DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9059#0306
THE ISLAND OF ELEPHANTINE. 285
tained any vestiges of the past, but there are
many points of interest in the town. A little
away to the south, in a hollow of the ground,
lies a small temple of Ptolemaic origin lately
discovered. About half a mile further on, is an
obelisk still adhering by one of its sides to the
quarry out of which it had begun to be hewn.
On the western side of the river immediately
opposite to Assouan is the island of Elephantine.
Whilst at Assouan the Egyptian element still
predominates in the population, at Elephantine
the traveller finds himself entirely surrounded
by Nubians. At the beginning of the century
a temple might still be seen at Elephantine,
already in ruins, which was called by the authors
of the great work of the Egyptian Commission
the Northern Temple. There was also a temple
of admirable proportions called the Southern
Temple, and, judging by the drawings made at
that time, it must have been built by Amenophis
III. Assouan boasted besides of a monumental
gateway of granite, and a quay rising abruptly
from the river flanked on the northern side by a
nilometer. In 1822, both temples as well as the
nilometer disappeared. The quay of Roman
workmanship, for which many remains of still
tained any vestiges of the past, but there are
many points of interest in the town. A little
away to the south, in a hollow of the ground,
lies a small temple of Ptolemaic origin lately
discovered. About half a mile further on, is an
obelisk still adhering by one of its sides to the
quarry out of which it had begun to be hewn.
On the western side of the river immediately
opposite to Assouan is the island of Elephantine.
Whilst at Assouan the Egyptian element still
predominates in the population, at Elephantine
the traveller finds himself entirely surrounded
by Nubians. At the beginning of the century
a temple might still be seen at Elephantine,
already in ruins, which was called by the authors
of the great work of the Egyptian Commission
the Northern Temple. There was also a temple
of admirable proportions called the Southern
Temple, and, judging by the drawings made at
that time, it must have been built by Amenophis
III. Assouan boasted besides of a monumental
gateway of granite, and a quay rising abruptly
from the river flanked on the northern side by a
nilometer. In 1822, both temples as well as the
nilometer disappeared. The quay of Roman
workmanship, for which many remains of still