Lake Mariout ( ', , also spelled Maryut or Mariut), is a

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

lake in northern

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

near the city of

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

. The lake area covered and had a navigable canal at the beginning of the 20th century, but at the beginning of the 21st century, it covers only about .

Etymology

The name of Lake Mariout derives from the Hellenized name of Mareotis () or Marea, by which it was known in the

Ptolemaic Period The Ptolemaic Kingdom (; , ) or Ptolemaic Empire was an ancient Greek polity based in Egypt during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 305 BC by the Macedonian Greek general Ptolemy I Soter, a companion of Alexander the Great, and ruled ...

Overview

In antiquity, the lake was much larger than it is now, extending further to the south and west and occupying around . It had no mouth connecting it to the Mediterranean, being fed with

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

water via a number of canals. By the twelfth century the lake had dwindled to a collection of

salt lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per liter). I ...

s and salt flats and it had dried up by the

Late Middle Ages The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...

. Until the 18th century the lake was fresh water, though much of it would dry up annually during the period shortly before the Nile flooded it again. A storm in 1770 breached the sea wall at

Abu Qir Abu Qir (, ''Abu Qīr'', or , ), formerly also spelled Abukir or Aboukir, is a town on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, near the ruins of ancient Canopus and northeast of Alexandria by rail. It is located on Abu Qir Peninsula, with Abu Qir ...

, creating a seawater lake known as Lake Abu Qir. The salt waters were kept separate from Lake Mariout by the canal that allowed fresh water to travel from the Nile to

. As part of the Siege of Alexandria, on 13 March 1801, the British cut the canal, allowing a great rush of sea water from Lake Abu Qir into Lake Mariout. Lake Abu Qir ceased to exist, and Lake Mariout became brackish instead of fresh. The salt-water flood also destroyed 150 villages while refilling Lake Mariout so that it suddenly regained its ancient area and became too shallow for navigation. Alexandria's access to the Nile was lost, necessitating the opening of the

Mahmoudiyah Canal Maḥmūdiyya Canal ( ''Agathos Daimon'' or ''Megas potamos'') is a sub-canal from the Nile River which starts at the Nile-port of Mahmoudia and goes through Alexandria to the Mediterranean Sea. It was built to supply Alexandria with food and f ...

from Alexandria to the Nile in 1820. Lake Mariout is separated from the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

by the narrow

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

on which the city of

was built. The lake shore is home to fisheries and

saltworks A saltern is an area or installation for making salt. Salterns include modern salt-making works (saltworks), as well as hypersaline waters that usually contain high concentrations of halophilic microorganisms, primarily haloarchaea but also oth ...

. As far back as the early 1900s, it was documented that salt was being refined from the western part of the lake. According to some records, a homonymous

nome Nome may refer to: Country subdivision * Nome (Egypt), an administrative division within ancient Egypt * Nome (Greece), the administrative division immediately below the ''peripheries of Greece'' (, pl. ) Places United States * Nome, Alaska ...

was located on the shores of this lake.

Abusir

The seaside town of Abusir, known in the Graeco-Roman period as

Taposiris Magna Taposiris Magna, also known as Tapusir Magna, is a city established by Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus between 280 and 270 BC. The name means "great tomb of Osiris", which Plutarch identifies with an Egyptian temple in the city. After Alexander t ...

, lies on the shore of Lake Mariout. Ruins of an ancient temple and an ancient replica of the

Lighthouse of Alexandria The Lighthouse of Alexandria, sometimes called the Pharos of Alexandria, was a lighthouse built by the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (280–247 BC). It has been estimated to have been at least ...

are to be seen there. As of 2009, it was also suspected to be the burial place of

Cleopatra VII Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

and

Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman people, Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the Crisis of the Roman Republic, transformation of the Roman Republic ...

Philosophical and Ecclesiastical history

Therapeutae

The De Vita Contemplativa, a description of a society of ascetics written in the first century CE, says that the community of cenobitic monastics called the

Therapeutae The Therapeutae were a religious sect which existed in Alexandria and other parts of the ancient Greek world. The primary source concerning the Therapeutae is the ''De vita contemplativa'' ("The Contemplative Life"), traditionally ascribed to the ...

were widely distributed in the ancient world, but that "their country" was "beyond the Maereotic lake". Some interpret the Therapeutae as early Christian monks.

Christian church

There was a bishopric of Mareotes, in the

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

Aegyptus Primus Roman Egypt was an imperial province of the Roman Empire from 30 BC to AD 642. The province encompassed most of modern-day Egypt except for the Sinai Peninsula, Sinai. It was bordered by the provinces of Crete and Cyrenaica to the west ...

, which was a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

of the Metropolitan Archbishop of the

Patriarchate of Alexandria The Patriarch of Alexandria is the archbishop of Alexandria, Egypt. Historically, this office has included the designation "pope" (etymologically "Father", like "Abbot"). The Alexandrian episcopate was revered as one of the three major episc ...

. It faded like most of those in

Roman Egypt Roman Egypt was an imperial province of the Roman Empire from 30 BC to AD 642. The province encompassed most of modern-day Egypt except for the Sinai. It was bordered by the provinces of Crete and Cyrenaica to the west and Judaea, ...

