Gebel el-Silsila or Gebel Silsileh (, transliterated as or , meaning "Mountain of the Chain"; Egyptian: ẖny, also rendered as Khenyt, Kheny, or Khenu, meaning "The Place of Rowing") is north of Aswan in Upper Egypt, with cliffs on both sides close to the narrowest point along the length of the entire Nile. The location is between Edfu The use of this stone allowed for the use of larger architraves. Akhenaten's sculptor Bek oversaw the opening of a stone quarry here.

Shrines, chapels and temples

The site provided numerous stone quarries on both the west and east sides of the Nile. The site contains many shrines erected by officials who would have been in charge of quarrying the stone. Almost all of Ancient Egypt's great temples derived their sandstone from here, the god of crocodiles and controller of the waters.

The Great Speos also contains two chapels belonging to Viziers. On the south end of the entrance is the chapel of Panehesy, Vizier to Merenptah. Panehesy is shown adoring Merenptah. Panehesy is also depicted on a stele showing Merenptah, Queen Isetnofret, and Prince Sety-Merenptah (later Seti II).

Further shrines were constructed near the river. Most of these date to the reigns of Hatshepsut and Thutmosis III. Included are the shrines of some high-ranking officials such as the Overseer of the Granaries Minnakht, the Overseer of the Seal and Royal Herald Sennufer, the Overseer of the Seal Nehesy, the Overseer of the Prophets of Upper and Lower Egypt Hapuseneb, and the Great Steward of the Queen Senenmut.]]

Survey work of the east bank has revealed 49 quarries, the largest being Quarry 34 (Q34) (reviewed in 7 partitions due to its immensity) containing 54 stone huts.

The East bank holds several stele from the time of Amenhotep III. The stele and their texts are described in Karl Richard Lepsius' Denkmahler. The stelae are damaged, but one of them was inscribed in year 35. Amenhotep is shown adoring Amun-Re and is called "beloved of Sobek" in the inscriptions. The stela have been studied and described by Georges Legrain. The finding confirms that Gebel el Silsila is a sacred site in addition to its quarry function. Further, the site seems to lean towards solar worship. Various teams organized by them have been working on-site since 2012. Emphasis has been placed on the east bank due to insufficient recording in the past and deteriorating conditions in the present epigraphically. Its major finding is the Temple of Kheny. The project is also noted for its use of digital archaeology.

The survey project has also found a blue scarab, an amulet depiction of a dung beetle.

Recent discoveries

In February in 2019, joint Swedish-Egyptian archaeologists revealed a 16.4-feet longs and 11.5-feet high ram-headed sphinx (or a criosphinx) carved from sandstone dated back to the reign of Amenhotep III. In addition to this finding, an "uraeus" or wrapped cobra symbol and hundreds of stone fragment engraved with hieroglyphs were also found.

Climate

The present-day climate of Gebel el-Silsila (Khenu) is extremely clear, dry, bright, and sunny year-round, in all seasons, with low seasonal variation, and with about 4,000 hours of annual sunshine, very close to the maximum theoretical sunshine duration. Silsila is located in one of the sunniest regions on Earth.

The Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies the weather of Gebel el-Silsila as a hot desert climate (BWh), like the rest of Egypt.

Winters are short, brief, and extremely warm. Wintertime is very pleasant and enjoyable while summertime is unbearably hot with blazing sunshine, made only more bearable because the desert air is dry.

The climate of Khenu is extremely dry year-round, with less than 1 mm of average annual precipitation. The desert locale is one of the driest ones in the world, and rainfall does not occur every year. The air is mainly dry here and becomes drier southward and upriver towards Aswan. The air becomes more humid northward and downriver towards Luxor.

See also

; Regarding quarrying

  • Stone quarries of ancient Egypt
  • Gebel el-Haridi

; Regarding Sobek or religion

  • Ammit
  • Faiyum
  • Ancient Egyptian religion

; Other

  • Cultural tourism in Egypt
  • List of ancient Egyptian sites
  • List of megalithic sites
  • Outline of ancient Egypt
  • Glossary of ancient Egypt artifacts
  • Index of ancient Egypt-related articles

References

;Citations

Books

;English

  • Kitchen, Kenneth A. (1983). Pharaoh Triumphant: The Life and Times of Ramesses II, King of Egypt, Aris & Phillips. .
  • O'Connor, David and Cline, Eric H. (2006). Thutmose III: A New Biography. University of Michigan Press. .
  • Porter, Bertha; and Moss, Rosalind (1937). Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Reliefs and Paintings, V Upper Egypt: Sites (Volume 5). Griffith Institute. 1937, 1962; 2004: .
  • Tyldesley, Joyce (1998). Nefertiti: Egypt's Sun Queen. Penguin. .
  • Wilkinson, Richard H. (2000). The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt, Thames and Hudson. .

;German

  • Lepsius, Karl Richard (1849). [Monuments from Egypt and Ethiopia]. Denkmaeler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien nach den Zeichnungen der von Seiner Majestät dem Koenige von Preussen, Friedrich Wilhelm IV., nach diesen Ländern gesendeten, und in den Jahren 1842–1845 ausgeführten wissenschaftlichen Expedition auf Befehl Seiner Majestät. 13 vols. Berlin: Nicolaische Buchhandlung. (Reprinted Genève: Éditions de Belles-Lettres, 1972). Retrieved online Lepsius Denkmahler.

Audio/radio

  • Interview by Scott Roberts of Maria Nilsson and John Ward (while both in Sweden), The Intrepid Radio Program broadcast, Intrepid Paradigm Broadcast Network, 2015 May 31 Sunday 9-11 p.m. CDT (2015 June 1 UTC 0400-0600 UTC), Wisconsin, U.S.A., archived podcast 2015 June 1; accessed 2011 June 11.

Web

  • Friends of Silsila
  • Gebel el Silsila (Epigraphic) Survey Project blog
  • Photo gallery of "Gebel el Silsileh: The Quarries East and West", part of "The Egyptian Theben Desert Portfolio" by Yarko Kobylecky

thumb|center|950px|

thumb|center|950px|