Sai

Sai is a large island in the Nile between the Second and Third Cataracts. Its fertile ground and naturally protected position made it an important place of settlement in Nubia. The remains of an Egyptian fortified town, temples, cemeteries and a medieval church tell of the many communities that occupied the island over the centuries. In Christian Nubia, Sai was the seat of a bishop, whose cathedral stood on the island. The Ottomans later built a fortress over part of the much older walled town and placed a garrison there in the sixteenth century. As their southernmost fortress in Nubia, Sai marked the reach of Ottoman power along a river whose cataracts made passage difficult.