Fayyum

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agreeable climate.

History

In prehistoric times the Fayyum Depression was probably still covered by the waters of an arm of the Nile dating from the Pliocene era which here formed an extensive lake and swamp area with luxuriant vegetation and abundant animal life. There must have been large numbers of crocodiles, which were worshiped as divinities from earliest historical times (Sobek, later known as Suchos; Crocodilopolis). The oldest traces of settlement date from the Neolithic and show aff inities with the early cultures of the Nile Valley. By the beginning of the historical period the lake had shrunk in size and may have extended in the north as far as the little desert Temple of Qasr el-Sagha, in the south to Biahmu and the area between Abshawai and Agamiyin. It was known in ancient Egyptian as Sha-resi (the "Southern Lake") and later as Mer-wer ("Great Lake"), known to Greek travelers and geographers as Lake Moeris. According to Herodotus it had a circumference of 3600 stadia (445mi) and covered an area of some 770 sq.mi i.e about three-fifths of the present area of the oasis. It has been estimated that in ancient times the surface of the lake lay 74ft/22.5m above the level of the Mediterranean (now 150ft/45m below). To the south of the lake was a narrow strip of cultivable land known as Ta-she ("Lake-Land"), with the chief town, Shedet (Crocodilopolis), which was protected against flooding by embankments. Several rulers of the 12th Dynasty established settlements at the east end of this area, and Amenemhet III in particular seems to have taken a special interest in it, undertaking large-scale reclamation of the swamps. Under the 18th Dynasty Amenophis lll's wife Tiy had her residence at El-Lahun.

In Ptolemaic times the Fayyum formed the Arsinoite nome, about which the Greek geographer Strabo (c. 63 B.C.-A.D. 20) has this to say:

"This nome is the most remarkable of all, on account both of its scenery and its fertility and cultivation; for it alone is planted with large and excellent olive trees which bear fine fruit, and the oil is good when the olives are carefully gathered. Those who fail in this respect may indeed obtain oil in abundance, but it has a bad smell. Elsewhere in Egypt the olive tree is never seen except in the gardens of Alexandria, where under favorable circumstances it yields olives but no oil. In this region, too, vines, corn and pulses, together with many other plants, flourish in no small abundance."

The Ptolemies, particularly Ptolemy II Philadelphus, reduced the size of the lake still further by the construction of dikes until it was about the dimensions of the present-day Lake Qarun. The draining of the swamps yielded new land on which Greek and Macedonian settlers were established; and the success of this program of land reclamation is demonstrated by the fertile fields and flourishing villages which have occupied the site of Lake Moeris over the past 2,000 years. According to Strabo "Lake Moeris is capable, thanks to its size and depth, of taking in the surplus water during the inundation without flooding the inhabited and cultivated area, and later, when the water subsides, of returning the excess through the same canal (i.e. the Bahr Yusuf), while retaining sufficient to irrigate the land. At both ends of the canal there are lock gates which enable the engineers to regulate the inflow and outflow of the water." It is not known how the distribution of the excess water was achieved. At present day El- Lahun there is still a lock gate. Herodotus's statement that Lake Moeris had been artificially created was an error and is contradicted by Strabo's account.

The Fayyum is now a governorate with an area of 692 sq.mi/1792 sq. km and a population of 1,300,000. Olives are still grown here, together with cotton, sugarcane, wheat, maize, rice, excellent fruit, bananas and citrus fruits. Small livestock and poultry (dovecots) are also reared. Characteristic features of the landscape are the large undershot water wheels. Further land reclamation projects are under way on the shores of Lake Qarun. Among the urgent problems connected with the development of the Fayyum is the control of bilharzia, a troublesome disease transmitted by flukes parasitic on water snails.