5433 x 3591 px | 46 x 30,4 cm | 18,1 x 12 inches | 300dpi
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The Nile at Aswan, seen from Elephantine IslandAswan is one of the driest inhabited places in the world; In Nubian settlements, they generally do not bother to roof all of the rooms in their houses. Aswan is the ancient city of Swenet, which was in antiquity the frontier town of Egypt to the south. Because the Egyptians oriented towards the south, Aswan was the first town in the country, and Egypt was always conceived to open or begin at Aswan. It stood upon a peninsula on the right (east) bank of the Nile, immediately below (north of) the first cataract, which extend to it from Philae. It is supposed to have derived its name from an Egyptian goddesses with the same name, the Ilithya of the Greeks, and of which the import is the opener. the name of the city is also said to derive from the Egyptian word for trade. The quarries of Swan were celebrated for their stone, and especially for the granitic rock called Syenite. They furnished the colossal statues, obelisks, and monolithal shrines which are found throughout Egypt, including the pyramids; and the traces of the quarrymen who wrought in these 3000 years ago are still visible in the native rock. They lie on either bank of the Nile, and a road, 4 miles in length, was cut beside them from Syene to Philae. Swan was equally important as a military station and as a place of traffic. Under every dynasty it was a garrison town; and here were levied toll and custom on all boats passing southward and northward.
