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The Siwa Oasis ( ar, واحة سيوة, ''Wāḥat Sīwah,'' ) is an urban
oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
in
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
; between the
Qattara Depression The Qattara Depression ( ar, منخفض القطارة, Munḫafaḍ al-Qaṭṭārah) is a depression in northwestern Egypt, specifically in the Matruh Governorate. The depression is part of the Western Desert of Egypt. The Qattara Depressi ...
and the Great Sand Sea in the Western Desert, 50 km (30 mi) east of the
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
n
border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...
, and 560 km (348 mi) from the capital. Its fame primarily from its ancient role as the home to an
oracle of Ammon Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...
, the ruins of which are a popular tourist attraction which gave the oasis its ancient name Oasis of Amun Ra, a major Egyptian deity.


Geography

The Siwa oasis is in a deep depression that reaches below sea level, to about . To the west the
Jaghbub Jaghbub ( ar, الجغبوب) is a remote desert village in the Al Jaghbub Oasis in the eastern Libyan Desert. It is actually closer to the Egyptian town of Siwa than to any Libyan town of note. The oasis is located in Butnan District and was th ...
oasis rests in a similar depression and to the east , the large
Qattara Depression The Qattara Depression ( ar, منخفض القطارة, Munḫafaḍ al-Qaṭṭārah) is a depression in northwestern Egypt, specifically in the Matruh Governorate. The depression is part of the Western Desert of Egypt. The Qattara Depressi ...
is also below sea level.


Name

The Ancient Egyptian name of the oasis was ''sḫt jꜣmw'', meaning "Field of Trees". The native Libyan toponym may be preserved in the Egyptian ''t̠ꜣ(j) n d̠rw “tꜣj'' on the fringe” where ''t̠ꜣ'' transcribed the local Palaeo-Berber name ''*Se'' or ''*Sa''. This name survived in the works of Muslim geographers as ''Santariyyah.'' The etymology of the word سيوة Siwah is unclear. Champollion derives it from ⲥⲟⲟⲩϩ – a corruption of Egyptian word for "oasis", ⲟⲩⲁϩ. The additional evidence of the Egyptian source of Siwa's name is another place name in Kharga Oasis that may share the same etymology – ''S.t-wȝḥ,'' modern Deir el-Hagar). Basset links it to a Berber tribal name ''swh'' attested further west in the early Islamic period, while Ilahiane, following Chafik, links it to the Shilha Berber word ''asiwan'', a type of bird of prey, and hence to
Amun-Ra Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...
, one of whose symbols was the falcon. Some classical authors referred to the site as "Ammonium".


