, See also:southern See also:terminus of the See also:Egyptian railway See also:system and the starting point of steamers for the See also:Sudan. In ancient times the See also:chief See also:city, called Yeb, capital of the frontier See also:nome, the first of the Upper See also:Country, was on the island of Elephantine,. guarding the entrance to Egypt. But, owing to the cataract, the See also:main route for See also:traffic with, the south was by See also:land along the eastern See also:shore. Here, near the granite quarries—whence was obtained the material for many magnificent monuments—there See also:grew up another city, at first dependent on'and afterwards successor to the island town. This city was called See also:Swan, the Mart, whence came the See also:Greek Syene and Arabic Aswan. Syene is twice mentioned (as Seveneh) in the prophecies of See also:Ezekiel, and papyri, discovered on the island, and dated in the reigns of See also:Artaxerxes and See also:Darius II. (464–404 B.c.), reveal the existence of a See also:colony of See also:Jews, with a temple to Yahu (Yahweh, See also:Jehovah), which had been founded at some See also:time before the See also:con-quest of Egypt by See also:Cambyses in 523 B.C. They also mention the great frontier See also:garrison against the Ethiopians, referred to by See also:Herodotus. Syene was one of the bases used by Eratosthenes in his calculations for the measurement of the See also:earth.

In See also:

Roman times Syene was strongly garrisoned to resist the attacks of the See also:desert tribes. Thither, in virtual banishment, See also:Juvenal was sent as See also:prefect by See also:Domitian. In the See also:early days of See also:Christianity the town became the seat of a bishopric, and numerous ruins of Coptic convents are in the neighbourhood. Syene appears also to have flourished under its first Arab rulers, but in the 12th See also:century was raided and ruined by Bedouin and Nubian tribes. On the See also:conquest of Egypt by the See also:Turks in the 16th century, See also:Selim I. placed a garrison here, from whom, in See also:part, the See also:present townsmen descend. As the southern frontier town of, Egypt proper, Assuan in times of See also:peace was the See also:entrepot of a consider-able See also:trade with the Sudan and See also:Abyssinia, and in 188o its trade was valued at L2,000,000 annually. During the Mandia (1884-1898) Assuan was strongly garrisoned by Egyptian and See also:British troops. Since the defeat of the See also:khalifa at See also:Omdurman: and the fixing (1899) of the Egyptian frontier farther south, the military value of Assuan has declined. For the Jewish colony see A. H. See also:Sayce and A. E.

See also:

Cowley, Aramaic Papyri discovered at Assuan (See also:Oxford, 1906) ; E. Sachau, Drei Aramaische See also:papyrus-Urkunden eus Elephantine (See also:Berlin, 1907). For the dam see W. Willcocks, The Nile See also:Reservoir Dam at Assuan (See also:London, 1901). (F. LL.

End of Article: ASSUAN

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