March 21
A five minute ferry ride from Aswan reaches Elephantine Island, an important trading post since antiquity with black Africa. Elephants and slaves among other goods were purchased here by Egyptians. On the boat over I meet a Polish archaeologist who sadly speaks little English.
The picture with the woman in it shows the ruins of an ancient garrison. In the 5th century B.C. the Assyrians (Syria, Iraq) ruled Israel and Egypt, having defeated the Babylonians (Iran), who in 586 BC (6th century) had destroyed the Hebrew Temple in Jerusalem. The Elephantine garrison, which protected the southern flank of Assyria from the Nubians (ancient Meroe), was staffed for most of the 5th century BC by Hebrew soldiers.
I don't know if the Hebrews were slaves, mercenaries or common soldiers. Perhaps Citizen Citarel would look it up and add a comment to this post. A source: http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/elephantine
A small museum has one of the Nilometers, used by the pharaohs to measure and then prophesy (thus a royal scam) the height of the Nile and so the crops each spring. In the picture it is down a set of stairs from what is seen, and unfortunately closed to tourists:
Bordering the ruin is a quiet Nubian village, which I walk through. A street:
The village is dry and dusty, but via a succession of close streets I stumble on a date palm forest:
Donkey bum:
I hang with a few sheep for a bit:
At the other side of the island I find the second Nile channel, with an old mosque atop the desert hill:
A five minute ferry ride from Aswan reaches Elephantine Island, an important trading post since antiquity with black Africa. Elephants and slaves among other goods were purchased here by Egyptians. On the boat over I meet a Polish archaeologist who sadly speaks little English.
The picture with the woman in it shows the ruins of an ancient garrison. In the 5th century B.C. the Assyrians (Syria, Iraq) ruled Israel and Egypt, having defeated the Babylonians (Iran), who in 586 BC (6th century) had destroyed the Hebrew Temple in Jerusalem. The Elephantine garrison, which protected the southern flank of Assyria from the Nubians (ancient Meroe), was staffed for most of the 5th century BC by Hebrew soldiers.
I don't know if the Hebrews were slaves, mercenaries or common soldiers. Perhaps Citizen Citarel would look it up and add a comment to this post. A source: http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/elephantine
A small museum has one of the Nilometers, used by the pharaohs to measure and then prophesy (thus a royal scam) the height of the Nile and so the crops each spring. In the picture it is down a set of stairs from what is seen, and unfortunately closed to tourists:
Bordering the ruin is a quiet Nubian village, which I walk through. A street:
The village is dry and dusty, but via a succession of close streets I stumble on a date palm forest:
Donkey bum:
I hang with a few sheep for a bit:
At the other side of the island I find the second Nile channel, with an old mosque atop the desert hill:
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