Faiyum

**Faiyum** ( , Coptic:  *Paiom*) is a ceety in Middle Egyp an the caipital o the Faiyum Govrenorate. It is locatit 130&nbsp;km soothwast o Cairo an occupies pairt o the auncient steid o Crocodilopolis. Foondit in aroond 4000 B.C., it is the auldest ceety in Egyp an ane o the auldest in Africae.

## Name an etymology

Its name in Inglis is an' a' spelled as **Fayum**, **Fayoum**, **Al Fayyum** or **El Faiyūm**. Faiyum wis previously offeecially named **Madīnet el Faiyūm** (Arabic for *The Ceety o Faiyum*). The name Faiyum (an its spellin variations) mey an' a' refer tae the Faiyum Oasis, awtho it is commonly uised bi Egyptians the day tae refer tae the ceety.

The modren name o the ceety comes frae Coptic  / *efiom/peiom* (whence the proper name  *payom*), meanin *the Sea* or *the Lake*, which in turn comes frae late Egyptian *pA y-m* o the same meanin, a reference tae the nearbi Lake Moeris.

## Auncient ceety

## Modren ceety
Faiyum haes several lairge bazaars, mosques, baths an a muckle-frequentit weekly mercat. The canal cried Bahr Yussef runs throu the ceety, its banks lined wi hooses. Thare are twa brigs ower the river: ane o three airches, which cairies the main street an bazaar, an ane o twa airches, ower which is biggit the Qaitbay mosque, that wis a gift frae his wife tae honour the Mamluk Sultan in Fayoum. Moonds north o the ceety merk the site o Arsinoe, kent tae the auncient Greeks as Crocodilopolis, whaur in auncient times the sacred crocodile kept in Lake Moeris wis worshipped.

The centre o the ceety is on the canal, wi the fower waterwheels, that are adoptit bi the govrenorate o Fayoum as its naitional seembol, thair chariots an bazaars are easy tae spat.

## Faiyum mummy portraits

Faiyum is the soorce o some famous daith masks or mummy portraits paintit durin the Roman occupation o the aurie. The Egyptians continued thair practice o buryin thair deid, despite the Roman preference for cremation. While unner the control o the Roman Empire, Egyptian daith masks wur paintit on wid in a pigmentit wax technique cried encaustic—the Faiyum mummy portraits represent this technique. While commonly believed tae represent Greek settlers in Egyp, the Faiyum portraits insteid reflect the complex synthesis o the predominant Egyptian cultur an that o the elite Greek minority in the ceety.

Undisputit remains o early anthropoids date frae the late Eocene an early Oligocene, aboot 34 million years ago, in the Fayyum aurie, soothwast o Cairo. Ane o the earliest fossil primates at Fayum is Catopithecus, datin tae aroond 35 million years ago.

## Famous Steids
*Qasr Qarun, locatit 44&nbsp;km frae the ceety
*Qaitbay Mosque, locatit in the ceety, an wis biggit bi the wife o the Mamluk Sultan Qaitaby
*Hanging Mosque, biggit unner the Ottoman Rule ower Egyp
*Lahun Pyramids, locatit 4&nbsp;km ootside the ceety
*Hawara, aircheological site locatit 27&nbsp;km frae the ceety
*Wadi Rayan, or Wadi Elrayan, the lairgest waterfaws in Egyp, locatit aroond 50&nbsp;km frae the ceety

## Notable fowk
Tefta Tashko-Koço, weel kent Albanian sangster wis born in Faiyum, whaur her faimily lived at that time.

## See an aw
*Crocodilopolis
*Faiyum mummy portraits
*Faiyum Govrenorate
*Fayum alphabet
*Lake Moeris
*Bahr Yussef
*Roman Egyp
*Phiomia (an extinct relative o the elephant, named efter Faiyum)
*Wadi Elrayan

## References

## Freemit airtins

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*P.Fayum = Fayum towns and their papyri, edited with translations and notes by Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt at the Internet Archive
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