Ancient site · Aswan
El Kab
The ancient city of Nekheb on the Nile's east bank south of Luxor, with rock-cut tombs, temple remains and vast enclosure walls.
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The story
Elkab sits on the Nile's east bank at the mouth of Wadi Hillal, about 80 kilometres south of Luxor. In ancient Egyptian it was called Nekheb, after the goddess Nekhbet shown as a white vulture, and the Greeks named it the city of the goddess Eileithyia. The site holds prehistoric and pharaonic settlements, rock-cut tombs of the early Eighteenth Dynasty, temple remains from the Early Dynastic period to the Ptolemaic era, and part of the walls of a Coptic monastery. Belgian archaeologists have led its excavation since 1937.
Good to know
- Its ancient name Nekheb refers to the goddess Nekhbet, depicted as a white vulture.
- Belgian archaeologists have run the excavations at the site since 1937.