, possibly at the advent of Islam. Two bishops are historically documented: * Ischiras (mentioned circa 335) * Pistos (mentioned in 337) The diocese was nominally restored in 1933 as the

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

ric of Mareotes. Although technically a Latin titular bishopric, it has had several

Eastern Catholic The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of ...

incumbents, notably those of Egypt's native

Coptic Catholic Church The Coptic Catholic Church (), also known as the Coptic Catholic Church of Alexandria, is an Eastern Catholic particular church in full communion with the Catholic Church. Along with the Ethiopian Catholic Church and Eritrean Catholic Church ...

''sui iuris'' (

Alexandrian Rite The Alexandrian rites are a collection of ritual families and uses of Christian liturgy employed by three Oriental Orthodox churches (the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and the Ethiopian Orthod ...

). It has had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting episcopal (lowest) rank: * Antonios Aziz Mina (21 December 2002 – 3 January 2006) as Bishop of Curia of the

Coptic Catholic Patriarchate of Alexandria The Coptic Catholic Patriarchate of Alexandria is the sole Metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metropolitan see of the Coptic Catholic Church, a ''sui iuris'' Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites, particular church in full communion ...

(Egypt) ( 9 December 200221 December 2002 – 3 January 2006), followed by Eparch (Bishop) of Guizeh of the Copts (Egypt) (3 January 2006 – 23 January 2017) * Botros Fahim Awad Hanna (6 September 2006 – 8 April 2013) of the

as Bishop of Curia of Egypt of the Copts ( 1 August 20066 September 2006 – 8 April 2013), followed by Eparch (Bishop) of Minya of the Copts (Egypt) ( 5 March 20138 April 2013 – ...) * Cesar Essayan,

Order of Friars Minor Conventual The Order of Friars Minor Conventual (O.F.M. Conv.) is a male religious fraternity in the Catholic Church and a branch of the Franciscan Order. Conventual Franciscan Friars are identified by the affix O.F.M. Conv. after their names. They are ...

(O.F.M. Conv.) (2 August 2016 – ...) as Apostolic Vicar of Beirut (

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

Ancient findings

In 2015 a

stele A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

, resembling the

Rosetta Stone The Rosetta Stone is a stele of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a Rosetta Stone decree, decree issued in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty of ancient Egypt, Egypt, on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle texts ...

and dating back some 2200 years, was discovered in the Taposiris Magna Temple site at Lake Mariout. Measuring , its message commemorates two Ptolemaic pharaohs and Queen Consort

Cleopatra I Syra Cleopatra Thea Epiphanes Syra (; c. 204 – 176 BC), well known as Cleopatra I or Cleopatra Syra, was a princess of the Seleucid Empire, Queen of Ptolemaic Egypt by marriage to Ptolemy V of Egypt from 193 BC, and regent of Egypt during the ...

. There are ancient tombs located on the shores of the lake.

Fish species

The fish species

Nile perch The Nile perch (''Lates niloticus''), also known as the African snook, Goliath perch, African barramundi, Goliath barramundi, Giant lates or the Victoria perch, is a species of freshwater fish in family Latidae of order Perciformes. It is wides ...

lives in the lake although its principal habitat is fresh water, and the lake contains some salt. In 1939, a small lake, called the Nozha Hydrodrome was "isolated from Lake Mariout" and this allowed for the Nile perch to flourish there.

In literature

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...

refers to the lake as the Mareotic Lake in his poem "

Under Ben Bulben "Under Ben Bulben" is a poem written by Irish poet W. B. Yeats. Composition It is believed to be one of the last poems he wrote, being drafted when he was 73, in August 1938 when his health was already poor (he died in January 1939). Publicat ...

". *

Lawrence Durrell Lawrence George Durrell (; 27 February 1912 – 7 November 1990) was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer. He was the eldest brother of naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell. Born in India to British colonial pa ...

writes about the lake using its ancient name Lake Mareotis in his tetralogy of novels ''

The Alexandria Quartet ''The Alexandria Quartet'' is a tetralogy of novels by British writer Lawrence Durrell, published between 1957 and 1960. A critical and commercial success, the first three books present three perspectives on a single set of events and characters ...

'', where it is the setting for a duck shoot. *

Jasper Maskelyne Jasper Maskelyne (29 September 1902 – 15 March 1973) was a British stage magician in the 1930s and 1940s. He was one of an established family of stage magicians, the son of Nevil Maskelyne and a grandson of John Nevil Maskelyne. He is most re ...

claimed in ''Magic: Top Secret'' (1949) to be involved in the construction of a decoy site next to the lake to draw Axis bombers away from attacking Alexandria Harbour during

World War Two World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilisi ...

References

Bibliography

* Pius Bonifacius Gams, ''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae'', Leipzig 1931, p. 460 * Michel Lequien, ''Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus'', Paris 1740, vol. II, coll. 529-530 * Klaas A. Worp, ''A Checklist of Bishops in Byzantine Egypt (A.D. 325 - c. 750)'', in ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'' 100 (1994) 283-318

External links

{{Commons category
GCatholic (Titular) Bishopric of Mareotes
Mariout, Lake Nile Nile Delta