Bigeh (
Arabic: بجح; Ancient Egyptian znmwt)[3] is an island and archaeological site situated along the
Nile River in historic
Nubia and within the
Aswan Governorate of southern
Egypt. The island has been situated in the reservoir of the
Old Aswan Dam since the dam's initial completion in 1902.[4][5]
Bigeh Island was sacred to the
ancient Egyptians.[7] They believed that
Osiris was buried on the island[8] and a temple that stood on it was known as Abaton, Greek for "untrodden place", because only priests were allowed to set foot there.[9] The temple was mentioned by both
Seneca[10] and
Lucan.[11]
The god
Thoth bore the epithets of "Great and Splendid God in Bigeh" and "He that Pacifies the Nsr.t in Bigeh".[12] It is thought that there may have been a temple of Thoth on the island.
In the mid or late 3rd century AD, an embassy from King
Talakhidamani of
Kush visited the Abaton with gifts.[13]
^Boylan, Patrick (1922). Thoth, Or the Hermes of Egypt. p. 169
^Josefine Kuckertz (2021),
"Meroe and Egypt", in Wolfram Grajetzki,
Solange Ashby and Willeke Wendrich (eds.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Los Angeles.