Aswan
As well as being the terminus for many Nile cruise ships, Aswan also has an airport and there are frequent bus tours originating in Luxor. In view of the unsettled nature of the country, it is probably not a good idea to hire a car and drive yourself around and even taxis are a dubious proposition outside the town. Unless you fly, you will probably arrive in Aswan by either bus or ship and more than likely your accommodation will be part of the package. If not, it is still a very good idea to book in advance.
The Diggings Tour stays in the New Cataract Hotel, directly opposite the island of Elephantine and beside the Old Cataract Hotel, made famous by Agatha Christie's novel, Death on the Nile. (Unfortunately on our last visit to Aswan we discovered that the management intends to tear down the beautiful old hotel and erect a concrete monstrosity on the site. This really is cultural vandalism.) If you would like help in arranging either transport or accommodation, you can contact our travel agent, Dakkak Tours.
From the New Cataract Hotel you turn left out of the drive and walk fifty yards to the modern Aswan Museum. Although it has a good collection of interesting antiquities, it is so dark inside that unless you have 20/20 vision and a pocket torch, you are unlikely to get much out of it apart from the few objects on display in the main hall, where they have indulged in a couple of 15w bulbs set high in the ceiling. The sharks behind the counter used to cheerfully sell you a photography permit, but as neither flash nor tripod are allowed, it was a waste of money. Now, however, Zahi Hawass has introduced a policy of zero photography - though last time I was there the locals were wandering around snapping each other in front of the displays with their mobile phones and no one seemed to mind.
Rather than wander in the stygian darkness of the museum, you would be better employed in going in the opposite direction down to the landing stage below the hotel and engaging a felucca or motorboat to carry you across the river to Elephantine. Be sure to bargain with the boat's captain, as he will infallibly ask at least ten times the proper price for the trip. However it is worth while including a cruise around the island, as this is the only way of seeing the rocks which gave the island its name. There is a museum on the island, but opening times are erratic, the excavations, however, are well sign-posted and worth a visit. Don't miss the Jewish synagogue and the Nilometer (down a flight of stairs near the museum).
If you have the time, it is worth persuading your boatman (at extra cost) to take you upstream to Sahel Island and "Hungry Rock". The trip will take about three-quarters of an hour upstream, less downstream, and when you reach the landing stage bear left and trudge through the loose sand till you see an iron fence surrounding a number of rocks on which hieroglyphs have been chipped through the dark patina. Carry on past the fence and circle round the hill on your left. A path leads up to the top of the hill - sure footing is required - and near the very top is "Hungry Rock", an inscription recording a famine very similar to the famous Biblical seven-year famine of Joseph. Opinion is divided on whether it does in fact refer to the Bible story, as even by the short chronology we espouse the dates do not appear to fit. You would be very lucky to recognise "Hungry Rock" by yourself, but there will be hordes of kids only too happy to point it out to you for a consideration.
When you return to dry land, take a taxi to the quarries, where the main object of interest is the unfinished obelisk of Hatshepsut. At one time entry was free and you could walk the length of this or get down into the grooves dug by the quarrymen, but now it is fenced off, you pay through the nose for a ticket and you have to be content with looking down on the obelisk. Thanks, Zahi. Notice the black diorite pounders lying around, which were used by the ancient quarrymen to cut out the blocks of stone. Also observe the small slots you can see everywhere. The theory was that wooden wedges were pounded into these slots and then soaked with water, causing the wood to expand and split the rock. Unfortunately, when someone tried this method, it didn't work. The current theory is that lines of men with crowbars inserted them in the slots and jerked simultaneously. However a stonemason I consulted did not believe that the men could work sufficiently in unison to be effective. His suggestion was that they used metal wedges pounded between "feathers", or L-shaped pieces of metal, but of these there is no sign in either wall paintings or Egyptian literature.
There are other objects to be seen in the quarries, such as an abandoned sarcophagus, but they are not on the usual tourist itinerary and involve a certain amount of walking. A local guide will probably be your best bet if you want to find them.
Proceed in your taxi to the landing stage for the ferry to Philae. This island temple was situated on an island just behind the British-built lower Aswan Dam and in consequence was, until recently, flooded for six months or more every year. It was taken apart and moved to another island, which is where you will visit it.
It is tempting, as you glide over the placid green waters of the lake behind the dam, to trail your fingers in the water - or possibly even dream of a swim. Do not do it! Nile water is riddled with bilharzia, a nasty little parasite which is extremely difficult to remove once it has got into you. The little blighters burrow in through your skin and multiply in your body. Where they die, your body surrounds them with a coating of calcium and I am told that people badly affected by the disease can end up with a bladder that is so full of calcium that it is like a stone. Not nice. If even a drop of water splashes onto your skin, mop it off immediately with a tissue and then throw the tissue away.
The temples of Philae are Ptolemaic, in other words, from the Greek period, so do not truly represent Egypt of the pharaohs. However they are well preserved and give you a better idea of what an Egyptian temple looked like than, say, the ruins at Luxor. The only thing that most tourists miss is the Nilometer. As you face the temple, it is to your left. Walk across the first courtyard, through doorways to the exterior of the temple. Look for a staircase going down from the temple platform to a covered passageway that leads to the river. Carved in the left-hand side of this passageway are lines by which the height of the Nile flood could be measured.
(For a scene by scene and room by room description of the temples, consult a good guidebook.)
The only other thing of real interest is a huge stone built into the far wall of the second courtyard. This bears a tri-lingual inscription similar to the famous Rosetta Stone.
If your hotel overlooks the river, remember that all the rocks and islands you can see represent the start of the First Cataract, which, in the days before the dams were built, was a real obstacle to river traffic, as boats had to be dragged up the foaming water by teams of men - a far cry from the placid scene of today. It is particularly pleasant in the early morning to sit on your balcony in the New Cataract Hotel and watch the boats chugging slowly past.
The lone building with minarets like a mosque on the opposite bank is the tomb of the Aga Khan. On the skyline there is a rock outcrop shaped, in profile, rather like a lop-sided mushroom. This is the Rock of Inscriptions, where in previous years Egyptians bound for "Wretched Cush" would scratch their names and a prayer for a safe return. These graffiti provide an interesting record of traffic in antiquity - but don't be tempted to add your name to the list. You are not quite as important in the great scheme of things as the Viceroy of Nubia.
an inscription recording a famine The text describes how King Djoser is upset and worried because the land of Egypt has been affected by a drought for seven years, during which time the Nile has not flooded the land along the river. Djoser appeals to Imhotep for advice and the great architect consults his priests, who search in the archives of the temple of Thoth in Hermopolis. One of these priests informs the king that the flooding of the Nile is controlled by the god Khnum at Elephantine, and because Khnum is angry he does not allow the Nile to flood.
Djoser, like a responsible pharaoh, immediately orders offerings to be carried to Elephantine to placate Khnum's wrath. That night he dreams that Khnum appears to him and promises an end to the famine. In gratitude Djoser issues a decree granting the temple of Khnum at Elephantine the entire region between Aswan and Takompso as well as a levy on all goods imported from Nubia.
From the style of the writing it appears obvious that the Famine Stele was carved in Ptolemaic times (probably during the reign of Ptolemy V Epiphanes). Opinion is divided, however, on whether it is a copy of a genuine decree from the time of Djoser or whether it is a fiction, invented by the Ptolemaic priests in order to bolster their claim to considerable riches.
What is perhaps more interesting is the evidence that the Old Kingdom collapsed due to a global change of climate, with global cooling leading to lower rainfall and thus to multiple years of faminine. Return
