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The Unfinished Obelisk

The southern end of Aswan town was an area of ancient granite quarries, where the most valuable stone for the building of many of Egypt's monuments was obtained. Visitors on tours are often taken to see the 'unfinished obelisk' which still remains in situ attached to the rock on one side. Situated in the northern part of the quarries, this gigantic single piece of granite was intended to be an obelisk and is generally attributed to Queen Hatshepsut, being very similar to her obelisk in Karnak Temple in Luxor. Some fine reliefs depicting the transportation methods of an obelisk can be seen in Hatshepsut's Deir el-Bahri temple.
In ancient times obelisks and other large stone objects were usually blocked out roughly before they left the quarry. There are several techniques suggested for the splitting of hard stone away from its surrounding rock. One method may have been to cut a groove along the line where the stone was to be detached and then to drive in wooden wedges which were soaked with water. The force of the swelling wood would act to split the granite - there is certainly evidence that this method was used in Roman times. Another method may have been to cut a groove with stone tools, or a primitive saw used with an abrasive, which would then be heated with charcoal and rapidly cooled with water, causing the stone to split.

Given the primitive soft-metal tools of the ancient Egyptians, the obelisk in the Northern Quarry shows us an amazing feat of technology and archaeologists have learned much about the techniques of stone-cutting from examining this abandoned monument and from the tools which have been left behind. It would appear that the stone, which measures 42m in length and would have weighed around 1216 tonnes, developed a flaw during quarrying and was never completed, left to lie still attached to the rock for the next 3000 years. It has been a tourist attraction for almost as long.

The area of the northern quarry has been recently excavated and renovated by the SCA, its mounds of rubble cleared to reveal many previously unknown granite objects, including fragments of columns and statues. Archaeologists have been able to get a clearer picture of how the stone was cut, carved and transported and have found several ancient tools and artists' sketches. To the south of the unfinished obelisk, excavators found a hieroglyphic inscription dated to year 25 of the reign of Tuthmose III, an instruction from the King for the quarrying of two large obelisks to be erected in Karnak Temple and dedicated to Amun-Re. They also uncovered, close to the unfinished obelisk, the depressions made from the hewing of seven large obelisks, possibly those in Karnak and Luxor temples. Another important discovery was a harbour from where the stone was shipped northwards along the Nile, its walls revealing decorative graffiti of the god Bes, ostriches and fish.




1 Ankhnesneferibre, 'God's Wife of Amun', Dynasty XXVI, Karnak
2 Pink granite head of King Shabatka, Kushite Dynasty XXV, Nubia
3 Granite head of King Taharka, Dynasty XXV, Karnak
4 Basalt statue of Meroitic queen and prince, 2nd Century BC, Meroe
5 Silver crown studded with carnelian stones, 3rd-6th centuries AD, Ballana

The new Nubian Museum was opened in 1997 and the beautiful lines of its architecture alone is worth seeing. Nestled into the hillside, it covers 50,000 square metres of landscaped gardens and buildings which are divided up into different sections. It is partly an open-air museum where the visitor can wander the paths, meandering between a prehistoric cave with painted rock-art, ancient Egyptian statues, obelisks and columns, Roman frescoes and even a complete Nubian house.

Philae Temple
For over 50 years the Island of Philae and its monuments lay half-submerged in water built up by the Aswan Dam and barrages during annual inundations, until the UNESCO rescue operations for the Nubian monuments in the 1960s. The temples have now been completely dismantled and rebuilt to the original orientation on the nearby island of Agilika which rises higher from the water and has been reshaped and landscaped to resemble the original Philae. Metal pylons on the old island of Philae can still be seen rising from the water to the south of Agilika.
A short trip on a motor boat will bring the visitor suddenly upon a magnificent vista of the island before landing at the what would have been the ancient quay on the south side.

