Faiyum ( ar, الفيوم ' , borrowed from cop, ̀Ⲫⲓⲟⲙ or Ⲫⲓⲱⲙ ' from egy, pꜣ ym "the Sea, Lake") is a city in

Middle Egypt Middle Egypt () is the section of land between Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta) and Upper Egypt, stretching upstream from Asyut in the south to Memphis in the north. At the time, Ancient Egypt was divided into Lower and Upper Egypt, though Middle ...

. Located southwest of

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

, in the

Faiyum Oasis The Faiyum Oasis ( ar, واحة الفيوم ''Waḥet El Fayyum'') is a depression or basin in the desert immediately to the west of the Nile, or just 62 miles south of Cairo in Egypt. The extent of the basin area is estimated at between 1,270 ...

, it is the capital of the modern

Faiyum Governorate Faiyum Governorate ( ar, محافظة الفيوم ) is one of the governorates of Egypt in the middle of the country. Its capital is the city of Faiyum, located about 81 mi (130 km) south west of Cairo. It has a population of 3,848,70 ...

. Originally called Shedet in Egyptian, the Greeks called it in grc-koi, Κροκοδειλόπολις, Krokodilópolis, and later grc-byzantine, Ἀρσινόη, Arsinoë. It is one of Egypt's oldest cities due to its strategic location.

Name and etymology

Originally founded by the ancient Egyptians as Shedet, its current name in English is also spelled as Fayum, Faiyum or Al Faiyūm. Faiyum was also previously officially named Madīnet Al Faiyūm (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

for ''The City of Faiyum''). The name Faiyum (and its spelling variations) may also refer to the

, although it is commonly used by Egyptians today to refer to the city. The modern name of the city comes from Coptic / ' (whence the proper name '), meaning ''the Sea'' or ''the Lake'', which in turn comes from late

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

''pꜣ-ym'' of the same meaning, a reference to the nearby

Lake Moeris Lake Moeris ( grc, Μοῖρις, genitive Μοίριδος) is an ancient lake in the northwest of the Faiyum Oasis, southwest of Cairo, Egypt. In prehistory, it was a freshwater lake, with an area estimated to vary between and . It persists ...

; the extinct elephant ancestor ''

Phiomia ''Phiomia'' is an extinct genus of basal proboscid that lived in what is now Northern Africa during the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene some 37–30 million years ago.Strauss, BPrehistoric Elephant Pictures and Profiles/ref> "''Phiomia serridens''" ...

'' was named after it.

Ancient history

Archaeological evidence has found occupations around the Fayum dating back to at least the

Epipalaeolithic In archaeology, the Epipalaeolithic or Epipaleolithic (sometimes Epi-paleolithic etc.) is a period occurring between the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic during the Stone Age. Mesolithic also falls between these two periods, and the two are some ...

. Middle

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

occupations of the area are most widely studied on the north shore of

, where

Gertrude Caton Thompson Gertrude Caton Thompson, (1 February 1888 – 18 April 1985) was an English archaeologist at a time when participation by women in the discipline was uncommon. Much of her archaeological work was conducted in Egypt. However, she also worked on ...

and

Elinor Wight Gardner Elinor Wight Gardner (24 September 1892, in Birmingham – 1980), a geology lecturer at Bedford College, London and research fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, is best known for her field surveys with Gertrude Caton–Thompson of the Kharga Oasis w ...

did a number of excavations of Epipalaeolithic and

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

sites, as well as a general survey of the area. Recently the area has been further investigated by a team from the UCLA/RUG/UOA Fayum Project. According to Roger S. Bagnall habitation began in the fifth millennium BC and a settlement was established by the

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...

(c. 2686–2181 BC) called Shedet (Medinet el-Fayyum). It was the most significant centre of the cult of the crocodile god

Sobek Sobek (also called Sebek or Sobki, cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲕ, Souk) was an ancient Egyptian deity with a complex and elastic history and nature. He is associated with the Nile crocodile or the West African crocodile and is represented either in its f ...

(borrowed from the

Demotic Demotic may refer to: * Demotic Greek, the modern vernacular form of the Greek language * Demotic (Egyptian), an ancient Egyptian script and version of the language * Chữ Nôm, the demotic script for writing Vietnamese See also * * Demos (disa ...

pronunciation as grc-koi, Σοῦχος ''Soûkhos'', and then into

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

as ''Suchus''). In consequence, the Greeks called it "Crocodile City" ( grc-koi, Κροκοδειλόπολις ''Krokodeilópolis''), which was borrowed into Latin as ''Crocodīlopolis''. The city worshipped a tamed sacred crocodile called, in Koine, ''

Petsuchos Sobek (also called Sebek or Sobki, cop, Ⲥⲟⲩⲕ, Souk) was an ancient Egyptian deity with a complex and elastic history and nature. He is associated with the Nile crocodile or the West African crocodile and is represented either in its f ...

