1838 painting with Bigeh island (foreground) and Philae with temple (background). (CC0)
Bigeh Island (Arabic: بجح), Senmut in ancient Egyptian (transliteration: snmwt), is an island situated along the Nile River in southern Egypt in the reservoir of the Old Aswan Dam since the dam's initial completion in 1902.[1][2]
In ancient times, Bigeh was an island in the First Cataract of the Nile River and its fortification controlled the access to ancient Upper Egypt and Nubia. It is a World Heritage Site, located close to the islands of Philae and Agilkia and their ancient archaeological sites in the reservoir.[3]
Bigeh Island was sacred to the ancient Egyptians.[4] They believed that the god Osiris was buried on the island.[5] A temple that stood on it was known in Greek as Abaton ("untrodden place"), because only priests were allowed to set foot on the island.[6]
The god Thoth bore the epithets of "Great and Splendid God in Bigeh" and "He that Pacifies the Nsr.t in Bigeh".[7] It is therefore thought that a temple dedicated to Thoth may have once stood on the island.
References[]
Bibliography[]
- Boylan, P., 1922: Thoth, Or the Hermes of Egypt.
- Burton, A., 1972: Diodorus Siculus. Brill.
- Dijkstra, J.H.F., 2008: Philae and the End of Ancient Egyptian Religion. Peeters.
- Özden, C., 2013: The Pontifex Minimus: William Willcocks and Engineering British Colonialism, Annals of Science.
- Peel, S., 1904: The Binding of the Nile and the New Soudan.