Shellal

Shellal

Shellal (Arabic: شلاّل) is a small ancient village in the banks of the Nile, south of Aswan in Egypt. It was the traditional north frontier of the Nubia region with both the Egyptian Empire and the Roman Empire. During the ancient Egypt it was a very important quarry area for granite production. Nowadays it is possible to see some unfinished granite works on the site (that is soon to become an open-air museum), some of the objects on display include incomplete statues of Osiris and Ramesses II and unfinished Roman baths.

Shellal was mentioned in a text dating from the 6th century where the king of Nobatia prides himself on having driven Blemmyes out from his country northwards from Ibrim to Shellal, on the frontier with Roman Egypt.

It was also an important city during the muslim Arab early domination, in particular there are some ancient minarets dating from the 11th century that are now sumerged under the waters of the Lake Nasser, These minarets are know to reflect the direct influence of the Hijaz region of Arabia, rather that the domination of the powers of the lower Egypt.

During the XIX century, the Luxor-Aswan railroad line was connected with a narrow-gauge line from Aswan to Shellal. which had been constructed in 1884 by the British as a military line during the first Sudan Campaign to accelerate transport of military stores past the First Cataract. Then converting Shellal as the final southern station in the Egyptian railroad network.

In the late XIX century, Victoria of Baden, the Queen Victoria of Sweden, visited Egypt and traveled south to Shellal where she took a now famous photograph of the site on the late afternoon on 15th of February 1891. The photograph is the first known graphic document in existence, depicting the waters of the Nile at Shellal.

Today Shellal has a small port where boats depart to the near Philae temple and has a small market where the shopkeepers waitfor the tourists returning from the temple.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Mosaic — This article is about a decorative art. For other uses, see Mosaic (disambiguation). Irano Roman floor mosaic detail from the palace of Shapur I at Bishapur …   Wikipedia

  • Battle of Magdhaba — Infobox Military Conflict conflict=Battle of Magdhaba caption= Camel corps at Magdhaba by H.S. Power, 1925 partof=Sinai and Palestine Campaign date=23 December, 1916 place=Sinai peninsula, Egypt result=Allied victory combatant1=… …   Wikipedia

  • Stone quarries of ancient Egypt — The Stone quarries of ancient Egypt (now archaeological sites) once produced quality stone for the construction of decorative monuments such as sculptures and obelisks. Some of these sites are well identified and the chemical composition of their …   Wikipedia

  • Early Byzantine mosaics in the Middle East — are a group of Christian mosaics created between the 4th and the 8th centuries in ancient Syria, Palestine and Egypt when the area belonged to the Byzantine Empire. The eastern provinces of the Eastern Roman and later the Byzantine Empires… …   Wikipedia

  • Wadi Halfa — 21.7931.37 Koordinaten: 21° 47′ N, 31° 22′ O …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Marbres Antiques — Marbres colorés du pavement d’un temple grec à Cyrène (Libye) Liste des variétés (lithotypes) de marbres colorés antiques (pierre polie), de différentes couleurs, utilisée dans l Antiquité et surtout pendant l Empire romain; tels les granits et… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Marbres antiques — Marbres colorés du pavement d’une ancienne maison à Cyrène (Libye) Liste des variétés (lithotypes) de marbres colorés antiques (pierre polie), de différentes couleurs, utilisée dans l Antiquité et surtout pendant l Empire romain; tels les granits …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Marbres colorés antiques — Marbres antiques Marbres colorés du pavement d’un temple grec à Cyrène (Libye) Liste des variétés (lithotypes) de marbres colorés antiques (pierre polie), de différentes couleurs, utilisée dans l Antiquité et surtout pendant l Empire romain; tels …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Ballana — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Ballana es el nombre que se da a un reino sito en Nubia (Egipto) a unos 10 km al sur de Abu Simbel, formado por emigrantes conocidos como Grupo X, cultura del grupo post meroítico que dominó Nubia desde el año 250 al …   Wikipedia Español

  • Blemios — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Una fantasiosa representación de blemio según las Crónicas de Nuremberg (1493). Los Blemios (en egipcio antiguo: brhm; en griego: Βλέμμυες o …   Wikipedia Español

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”