'', "the Son of Soukhos", that was adorned with gold and gem pendants. The Petsoukhos lived in a special temple pond and was fed by the priests with food provided by visitors. When Petsuchos died, it was replaced by another. El Faiyum map

Under the Ptolemaic Kingdom, the city was for a while called ''Ptolemais Euergétis'' ( grc-koi, Πτολεμαῒς Εὐεργέτις). Ptolemy II Philadelphus (309–246 BC) renamed the city ''Arsinoë'' and the whole nome after the name of his sister-wife

Arsinoe II Arsinoë II ( grc-koi, Ἀρσινόη, 316 BC – unknown date between July 270 and 260 BC) was a Ptolemaic queen and co-regent of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of ancient Egypt. She was given the Egyptian title "King of Upper and Lower Egypt", makin ...

(316–270 or 268), who was deified after her death as part of the

Ptolemaic cult of Alexander the Great The Ptolemaic cult of Alexander the Great was an imperial cult in ancient Egypt in the Hellenistic period (323–31 BC), promoted by the Ptolemaic dynasty. The core of the cult was the worship of the deified conqueror-king Alexander the Great, wh ...

, the official religion of the kingdom. Ptolemy II Philadelphus also established a town at the edge of Faiyum named ''Philadelphia''. It was laid out in a regular grid plan to resemble a typical Greek city, with private dwellings, palaces, baths and a theatre. Under the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

, Arsinoë became part of the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Arcadia Aegypti Arcadia or Arcadia Aegypti was a Late Roman province in northern Egypt. It was named for one of the reigning '' Augusti'' of the Roman Empire, Arcadius () of the Theodosian dynasty when it was created in the late 4th century. Its capital was Oxy ...

. To distinguish it from other cities of the same name, it was called "Arsinoë in Arcadia". With the arrival of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, Arsinoë became the seat of a

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

, a suffragan of Oxyrhynchus, the capital of the province and the

metropolitan see Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a ...

Michel Le Quien Michel Le Quien (8 October 1661, Boulogne-sur-Mer – 12 March 1733, Paris) was a French historian and theologian. He studied at Plessis College, Paris, and at twenty entered the Dominican convent in Faubourg Saint-Germain, where he made his pr ...

gives the names of several bishops of Arsinoë, nearly all of them associated with one

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

or another. The

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, considering Arsinoë in Arcadia to be no longer a residential bishopric, lists it as a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbis ...

. Fayyum was the seat of

Shahralanyozan Shahralanyozan was an Iranian peoples, Iranian officer who served as the military governor of Sasanian Egypt during the 620s. Name The Middle Persian word ''Shahrālānyōzān'' is actually an honorific title which, according to Saeid Jalalipour, ...

, governor of the

Sasanian Egypt Sasanian Egypt (known in Middle Persian sources as ''Agiptus'') refers to the brief rule of Egypt and parts of Libya by the Sasanian Empire, following the Sasanian conquest of Egypt. It lasted from 618 to 628, until the Sasanian general Shahrbar ...

(619–629). The 10th-century Bible exegete,

Saadia Gaon Saʻadiah ben Yosef Gaon ( ar, سعيد بن يوسف الفيومي ''Saʻīd bin Yūsuf al-Fayyūmi''; he, סַעֲדְיָה בֶּן יוֹסֵף אַלְפַיּוּמִי גָּאוֹן ''Saʿăḏyāh ben Yōsēf al-Fayyūmī Gāʾōn''; ...

, thought ''el-Fayyum'' to have actually been the biblical city of

Pithom Pithom ( Ancient Egyptian: ; Hebrew: ; Ancient Greek: or ) was an ancient city of Egypt. Multiple references in ancient Greek, Roman, and Hebrew Bible sources exist for this city, but its exact location remains somewhat uncertain. A number o ...

, mentioned in Exodus 1:11. Around 1245, the region became the subject of the most detailed government survey to survive from the medieval Arab world, conducted by Abū ‘Amr ‘Uthman Ibn al-Nābulusī.

