Bigeh (; Ancient Egyptian znmwt)Allen, James P. Middle Egyptian Literature 2014, p.12 is an island and archaeological site situated along the Nile River in historic Nubia and within the Aswan Governorate of southern Egypt. The island has been situated in the reservoir of the Old Aswan Dam since the dam's initial completion in 1902.Sidney Peel, The Binding of the Nile and the New Soudan, p.76 (1904)Canay Ozden, The Pontifex Minimus: William Willcocks and Engineering British Colonialism, p. 196, Annals of Science, 2013. DOI: 10.1080/00033790.2013.808378
Ancient Egypt It was formerly 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 Philae and Agilkia Islands and their ancient archaeological sites in the reservoir.Yale University Publications in Anthropology, Yale University 1936, p.96
Bigeh Island was sacred to the ancient Egyptians.The Island of Bigeh, www.philae.nu, date unknown, (accessed 17 February 2014 from archive.org) They believed that Osiris was buried on the islandBurton, Anne (1972). Diodorus Siculus. Brill. p. 95 and a temple that stood on it was known as Abaton, Greek for "untrodden place", because only priests were allowed to set foot there.Dijkstra, Jitse H. F. (2008). Philae and the End of Ancient Egyptian Religion. Peeters. p. 202. The temple was mentioned by both SenecaSeneca, Q. N. iv. 2 and Lucan.Lucan, x.323
The god Thoth 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 of Kush visited the Abaton with gifts.Josefine Kuckertz (2021), "Meroe and Egypt", in Wolfram Grajetzki, Solange Ashby and Willeke Wendrich (eds.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Los Angeles.
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