Bigeh ( ar, بجح; Ancient Egyptian ''znmwt'') is an island and archaeological site situated along the

Nile River The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest riv ...

in historic

Nubia Nubia () ( Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sud ...

and within the

Aswan Governorate Aswān Governorate (Arabic: محافظة أسوان) is one of the governorates of Egypt. The southernmost governorate in Upper Egypt, covering most of Lake Nasser. The Governorate's capital is Aswan. The Aswan Governorate borders Qena Gove ...

of southern

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

. The island has been situated in the reservoir of the Old Aswan Dam since the dam's initial completion in 1902.

Ancient Egypt

It was formerly an island in the

First Cataract The Cataracts of the Nile are shallow lengths (or whitewater rapids) of the Nile river, between Khartoum and Aswan, where the surface of the water is broken by many small boulders and stones jutting out of the river bed, as well as many rocky ...

of the

and its fortification controlled the access to ancient

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient E ...

and Nubia. It is a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

, located close to

Philae ; ar, فيلة; cop, ⲡⲓⲗⲁⲕ , alternate_name = , image = File:File, Asuán, Egipto, 2022-04-01, DD 93.jpg , alt = , caption = The temple of Isis from Philae at its current location on Agilkia Island in Lake Nasse ...

and

Agilkia Island Agilkia Island (also called Agilika; , from Old Nubian: ⲁ̅ⲅⲗ̅, romanised: ''agil,'' "mouth") is an island in the reservoir of the Old Aswan Dam along the Nile River in southern Egypt; it is the present site of the relocated ancient Egy ...

s and their ancient

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

s in the reservoir. Bigeh Island was sacred to the ancient Egyptians. They believed that

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wsjr'', cop, ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲉ , ; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎𐤓, romanized: ʾsr) is the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He wa ...

was buried on the island and a temple that stood on it was known as ''Abaton'', Greek for "untrodden place", because only priests were allowed to set foot there. The temple was mentioned by both Seneca and

Lucan Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (3 November 39 AD – 30 April 65 AD), better known in English as Lucan (), was a Roman poet, born in Corduba (modern-day Córdoba), in Hispania Baetica. He is regarded as one of the outstanding figures of the Imperial ...

. The god

Thoth Thoth (; from grc-koi, Θώθ ''Thṓth'', borrowed from cop, Ⲑⲱⲟⲩⲧ ''Thōout'', Egyptian: ', the reflex of " eis like the Ibis") is an ancient Egyptian deity. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or ...

bore the epithets of "Great and Splendid God in Bigeh" and "He that Pacifies the ''Nsr.t'' in Bigeh".Boylan, Patrick (1922). ''Thoth, Or the Hermes of Egypt''. p. 169 It is thought that there may have been a temple of Thoth on the island. In the mid or late 3rd century AD, an embassy from King

Talakhidamani Talakhidamani (or Talakhideamani)The pronunciation is reconstructed as /talahidamani/ by Rilly. was the king of Kush in the mid or late 3rd century AD, perhaps into the 4th century. He is known from two Meroitic inscriptions, one of which commemora ...

Kush Kush or Cush may refer to: Bible * Cush (Bible), two people and one or more places in the Hebrew Bible Places * Kush (mountain), a mountain near Kalat, Pakistan Balochistan * Kush (satrapy), a satrapy of the Achaemenid Empire * Hindu Kush, a ...

visited the Abaton with gifts.Josefine Kuckertz (2021)
"Meroe and Egypt"
in Wolfram Grajetzki,

Solange Ashby Solange Ashby is an Egyptologist, Nubiologist and archaeologist, whose expertise focuses on language and religion in ancient Egypt. Career Ashby studied for a BA in Intercultural Studies at Bard College at Simon's Rock. She graduated with a ...

and Willeke Wendrich (eds.), ''UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology'', Los Angeles.

Gallery

File:David Roberts Temple Island Philae.jpg, Bigeh (foreground) and

with temple,
in the

of the

.
(1838 painting by David Roberts). File:BigaTemplePylonGate.jpg, Bigeh island ruins in 2006 in the Old Aswan Dam reservoir.

References

External links

Archaeological sites in Egypt Aswan Governorate History of Nubia Islands of the Nile River islands of Egypt World Heritage Sites in Egypt {{Egypt-geo-stub