Elephantine papyri and ostraca
The Elephantine Papyri and Ostraca consist of thousands of documents from the Egyptian border fortresses of Elephantine and Aswan, which yielded hundreds of papyri and ostraca in hieratic and demotic Egyptian, Aramaic, Koine Greek, Latin and Coptic, spanning a period of 100 years in the 5th to 4th centuries BCE. The documents include letters and legal contracts from family and other archives, and are thus an invaluable source of knowledge for scholars of varied disciplines such as epistolography, law, society, religion, language and onomastics. The Elephantine documents include letters and legal contracts from family and other archives: divorce documents, the manumission of slaves, and other business. The dry soil of Upper Egypt preserved the documents.
Papyrus narrating the story of the wise chancellor Ahiqar. Aramaic script. 5th century BCE. From Elephantine, Egypt. Neues Museum, Berlin
Modern photo of the main temple on the mound, following excavation
Marriage Document of Ananiah and Tamut, July 3, 449 BCE, Brooklyn Museum
Property Sale Document: Bagazust and Ubil Sell a House to Ananiah, September 14, 437 BCE Brooklyn Museum
Elephantine is an island on the Nile, forming part of the city of Aswan in Upper Egypt. The archaeological digs on the island became a World Heritage Site in 1979, along with other examples of Upper Egyptian architecture, as part of the "Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae".
West bank of Elephantine Island on the Nile
View south (upstream) of Elephantine Island and Nile, from a hotel tower.
Small Kalabsha Temple Reconstruction, south of the island.
Elephantine, as published in the 1809 Description de l'Égypte.