The earliest of the surviving monuments of Philae is the Kiosk of Nectanebo I, of Dynasty XXX, although there is evidence of building dating back to Dynasty XXV. Most of the other structures are Ptolemaic and Roman and were re-used by the early Christians when the temple was finally closed by the Emperor Justinian in 550AD. The main temple is dedicated to Isis and was the centre of the cult of Isis and Hathor during the Roman Period. It was the last pagan temple in use in Egypt.

There are many legends connected to Philae, but the most well known one tells the story of how Isis found the heart of Osiris here after his murder by his brother Seth. Each evening there is a Sound and Light Show which recounts the legends against the magnificent backdrop of the floodlit monuments - a truly magical experience.

Beginning at the south of the island, Nectanebo's structure is a hall with screen walls linked by graceful columns. There are two colonnades on the east and west sides of the courtyard, leading to the first temple pylon. Each column has a different floral capital. The first pylon was built by Ptolemy XII and decorated in traditional Egyptian style with reliefs of the king subduing his enemies and worshipping the goddess Isis. There are two portals, the main one is an earlier doorway built by Nectanebo and if you look up on the east wall there are inscriptions by the French army who visited here in 1799. The other portal in the western tower leads to a birth-house where Isis is depicted suckling her son Horus in the marshes. On the eastern side of the inner court is another colonnade with a number of chambers behind. At the southern end of the colonnade is a granite altar of Taharqo - the oldest object on the island. In front of the second pylon the natural outcrop of rock on which it was built was smoothed to create a donation stela recording lands donated to the temple by Ptolemy VI.

The second pylon leads to the hypostyle hall and a staircase in the western tower leads to the roof. Here can be found a suite of Osiris chambers where the death and mourning of the god is depicted in reliefs similar to those in Osiris rooms in other Ptolemaic temples. Unfortunately visitors are no longer admitted to the roof

The hypostyle hall is small and unassuming compared to some of the other temples from this period.
A series of three vestibules lead to the central sanctuary and its chambers on either side have entrances to the crypts. The Isis sanctuary still contains a pedestal where the sacred barque used in the processions and festivals of the goddess would have rested.
Leaving the main temple by a doorway in the eastern side, you can visit the small Temple of Hathor built by Ptolemy VI and VIII, with its Ptolemaic papyrus columns and depictions of the god Bes and an ape playing a musical instrument. This is currently undergoing restoration.

Nearby is the Kiosk of Trajan, probably the most distinctive of Philae's monuments and the focus of the second half of the Sound and Light show. Reliefs inside the rectangular structure of 14 columns with screen walls, depict the Emperor Trajan making offerings to Isis, Osiris and Horus. The roof is now gone and the kiosk which was at one time the main entrance to the temple from the river, is airy and open. You can get a magnificent view of the kiosk from the river on the return journey from the island.
Moving round the outside of the Isis Temple the exterior walls depict scenes carved by the Emperors Augustus and Tiberius. Mudbrick buildings on the east and northern sides (now destroyed) would have housed the Roman priests and temple staff. Also at the northern end of the island you can see a Roman quay and gateway built by Diocletian. On the western side of the island, near the Ptolemaic birth-house, a nilometer leads down to the river. These structures were used to measure the height of the annual inundation in ancient times in order to assess taxes for the coming harvest.

