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Elephantine Island, Egypt
Elephantine Island, in the northern end of the first cataract of the Nile, has been strategically important since the time of Egypt's Old Kingdom, more than 4500 years ago. A starting point for trade, an administrative center for Egypt-controlled Nubia, and a border fortress at various times throughout its history, the island also hosted a military colony of Jews from roughly 525 to 400 BCE.1 While the remains of their temple were discovered in the late 1990s, the colony's existence had been known since the discovery of Aramaic papyri on the island more than a hundred years before.2
Description
History Elephantine Island was a center of trade and administration during Egypt's Old and Middle Kingdoms; during the New Kingdom (1539-1075 BC), it was a border fortress, located close to the frontier with Nubia.3 The temples on the island--to Khnum, the ram god; Seti, his consort; and Anuket, a local goddess--date from that time. Khnum's cult continued into the Roman era, and included a necropolis for sacred rams.4 The island was the location of one of the three Nilometers, used to measure the Nile's water level during the flood season.5 Because Elephantine Island was on Egypt's southern border, it was the first place to detect the annual flood.
Jewish Colony The papyri written in Aramaic that were discovered on the island in 1893 date the existence of the Jewish colony on the island to prior to 525 BC. Jewish settlers may have come to the island as part of the diaspora after their captivity by Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, although it has also been suggested that the colony was established under Pharaoh Amasis (569-526 BC).6 The Jews, who worked as mercenaries and border guards for the Egyptians and later the Persians, built a temple on the island.7 When the temple was destroyed on the orders of the Egyptian priests of Khnum in 410 BC, the settlers appealed to Bagoas, the governor of Judah, for aid in rebuilding it. Their appeal, which was among the Aramaic papyri found on the island, claims that "our fathers built this temple in the fortress of Elephantine in the days of the kings of the kings of Egypt and when Cambyses entered Egypt [in 525 BC], they found the temple already built".8 They rebuilt the temple; it was later abandoned, possibly around 400 BC when the Persians were driven out of Egypt.
Life in the Colony Personal letters, commercial contracts, and marriage documents were among the papyri found on the island, and they offer insight into life in the Jewish community there. Some of the most interesting documents related to Mitbahiah, a woman who was married three times. Her last marriage contract, written by her father, read: "There is the site of one house belonging to me... Which I have given to your Mitbahiah, my daughter, your wife... Now I say to you, build and equip that site and dwell on it with your wife. But you may not sell that house or give it as a present to others; only your children by my daughter Mitbahiah shall have power over it after you. If... you build upon this land and then my daughter divorces you and leaves you, she shall have no power over it, in return for the work you have done...".9 The marriage contract alone showed that the women of the Elephantine Island colony were not separated in congregations, had property rights, and could initiate divorce.10
![Elephantine Island, Jewish Temple Excavation [2] (Elephantine Island, Egypt, n.d.)](https://cdn.filestackcontent.com/tEwPhhWaRj6z4vqlK3O7/convert?w=100&h=100&fit=crop)
![Elephantine Island, Jewish Temple Excavation [1] (Elephantine Island, Egypt, n.d.)](https://cdn.filestackcontent.com/zB79QwReQI28XdDfSurQ/convert?w=100&h=100&fit=crop)
Sources
[1] Encyclopaedia Brittanica. "Elephantine (island, Egypt)." Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 2014. Accessed July 24, 2014. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/184440/Elephantine
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] "Elephantine." Deutsches Archaologisches Institut. Accessed July 23, 2014. http://www.dainst.org/en/project/elephantine?ft=all
[5] "Aswan: Elephantine Island." Tour Egypt. June 14, 2011. Accessed July 23, 2014. http://www.touregypt.net/elephantine.htm
[6] Berrett, LaMar, and D. Kelly Ogden. Discovering the World of the Bible. Provo: Grandin Book Company, 1996. 308. Accessed July 23, 2014. http://books.google.com/books?id=GzWS9al8ZUEC
[7] Kantrowitz, Jonathan. "Jewish Temples of Onias & Elephantine in Egypt." Archaeology News Report, September 6, 2008. Accessed July 23, 2014. http://archaeologynewsreport.blogspot.com/2008/09/jewish-temples-of-onias-elephantine-in.html
[8] Berrett and Ogden. Discovering the World of the Bible. 307.
[9] Kurinsky, Samuel. "Jews in Africa Part III: Egypt, Elephantine Island, and the Jews." Hebrew History Federation. Accessed July 24, 2014. http://www.hebrewhistory.info/factpapers/fp019-3_africa.htm
[10] Ibid.