elephantine

elephantine
/el'euh fan"teen, -tuyn, -tin, el"euh feuhn teen', -tuyn'/, adj.
1. pertaining to or resembling an elephant.
2. huge, ponderous, or clumsy: elephantine movements; elephantine humor.
[1620-30; < L elephantinus < Gk elephántinos. See ELEPHANT, -INE1]

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Arabic  Jazīrat Aswān,  

      island in the Nile opposite Aswān city in Aswān muḥāfaẓah (governorate), Upper Egypt. Elephantine is the Greek name for pharaonic Abu. There the 18th- and 19th-dynasty pharaohs built a large temple to Khnum, the ram god of the cataract region, to his consort, Sati, and to Anuket, goddess of nearby Sehel. To the north stands the Old and Middle Kingdom shrine. Numerous outstanding rock tombs of the Old and Middle Kingdom nobles of the city are situated high in the cliff on the west bank of the Nile. In the Old Kingdom (c. 2575–c. 2130 BC) Elephantine was known as the “door of the south,” since it was the most southerly city in Egypt and the starting point for Sudanese trade. In the Middle Kingdom (1938–c. 1600? BC) it was an administrative centre for Egyptian-controlled Nubia. During the New Kingdom (1539–1075 BC), the region was part of the province of Nubia, but, from the Saite period (664–525 BC), it again became a frontier fortress. In modern times the island is the site of two Nubian villages.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • ELEPHANTINE — (Aram. יֵב, yb; Eg. ibw, bw; Gr. ieb), the city of ivories, situated at the eastern bank of the southern end of a small island in the Nile, just north of the First Cataract and opposite the City of Sun (the Syene of Ezek. 29:10 and opposite… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Elephantine — Elephantine in Hieroglyphen …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • ÉLÉPHANTINE — Île située au nord de la première cataracte du Nil, en face d’Assouan. Elle possède de nombreuses ruines: plusieurs temples dédiés à Knoum, le dieu égyptien à tête de bélier. C’était un centre militaire et commercial important à la frontière sud… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Elephantine — ( ar. جزيرة الفنتين) is an island in the River Nile, located just downstream of the First Cataract at coord|24|05|N|32|53|E| at the southern border of Ancient Egypt. This region is referred to as Upper Egypt because the ancient Egyptians oriented …   Wikipedia

  • Elephantine — El e*phan tine, a. [L. elephantinus of ivory, Gr. ?: cf. F. [ e]l[ e]phantin.] Pertaining to the elephant, or resembling an elephant (commonly, in size); hence, huge; immense; heavy; as, of elephantine proportions; an elephantine step or tread.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Elephantine —   [griechisch »Elefantenstadt«, vielleicht wegen des Elfenbeinhandels], ägyptisch Jebu, Ạbu, Jeb, Nilinsel unterhalb des ersten Katarakts gegenüber Assuan mit gleichnamigem Ort im Süden der Insel. Von dieser Grenzfestung zogen in altägyptischer… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Elephantīne — (Elephantis), 1) fruchtbare Insel im Nil, Assuan gegenüber, gut angebaut u. einst wichtige Grenzfeste gegen Nubien. Die Insel wird jetzt meist Dschesiret el Zaher od. Dschesiret el Sag genannt; 2) Stadt am Südostende derselben, stark befestigt;… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Elephantīne — (jetzt Dschesireh es Saher, »Blumeninsel«, häufiger Dsch. Assuân), Insel im Nil, der Stadt Assuân (Syene) gegenüber, 1,5 km lang, 0,5 km breit, gut angebaut, mit zwei von Berâbra bewohnten Dörfern, führte in altägyptischer Zeit den Namen Ab… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Elephantine — Elephantīne, jetzt Dschesīret Assuān, ägypt. Nilinsel, Assuan gegenüber; Ruinen …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Elephantine — (jetzt Dschesiret Assuan), Nilinsel bei Syene, an der Gränze Aegyptens, unter dem letzten Nilfalle, außerordentlich fruchtbar, hatte einen Nilmesser, Tempel, deren Ruinen seit 1818 zum Kalkbrennen benutzt wurden …   Herders Conversations-Lexikon

  • elephantine — index ponderous, prodigious (enormous) Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

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