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On the east banks of the Nile River lies Aswan (2008 population 275,000), a city
in southern Egypt and the capital of the Aswan Governorate. A busy
market and tourist centre, Aswan's ancient name was Swenet-- meaning
"trade". In antiquity, Swenet was the frontier town of southern
Ancient Egypt. Since early life oriented around the Nile River,
Swenet was the first established town in the country, and Egypt was considered
to begin at Swenet. In this little town were the stone quarries of
ancient Egypt, which was used to construct gigantic statues, obelisks and
monolithic shrines-- of them, include the great pyramids.
Mentioned by numerous ancient writers, Swenet was also an important
military base, and a place of traffic. As Aswan is one of the
driest places in the world, with very little rain, many homes generally do not
bother to roof all of the rooms in their houses.
Aswan has
been a favorite winter getaway since the beginning of the 19th Century, and is
at the Nile's most beautiful point-- flowing through amber desert,
emerald-shaped islands and palm groves. Investigate Aswan's souk, and
sift through the scents and colors of spices and perfumes, and the weaving of
scarves and baskets. Visitors can also experience Aswan's culture
and its arts by visiting the Cultural Center, which is not far from the
Corniche. Every night Nubian dancers, musicians, and folklore
troupes perform and recreate scenes from village life. The dancers
also perform a famous Nubian mock stick-fight dance. A town of
ancient history, Aswan provides sites of great interest to history and
archaeology-lovers alike. Visit the colossal Unfinished
Obelisk near the local quarries. Located in the north quarry,
this gigantic piece of granite is believed to have been intended as a companion
to the Lateran Obelisk-- and would have weighed over 2.3 million
pounds, making it the largest piece of stone ever handled. A crack
in the stone occurred, and caused it to be abandoned by its workers, who left
behind early tools-- leaving us insight into how much of this work was
done. To the south of this sight lie two Graeco-Roman sarcophagi
and an unfinished colossus, both half-buried in the sand. Many
tourists flock to Elephantine Island, whose timeless artifacts date back as far
as pre-Dynastic times. Last, but not least, visit the Tombs of the
Nobles in the northern hills of the west bank. Enter the tombs by
hundreds of steps leading up to rock-hewn tombs of princes, from the Old Kingdom
to the Roman Period. Many tombs include vivid wall paintings of
early life in Aswan, hieroglyphic biographies and inscriptions telling of the
nobleman's journeys into Africa.
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