History

Although the oasis is known to have been settled since at least the
10th millennium BC The 10th millennium BC spanned the years 10,000 BC to 9001 BC (c. 12 ka to c. 11 ka). It marks the beginning of the transition from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic via the interim Mesolithic ( Northern Europe and Western Europe) and Epip ...
, the earliest evidence of any connection with Ancient Egypt is the
26th Dynasty The Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt (notated Dynasty XXVI, alternatively 26th Dynasty or Dynasty 26) dynasty was the last native dynasty to rule Egypt before the Persian conquest in 525 BC (although others followed). The dynasty's reign (664–525 ...
, when a
necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...
was established.
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
settlers at Cyrene made contact with the oasis around the same time (7th century BC), and the oracle temple of
Amun Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...
(Greek: ''Zeus Ammon''), who,
Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...
was told, took the image here of a ram. Herodotus knew of a "fountain of the Sun" that ran coldest in the noontime heat. During his campaign to conquer the
Persian Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...
,
Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
reached the oasis, supposedly by following birds across the desert. The oracle, Alexander's court historians alleged, confirmed him as both a divine personage and the legitimate
Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ''pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the an ...
of Egypt, though Alexander's motives in making the excursion, following his founding of Alexandria, remain to some extent inscrutable and contested. During the Ptolemaic Kingdom, its Ancient Egyptian name was ''sḫ.t-ỉm3w'', meaning "Field of Trees". Evidence of
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
at Siwa is uncertain, but in 708 the Siwans resisted an
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
ic army, and probably did not convert until the 12th century. A local manuscript mentions only seven families totaling 40 men living at the oasis in 1203. In the 12th century, Al-Idrisi mentions it as being inhabited mainly by
Berbers , image = File:Berber_flag.svg , caption = The Berber ethnic flag , population = 36 million , region1 = Morocco , pop1 = 14 million to 18 million , region2 = Algeria , pop2 ...
, with an Arab minority; a century before
Al-Bakri Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb ibn ʿAmr al-Bakrī ( ar, أبو عبيد عبد الله بن عبد العزيز بن محمد بن أيوب بن عمرو البكري), or simply al-Bakrī (c. 1040–1 ...
stated that only Berbers lived there. The Egyptian historian
Al-Maqrizi Al-Maqrīzī or Maḳrīzī (Arabic: ), whose full name was Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-'Abbās Aḥmad ibn 'Alī ibn 'Abd al-Qādir ibn Muḥammad al-Maqrīzī (Arabic: ) (1364–1442) was a medieval Egyptian Arab historian during the Mamluk era, kn ...
traveled to Siwa in the 15th century and described how the language spoken there 'is similar to the language of the
Zenata The Zenata (Berber language: Iznaten) are a group of Amazigh (Berber) tribes, historically one of the largest Berber confederations along with the Sanhaja and Masmuda. Their lifestyle was either nomadic or semi-nomadic. Etymology ''Iznaten (ⵉ ...
'. The first European to visit since Roman times was the English traveler
William George Browne William George Browne (25 July 17681813) was an English traveller, whose journey took him through Egypt and the Near East. He published a book of his travels in 1799. Browne was murdered while attempting to reach Tehran. Life Browne was born at ...
, who came in 1792 to see the ancient temple of the Oracle of Amun. Bompiani, in her description of the 19th-century explorer Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti, called this site the ''Oasis of Jupiter Ammon''. Siwa was annexed by
Muhammad Ali of Egypt Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha, also known as Muhammad Ali of Egypt and the Sudan ( sq, Mehmet Ali Pasha, ar, محمد علي باشا, ; ota, محمد علی پاشا المسعود بن آغا; ; 4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849), was ...
in 1820, but the Egyptian representative in Siwa was assassinated in 1838. At some point,
Muhammad al-Sanusi Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi (; in full Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Sanūsī al-Mujāhirī al-Ḥasanī al-Idrīsī) (1787–1859) was an Algerian Muslim theologian and leader who founded the Senussi mystical order in 1837. His militant mystical move ...
stayed at Siwa for a few months and gathered some followers here. Later, Siwa was a base of the Sanusiyya in their fight against the British from 1915-17. Meanwhile, in the spring of 1893, German explorer and photographer Hermann Burchardt took photographs of the architecture of the town of Siwa, now stored at the
Ethnological Museum of Berlin The Ethnological Museum of Berlin (german: Ethnologisches Museum Berlin) is one of the Berlin State Museums (german: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin), the de facto national collection of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is presently located in t ...
. Egyptian rule from distant Cairo was at first tenuous and marked by several revolts. Egypt began to assert firmer control after a 1928 visit to the Oasis by
King Fuad I Fuad I ( ar, فؤاد الأول ''Fu’ād al-Awwal''; tr, I. Fuad or ; 26 March 1868 – 28 April 1936) was the Sultan and later King of Egypt and the Sudan. The ninth ruler of Egypt and Sudan from the Muhammad Ali dynasty, he became Sulta ...
, who berated the locals for "a certain vice" and specified punishments to bring Siwan behaviour in line with Egyptian morals. Siwa was also the site of some fighting during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
's Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) was based here, but Rommel's Afrika Korps also took possession three times. German soldiers went
skinny dipping Nude swimming is the practice of swimming without clothing, whether in natural bodies of water or in swimming pools. A colloquial term for nude swimming is ''skinny-dipping''. In both British and American English, to swim means "to move through ...
in the lake of the oracle, contrary to local customs which prohibit public nudity. In 1942 while the Italian
136th Infantry Division Giovani Fascisti 136th may refer to: * 136th (2/1st Devon and Cornwall) Brigade, formation of the Territorial Force of the British Army *136th (Durham) Battalion, CEF, unit in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War * 136th Airlift Squadron flie ...
occupied the oasis, a tiny Egyptian puppet government-in-exile was set up at Siwa. The oasis makes a brief appearance as a base of the LRDG in the 1958 war film '' Ice Cold in Alex''. The ancient fortress of Siwa, known as the
Shali Ghadi Shali or Shalli may refer to: Places * Shali, Afghanistan, an inhabited locality in Afghanistan * Shali, Bhutan, an inhabited locality in Bhutan * Shali, Egypt, medieval city ruins in Egypt *Shali, East Azerbaijan, a village in East Azerbaijan ...
(''Shali'' being the name of the town, and ''Ghadi'' meaning "remote"), was built on natural rock (an inselberg) and made of kershif (salt and mud-brick) and palm logs. After it was damaged by three days of heavy rains in 1926 it was abandoned for similar unreinforced construction housing on the plain surrounding it, and in some cases those, in turn, have been replaced by more modern cinder block and sheet metal roof buildings. Only one building in the Shali complex has been repaired and is in use, a mosque. Gradually eroded by infrequent rains and slowly collapsing, the Shali remains a prominent feature, towering five stories above the modern town and lit at night by floodlights. It is most easily approached from its southwest side, south of the end of the paved road which curves around from the north side of the Shali. Several uneven pedestrian streets lead from the southwest end of the Shali into it, the ground rent in places by deep cracks. Many of the unreinforced kershif buildings bordering the streets of the Shali are also split by large cracks, or they are partially collapsed. Other local historic sites of interest include the remains of the oracle temple; the Gebel al Mawta (the Mountain of the Dead), a Roman-era necropolis featuring dozens of rock-cut tombs; and "Cleopatra's Bath", an antique natural spring. The fragmentary remains of the oracle temple, with some inscriptions dating from the 4th century BC, lie within the ruins of Aghurmi. The revelations of the oracle fell into disrepute under the Roman occupation of Egypt.


