Bigeh

Bigeh (Arabic: بجح, ancient Egyptian "Senem" [Heinrich Karl Brugsch, "Reiseberichte aus Aegypten", Olms 1855, p.268] ) is an island in the first cataract of the Nile River, Egypt, close to the island of Philae. Its fortification controlled the access to Nubia ["Yale University Publications in Anthropology", Yale University 1936, p.96] .

Bigeh was sacred to the ancient Egyptians. [ [http://www.philae.nu/akhet/Philaebigeh.html The Island of Bigeh] , www.philae.nu, date unknown, (accessed 22 January,2007)] . There was a belief that Osiris was buried on the island [Anne Burton, "Diodorus Siculus", Brill 1972, p.95] . The god Thoth bore the epithets of "Great and Splendid God in Bigeh" and "He that Pacifies the "Nsr.t" in Bigeh" [Patrick Boylan, "Thoth Or the Hermes of Egypt", 1922, p.169] and it is thought that he may have had a temple on the island.

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