Faiyum mummy portraits

Faiyum is the source of some famous

death mask A death mask is a likeness (typically in wax or plaster cast) of a person's face after their death, usually made by taking a cast or impression from the corpse. Death masks may be mementos of the dead, or be used for creation of portraits. It ...

s or

mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fu ...

portraits painted during the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

occupation of the area. The Egyptians continued their practice of burying their dead, despite the Roman preference for

cremation Cremation is a method of final disposition of a dead body through burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India and Nepal, cremation on an open-air pyre is ...

. While under the control of the Roman Empire, Egyptian death masks were painted on wood in a pigmented

wax Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to giv ...

technique called encaustic—the Faiyum mummy portraits represent this technique. While previously believed to represent Greek settlers in Egypt, modern studies conclude that the Faiyum portraits instead represent mostly native Egyptians, reflecting the complex synthesis of the predominant Egyptian culture and that of the elite Greek minority in the city.Victor J. Katz (1998). ''A History of Mathematics: An Introduction'', p. 184. Addison Wesley, : "''But what we really want to know is to what extent the Alexandrian mathematicians of the period from the first to the fifth centuries C.E. were Greek. Certainly, all of them wrote in Greek and were part of the Greek intellectual community of Alexandria. And most modern studies conclude that the Greek community coexisted ..So should we assume that

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

and Diophantus, Pappus and

Hypatia Hypatia, Koine pronunciation (born 350–370; died 415 AD) was a neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, then part of the Eastern Roman Empire. She was a prominent thinker in Alexandria where ...

were ethnically Greek, that their ancestors had come from Greece at some point in the past but had remained effectively isolated from the Egyptians? It is, of course, impossible to answer this question definitively. But research in papyri dating from the early centuries of the common era demonstrates that a significant amount of intermarriage took place between the Greek and Egyptian communities ..And it is known that Greek marriage contracts increasingly came to resemble Egyptian ones. In addition, even from the founding of Alexandria, small numbers of Egyptians were admitted to the privileged classes in the city to fulfil numerous civic roles. Of course, it was essential in such cases for the Egyptians to become "Hellenized," to adopt Greek habits and the Greek language. Given that the Alexandrian mathematicians mentioned here were active several hundred years after the founding of the city, it would seem at least equally possible that they were ethnically Egyptian as that they remained ethnically Greek. In any case, it is unreasonable to portray them with purely European features when no physical descriptions exist.''"

''The Zenon Papyri''

The construction of the settlement of ''Philadelphia'' under Ptolemy II Philadelphus was recorded in detail by a 3rd-century BC Greek public official named

Zeno Zeno ( grc, Ζήνων) may refer to: People * Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the name Philosophers * Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes * Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 BC), ...

(or Zenon, el, Ζήνων). Zeno, a native of

Kaunos Kaunos (Carian: ''Kbid'';. Translator Chris Markham. Lycian: ''Khbide''; Ancient Greek: ; la, Caunus) was a city of ancient Caria and in Anatolia, a few kilometres west of the modern town of Dalyan, Muğla Province, Turkey. The Calbys ...

in lower

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, came to Faiyum to work as private secretary to Apollonius, the finance minister to Ptolemy II Philadelphus (and later to

Ptolemy III Euergetes , predecessor = Ptolemy II , successor = Ptolemy IV , nebty = ''ḳn nḏtj-nṯrw jnb-mnḫ-n-tꜢmrj'Qen nedjtinetjeru inebmenekhentamery''The brave one who has protected the gods, a potent wall for The Beloved Land , nebty_hiero ...

). During his employment, Zeno wrote detailed descriptions of the construction of theatres, gymnasiums, palaces and baths in the 250s and 240s BC, as well as making copious written records of various legal and financial transactions between citizens. During the winter of 1914–1915, a cache of over 2,000

papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a ...

documents was uncovered by Egyptian agricultural labourers who were digging for

sebakh Sebakh ( ar, سباخ, sabākh, less commonly transliterated as ''sebbakh'') is an Arabic word that translates to "fertilizer". In English, the term is primarily used to describe decomposed mudbricks from archaeological sites, which is an organic m ...

near Kôm el-Kharaba el-Kebir. Upon examination by

Egyptology Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious p ...

scholars, these documents were found to be records written by Zeno in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

. These papyri, now referred to as the ''Zenon Archive'' or the ''Zenon Papyri'', have provided historians with a detailed record of 3rd-century BC Philadelphia society and economy. The discovery site was identified as the former location of ancient Philadelphia. Today, the precise location of the town is unknown, although archaeologists have identified two sites in north-east Faiyum as the possible location for Philadelphia.