Climate

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as
hot desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one ...
(BWh), as the rest of
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
.


Culture

The traditional culture of Siwa shows many unique elements, some reflecting its longstanding links with the isolated Oasis life and the fact that the inhabitants are Siwi Berbers. Until a tarmac road was built to the Mediterranean coast in the 1980s Siwa's only links with the outside world were by arduous camel tracks through the desert. These were used to export dates and olives, bring trade goods, or carry pilgrims on the route which linked the Maghreb to Cairo and hence to Mecca. As a result of this isolation, Siwis developed a unique natural culture manifested in its crafts of basketry, pottery, silverwork and embroidery and in its style of dress. The most visible and celebrated examples of this were the bridal silver and the ensemble of silver ornaments and beads that women wore in abundance to weddings and other ceremonies. These pieces were decorated with symbols which related to Siwa's history and beliefs and attitudes. The best known of these pieces is a huge silver disc called '''adrim''' and a round necklace, called aghraw','' from which it hung over the breast. A girl would give up the disc at a special ceremony in the spring the day she was married. The jewelry, which was made by local silversmiths, consisted of silver necklaces, earrings, bangles, hair ornaments, pendants, and many rings. For a wealthy woman, the full ensemble could weigh as much as five or six kilos. These pieces are decorated with symbols common to Berber people across North Africa designed to promote good health, fertility and to protect the wearer from misfortune. Some of the same signs and patterns are found on the embroidery which embellishes women's dresses, trousers, and shawls. File:BijouEgyptien MHNT.ETH.2012.23.72.jpg, Silver pendant with engraved
Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
-box File:BijouEgyptien MHNT.ETH.2012.23.87.jpg, Silver ring File:BijouEgyptien MHNT.ETH.2012.23.60.jpg, Silver ear ornament File:BijouEgyptien MHNT.ETH.2012.23.107.jpg, Silver disk and round necklace (torc)


Art and local customs

The arrival of the road and of
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
exposed the oasis to the styles and fashions of the outside world and the traditional silver ornaments were gradually replaced by jewelry made of
gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
. Evidence of the old styles and traditions are however still in evidence in the women's embroidery and costume. The material for the "tarfutet", the distinctive all-enveloping shawl worn by women, are brought from outside the oasis, specifically from the town of Kirdasa, in the Giza Governorate.


