On the road from Luxor to Aswan, one cannot fail to notice an impressive fortified wall which once surrounded the city of Nekheb, modern Elkab. The brick wall is mostly preserved to a considerable height, with ancient tree log reinforcements still showing among the bricks.
Very little remains of the city itself, whose history begins before the Pharaonic Period and ends during the Roman occupation. The site was the main cult center of the vulture goddess Nekhbet, the tutelary deity of Upper Egypt. Further to the east, among the cliffs, one finds the rock-hewn tombs of important officials who lived at Elkab mainly during the New Kingdom. Some were famous soldiers, such as Ahmose, the son of Abana, who participated in the military activity for the expulsion of the Hyksos. Another belongs to Setau, a high priest of Nekhbet under Ramesses III (20th Dynasty). In his autobiography, Setau describes the preparations for the royal jubilee which took place in the thirtieth year of that king's reign. The tombs, though partially destroyed, are important because of their historical inscriptions, as well as for their decorations executed in a rather provincial style. Three small temples, dated to Amenhotep III, Ramesses II and the Ptolemaic period, have also survived in the region of the necropolis.
Elkab lies at the outlet of a narrow desert valley, where, according to tradition, the damaged eye of Horus was kept until it was retrieved by Thoth who then restored it to its owner.
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