Aswan

AE157 Monument 1a

Qubbet el-Hawa: The tombs of the nobles

On the West Bank of the Nile, opposite Aswan, is Qubbet el-Hawa, the necropolis of the governors of Elephantine during the Old and Middle Kingdoms. These officials – the guardians of Egypt’s southernmost border – built monumental tomb complexes on…

New Graeco-Roman tombs in Aswan

A joint Egyptian–Italian archaeological mission (University of Milan) has discovered more rock-cut Graeco-Roman tombs in the necropolis surrounding the Aga Khan Mausoleum on Aswan’s West Bank (for previous finds, see AE 144). The most impressive tomb to be found so…

More news from Aswan

Three rock-cut tombs from the Old Kingdom, reused during the Middle Kingdom, have been found by the Egyptian team working at the Qubbet el Hawa necropolis opposite Aswan. Two of the tombs have similar features and contained wooden coffins with…

ABOVE LEFT A fragment from the tomb of Sety I. When this was first discovered in 1817, it was believed to belong to Psamtek I. Champollion was able to correct this misattribution. ABOVE Casts from Karnak. The hieroglyphs reveal that the image shows Sety I trampling his Libyan foes. LEFT A mid 20th century medal showing Thomas Young.

The power of words: racing to read the lost secrets of Egypt

The beautiful and mysterious signs adorning ancient monuments across Egypt have excited speculation for centuries. The tale of how their meaning was finally rediscovered is just as long, and takes in many twists and turns. Success came 200 years ago, and with it a staggering insight into ancient Egyptian history, as Ilona Regulski told Matthew Symonds.

Amelia Edwards

This major figure in Egyptian archaeology was also a novelist, journalist, artist, erstwhile musician, and dauntless travel writer.