The Island of Bigeh

Bigeh as sighted from the present day location of Philae.
If you look carefully, you will see some fundaments sticking out of the water.
Those are the remains of the rescue project and mark out the original position
of the island of Philae.

Bigeh (Bigge, Bigga) is a larger island only a hundred meters from Philae, where it is believed that one of the 16 mythical tombs of Wesir (Osiris) was situated.

Access to the island was generally forbidden, another name for it was "Abaton", meaning "inaccessible". Those who obtained permission to enter the island had to speak in whispers, if at all. The source of the Nile, manifested as the god Hapy was thought to live in a cave here, the entrance being protected by a sacred serpent.

The rise and fall of the waters of the Nile thus was easliy connected to the death and rebirth of Wesir.

Portal, probably to the pronaos of the Temple of Osiris.
The Temple of Isis can be seen in the background. (D. Roberts)

The statue of Isis travelled accompanied by priests every tenth day ( which is once a week by the ancient Egyptian calendar) and on festival days by boat or bark across from Philae island to make offerings and be present at ceremonies at the tomb of her husband Wesir.

A sanctuary was erected here, facing west, and a great staircase led up to the terrace on which it was situated. A pylon built by Augustus, led into the temple. Only the doorway is preserved to modern day. Behind this doorway was a beautiful pronaos built by Ptolemy XII, with probably two rows of columns.

Of the rest of the temple nothing remains, but a granite altar of Ptolemy III has been found, as well as a colossal seated statue of Amenhotep II and a statue of Thutmose III, pointing at a possible older temple. No such remains have been found on the main island of Philae, which may seem strange. Can we speculate that the island was deemed too small in ancient times and that the island of Bigeh was regarded as the main island, being larger?

Philae seen from Bigeh (D. Roberts)

Other Islands in the vicinity

There are a few islands in the vicinty apart from Bigeh, which should be noted: Konosso, Sehel and el-Heisa.

El-Heisa was the ancient necropolis for the priests who worked at Philae. There are still rock-cut tombs to be seen. There are also rock-texts as well as a red granite naos of Ptolemy VII.

On Bige and Konosso there is grafitti made by high officials in the NK, as a way to record their visits to the area.