SIWA

This article appears in Volume V25, Page 163 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: SIV-SOU

SIWA , an

oasis

OASIS (Gr. &toss, the name given by Herodotus to the fertile spots in the Libyan desert: it probably represents an Egyptian word, cf. Coptic ouahe, ouih, to dwell, from which the Egyptian Arabic sod is derived)

in the Libyan Desert, politically part of Egypt. It is also known as the

oasis

OASIS (Gr. &toss, the name given by Herodotus to the fertile spots in the Libyan desert: it probably represents an Egyptian word, cf. Coptic ouahe, ouih, to dwell, from which the Egyptian Arabic sod is derived)

of Ammon or Jupiter Ammon; its ancient Egyptian name was Sekhet-am, " Palm-land." The oasis lies about 350 M. W.S.W. of Cairo, its

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

town, also called Siwa, being situated in 29 12' N., 25 30' E. The oasis is some 6 m. long by 4 to 5 wide. Ten miles north-

east

EAST
EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

is the small oasis of Zetun, and westward of Siwa extends for some 50 M. a chain of little oases. The population of Siwa proper (1907 census) was 3884. The)inhabitants are of Libyan (Berber) stock and have a language of their own, but also speak Arabic. The oasis is extremely fertile and contains many thousands of date palms. The town of Siwa is built on two rocks and resembles a fortress. The houses are frequently built on arches spanning the streets, which are narrow and irregular.
The oasis is famous as containing the oracle temple of Ammon, which was already famous in the time of Herodotus, and was consulted by Alexander the

Great

GREAT

. The remains of the temple are in the walled

village

VILLAGE

of Aghormi, 2 m. E. of the town of Siwa. It is a small building, with

inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS (from Lat. inscribere, to write upon)

dating from the 4th century B.C. The oracle fell into disrepute during the Roman occupation of Egypt, and was reported dumb by Pausanias, c. A.D. 16o. Siwa was afterwards used as a place of banishment for criminals and political offenders. After the Mahommedan conquest of Egypt Siwa became independent and so remained until conquered by Mehemet Ali in 182o. It is now governed by its own sheikhs under the supervision of an Egyptian mamur responsible to the mudir of Behera.
Siwa contains many relics of antiquity besides the ruins of the temple of Ammon. Near that temple are the scanty remains of another temple of the same century, Umm Beda, with reliefs depicting the prince of the oasis making offerings to Ammon, " lord of oracles." At Jebel Muta, 1 m. N.E. of Siwa, are tombs of Ptolemaic and Roman date; 10 m. E. of Aghormi is a well-preserved chapel, with Roman

graves

GRAVES, ALFRED PERCEVAL (1846— )

; at Kasr Rumi is a Doric temple of the Roman period.
The oasis lies close to the Tripolitan frontier and is largely dominated by the sect of the Senussi (q.v.), whose headquarters were formerly at Jarabub, 8o m. to the north-west. The Senussi successfully prevented various explorers penetrating westward beyond Siwa. The first European to reach Siwa since Roman time was W. G. Browne, who visited the oasis in 1792. He was followed in 1798 by F. Hornemann. Both these travellers started from Cairo; in 1820 General H. Minutoli gained the oasis from the Gulf of Solum. In 1869 Gerhard Rohlfs reached Siwa via

Tripoli

, and subsequently the ruins were examined by Professor G. Steindorff. After the occupation of Egypt by the British steps were taken to enforce the authority of the government in Siwa, where order proved difficult to maintain. There were serious disturbances in 1909, and as a result in 1910 a telegraph line was built across the desert from Alexandria to the oasis.
See G. Steindorff, Durch die Libysche Wiiste zur Amonsoase (Bielefeld and

Leipzig

LEIPZIG

, 19o4); A. Silva White, From Sphinx to Oracle (London n.d., 1898) ; Murray's Handbook for Egypt (11th ed., London, 19o7); T. B. Hohler, Report on the Oasis of Siva (Cairo 1900); also the works of the earlier travellers named. (F. R. C.)

End of Article: SIWA

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/SIV_SOU/SIWA.html">
SIWA
</a>

(Previous)
SIVORI, ERNESTO CAMILLO (1815-1894)

(Next)
SIWALIK HILLS

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email