Egypt day 4: Elephantine Fortress and Philae Temple

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The day didn’t start too well for me (Lesley). I was upset that the people who were the most anxious about the trip before we left and wanted to cancel, refused to wear masks. I’m afraid I got quite cross at breakfast.



We then left on the bus to go to a new embarkation point with a decent gangplank to travel up the Nile to Elephantine Island. This island is important to the Jewish community as papyri documents have been found relating to the oldest Jewish diaspora community. The site itself is much bigger than I thought it would be. It is 1200 meters from north to south and 300 meters at its widest point. It is believed that it was called Elephantine because from the air the island looks like an elephant’s tusk. However, how the ancient Egyptians knew about aerial views is beyond my imagination.



The Elephantine papyri are caches of legal documents and letters written in Aramaic dating to sometime in the 5th century BCE. This is about the time of Nechamia. These papyri document the presence starting in the 7th century BCE of a community of Judean mercenaries and their families on Elephantine who guarded the frontier between Egypt and Nubia to the south. It is thought that the mercenaries were part of the Persian army sent to guard the island. In addition following the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in the 6th century BCE, some Judean refugees travelled south and settled on Elephantine. They maintained their own temple, in which sacrifices were offered which functioned alongside that of Khnum. Khnum was the ram headed god which was predominately worshipped by the non-Jews on Elephantine. The temple was destroyed in 410 BC at the instigation of the priests of Khnum.



As mentioned previously it was believed that birth begins in the east and at 12 noon when the sun is in the centre of the sky this is the strongest age of man. The weakest area is the west, where the sun sets. It was believed that the weakest man looks like a ram who walks with a cane (Khnum). It was also believed that the nose is the gate of the soul. The harshest punishment was to cut off someone’s nose as the soul cannot enter the body again for the soul to be resurrected. It was believed that Khnum was the god of fertility and that he created humans from clay on a potter’s wheel.



The most famous of all the papyri documents that was found was the Passover letter. This is a translation of that letter:

(To my brethren Yedo)niah and his colleagues the Jewish ga(rrison,) your brother Hananiah. May God (seek after) the welfare of my brothers (at all times.) And now, this year, year 5 of King Darius, it has been sent from the king to Arsa(mes saying "Authorise a festival of unleavened bread for the Jew)ish (garrison.") Now you thus count four(teen days in Nisan and on the 14th at twilight ob)serve (the Passover) and from the 15th day until the 21st day of (Nisan observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. Seven days eat unleavened bread. Now,) be pure and take heed. (Do n)o work (on the 15th day and on the 21st day of Nisan.) Do not drink (any fermented drink. And do) not (eat) anything of leaven (nor let it be seen in your houses from the 14th day of Nisan at) sunset until the 21st day of Nisa(n at sunset. Do not b)ring into your chambers (any leaven) but seal (it) up during these day(s. By order of King Darius. To) my brethren Yedaniah and the Jewish garrison, your brother Hanani(ah).



In addition I found reference to Elephantine women in the Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopaedia of Jewish Woman:

“The documents found on the Egyptian island of Elephantine in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which date from the fifth century BCE, extensively feature women. These women are explicitly named and without the qualifiers of their husband or father, as is common in the Bible. Two women illustrate the differing lives of Elephantine women: Mibtahiah, who is extremely wealthy, and Tamet, a handmaiden. The stories of both women show how women were able to inherit property if their spouse or father died and are also able to take half of their husband’s property if they wish to divorce him. These narratives present a society in which women had significant rights, rare for the time. In addition to three documents where women are the sole or main parties, there are two family archives in which women figure prominently. The woman best known at Elephantine was Mibtahiah ('the Lord is trust'), daughter of Mahseiah ('the Lord is refuge'). Her name reveals an awareness of the word sequence hsh bth, which occurs in several psalms (62:8–9, 91:2, 118:8–9). In 459, she married Jezaniah son of Uriah who had a house bordering on one owned by Mahseiah.

“In a document running to thirty-four lines, the father bequeathed this house to his daughter ('in my life and at my death') (TAD B2.3) and in a parallel document gave her husband rights of usufruct therein (TAD B2.4). In a state of disrepair, the house was probably held by the father for the occasion of his daughter’s marriage and the terms of the bequest make it clear that it was to be treated as an estate perpetuated within the family or among designated heirs, corresponding to Babylonian mul’gu and Talmudic melog.”



As we walked around the Elephantine site we saw the storage rooms and the priests’ changing rooms. This is reminiscent of the Jerusalem temple. Another likeness - common people were not allowed in the temples, they had to give their offerings to the priests who carried out the sacrifices inside the temples.



Nevuah in Isaiah 19:19 says “there shall be an altar to the LORD inside the land of Egypt…” That entire chapter of Isaiah contains prophesies about Egypt.



It is interesting that all Egyptian temples are north/south oriented but the Jewish temple was found to be northeast facing Jerusalem; or is it purely the topography? It may have been that the Jews needed a connection to G-d which is why they offered sacrifices



Back on the boat and on to the Temple of Philae. This temple was dedicated to the god Isis.



The temple was submerged by the dam from 1902 except for three months of the year when the dam gates were opened. As a result substantial water damage was done to the structures. It was decided to move the temples to the nearby island of Agilkia and in 1972 work finally began. It was not until 1975 that the preliminary work had been undertaken and the first blocks were able to be moved. Unfortunately one block was put back upside down. None of us were able to find it!



We saw a khartush of the queen Cleopatra. Cleopatra was a Greek queen born in Egypt. There is evidence of serious defacing which was undertaken by the early Christians in the 4th century. We also saw a line of graffiti drawn by French troops who occupied the island during the Napoleonic wars.



Rabbi Berman pointed out in the artwork signs of the white shrouds covering the altar in the holy of holies. This compares to the biblical description of the mishkan.



We had some free time to explore the island and then it was back on the boat to get on the bus to go to Aswan airport and fly to Cairo.



We flew to Cairo and got into our rooms at the Hilton hotel very late! The rooms were not acceptable. One of our group had to call the cleaners in at 12.30 am to clean the bathroom! We couldn’t connect to the internet. It would appear that the passwords that had been allocated to everybody were supposed to be surnames. However, what with spelling mistakes and mistaking first names for family names, there was a long line of people at the hotel’s reception. It would appear that our password was Mark (Don’s middle name)!

The hotel agreed to upgrade all our rooms onto much higher and nicer floors, but as Don and I were only on the third floor we decided to wait until after Shabbat to change rooms.

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