Aswan is a Nubian city in the south of Egypt located on the east bank of the Nile river connected to Cairo with train stations, railways and domestic flights , The city of Aswan is about 85 meters above sea level, it is 879 km from Cairo, and its area about 34,608 km2.
On the northern end of the First Cataract, marking ancient Egypt's southern frontier, Aswan has always been of great strategic importance. In ancient times it was a garrison town for the military campaigns against Nubia; its quarries provided the granite used for so many sculptures and obelisks.
Aswan is a busy market and tourist center. The modern city has expanded and includes the formerly separate community on the island of Elephantine.
The city also known as the land of gold because it was like a huge necropolis for the pharaohs and their treasures for thousands of years. The originals of Aswan are the Nubian representing 30% of the citizens and they speak their Nubian language the rest are Arabs who came after the Islamic invasion speaking the Arabic language.
Aswan is the land of beauty and charming, the icon of the middle east, characterized by its warm climate and rare plant islands, also there's rock Nile islands around the city extended from the high dam to the north of Edfu, some people of the Nubian villages and islands counts on farming and handmade items as a source of living and some already took place in governmental jobs, not only the main city of Aswan that has full services but also, the surrounding islands provided by hospitals, schools, and transportations, some of the islands are uninhabited because it's considered to be an archaeological areas like the crocodile island and elephantine island which was a region linking the South and the North in the trade between Egypt and the rest of Africa. Aswan also considered as the main gate of southern Egypt beside Luxor city and a huge economical source for the country.
There are plenty of things to see, but it is not a place to hurry. The river is wide, languorous and beautiful here, flowing gently down from Lake Nasser around dramatic black-granite boulders and palm-studded islands. Colorful Nubian villages run down to the water and stand out against the backdrop of the west bank's desert escarpment.
The large island of Seheyl and the village of Gharb Seheyl, situated just north of the old Aswan Dam, have various laid-back guesthouses and offer an opportunity to swim in the river. These are perfect places to linger for a few days and recover from the rigours of travelling and temple-viewing.
Aswan is the ancient city of Swenett, later known as Syene, which in antiquity was the frontier town of Ancient Egypt facing the south. Swenett is supposed to have derived its name from an Egyptian goddess with the same name. This goddess later was identified as Eileithyia by the Greeks and Lucina by the Romans during their occupation of Ancient Egypt because of the similar association of their goddesses with childbirth, and of which the import is "the opener".
Aswan was known as "Sonu" in ancient Egyptian times and meaning the market where it was a commercial center for convoys coming from and to Nubia, pharaohs used to ship the pink and black granite stones and limestones all from Aswan to build their pyramids as queen Hatshepsut did to build her temple and obelisks. The importance of this city started to show up since the ancient kingdom when pharaohs wanted to assure the safety of the southern borders of the kingdom, it was also a center for the military army and played a special rule during the war against heksus. during the Roman era, old fashion Egyptian design temples were constructed while the roman was very admired by the Egyptian mythologies and gods, emperor Trajan built a small temple in order to get closer to the Egyptian people at Philae island where The Temple of Isis is the main temple in the collection of Philae Temples in Aswan, Philae derived its name from the Greek word Philo, meaning loving or love, in reference to the temple dedicated to commemorating the love of the sincere wife of her husband who was betrayed him by his brother set, the god of evil.
Then, at the early Christian period, Christianity spread all over the country in the fifth a century and the temples turned into churches .after that came the Islamic innovation and Aswan became a very important learning center and three schools were established in the sixth and seventh centuries.
Because the Ancient Egyptians oriented themselves toward the origin of the life-giving waters of the Nile in the south, and as Swenett was the southernmost town in the country, Egypt always was conceived to "open" or begin at Swenett. The city stood upon a peninsula on the right (east) bank of the Nile, immediately below (and north of) the first cataract of the flowing waters, which extend to it from Philae.
Navigation to the delta was possible from this location without encountering a barrier.
The stone quarries of ancient Egypt located here were celebrated for their stone, and especially for the granitic rock called Syenite. They furnished the colossal statues, obelisks, and monolithal shrines that are found throughout Egypt, including the pyramids; and the traces of the quarrymen who worked in these 3,000 years ago are still visible in the native rock. They lie on either bank of the Nile, and a road, 6.5 km (4.0 mi) in length, was cut beside them from Syene to Philae.
Aswan attractions:
In addition to the richness of nature in the Egyptian city, Aswan is full of the ancient pharaonic civilization and many touristic destinations including pharaonic, Islamic, and Nubian.
- The High Dam
- The Aswan reservoir
- The Tabiya Mosque
- The Nile Museum
- The Princess Ferial Park
- The West Suhail area
- The Nile Islands
- kom Ombo temple
- The twin temple of Abu Simbel
and some areas on the banks of the Nile in Aswan is an attraction for the tourist who visits the city to practice the hobby of swimming, despite the depth of water along the course of the river, but parts of it is suitable for swimming, and sailing boats also, as well as travel to visit the islands of plants, museums, and temples on the islands of the middle of the river, such as:
- The Temple of Philae
- Elephantine island