Triakontaschoinos

[1] As a result of this campaign, the area between the First and Second Cataracts of the Nile, which also included the valuable gold mines of the Eastern Desert, was annexed to Egypt and became later known as Triakontaschoinos.

[2] Already under Ptolemy II, the northern portion of the new province, between the First Cataract and modern Maharraqa (Greek: Hiera Sykaminos), was designated as the Dodekaschoinos, and all its incomes were dedicated to the temple of the goddess Isis at Philae.

These buildings were not only statements of royal power, but, in their effort to assimilate local Nubian deities into the Egyptian pantheon, also served to consolidate Ptolemaic rule.

[4] Ptolemaic control over Lower Nubia collapsed c. 205 BC, as a result of the revolt of Hugronaphor, which led to the secession of Upper Egypt.

The first civilian governor was the former phrourarchos Herodes, son of Demophon, whose career also exemplifies the close links of the local administration with the temples, which lasted into the Roman period: alongside his public offices, this Greek official was also a priest of Amun, and keeper of the sacred vestments at Elephantine, Bigeh, and Philae.

[11] In the third century, the Roman Dodekaschoinos was dominated by local Nubian priestly dynasties such as the Wayekiye, who acted as conduits of increasing Kushite influence in the area.