Fayyum Basin
Coordinates: 29 ° 22 ′ 0 ″ N , 30 ° 47 ′ 0 ″ E
The Fayyum Basin , also Fayum , Fajum , Fajjum or Faijum ( Arabic الفيوم al-Fayyūm ; Coptic pa iom "the lake"), is an oasis-like basin in the governorate al-Fayyum in Egypt ( Africa ), to which the Qarun Sea connectsin the northwest. This oasis area was already known in ancient times ( Herodotus and others). It is also part of the scientifically important Fayyum fossil deposit , the most important areas of which are north and west of Lake Qarun. The fossils date from the end of the Eocene to the beginning of the Oligocene 40 to 30 million years ago.
geography
The governorate has an area of 1827 km². The population at the 2006 census was 2,512,792. The area data for the actual oasis basin vary between 1270 and 1700 km². 1000 of them are cultivated.
The basin, which is located in northeastern Egypt, southwest of Cairo and west of the Nile , is surrounded by hills and mountain ranges that are up to 353 m high at the edge of the basin in Gabal Katrīna ("Katharinenberg") , but rise even further in the hinterland. It is connected to the Nile valley via a valley in which the Bahr Yusuf (“Joseph's Canal”) runs.
While its south-eastern part is about 24 m above sea level at Fayyum , the area of the Fayyum basin drops to the northwest into a depression , an area up to 45 m below sea level in which the 230 km² large and drainless Qarun lake has formed .
economy
The Fayyum Basin is known as “Cairo's vegetable garden” and was a swamp area in predynastic times . In the Middle Kingdom , these swamps were drained under the kings Amenemhet II and Sesostris II in order to make the area usable for agriculture .
history
An early settlement of the Neolithic Fayum-A culture existed in the Fayyum basin from around 4500 BC. Chr.
Pharaoh Sesostris III. and his son Amenemhet III. (Reigns 1878 BC to 1814 BC) built the gigantic Joseph Canal , which connected the Nile with the swamps of the Fayyum basin. An ingenious system of dams, reservoirs and side channels diverted water from the Nile into the swamp area of the Fayyum and created the huge artificial Moeris Lake , which contained 50 billion cubic meters of water. The construction project in Fayyum gave the pharaoh the opportunity to regulate the Nile, prevent destructive floods and supply the land with valuable water in times of drought. It also made the marshland of the Fayyum Basin, which was surrounded by barren desert and teeming with crocodiles, the granary of Egypt. On the shores of the artificial lake, the new city of Schedet was built , which the Greeks called "Crocodilopolis", the city of crocodiles. It was ruled by the temple of the crocodile god Sobek , who was equated with the pharaoh.
In the Fayyum Basin there was also the labyrinth described by Herodotus and Strabo , the mortuary temple of Pharaoh Amenemhet III. from the 12th dynasty . He built the Hawara pyramid in the Hawara necropolis, which was preceded by the labyrinth. According to reports, it is said to have had more than 3000 (Herodotus) or more than 1500 (Strabo) rooms and, according to Herodotus, "the upper rooms exceeded the level of human work".
Ptolemy II had at the beginning of the 3rd century BC BC Greek veterans settle and thus initiated a successful economic development. Greek architects also created an artificial reservoir that provided enough water for a second harvest in spring. As a result, 40 new locations were created throughout the basin.
A large number of temples were also built. A few Coptic churches were added later . The Coptic Monastery of the Archangel Gabriel ( Deir el-Malak Ghobrial ), the oldest parts of which date from the 5th century, is the most famous and is rebuilt today.
places
There are numerous locations in the Fayyum Basin, including:
| city | Transcr. | Arabic | Population 1996 |
Population 2006 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fayyum | al-Fayyūm | الفيوم | 260.964 | 316.772 |
| Sennures | Sinnūris | سنورس | 68,425 | 82.134 |
| Ibschaway | Ibšawāy | إبشواى | 41,987 | 55.172 |
| Tamiya | Ṭāmiya | طامية | 38,453 | 48,682 |
| Itsa | Aṭsā | أطسا | 37.143 | 46,564 |
| Yusuf as-Siddiq | Yūsuf aṣ-Ṣiddīq | يوسف الصديق | ... | 15,272 |
| Abu Kisah | Abū Kisāh | أبو كساه | ... | ... |
literature
- Siegfried G. Richter : The Importance of the Fayoum for Coptic Studies. In: G. Gabra (ed.): Christianity and Monasticism in the Fayoum Oasis. Essays from the 2004 International Symposium of the Saint Mark Foundation and the Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society in Honor of Martin Krause. Cairo, New York, 2005, pp. 1-9.
- Terry G. Wilfong: Fayum, Graeco-Roman sites. In: Kathryn A. Bard (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Archeology of Ancient Egypt. Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-415-18589-0 , pp. 309-13.
- Robert J. Wenke: Fayum, Neolithic and Predynastic sites. In: Kathryn A. Bard (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Archeology of Ancient Egypt. Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-415-18589-0 , pp. 313-16.
Web links
- The Monastery of the Archangel Gabriel at Naqlun near the Fayoum by Jimmy Dunn. With pictures of the monastery of the Archangel Gabriel (English).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Yuval Noah Harari: Homo Deus: A Story of Tomorrow. Jerusalem 2017, ISBN 9783406704017 , p. 222.
- ↑ M. Schulz: Archeology: Pearl of the Mediterranean. Spiegel, 19/2006
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated December 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. World Gazetteer: al-Fayyūm
