ELEPHANTINE. - A granite island situated at the mouth of the first cataract of the Nile, from where the river becomes navigable down to its mouth. Since antiquity it was a strategic and commercial point of primary importance. Its Egyptian name is Jēb, Jēbu (i.e. country of elephants), cf. Flavius Josephus, Bell. Jud., IV, 10, 5). An arm of the Nile 90 m wide separates E. from the city of Sūn (Sāwēnāh in Ex. 29, 10; 30, 6), in Greek Σαβγη (Herodotus, II, 28), today Aswan. Important are the Aramaic papyri coming from E., from the 5th century B.C.
The papyri were discovered and published from 1898 to 1900. They demonstrate the existence in E. of a Jewish military colony prior to the conquest of Cambyses. Of
Jewish troops in the pay of Psammetichus II in the war against Nubia (before 586 B.C.) the letter of Aristeas speaks. But the origin of this Jewish community, which speaks and writes Aramaic, is not clear. Did it trace its origins to the Jewish mercenaries existing in Egypt before the fall of Jerusalem, or to those who took refuge there after this catastrophe? Or to elements of the Kingdom of Israel deported to Assyria, or to Samaritan elements?
The most important papyrus is no. 30 (ed. Cowley), dated "to the 20th of marhešwān of the 17th year of King Darius (II)," therefore ca. the end of Nov. 408 B.C.
It is a letter that Jēdōnāh, head of the Jewish community of E., sends to Bagōhī (Bagoas), peḥāh (Persian favorite) of Jerusalem, requesting his intervention so that the reconstruction in E. be permitted of the "temple of the God Jhw (Yahweh), which the priests of the god Ḥnūb (Guān, the sacred ram) had destroyed taking advantage of the absence of 'Arām, Persian governor of upper Egypt. It is stated that the community had sent a letter of the same tenor, immediately after the events occurred, to the high priest Jēhōhānān, a letter that remained unanswered, and that now it was sending a similar one to the sons of Sinuballit (= Sanaballat) peḥāh of Samaria. The high priest Jēhōhānān is the Jōhānān contemporary of Ezra (Esd. 10, 6) and his contemporaneity with Bagoas, peḥāh of Jerusalem, is attested by Flavius Josephus in Antiq. Jud., XI, 7, 1. Sanaballat is the peḥāh of Samaria, the bitter enemy of Nehemiah. The most characteristic fact is that there existed in E. a true and proper temple of Yahweh before the conquest of Cambyses (ll. XIII-XIV), in which oblations, incense, holocausts and sacrifices were offered (ll. XXI, XXV, XXVIII). The degeneration of the genuine Yahwistic cult was undoubtedly not perceived by these Jewish emigrants, who in good faith had asked for help precisely from that high priest of Jerusalem who was supposed to repudiate them as schismatics: and in fact, wisely, the high priest, being unable to take up their defense and not wishing to mortify their good faith, had preferred to remain silent. One of the main motives for the destruction of the temple must have been the offering of sacrifices of sheep, an act exceedingly sacrilegious toward the ram-god.
Papyrus 21 (ed. Cowley), prior to the destruction of the temple (5th year of Darius II, that is 419 B.C.) informs us about the celebration of Passover in E., which, on the basis of a decree of Darius, was to be celebrated in a place segregated from the rest of the population: one immediately thinks of the immolation of the paschal lamb. But the cult of Yahweh did not prevent these Jews from adoring and making offerings of money also to other divinities, e.g., 'Ašimbēth'ēl (or 'Išmbēth'ēl) and the goddess 'Anathbēth'ēl (papyrus 22, ed. cit.).
A group of papyri in perfect condition, coming from a family archive, informs us about social conditions: legal transactions concerning real estate, loans at high interest, written constitutions of dowry, the condition of greater emancipation of women, who can even request divorce. A clear distinction emerges between the civilian population and the military one, the latter divided into deghei (lit. "banner," "standard"), called by the name of the commanding officer.
One papyrus has preserved for us an Aramaic text of the story of 'Aḥlōār (v.), but unfortunately not a single line of biblical text has been found. Certainly the garrison, protected by the Persians, disbanded with the cessation of their dominion. The latest papyrus is no. 35 (5th year of the pharaoh Amyrtaeus, that is 400 B.C.).