Festivals

Siwi people are very religious so on
Ramadan , type = islam , longtype = Religious , image = Ramadan montage.jpg , caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...
, they tend to close all the shops and stay at home for the whole month. Like other Muslim Egyptians, Siwis celebrate
Eid al-Fitr , nickname = Festival of Breaking the Fast, Lesser Eid, Sweet Eid, Sugar Feast , observedby = Muslims , type = Islamic , longtype = Islamic , significance = Commemoration to mark the end of fasting in Ramadan , dat ...
(''lʕid ahakkik'',"the Little Eid") and Eid al-Adha (''lʕid azuwwar'',"the Big Eid"). Unlike other Egyptians, however, on Eid al-Adha Siwis cook the skin of the sheep (along with its innards) as a festival delicacy, after removing the hair. They also eat heart of palm (''agroz''). The Siyaha Festival (Eid El Solh - Eid El Hasad), in honour of the town's traditional patron saint Sidi Sulayman, is unique to Siwa. (The name is often misunderstood as a reference to "tourism", but in fact predates tourism.), it is known that on this occasion Siwi men meet on a mountain near the town, Gabal Al - Dakrour, to eat together, sing chants while thanking God, and reconcile with one another; all Siwi houses co-operate in preparing and cooking food, in this day Siwian people eat fattah (rice, toasted bread and meat), after Dohr prayer (12:00 PM) all Siwian youth gather to set the banquet, nobody is allowed to eat before the caller announces to start eating so they can all eat together, the women stay behind in the village, and celebrate with dancing, singing, and drums. The food for the festival is bought collectively, with funds gathered by the oasis' mosques, celebrations last for 3 Qamari days, and in the early morning of the fourth day, siwian men form a big march, while holding flags and singing spiritual songs, march starts from Gabal El - Dakrour and ends in Sidi Solayman square - in the center of Siwa - declaring ending of festivals, and beginning of a new year without hatred or grudge, and with love, respect and reconciliation. Siwi children traditionally also celebrated
Ashura Ashura (, , ) is a day of commemoration in Islam. It occurs annually on the 10th of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. Among Shia Muslims, Ashura is observed through large demonstrations of high-scale mourning as it marks the ...
by lighting torches, singing, and exchanging sweets. Adults' celebration was limited to the preparation of a large meal.


Relations with the Bedouins

Siwans are preferentially endogamous, only rarely marrying non-Siwans. Nonetheless, Bedouin brides command a higher
brideprice Bride price, bride-dowry (Mahr in Islam), bride-wealth, or bride token, is money, property, or other form of wealth paid by a groom or his family to the woman or the family of the woman he will be married to or is just about to marry. Bride dowr ...
in Siwa than Siwan ones. According to older members of the ''Awlad Ali'' Bedouins, the Bedouin relations with Siwans were traditionally mediated through a system of "friendship", whereby a specific Siwan (and his descendants) would be the friend of a specific Bedouin (and his descendants). The Bedouin would stay at the Siwan's house when he came to Siwa, and would exchange his animal products and grain for the Siwan's
dates Date or dates may refer to: *Date (fruit), the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'') Social activity *Dating, a form of courtship involving social activity, with the aim of assessing a potential partner **Group dating *Play date, an ...
and
olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: f ...
. Siwa's Berbers are close to 30,000 in number. The hot springs are an attraction to visitors.


Role of women

Women have traditionally played a prominent role in Siwan households, often being in charge of a household's financial decisions. They have also been responsible for raising children; the town's deputy mayor said in 1985, "If our children speak Siwi, it to our womenfolk that they owe it."


