Aswan lies almost 1000 kilometres south of Cairo on the River Nile. It is a much favoured winter resort owing to its warm and dry climate, and is the starting point of the great caravan route to Nubia and the Sudan.

The Temple complex of Philae lies a kilometre south of the first Aswan Dam on the island of Agilka, and was erected by the Ptolemites in the last two centures BC.