syene Summary and Overview

opening (Ezek. 29:10; 30:6), a town of Egypt, on the borders of Ethiopia, now called Assouan, on the right bank of the Nile, notable for its quarries of beautiful red granite called "syenite." It was the frontier town of Egypt in the south, as Migdol was in the NE.

properly Seventh a town of Egypt, on the frontier of Cush or Ethiopia, #Eze 29:10, 30:6| represented by the present Aruan or Es-Suan.

SYE'NE (opening, or key), the frontier-city of Egypt, on the south, and bordering on Ethiopia. Eze 29:10; Ex 30:6, margin. It was situated on the Nile, below the First Cataract, and is represented now by the Arabic village of Assouan, or Aswan, a little north of the ancient site. The well-known rock called syenite is quarried here, and hence its name. It was a chief city of the Shepherd-kings. The expression ( in the margin), "from Migdol to Syene"- that is, from the fortress near Pelusium, at the mouth of the Nile, to Syene, on the borders of Ethiopia - was used to describe the whole land of Egypt.

Properly Seveneh or Sebennytus in the eastern delta (the Heracleopolis of Manetho, called from Hercules the "local god"), meaning "a key or opening", a Syene Egyptian town. "From Migdol to Syene," i.e. from the fortress near Pelusium on the N. of Suez to Syene in the far S. toward Ethiopia (Ezekiel 29:10; Ezekiel 30:6); not as KJV "from the tower of Syene." The shepherd kings had Syene for their chief city, from whence they are called Sebennyte Pharaohs.