We spent our holiday traveling this year visiting an area of Egypt known as the Fayoum. I’m no expert on Egyptian history, but in a nutshell the Fayoum region is a desert depression into which the overflow of the yearly Nile Valley flooding used to flow. Due to this, the area is incredibly fertile. But it wasn’t until the Greco-Roman occupation of Egypt that reservoirs and canals were built to bring the waters of the Nile to the area on a controlled and regular basis, allowing people to farm there year round, at which time the area, though geographically small, became a very important area of Egypt.
Our first stop were the remains of a village called Karanis, on the edge of the Fayoum region. This was an agricultural village populated by ordinary people. Not much remains of the village because their homes were built of mud brick which has eroded over time.
(click any image to enlarge)
The remains of a mud brick wall in the village. The holes in the wall were where the palm log flooring fitted to make multiple story buildings.
The ruins of the village with the lush greenery of the Fayoum valley in the distance
It wasn’t all mud brick - this simply adorned temple still stands.
The primary god worshiped in this area was Sobek, the crocodile god. There were niches in this temple into which mummified crocodiles would have been placed.
The Pyramid at Hawara, built by Amenemhet III during the time of the Middle Kingdom. It doesn’t look like much now because the outer layer of limestone has been removed over time, exposing the much less durable mud brick structure below. But it is an impressive number of mud bricks! And apparently this pyramid has one of the most complicated internal passage systems, built in an attempt to thwart tomb robbers. Shortly after this period, pharaohs abandoned pyramids in favor of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings down in Luxor.
The entrance to the pyramid. There wasn’t much to see - the water table has risen so you could only go a few yards in before the floor of the tunnel was covered in water. It probably wouldn’t have stopped Indian Jones but the caretakers stopped us!
One of the many policeman that guarded us at the various sites we visited over the two day trip, a necessary precaution.
The decor at the rest stop where we ate lunch was certainly interesting!
Farmland
Pyramid at Lahun, built by King Senwosret II
One of several openings leading to the tombs of the princesses
This pyramid survived somewhat better than the previous pyramid because of the way in which is was built, incorporating the stone of the hillside in conjunction with the mud bricks.
Stay tuned, more pictures tomorrow…
I always enjoy seeing your Egyptian photos. Is security still really tight at all the tourist places?
by Shelley Munro December 1st, 2008 at 5:51 amYes, security is tight. There was a point in the road where we were required to take a police escort with us - in addition to the guard that was riding the bus! These sites are more remote and not as heavily visited but no matter where we went, police followed…
by Jenyfer December 1st, 2008 at 6:27 amThank you for the pictures and comments. I love seeing modern Egypt through the eyes of a foreign visitor. I have never visited the Fayoum.
I am blogging about the Vallee de la Loire as it is the setting of my book French Peril at
by Mona Risk December 1st, 2008 at 10:31 amhttp://www.monarisk.blogspot.com
Thanks so much for sharing, Jenyfer. I love seeing new places–especially when they’re so different from home.
by Terry Odell December 1st, 2008 at 6:54 pmBelieve me, I think we were as interesting to the locals as they were to us. You’d have thought a parade was going through the way they reacted to our two large tour buses as we went through various villages in the area. Everyone was smiling and waving to us - my daughter even collected a few thrown kisses from little boys!
by Jenyfer December 2nd, 2008 at 3:03 am