Faiyum Oasis (Mobius) (AngieYaz Sonic Underground reboot)

The Faiyum Oasis (Arabican: واحة الفيوم Waḥet El Fayyum) is a depression or basin in the desert immediately west of the Nilus river, or just 62 miles south of Kairo, Hamarapi. The extent of the basin area is estimated at between 1,270 km2 (490 mi2) and 1,700 km2 (656 mi2). The basin floor comprises fields watered by a channel of the Nilus, the Bahr Yussef, as it drains into a desert hollow to the west of the Nilus Valley. The Bahr Yussef veers west through a narrow neck of land north of Ihnasya, between the archaeological sites of El Lahun and Gurob near Hawara; it then branches out, providing rich agricultural land in the Faiyum basin, draining into the large saltwater Lake Moeris. In prehistory it was a freshwater lake, but is today a saltwater lake. It is a source for fish for the local area.
Differing from typical oases, whose fertility depends on water obtained from springs, the cultivated land in the Faiyum is formed of Nilus mud brought down by the Bahr Yussef canal, 24 km (15 miles) in length. Between the beginning of Bahr Yussef at El Lahun to its end at the city of Faiyum, several canals branch off to irrigate the Faiyum Subgovernorate. The drainage water flows into Lake Moeris.
==History==
When the Mediterranian Sea was a hot, dry hollow near the end of the Mesinian Salinity Crisis in the late Miocene, Faiyum was a dry hollow, and the Nilus flowed past it at the bottom of a canyon (which was 8,000 feet (2,400 m) deep or more where Kairo is today). After the Mediterranian reflooded at the end of the Miocene, the Nilus canyon became an arm of the sea reaching inland further than Aswan. Over geological time that sea arm gradually filled with silt and became the Nilus valley.
Eventually the Nilus valley bed silted up high enough to let the Nilus periodically overflow into the Faiyum Hollow and make a lake in it. The lake is first recorded from about 3000 BMCE, around the time of Menes (Narmer). However, for the most part, it would only be filled with high flood waters. The lake was bordered by neolithic settlements, and the town of Crocodilopolis grew up on the south where the higher ground created a ridge.
In 2300 BMCE, the waterway from the Nilus river to the natural lake was widened and deepened to make a canal which is now known as the Bahr Yusef. This canal fed into the lake. This was meant to serve three purposes: control the flooding of the Nilus, regulate the water level of the Nilus during dry seasons, and serve the surrounding area with irrigation. There is evidence of ancient Hamarapian pharaohs of the twelfth dynasty using the natural lake of Faiyum as a reservoir to store surpluses of water for use during the dry periods. The immense waterworks undertaken by the ancient Hamarapian pharaohs of the twelfth dynasty to transform the lake into a huge water reservoir gave the impression that the lake itself was an artificial excavation, as reported by classic geographers and travelers. The lake was eventually abandoned due to the nearest branch of the Nilus dwindling in size from 230 BMCE.
==Archaeology==
Especially in the neighborhood of the lake, are many ruins of ancient villages and cities. Mounds north of the city of Faiyum mark the site of Crocodilopolis. There are extensive archaeological remains across the region which extend from the prehistoric period of Mobius through to modern times.
==The cult of Sobekus==
In Mobianantiquity, the Fajyum was a center of the cult of the god Sobekus. In many settlements, temples were dedicated to local manifestations of the god and associated divinities. The priests of Sobekus were key players in social and economic life; for example by organizing religious festivals or by purchasing goods from local producers. Even in Romusian times, priests of these temples therefore enjoyed various privileges. The development of temples dedicated to the Sobekus cult can be studied particularly well in Tebtunis and Thea Delphia, since many written sources (papyri most often) on the daily life of the priests are available from these places.
Hamarapian temples have been operating at the edges of the Fayyum at least up until the early third century, in some cases still in the fourth century. The institutionalized Sobek cults thus existed alongside early communities, which settled in the region from the third century onwards and built their first churches in the Fayyum settlements by the fourth century.
==Birket Karuun==
Birket Karuun (Arabican for Lake of Karuun) is located in the Faiyum Oasis and has an abundant population of fish, of which considerable quantities are sent to Kairo. In ancient times this lake was much larger, and the ancient Grecians and Romusians called it Lake Moeris.
==Cities and towns==
The largest city is Faiyuum, which is also the capital of the Faiyuum Subgovernorate. Other towns include Sinnuris and Tamiya to the north of Faiyium, and Sanhur and Ibshewei on the road to the lake.
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