Annotation. The Fayoum, a large and exceptionally fertile depression in Egypt’s Western Desert, some 90 kilometers southwest of Cairo, is a region both rich in history and outstanding in natural beauty. Its historical legacy includes temples, pyramids, and towns from the Middle Kingdom and the Ptolemaic Period, as well as churches, monasteries, and mosques from later times. Its farmland, watered by the region’s landmark waterwheels, is among the most generous in Egypt, and its landscape is varied and beautiful. The large and ancient lake Qarun nestles in the north between the soft green land and the harsh but dramatic desert scarp, while two new lakes, connected by Egypt’s only waterfalls, have been created in the once barren Wadi al-Rayyan to the west, bringing fishermen, farmers, and visitors to the desert. The Fayoum’s wildlife unfortunately no longer includes the crocodile, which was sacred here in ancient times, but boasts swamp cats and mongooses, spoonbills and flamingos. Neil Hewison here outlines the history (and prehistory) of the Fayoum and its lakes, describes the agriculture and rural life of the region, then guides the visitor around the province site by site, never averse to taking an interesting detour along the way. Originally published in 1984, this guide to one of Egypt’s most distinctive and beautiful regions quickly became regarded as a classic. The text has been thoroughly revised and updated for this new edition, including a new section on the recently declared UNESCO World Heritage Site of Wadi al-Hitan, the Valley of the Whales. The book is illustrated with color photographs and two maps.

From Strabo and Diodorus to Petrie and the pre-sent we have tried to build Herodotus' vast, mysterious, funerary Egyptian Labyrinth and great, man-made Lake Moeris with all manner of pyramids into the Middle-Kingdom ruins of the Fayoum basin, all on the hopeful assumption that Herodotus must have gone to the fifth-century Fayoum merely because he said so. This book constitutes a fundamental re-assessment of the problem and the implications.

In Excavations at the Seila Pyramid and Fag el-Gamous Cemetery, the excavation team provides crucial information about the Old Kingdom and Graeco-Roman Egypt. While both periods have been heavily studied, Kerry Muhlestein and his contributors provide new archaeological information that will help shape thinking about these eras. The construction and ritual features of the early Fourth Dynasty Seila Pyramid represents innovations that would influence royal funerary cult for hundreds of years. Similarly, as one of the largest excavated cemeteries of Egypt, Fag el-Gamous helps paint a picture of multi-cultural life in the Fayoum of Egypt during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. Excavations there provide a statistically impactful understanding of funerary customs under the influence of new cultures and religion.

Medieval Islamic society was overwhelmingly a society of peasants, and the achievements of Islamic civilization depended, first and foremost, on agricultural production. Yet the history of the medieval Islamic countryside has been neglected or marginalized. Basic questions such as the social and religious identities of village communities, or the relationship of the peasant to the state, are either ignored or discussed from a normative point of view. This volume addresses this lacuna in our understanding of medieval Islam by presenting a first-hand account of the Egyptian countryside. Dating from the middle of the thirteenth century, Abu 'Uthman al-Nabulusi's Villages of the Fayyum is as close as we get to the tax registers of any rural province. Not unlike the Domesday Book of medieval England, al-Nabulusi's work provides a wealth of detail for each village which far surpasses any other source for the rural economy of medieval Islam. It is a unique, comprehensive snap-shot of one rural society at one, significant, point in its history, and an insight into the way of life of the majority of the population in the medieval Islamic world. Richly annotated and with a detailed introduction, this volume offers the first academic edition of this work and the first translation into a European language. By opening up this key source to scholars, it will be an indispensable resource for historians of Egypt, of administration and rural life in the premodern world generally, and of the Middle East in particular.

Introducing readers to a wide range of maps from different time periods and a variety of cultures, this book confirms the vital roles of maps throughout history in commerce, art, literature, and national identity.

Published in conjunction with an exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, February-May 2000, the first major showing in North America of stunning painted mummy portraits that represent a confluence of ancient Egyptian and Roman cultures and the Graeco-Roman painting tradition. The catalog concentrates closely on the paintings, their artistry, and their social context and meaning. Seven contributed essays set the context. The 122 color and 23 bandw illustrations are fully discussed and described by editor Walker, who is affiliated with the British Museum. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Christianity began in the large and fertile Fayoum oasis of Egypt's Western Desert as early as the third century, and its presence has endured to the present day. This volume contains contributions on various aspects of Coptic civilization in Egypt's largest oasis over the past 1800 years.