Elephantine Island on Aswan

Before the city of Aswan was there, Elephantine Island was the site of a pharaonic era trading town called Swenet that used the island and the turbulent waters of the First Cataract as protection from attack. Its location just below the cataract made it an important trade hub, where caravans from the south unloaded their goods to be transported north on the river. Left behind from this pharaonic settlement is the late-pharaonic era Temple of Khnum and other, partially excavated, ruins that are scattered over the rest of the island.

According to ancient Egyptian religion, Elephantine was the dwelling place of Khnum, the ram-headed god of the cataracts, who guarded and controlled the waters of the Nile from caves beneath the island. He was worshipped here as part of a late triad of Egyptian deities. This "Elephantine Triad" included Satis and Anuket. Satis was worshipped from very early times as a war goddess and protector of this strategic region of Egypt. When seen as a fertility goddess, she personified the bountiful annual flooding of the Nile, which was identified as her daughter, Anuket. The cult of Satis originated in the ancient city of Aswan. Later, when the triad was formed, Khnum became identified as her consort and, thereby, was thought of as the father of Anuket. His role in myths changed later and another deity was assigned his duties with the river. At that time his role as a potter enabled him to be assigned a duty in the creation of human bodies.