Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0299Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is of a sailboat traveling towards a small island, palm trees and buildings can be viewed in the background. Above the image "T480 (Star)" is printed, below the image "V8626T Phiae, the "Pearl of Egypt," now Submerged by Waters Stored by Assuan Dam, Egypt." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company Copyrighted, Underwood & Underwood Inc. Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Chicago, Ill., London, England." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed:
V8626
PHILEA, A TREASURE ISLAND OF ANCIENT TEMPLES IN THE NILE, EGYPT
This once beautiful island lies in the Nile just below the First Cataract, and 590 miles south of Cairo by rail. The completion of the Assuan dam, just below the island, in 1902, and its heightening, with consequent deepening of the water in the reservoir behind it, in 1912, proved a boon of incalculabel value to agriculture in the lower Nile valley by making water available by irrigation throughout the growing season. But it doomed beautiful Philae, with its treasures of ancient architecture, to submergence in the reservoir except at the times of year when the impounded water is low.
A distinguished Egyptologist has written of the view upon which we are looking; "Set like a peerless gem among the wild, desorate rocks of the cataract, still softened and enriched by the swaying palms in which every Egyptian temple should be framed, this temple and its island have preserved and still awaken more of the romance of the Nile than any other spot in Egypt. . . . We are facing exactly south; behind us are Assuan, Elephantine, and the thombs of the frontier nobles. . . . The little square building on the right is the house of te custodian of the island. Just in the middle of our prospect you observe the pylons of the temple of Isis. . . . The little building at the left of the temple is the lovely columned kiosk which is so fondly remembered by all Nile travelers. On the left shore you notice a piece of squared masonary which formed part of an ancient quay of the town once occupying the island. . . . There must have been a shrine of Isis on this island long before the present temple was built - but the earliest mention of the place in Egyptian inscriptions is about the middle of the fourth century B.C."
Copyright by The Keystone View CompanyCollection
Photograph Collection