The town Aswan (ancient Greek Syene) in Upper Egypt, celebrated for its cleanliness, lies in latitude 24° 5 north below the First Cataract. Situated on the east bank of the Nile, partly on low ground and partly on a hill, it is a much favored winter resort thanks to its equable dry and warm climate and its sand baths, which are efficacious in the treatment of diseases of the joints. Aswan, the capital of Egypt's most southerly governorate and the terminus of the railroad line along the Nile Valley, has a university which is still in course of development. As a result of the construction of the High Dam farther up the valley Aswan is now becoming one of the country's principal industrial centers (steel, nitrogen, electric power).