SI´LSILIS(Not. Imp.), a fort situated on the right bank of the Nile, between Ombos and Apollinopolis Magna in Upper Aegypt. The original name of this place is nearly preserved in the modern Silili. The fort of Silsilis stood at the foot of the mountain now called Gebel Selsilek, or hill of the chain,and was one of the points which commanded the passage of the river. For at this spot the Arabian and Libyan hills approach each other so nearly that the Nile, contracted to about half its ordinary width, seems to flow between two perpendicular walls of sandstone. Silsilis was one of the principal seats for the worship of the Nile itself, and Rameses II. consecrated a temple to it, where it was worshipped under the emblem of a crocodile and the appellation of Hapimoou. The stone quarries of Silsilis were also celebrated for their durable and beautiful stone, of which the great temples and monuments of the Thebaid were for the most part built. (Wilkinson, Mod. Egypt and Thebes, vol. 2. p. 283.)
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