Siwan homosexual tradition

Siwa is of special interest to anthropologists and sociologists because of its historical acceptance of male
homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
and even rituals celebrating
same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
- traditions that the Egyptian authorities have sought to repress, with increasing success, since the early twentieth century. The German egyptologist
Georg Steindorff Georg Steindorff (November 12, 1861, Dessau – August 28, 1951, North Hollywood, California) was a German Egyptologist. Life Georg Steindorff was a graduate of the Egyptology seminars of the University of Göttingen. He earned a doctorate in ...
explored the Oasis in 1900 and reported that homosexual relations were common and often extended to a form of marriage: "The feast of marrying a boy was celebrated with great pomp, and the money paid for a boy sometimes amounted to fifteen pounds, while the money paid for a woman was a little over one pound." Mahmud Mohammad Abd Allah, writing of Siwan customs for the Harvard Peabody Museum in 1917, commented that although Siwan men could take up to four wives, "Siwan customs allow a man but one boy to whom he is bound by a stringent code of obligations." In 1937 the anthropologist Walter Cline wrote the first detailed ethnography of the Siwans in which he noted: "All normal Siwan men and boys practice sodomy...among themselves the natives are not ashamed of this; they talk about it as openly as they talk about love of women, and many if not most of their fights arise from homosexual competition....Prominent men lend their sons to each other. All Siwans know the matings which have taken place among their sheiks and their sheiks' sons....Most of the boys used in sodomy are between twelve and eighteen years of age." After an expedition to Siwa, the archaeologist Count Byron de Prorok reported in 1937 "an enthusiasm hatcould not have been approached even in Sodom... Homosexuality was not merely rampant, it was raging...Every dancer had his boyfriend... ndchiefs had harems of boys". In the late 1940s a Siwan merchant told the visiting British novelist Robin Maugham that the Siwan women were "badly neglected", but that Siwan men "will kill each other for boy. Never for a woman", although as Maugham noted, marriage to a boy had become illegal by then. The Egyptian archaeologist Ahmed Fakhry, who studied Siwa for three decades, observed in 1973 that "While the Siwans were still living inside their walled town, none of these bachelors was allowed to spend the night in the town and had to sleep outside the gates...Under such circumstances it is not surprising that homosexuality was common among them....Up to the year 1928, it was not unusual that some kind of written agreement, which was sometimes called a marriage contract, was made between two males; but since the visit of King Fu'ad to this oasis it has been completely forbidden...However, such agreements continued, but in great secrecy, and without the actual writing, until the end of World War II. Now the practice is not followed." Despite the multiplicity of sources for these practices, the Egyptian authorities and even the Siwan tribal elders have attempted to repress the historical and anthropological record. When the Siwa-born anthropologist Fathi Malim included reference to Siwan homosexuality (especially a love poem from a man to a youth) in his book ''Oasis Siwa'' (2001), the tribal council demanded that he blank out the material in the current edition of the book and remove it from future editions, or be expelled from the community. Malim reluctantly agreed and physically deleted the passages in the first edition of his book, and excluded them from the second. A newer book, ''Siwa Past and Present'' (2005) by A. Dumairy, the Director of Siwa Antiquities, discreetly omits all mention of the famous historical practices of the inhabitants.


People

About 80 km (50 mi) in length and 20 km (12 mi) wde, Siwa Oasis is one of Egypt's most isolated settlements with about 24,000 people, mostly Siwi berbers. who developed a very isolated
desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...
culture and a language called Siwi; they are also fluent in the Egyptian dialect of Arabic which is called "Masry" meaning Egyptian.


Economy

Siwa has been noted for its dates since ancient times, and today date palm cultivation is by far the largest component of its economy. In a distant second place, with about one-fifth of the scale as dates, is
olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...
cultivation. Handicrafts like
basketry Basket weaving (also basketry or basket making) is the process of weaving or sewing pliable materials into three-dimensional artifacts, such as baskets, mats, mesh bags or even furniture. Craftspeople and artists specialized in making baskets ...
are also of regional importance.
Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
has in recent decades become a vital source of income. Much attention has been given to creating hotels that use local materials and display local styles.


