Fayyum

The Fayyum

Named after the Coptic word phiom or pa – yom ,meaning lake or sea, the triangular depression of the Fayoum looks like a delta .

Near to Cairo,  and easily accessible along several well paved highways, the fayoum can be explored in a series of pleasant day trips and offers a wide variety of activities ranging from boating , swimming, and fishing, to visiting antiquities, bird watching, and looking at fossils .

Although a visit to the Fayyum is usually confined to one day and includes the pyramids of Hawarah and al-Lahun, it is well worth extending the tour to include the ancient 12 Dyn., Ptolemaic and Roman towns surrounding the oasis.

The Fayyum is now heavily cultivated and within the last 80 years many sites, originally in the desert, have become surrounded by cultivation. After 2000 years of recession the water level of Lake Qarun is again rising, probably because of the stability of the level of the Nile since the construction of the High Dam at Aswan. This has caused the submergence of many fields and houses and the lakeside road has had to be raised considerably and rebuilt.

Fayoum Today

Today, the Fayoum is still a prosperous, growing province . As in the past, agriculture is its main industry .Produce  from the Fayoum has a special status on the Egyptian market. The tomatoes always seem to be bigger orange sweeter, ducks and more tender .

Coptic monasteries , abandoned for centuries , have been revitalized and restored .In many of them, where once a single monk lived amid the ruins, full religious communities are creating important centers once again. Leisure toursm is on the increase around the lake and historical tourism at the ancient sites has grown in the past years.

The Fayoum has five major population centers with five cities, 163 villages, and 1620 hamlets .Over 1989000 people live here 51% of which are men .Over 340000 feddans are under cultivation .

Today tourism boasts several hotels .there are many schools of higher education ,many hospitals .

Things to see in Karanis:

The two temples in Karanis were dedicated to forms of the crocodile god.

Living crocodiles were kept in the sacred lakes of these temples and were fed grain, meat, and wine mixed with milk and honey. They participated in ceremonies and were mummified after death.

The Northern Temple

This temple was cleared in 1925. In limestone, it has two pylons and consists of three rooms. In an outer court several cult objects were found, including a headless female deity, a hawk-headed crocodile and a limestone altar with a bearded god on each side. This court leads into an inner court and a sanctuary with a large stone altar. An inner room approached from the W was probably used for oracular purposes.

The Southern Temple

Located in the southern part of the ancient town, the limestone Temple of Pnepheros and Petesouchos is the lager of two temples found on the site.

It was dedicated to two local crocodile gods, Pnepheros and Petesouchus.

There are some inscriptions of the reigns of Nero, Claudius and Vespasiun. Around the temples are remains of the Town with a well preserved Bath-house,

 9-The Obelisk

Moved from its former site in the village of Abgig, the red granite obelisk created in honor of Senusert the first of the Twelfth Dynasty now stands at the northern entrance to Medinet Fayoum .

10-Church of Abu 'a1-Saylayn (St. Mercurius), containing the tomb of Anba Abram, a popular Coptic saint.

11-Deir al-'Adhra (Monastery of the Virgin)

 to the N can be recognised by its domes. It was founded probably by Bishop Butrus (Peter) of the Fayyum in the 12C or the patriarch Cyril III in the 13C, but it has been unoccupied since the 18C. The old Church oi al-'Adhra is in the SE of the courtyard; inside are three haykals, to the Virgin (centre), St. Anthony (N) and St. Michael (S).

12-the new Church of Abu '1-Saylayn (St. Mercurius),

It contains the tomb of Anba Abram, a popular Coptic saint

13- Deir al-Malak Ghubrayal (Monastery of the Angel Gabriel) can be seen on the skyline (4km). It is one of the earliest monasteries in the Fayyum having been built in the 7th or 8C. Enclosed within a wall, the court is reached through a gate by the lodgings of the priest and his family. The church is ancient and reuses earlier material including Corinthian columns from some earlier temple.