* Most of the specialists who have latterly investigated the Fayûm have greatly exaggerated the extent of the Birket- Kerûn in historic times. Prof. Petrie states that it covered the whole of the present province throughout the time of the Memphite kings, and that it was not until the reign of Amenemhâît I. that even a very small portion was drained. Major Brown adopts this theory, and considers that it was under Amenemhâît III. that the great lake of the Fayûm was transformed into a kind of artificial reservoir, which was the Mceris of Herodotus. The city of Shodû, Shadû, Shadît-- the capital of the Fayûm--and its god Sovkû are mentioned even in the Pyramid texts: and the eastern district of the Fayûm is named in the inscription of Amten, under the IIIrd dynasty. [Illustration: 297.jpg MAP, THE FAYUM] In years when the inundation was excessive, the surplus waters were discharged into the lake; when, however, there was a low Nile, the storage which had not been absorbed by the soil was poured back into the valley by the same channels, and carried down by the Bahr-Yûsûf to augment the inundation of the Western Delta. [Illustration: 298.jpg FLAT-BOTTOMED VESSEL OF BRONZE OPEN-WORK BEARING THE CARTOUCHES OF PHARAOH KHÎTI I] Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the original in the Louvre Museum. The Nile was the source of everything in this principality, and hence they were gods of the waters who received the homage of the three nomes. The inhabitants of Heracleopolis worshipped the ram Harshafîtû, with whom they associated Osiris of Narûdûf as god of the dead; the people of the Upper Oleander adored a second ram, Khnûmû of Hâsmonîtû, and the whole Fayûm was devoted to the cult of Sovkû the crocodile. Attracted by the fertility of the soil, the Pharaohs of the older dynasties had from time to time taken up their residence in Heracleopolis or its neighbourhood, and one of them--Snofrûi--had built his pyramid at Mêdûm, close to the frontier of the nome. In proportion as the power of the Memphites declined, the princes of the Oleander grew more vigorous and enterprising; and when the Memphite kings passed away, these princes succeeded their former masters and sat “upon the throne of Horus.”