Faiyum

Fayum Egypt

Faiyum
Faiyum Location in Egypt
Coordinates: 29°18′30″N 30°50′39″E / 29.308374°N 30.844105°E / 29.308374; 30.844105Coordinates: 29°18′30″N 30°50′39″E / 29.308374°N 30.844105°E / 29.308374; 30.844105
Country	Egypt
Governorate	Faiyum
Elevation	23 m (75 ft)
Population (2012)
• Total	349,883
Time zone	EST (UTC+2)

Faiyum (Egyptian Arabic: الفيوم el-Fayyūm  pronounced [elfæjˈjuːm]; Coptic:  ̀Ⲫⲓⲟⲙ Phiom<span style=margin-left:1px">) is a city in Middle Egypt. Located 100 kilometres (62 miles) southwest of Cairo, it is the capital of the modern Faiyum Governorate. The town occupies part of the ancient site of Crocodilopolis. Founded in around 4000 BC, it is the oldest city in Egypt and one of the oldest cities in Africa.

Name and etymology

pA-y-m in hieroglyphs

Its name in English is also spelled as Fayum, Fayoum, Al Fayyum or El Faiyūm. Faiyum was previously officially named Madīnet el Faiyūm (Arabic for The City of Faiyum). The name Faiyum (and its spelling variations) may also refer to the Faiyum Oasis, although it is commonly used by Egyptians today to refer to the city.^[1][2]

The modern name of the city comes from Coptic  ̀Ⲫⲓⲟⲙ /Ⲡⲉⲓⲟⲙ efiom/peiom (whence the proper name Ⲡⲁⲓⲟⲙ payom), meaning the Sea or the Lake, which in turn comes from late Egyptian pA y-m of the same meaning, a reference to the nearby Lake Moeris.

Climate

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert (BWh).

The highest record temperatures was 46 °C (115 °F) on June 13, 1965 and the lowest record temperature was 2 °C (36 °F) on January 8, 1966.^[3]

Ancient city

The history recorded a special ancient civilization which grow up along the lake banks, the called it fayoum first and second civilization before history. There are many fossils of animals such as elephants, monkeys, whales and extinct vertebrates such as dinosaur Fayoum «Baralitetan» in Mount tarry north of Lake Qarun.

Qarun Palace

1

Pharaonic Fayoum

Ahnasia ancient capital of Fayoum . It was part of the Fayoum province twenty provinces of Upper Egypt. As increased area became the « shedt» means reclaimed land as it was named « Barr Sobek » means house alligator to the presence of crocodiles in Lake Fayoum because the god Sobek, any crocodile, was worshiped in Fayoum In the era of the Twelfth Dynasty from 1891 until 1778 BC. AD . See also

Since 3200 years BC . M. capital was Ahnasia where King Menes work bund in front of slot Agon stone above the bottom of the Sea of Joseph. The kings of the Third Dynasty get the stones from the mountain " el-qatrani" to use in paving the Temple of the Great Pyramid in 2600 BC. M. At the beginning of the dynastic era featured some of the villages east of the low where the inhabitants are human shores of Lake Morris and work in agriculture and fishing., And when increased space reclaimed by becoming name ( Bur Sobek ) Any alligator house to the large presence of crocodiles logic

Modern city

Faiyum has several large bazaars, mosques,^[5] baths and a much-frequented weekly market. The canal called Bahr Yussef 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 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 as Crocodilopolis, where in ancient times the sacred crocodile kept in Lake Moeris was worshipped.^[6] The center of the city is on the canal, with the four waterwheels, that are adopted by the governorate of Fayoum as its national symbol, their chariots and bazaars are easy to spot.

Faiyum mummy portraits

Portrait of a man, ca. 125-150 AD. Encaustic on wood; 37 cm × 20 cm (15 in × 8 in)

Faiyum is the source of some famous death masks or mummy portraits painted during the Roman occupation of the area. The Egyptians continued their practice of burying their dead, despite the Roman preference for cremation. While under the control of the Roman Empire, Egyptian death masks were painted on wood in a pigmented wax technique called encaustic—the Faiyum mummy portraits represent this technique.^[7] While commonly believed to represent Greek settlers in Egypt, the Faiyum portraits instead reflect the complex synthesis of the predominant Egyptian culture and that of the elite Greek minority in the city.

Famous Sites

• Hanging Mosque, built under the Ottoman Rule over Egypt
• Hawara, archeological site 27 km (17 mi) from the city
• Lahun Pyramids, 4 km (2 mi) outside the city
• Qaitbay Mosque, in the city, and was built by the wife of the Mamluk Sultan Qaitbay
• Qasr Qarun, 44 km (27 mi) from the city
• Wadi Elrayan or Wadi Rayan or the largest waterfalls in Egypt, around 50 km (31 mi) from the city
• Wadi Al-HitanValley of whales, {{is a paleontological site in the Al Fayyum Governorate of Egypt, some southwest of Cairo. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site}}

Caption The valley

Notable people

• Tefta Tashko-Koço, well known Albanian singer was born in Faiyum, where her family lived at that time.
• Saadia Gaon, the influential Jewish teacher of the early 10th century, was originally from Faiyum, and often called al-Fayyumi.
• Sobek, Egyptian crocodile god.

See also

• Bahr Yussef
• Book of the Faiyum
• Crocodilopolis
• Fayum alphabet
• Faiyum Governorate
• Faiyum mummy portraits
• Lake Moeris
• Phiomia (an extinct relative of the elephant, named after Faiyum)
• Nash Papyrus
• Roman Egypt
• Wadi Elrayan

References

• The Hydraulics of Open Channel Flow: An Intrpenoduction
• Ebraam Samir "lives in fayoum"

External links

Wikinews has related news: 30 brightly coloured mummies discovered in Egyptian necropolis

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Faiyum.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Faiyum.

• "Photo Gallery: Water Issues in Fayoum Villages". 
• See images gallery for Fayoum
• See images gallery for Nazlah village in Fayoum

• Falling Rain Genomics, Inc. "Geographical information on Al Fayyum, Egypt". Retrieved 2011-03-22. 
• P.Fayum = Fayum towns and their papyri, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt at the Internet Archive
• Vincent L. Morgan and Spencer G. Lucas (2002). "Notes From Diary––Fayum Trip, 1907" (PDF). Bulletin 22. Albuquerque: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. 148 pages, public domain. ISSN 1524-4156. 

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