ABSTRACT
The history of Aswan and the neighbourhood, owing to the paucity of remains, is not very detailed; but one is able to realise how full of incident it was in reality. The island of Elephantine in ancient times was named Abu, the Egyptian word for elephant. The Greeks translated Abu into Elephantine, and in modern times this latter name has been revived. The name of Aswan was written by the ancient Egyptians 5-w-n, the vowels being now unknown, though one may suppose that the word was pronounced 5wani, since the Greeks transliterated it Syene (the y being upsilon, that is to say u or w) and the Copts Suan.