Modern city

Jean-Léon Gérôme, ''View of Medinet El-Fayoum'', c. 1868-1870 Faiyum has several large bazaars,

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

s, baths and a much-frequented weekly market. The canal called

Bahr Yussef The Bahr Yussef ( ar, بحر يوسف; "the waterway of Joseph") is a canal which connects the Nile River with Fayyum in Egypt. In ancient times it was called Tomis () by the Greeks which was derived from its Egyptian name ''Tm.t'' "ending cana ...

runs through the city, its banks lined with houses. There are two bridges over the river: one of three arches, which carries the main street and bazaar, and one of two arches, over which is built the

Qaitbay Sultan Abu Al-Nasr Sayf ad-Din Al-Ashraf Qaitbay ( ar, السلطان أبو النصر سيف الدين الأشرف قايتباي) (c. 1416/14187 August 1496) was the eighteenth Burji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt from 872 to 901 A.H. (1468–14 ...

mosque, that was a gift from his wife to honor the Mamluk Sultan in Fayoum. Mounds north of the city mark the site of Arsinoe, known to the

ancient Greeks Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

as Crocodilopolis, where in ancient times the sacred crocodile kept in

was worshipped. The center of the city is on the canal, with four waterwheels that were adopted by the governorate of Fayoum as its symbol; their chariots and bazaars are easy to spot. The city is home of the football club

Misr Lel Makkasa SC Misr lel-Makkasa Sporting Club ( ar, نادي مصر للمقاصة الرياضي), simply known as Makkassa, is an Egyptian sports club based in Faiyum, Egypt. The club is related to Misr lel-Makkasa Company (Misr for Central Clearing, Deposito ...

, that play in the Egyptian Premier League.

Main sights

* Hanging Mosque, built when the Ottomans ruled Egypt by prince'' Marawan bin Hatem'' *

Hawara Hawara is an archaeological site of Ancient Egypt, south of the site of Crocodilopolis ('Arsinoë', also known as 'Medinet al-Faiyum') at the entrance to the depression of the Fayyum oasis. It is the site of a pyramid built by the Pharaoh Amene ...

, archeological site from the city *

Lahun El Lahun ( ar, اللاهون ''El Lāhūn,'' alt. Illahun, Lahun, or Kahun (the latter being a neologism coined by archaeologist William Matthew Flinders Petrie) is a workmen's village in Faiyum, Egypt. El Lahun is associated with the Pyramid o ...

Pyramids, outside the city * Qaitbay Mosque, in the city, and was built by the wife of the

Mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...

Sultan

* Qasr Qarun, from the city * Wadi Elrayan or Wadi Rayan, the largest waterfalls in Egypt, around from the city * Wadi Al-Hitan or Valley of whales, a paleontological site in the Al Fayyum Governorate, some southwest of Cairo. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Climate

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert (BWh). The highest record temperatures was on June 13, 1965, and the lowest record temperature was on January 8, 1966.

Notable people

People from Faiyum may be known as al-Fayyumi: * Tefta Tashko-Koço (1910-1947), well known Albanian singer was born in Faiyum, where her family lived at that time. *

(882/892-942), the influential Jewish teacher of the early 10th century, was originally from Faiyum, and often called al-Fayyumi. *

Youssef Wahbi Youssef Abdallah Wahbi Qotb ( ar, يوسف عبد الله هديب وهبي قطب) (14 July 1902 – 17 October 1982) was an Egyptian stage and film actor and director, a leading star of the 1930s and 1940s and one of the most prominent ...

(1898-1982), a notable Egyptian actor, well known for his influence on the development of Egyptian cinema and theater. * Mohamed Ihab (b. 1989), Egypt's most decorated weightlifter. He is a World Champion competing in the 77 kg category until 2018 and currently in the 81 kg class. He will be representing Egypt in the Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo.

Gallery

File:QasrQarunFacade.jpg, Qarun Palace File:UmmAtlTemple1.jpg, Temple File:Whale skeleton 2.jpg, A whale skeleton lies in the sand at Wadi Al-Hitan (Arabic: وادي الحيتان, "Whales Valley") near the city of Faiyum

References

External links

* *
Fayum towns and their papyri, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt
at the Internet Archive *. 148 pages, public domain.
Fayoum Photo Gallery
{{Authority control Governorate capitals in Egypt Populated places established in the 4th millennium BC Populated places in Faiyum Governorate Cities in Egypt 4th-millennium BC establishments