The Fayûm and Lake MœrisBrown, R. H. (Robert Hanbury)
History
The Fayûm and Lake Mœris
Brown, R. H. (Robert Hanbury)
Fayyum (Egypt) -- Description and travel; Moeris, Lake (Egypt)
This statement about the principal canal (or several canals), leading
from the lake at the foot of Hawârah towards “Shad,” accords
with my conceptions of the lake, but not with Linant’s; as in _his_
theory all this plateau between Hawârah and the modern Medineh,
or ancient Shad, was lake, and a canal or canals could not have been
made in the lake itself. If then this fact about a canal leading from
the lake at the foot of Hawârah to Shad is proved beyond a doubt,
Linant’s theory is disproved by Brugsch Pasha himself, though he
previously states that no “savant sérieux” is opposed to it.
In this same paper, from which I am quoting, this further passage also
occurs, which agrees with what I have imagined to have been the early
history of the town, on part of the ruins of which Medineh now stands.
“La terre du lac, ainsi que je l’ai déjà fait remarquer, a
dû exister au commencement de la XIIme dynastie, dont le premier
roi, Amenemhè Ier, avait fondé au bord de la ville Médineh un
sanctuaire au Dieu Sobk. Au delà de cette époque je ne trouve
aucune trace de sa mention dans les textes de l’ancien empire:
l’œuvre de l’arrosement du Fayoum par un canal du Nil doit donc
être reportée au moins jusqu’à l’époque du roi que je viens de
citer. Également à cette époque, la fondation d’un sanctuaire et
d’un palais royal fait supposer l’existence d’une résidence,
c’est-à-dire d’une grande ville à laquelle le canal Hounet
fournissait ses eaux.
“Tout porte à croire que le canal fut creusé longtemps avant le
XIIme dynastie, car une résidence ne s’établit pas dans un pays
inhabitable ou qui venait à peine d’être arrosé. L’opinion
que les rois de la XIIme dynastie doivent être regardés comme
les créateurs du canal Hounet n’est plus à soutenir, le Fayoum
‘la terre du lac’ date certainement d’une époque de beaucoup
antérieure à la XIIme dynastie, et les rois de cette maison
royale, pour des raisons que nous ignorons, ont seulement choisi
cette terre pour y transférer leur résidence et les temples de
leurs divinités.”
How this view is made to accord with the Linant Lake conception is
not clear, but it is not opposed to the idea that a natural lake,
connected by a natural channel with the Nile Valley, existed and made
the growth of the town “Shad” a possibility before the canal
was remodelled, and control of the entry and exit of the waters
introduced by the engineering monarchs of the XIIth dynasty.
TRANSFORMATION OF LAKE MŒRIS INTO THE FAYÛM OF TO-DAY.
Assuming that the conception of Lake Mœris, as given in this paper,
is a true one, we have now to consider how the change to present
conditions in the Fayûm came about.
In the passage quoted from ‘Hawara, Biahmu, and Arsinoë,’
Mr. Petrie states that “apparently under the Persians or Ptolemies
the desire to acquire more land in the Fayûm at the expense of
the irrigation of the Nile valley, led to restricting the inflow,
and gradually drying up the lake.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account