Road station

Syene

(settlement and quarry cluster at Aswan) (Barrington)

Syene lay at Aswan, by the first cataract of the Nile, and here, Strabo noted, an upright pointer cast no shadow at noon on midsummer day, because the tropic passes through the town. Under the Romans it was a frontier fortress with a garrison of three cohorts, guarding Egypt against Meroë and the Blemmyes. The town also lived from trade: all people and goods moving between Egypt and Nubia had to be unloaded here and carried overland around the cataract, and tax receipts show its role in collecting customs.

Find Syene on the interactive Roman map →

Auf Deutsch anhören · All place stories · More places in Egypt