Egyptian Monuments: Faiyum

Faiyum

The History

When the Mediterranean Sea was a hot dry hollow near the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis in the late Miocene, Faiyum was a dry hollow, and the Nile flowed past it at the bottom of a canyon (which was 8000 feet deep or more (where Cairo is today). After the Mediterranean reflooded at the end of the Miocene, the Nile canyon became an arm of the sea reaching inland further than Aswan. Over geological time that sea arm gradually filled with silt and became the Nile valley.

Eventually the Nile valley bed silted up high enough to let the Nile in flood overflow into the Faiyum hollow and make a lake in it. The lake is first recorded from about 3000 BC, around the time of Menes (Narmer). However, for the most part it would only be filled with high flood waters. The lake was bordered by neolithic settlements, and the town of Crocodilopolis grew up on the south where the higher ground created a ridge.

In 2300 BC, the waterway from the Nile to the natural lake was widened and deepened to make a canal which is now known as the Bahr Yussef. This canal fed into the lake. This was meant to serve three purposes: control the flooding of the Nile, regulate the water level of the Nile during dry seasons, and serve the surrounding area with irrigation. There is evidence of ancient Egyptian pharaohs of the twelfth dynasty using the natural lake of Faiyum as a reservoir to store surpluses of water for use during the dry periods. The immense waterworks undertaken by the ancient Egyptian pharaohs of the twelfth dynasty to transform the lake into a huge water reservoir gave the impression that the lake itself was an artificial excavation, as reported by classic geographers and travellers. The lake was eventually abandoned due to the nearest branch of the Nile dwindling in size from 230 BC.

Faiyum was known to the ancient Egyptians as the twenty-first nome of Upper Egypt, Atef-Pehu ("Northern Sycamore"). In ancient Egyptian times, its capital was Sh-d-y-t (usually written "Shedyt"), called by the Greeks Crocodilopolis, and refounded by Ptolemy II as Arsinoe.

This region has the earliest evidence for farming in Egypt, and was a center of royal pyramid and tomb-building in the Twelfth dynasty of the Middle Kingdom, and again during the rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Faiyum became one of the breadbaskets of the Roman world.

For the first three centuries AD, the people of Faiyum and elsewhere in Roman Egypt not only embalmed their dead but also placed a portrait of the deceased over the face of the mummy wrappings, shroud or case. The Egyptians continued their practice of burying their dead, despite the Roman preference for cremation. Preserved by the dry desert environment, these Faiyum portraits make up the richest body of portraiture to have survived from antiquity. They provide us with a window into a remarkable society of peoples of mixed origins - Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Syrians, Libyans and others - that flourished 2,000 years ago in Faiyum. The Faiyum portraits were painted on wood in a pigmented wax technique called encaustic.

In the late first millennium AD, the arable area shrank, and settlements around the edge of the basin were abandoned. These sites include some of the best-preserved from the late Roman Empire, notably Karanis, and from the Byzantine and early Arab Periods, though recent redevelopment has greatly reduced the archaeological features.

Sometimes known as 'the garden of Egypt', technically el-Faiyum is an oasis. Separated from the River Nile by a narrow stretch of desert, this fertile basin of land has a large lake, Birket Qarun on its northern side which is fed by the Bahr Yusef, a tributary of the Nile. El-Faiyum is included in the Nile Valley sites on this website because it is easily accessible from Beni Suef to the south, or Cairo to the north.

The region is mostly an agricultural area, its fertility provided by a series of irrigation canals which are intricately spread across the depression to supplement the natural wells and springs of the oasis. A wide variety of crops can be seen, depending on the season - the main one being cotton, but there is also wheat, rice, tomatoes and a large selection of fruit and vegetables. Much of the cultivated land is covered by groves of palm trees, for every part of the palm is of use. The surplus water drains into the Wadi Rayyan where two new lakes have been created in the desert valley over recent years. Wadi Rayyan is also rapidly developing as a recreational area for Egyptians, with the shores of the southern lake boasting beaches, pleasure boats and waterfalls as well as good fishing and a large cafeteria area. The journey through the desert to reach the lakes is spectacular in the early morning.

Birket Qarun supports a small fishing industry and now also provides a developing tourist haven on its southern shore. Its beaches have become a popular picnic spot for Egyptians and the variety of birds and wildlife surrounding the lake attracts those visitors weary of the monuments. Lake Qarun was enlarged during 12th Dynasty and used for the pleasure of wealthy Egyptians, but was reduced in size during Graeco-Roman times to provide reclaimed land for new communities. Until the 20th century the lake still contained fresh water, but now the salt content has risen to the extent that only a few varieties of fish survive there.

Local crafts in the Faiyum include weaving, tapestry, embroidery and beadwork, though the area is perhaps best known for its baskets, which are sold in Faiyum City. These are made by local women and children from rice straw and palm leaves, forming many shapes and sizes with attractive designs in green, red or pink. On Tuesdays Faiyum City has a pottery market, to which potters bring their large round mud and straw pots to sell.

The region of el-Faiyum has a long history. Inhabited since prehistoric times it was known as 'Ta-she' (the southern lake) during the Old Kingdom. The shape of Birket Qarun (thought to be the ancient Lake Moeris) suggested a crocodile, and the region became sacred to the crocodile god Sobek (later Suthos, or Soknopaios). The fertile area was developed as a paradise for hunting and fishing during the Middle Kingdom and the 12th Dynasty pharaohs Senwosret I and II and Amenemhet III built their pyramids and other monuments there. The next development came during the Graeco-Roman Period when many new settlements and towns began to thrive. The area has provided a wealth of information about the later periods in the form of papyri and mummies as well as domestic and cult architecture.

El-Faiyum went into a decline at the end of the Roman Period. There was a large Coptic community - many Christian monasteries survived and the region did not come under Islamic rule until long after the rest of Egypt. It was not until the rule of Mohammed Ali in the 19th century that the oasis began to flourish once more, to the extent that a railway was brought to the area during the British rule in 1893.

The capital town of the region is Medinet el-Faiyum (Faiyum City), known in ancient times as 'Shedyt' or later, 'Crocodilonpolis', and from here the roads spread out like spokes of a wheel towards the north, west, and east, with the northern shore of Lake Qarun forming the northern border of the oasis before the desert escarpment. Many of the monuments are off the beaten track and a 4x4 vehicle will be a necessity for some visits to ancient sites on the edges of the desert. A guide who knows the area well is also recommended.

Sources:

Egyptian Monuments - Introduction to el-Faiyum

Wikipedia - Faiyum Oasis

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