Seveneh
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [1]
Seveneh (Syene) . A town at the First Cataract, the southern extremity of Egypt proper: Egyp. Swn , now Assuan (Aswan). It lies on the east bank, opposite the island of Elephantine, where lay the capital of the first nome of Upper Egypt, and behind it are the celebrated granite quarries. ‘From Migdol to Syene’ is the correct tr. [Note: translate or translation.] in Ezekiel 29:10; Ezekiel 30:5 , as LXX [Note: Septuagint.] and RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] . At Syene-Elephantine there was a colony of Jews with a sumptuous temple of Yahu (Jehovah; cf. Isaiah 19:19 ) earlier than Cambyses’ conquest in b.c. 525, and throughout the Persian occupation. For this we have the evidence of papyri written there in the Aramaiclanguage. The dates of the documents hitherto found range from 471 to 410, in the reigns of Xerxes, Artaxerxes, and Darius ii. One of these is a petition to Bagoas, the governor of Judæa, for the re-building of the temple, which had been destroyed by the nations in 411. To this a favourable reply was given. But the temple was probably swept away in the final revolt of Egypt against the Persians about 405. Since the seventh century the frontier garrison against the Ethiopians had been posted there, and the military element predominated.
F. Ll. Griffith.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [2]
sḗ - ven´e , se - vē´ne ( סונה , ṣewēnēh ): For the King James Version "the tower of Syene," in Ezekiel 29:10; Ezekiel 30:6 , the Revised Version (British and American) reads, "the tower of Seveneh," with a marginal note, "or, from Migdol to Syene." Seveneh is the town at the First Cataract in Egypt, now known as Assuan. Fresh interest has recently been given to it by the Elephantine discoveries bearing on the ancient Jewish colony and temple of Yahweh in that place in the 5th century BC. See Aramaic; Egypt; Papyri; Sanctuary , 4, etc.
