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'Faiyum' (Arabic: الفيوم; Coptic: ) is a city in Middle Egypt, and the capital of the Faiyum Governorate. It is located 130 Km southwest of Cairo and occupies part of the ancient site of Crocodilopolis. Its name in English is also spelled as 'Fayum', 'Fayoum', 'Al Fayyum' or 'El Faiyūm'. It was formerly named 'Madīnet el Faiyūm' (Arabic for ''the city of Faiyum'').
The name Faiyum (and its spelling variants) may also refer to the Faiyum Oasis, although it is commonly used by Egyptians today to refer to the city.^[1][2]

Contents

Etymology

Modern city

Fayum mummy portraits

See also

References

Etymology

The modern name of the city comes from Coptic / ''efiom/peiom'' (whence the proper name ''payoum''), 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.

Modern city

Faiyum has several large bazaars, mosques, ^[3] 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. 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. ^[4]

Fayum mummy portraits

Main articles: Fayum mummy portraits

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 Fayum mummy portraits represent this technique.^[5]

See also

★ Crocodilopolis

★ Faiyum mummy portraits

★ Faiyum Governorate

★ Lake Moeris

★ Bahr Yussef

★ Roman Egypt

★ Phiomia (an extinct relative of the elephant, named after Faiyum)

References

1. The name of the Fayum province. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
2. Faiyum. Eternal Egypt
3. The Mosque of Qaitbey in the Fayoum of Egypt by Seif Kamel
4. The Temple and the Gods, The Cult of the Crocodile
5. History of Encaustic Art


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