Archaeology

In the mid-20th century, Egyptian archaeologist
Ahmed Fakhry Ahmed Fakhry ( ar, أحمد فخري) (born in Faiyum Governorate in 1905 – 1973) was an Egyptian archaeologist who worked in the Western desert of Egypt (including in 1940 dig at El Haiz, and then at Siwa), and also in the necropolis at ...
worked at Siwa (and elsewhere in the Western Desert). In 1995, Greek archaeologist Liana Souvaltzi announced that she had identified the tomb of Alexander the Great in the oasis of Siwa. Mrs Liana Souvaltzi made the following statement to the Greek media: “but I am speaking to every Greek all over the world. I want every one of you to feel proud because Greek hands have found this very important monument”. This statement was an answer to the, at the time, Greek prime minister Costas Simitis who urged the archaeologists to stop their research in Egypt and sent a Greek Embassy advisor to ask the Egyptian government to withdraw Mrs Souvaltzi’s permission to excavate in the area. This was the first time in human history that one country's government intervened in another country's internal affairs to stop an archaeological excavation. The case is still active in the Greek courts of law. An extremely old
hominid The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); ''Gorilla'' (the east ...
footprint was discovered in 2007 at Siwa Oasis. Egyptian scientists claimed it could be 2–3 million years old, which would make it the oldest fossilized hominid footprint ever found. However, no proof of this conjecture was ever presented. In late 2013, an announcement was made regarding the apparent
Archaeoastronomy Archaeoastronomy (also spelled archeoastronomy) is the interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary study of how people in the past "have understood the phenomena in the sky, how they used these phenomena and what role the sky played in their cultur ...
discovery of precise spring and fall Equinox sunrise alignments over the Aghurmi mound/Amun Oracle when viewed from Timasirayn temple in the Western Desert, 12 km away across Lake Siwa. The first known recent public viewing of this event occurred on 21 March 2014 during the spring Equinox.


In popular culture

Siwa Oasis is an official map for '' Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory'' which belongs to North Africa Campaign. The fifth mission from the game ''
Sniper Elite III ''Sniper Elite III'' is a 2014 Third-person view, third-person tactical shooter Stealth game, stealth video game developed and published by Rebellion Developments. The game is a prequel to its 2012 predecessor ''Sniper Elite V2'', and is the thir ...
'' takes place on the Siwa Oasis. Siwa is prominently featured in '' Assassin's Creed: Origins'' and is the birthplace and home of protagonist
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'' and '' Never Say Die'' feature Siwa. In Australian author
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'' series of seven novels starting with '' Seven Ancient Wonders'' feature prominently the Oracle of Siwa.


Gallery

File:Oasis Siwa, Egypt (2007-05-075) (868688341).jpg, Panoramic view of Siwa Oasis File:Siwa-Homes2009.jpg, Mud-brick houses in the old town of Shali File:Siwa houses (2007-05-070) (866409866).jpg, Clay houses of old Shali town File:Siwa Oasis, Temple of the Oracle of Amun, Egypt.jpg, Old walls near the temple File:Siwa Oasis2009b.jpg, Siwa salt lake File:Siwa Oasis, Cleopatra's Bath, Egypt.jpg, Cleopatra's bath (Cleopatra's pool) File:Mosque_in_Siwa_Oasis_(2007).jpg, Mosque at Aghurmi File:Siwa oasis in Egypt (2007-05-095) (869634463).jpg, Desert rock formations on the outskirts File:Oracle of Ammun at Siwa.jpg, View through the Temple of the Oracle of Amun to Gebel el-Dakrour File:Desert dunes near Siwa, Egypt (2007-05-117) (869648897).jpg, Sand dunes in the desert near Siwa Oasis File:Pano Siwa depuis Dakrur-Battesti.jpg, A panoramic view of the Siwa Oasis in 2005


See also

* List of cities and towns in Egypt


References


Bibliography

* * * * * Pocket edition : éditions Payot, "Petite Bibliothèque Voyageurs", Paris, 1994. (see link below). * * *


External links


Ministry of Environment Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency - Natural Protectorates Description

The Locally Run Website of Siwa Oasis

Siwawi.com The guide for visiting Siwa Oasis


Archived o



.
Siwa Oasis Photo Gallery

Olive and Palm Groves in Siwa Oasis
{{Authority control Parks in Egypt Classical oracles Oases of Egypt Berbers in Egypt Populated places in Matrouh Governorate Tourism in Egypt National parks of Egypt LGBT in Egypt Springs of Egypt Tourist attractions in Egypt Western Desert (Egypt) Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems