[[Image:Egypt-region-map-cities.gif|thumb|210px|right| [[Egypt]]: Site of '''Aswan''' (bottom).]]
'''Aswan''' ([[Egyptian language|Egyptian]]: '''Swenet''' (=''trade''); [[Coptic language|Coptic]]: {{Coptic|ⲥⲟⲩⲁⲛ}} '''Swān'''; [[Greek language|Greek]]: {{polytonic|Συήνη}} '''Syene'''; {{lang-ar|أسوان}} '''Aswān'''; [[Spanish language|Spanish]]: '''Asuán''') ({{coor dm|24|05|N|32|56|E|}}, population 200,000) is a city in the south of [[Egypt]], the capital of the [[Aswan Governorate]]. It stands on the east bank of the [[Nile]] at the [[first cataract]] and is a busy market and tourist center. It contains the island of [[Elephantine]]
[[Image:Egypt.Aswan.RiverView.01.jpg|left|thumb|200px|The Nile at Aswan, seen from Elephantine Island]]
Aswan is one of the driest inhabited places in the world; as of early 2001, the last rain there was six years earlier. [[As of 2007|As of 13 October 2007]], the last rainfall was a thunderstorm on [[May 13]] [[2006]]. In [[Nubia]]n settlements, they generally do not bother to roof all of the rooms in their houses.
==History==
{{Hiero | ''swn.t'' | <hiero>s-E34:n-t:niwt</hiero> | align=right | era=default}}
Aswan is the ancient city of ''Swenet'', which in antiquity was the frontier town of [[Ancient Egypt]] to the south. Because the [[Egyptians]] oriented toward the south, Swenet was the first town in the country, and [[Egypt]] always was conceived to open or begin at Swenet. It stood upon a peninsula on the right (east) bank of the [[Nile]], immediately below (north of) the first cataract of the flowing waters, which extend to it from [[Philae]].
[[Image:Aswan_IMG_0637.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Overview of Aswan from the Tombs of the Nobles on the other side of the Nile]]
Swenet is supposed to have derived its name from an Egyptian goddess with the same name, the [[Eileithyia]] of the Greeks, Ilithya of the Romans, and of which the import is the opener. The ancient name of the city also is said to be derived from the [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]] word for ''trade''{{Fact|date=November 2007}}.
The [[Stone quarries of ancient Egypt]] located here were celebrated for their stone, and especially for the granitic rock called Syenite. They furnished the colossal statues, [[obelisk]]s, and monolithal shrines which are found throughout [[Egypt]], including the pyramids; and the traces of the quarrymen who wrought in these 3000 years ago are still visible in the native rock. They lie on either bank of the [[Nile]], and a road, 4 miles in length, was cut beside them from Syene to [[Philae]].
Swenet was equally important as a military station and as a place of traffic. Under every dynasty it was a garrison town; and here were levied toll and custom on all boats passing southward and northward. The city is mentioned by numerous ancient writers, including [[Herodotus]] (ii. 30), [[Strabo]] (ii. p. 133, xvii. p. 797, ''seq.''), [[Stephanus of Byzantium]] (''s. v.''), [[Ptolemy]] (vii. 5. § 15, viii. 15. § 15), [[Pliny the Elder]] (ii. 73. s. 75, v. 10. s. 11, vi. 29. s. 34), [[De architectura]] (book viii. ch ii. § 6) and it appears on the [[Antonine Itinerary]] (p. 164). It is also mentioned in the Book of Isaiah from the Scriptures (ref. Isaiah 49:12). [[Image:Railway Station Street, Aswan, Egypt, Oct 2004 A.jpg|left|thumb|200px|A view along the street connecting railway station and [[Nile]].]]
The latitude of city that would become Aswan, located at – 24° 5′ 23″– was an object of great interest to the ancient geographers. They believed that it was seated immediately under the [[Tropic of Cancer|tropic]], and that on the day of the summer solstice a vertical staff cast no shadow. They noted that the sun's disc was reflected in a well at noonday. This statement is only approximately correct; the ancients were not acquainted with the exact tropic: yet at the summer-solstice the length of the shadow, or 1/400th of the staff, could scarcely be discerned, and the northern limb of the sun's disc would be nearly vertical.
[[Eratosthenes]] used measurements at Aswan ([[Elephantine]]) to contest the [[Flat Earth]] theory and attempt to determine the circumference of the Earth, using [[Syene]] (as the Greeks called Swenet) as the originating point and [[Alexandria]] as the terminal point of a measured arc (based upon shadow length at the solstice) to make an accurate estimate of the circumference of the Earth.
[[Image:Aswan_IMG_0764.jpg|right|thumb|200px|The El-Tabia Mosque in Aswan]]
The [[Nile]] is nearly 3000 yards wide above Aswan. From this frontier town to the northern extremity of [[Egypt]] it flows for more than 750 miles without bar or cataract. The voyage from Aswan to [[Alexandria]] usually occupied between 21 and 28 days in favourable weather.
==See also==
*[[Aswan Dam]]
*[[Elephantine]]
*[[Philae]]
*[[Luxor]]
*[[Kitchener's Island]]
[[Image:Aswan Street, Egypt, Oct 2004.jpg|right|thumb|A street parallel to Corniche in Aswan]]
==References==
*{{SmithDGRG}}
==External Links==
*[http://www.aswanguide.com/ Guide to Aswan]
*[http://www.ianandwendy.com/OtherTrips/Egypt/Aswan/slideshow.htm Photo gallery of Aswan]
{{Commons|Aswan}}
{{Ancient Egypt}}
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Egypt]]
[[Category:Cities in Egypt]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek sites in Egypt]]
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