Aswan (horse) Egyptian," Aswan's maternal great-great grandsire, Sotamm, was a horse whose pedigree traced entirely to the horses purchased by Wilfrid and Lady Anne Blunt from the stud of Ali Pasha Sherif and imported to England. Sotamm was foaled in England and then sold to the Egyptian government by Lady Wentworth of the Crabbet Arabian Stud. In a near-similar manner, Sotamm's grandsire Mesaoud, imported from Egypt by the Blunts, also sold to Russia and stood at the Tersk Stud when it was privately owned by Count Sergei Aleksandrovich Stroganov and his brother-in-law Prince Aleksandr Grigorievich Shcherbatov. Aswan (horse) Aswan (1958–1984), originally named
Aswan Dam to fund construction of the High Dam. When the Suez War broke out, the United Kingdom, France, and Israel seized the canal and the Sinai, but pressure from the U.S. and the USSR at the United Nations and elsewhere forced them to withdraw. In 1958, the USSR went ahead in providing support for the High Dam project. In the 1950s, archaeologists began raising concerns that several major historical sites, including the famous temple of Abu Simbel were about to be under water. A rescue operation began in 1960 under UNESCO (for details see below under Effects). The Soviets also provided