Faiyum الفيوم | |
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Ceety | |
Coordinates: 29°18′0″N 30°50′0″E / 29.30000°N 30.83333°E | |
Kintra | ![]() |
Govrenorate | Faiyum |
Population (2006) | |
• Total | 316,772 |
Time zone | UTC+2 (EST) |
Faiyum (Arabic: الفيوم Fayyūm, Coptic: 'Ⲫⲓⲟⲙ Paiom) is a ceety in Middle Egyp an the caipital o the Faiyum Govrenorate. It is locatit 130 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.
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pA-y-m (Faiyum) in hieroglyphs |
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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.[1][2]
The modren name o the ceety comes frae Coptic 'Ⲫⲓⲟⲙ /Ⲡⲉⲓⲟⲙ efiom/peiom (whence the proper name Ⲡⲁⲓⲟⲙ 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.
Main airticle: Crocodilopolis |
Faiyum haes several lairge bazaars, mosques,[3] 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.[4]
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.
Main airticle: 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.[5] 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.
Tefta Tashko-Koço, weel kent Albanian sangster wis born in Faiyum, whaur her faimily lived at that time.