Elephantine Island
Elephantine is an island in the centre of the Nile at Aswan. This was the original 'border town' between Egypt and the Nubian lands to the south and in ancient times was an important strategic position both for the defence of the border and as a trading route. The island has been inhabited from the Early Dynastic Period through Roman times until the present day. Its ancient name was 'abu' or 'yebu', which means elephant and was probably derived from the shape of the smooth grey boulders which surround the island, looking like elephants in the water.
Over the centuries there has been a great deal of building activity on Elephantine, though most of the ancient structures have now vanished. Excavations and reconstructions have been carried out over the past 100 years by teams of German archaeologists and the largest surviving structure today is the Temple of the ram-headed creator-god Khnum, at the southern end of the island, dating from New Kingdom to Roman times. A granite gateway built by Alexander is the only large structure of the temple which remains intact and the ruins behind it are difficult to identify due to ongoing excavation. At the front of the temple, which is oriented east to west, a restored pavement surrounds fragmentary remains of columns built by Rameses II. This leads down to a Roman quay. There is little to be seen of the interior of the Temple of Khnum, but a large square granite gateway is one of the few surviving structures. During the past few excavation seasons the German-Swiss Mission to Elephantine, directed by C von Pilgrim, has been investigating the area around the New Kingdom remains of the Temple of Khnum. They have recently uncovered more of the plan of the temple - yielding details of the location of pylons, columned court and forecourt as well as a possible festival hall of Amenhotep II.
Further north, behind the museum building there is the site of a small restored Temple of Satis, the consort of Khnum, built in the time of Hatshepsut and Tuthmose III. The reconstruction by the German Archaeological Institute has been sensitively done, with the few reliefs supplemented by drawn elements. The temple was built over Middle Kingdom remains beneath different floor levels and also a Dynasty VI temple. The latest structure to emerge from the excavations at the Satis Temple is an Early Dynastic shrine which can be seen in a crypt-like area below the reconstructed temple, and this must be one of the earliest remaining temples in Egypt.

Other ancient sites on Elephantine
A First Intermediate Period palace area has been uncovered on Elephantine, which includes a large bakery, situated near the south-western harbour gate. This was constructed using high octagonal wooden columns, eight of these have been preserved and are among the earliest examples of such columns. The bakery, which was occupied over several phases, probably between Dynasties IV to XI, has been found to contain ovens and thousands of bread moulds. Ostraca containing distribution lists and mentioning the cult of Heqa-ib have also been found.

On the northern edge of the monumental area, behind the modern Nubian village, can be seen the remains of a small granite step pyramid, dated to Dynasty III, but its precise purpose is unknown. This is one of seven small mudbrick Old Kingdom pyramids which are spread throughout the Nile Valley from Aswan to Abu Rawash.

To the north of the Satis Temple there are mudbrick tombs of the sacred rams from the Late Period (the famous ram's sarcophagus can now be seen in the Nubian Museum).

A cult shrine of Heqa-ib who was a deified governor of Elephantine in the Middle Kingdom can be seen to the west of the Satis Temple. His tomb can be seen among the nobles tombs on the West Bank of Aswan.

A chapel built by the Ptolemies, decorated for the Nubian King Arkemani and completed in later Roman times at Kalabsha Temple has been reconstructed on the southern end of the island.

The Aswan Museum at the entrance to the island is still open and has recently been extended. The exhibits remain in their old-fashioned dusty glass-covered cases, but there are some very interesting items from Elephantine which date right back to Predynastic times.

The northern end of the island is dominated by the Oberoi Hotel inside an enclosure and there are three modern Nubian villages.

Kitchener's Island
An oval-shaped island in the Nile at Aswan was given to Lord Horatio Kitchener in the 1890s for his part in the Sudanese campaigns while he was the Egyptian Consul. Kitchener, who was a keen gardener turned his island home into a botanical garden, importing exotic plants and trees which flourished in the Aswan climate. The botanical garden was constructed in 1899 under the supervision of the Ministry of Irrigation and turned into an experimental station for plants from equatorial regions in 1928. Alongside the native trees and plants of Aswan such as the Sycamore Fig and the Date Palm, many trees were brought from abroad and cultivated for use in the timber industry. Experimental oil and fruit crops were also propagated on the island by the Ministry of Agriculture.
The visitor to Kitchener's Island today will find a peaceful paradise, full of shady trees, beautiful flowers and unusual plants among the paved walkways. The island is a haven for rare exotic birds of many kinds and their colourful plumage can be glimpsed in the branches of most of the trees. It is the perfect place for an afternoon stroll or contemplation during an otherwise hectic holiday. There is a cafeteria on the southern end of the island.