Aswān, also spelled Assuan or Assouan, Greek Syene, city, capital of Aswān muḥāfaẓah (governorate), Egypt, on the east bank of the Nile River just below the First Cataract. It faces the island of Elephantine (modern Jazīrat Aswān), on which stand the ruins of the ancient city of Yeb. Aswān was the southern frontier of pharaonic Egypt. Its local quarries supplied granite for many ancient Egyptian monuments and are still operated. On the Nile’s eastern bank was the site of the ancient city of Swen (ancient Egyptian: “the Mart”), whence came the Greek Syene and the Arabic Aswān. Aswān later served