Faiyum Oasis

food and sex aside from these appetites his personality is something of a blank perhaps it could even be called reptilian unlike other egyptian deities who have rich human-like personal characteristics sobek was simple he brought good things such as abundant crops but he mostly wanted to eat and make babies and perhaps it was in this regard that he was a relatable god despite his terrifying appearance and aloof personality many people can relate to these basic animal drives The origins of Sobek are shrouded in mystery, but he probably dates to prehistoric times.

Belief in Sobek originated in the area of the Fayum Oasis, a large inland lake west of the Nile Valley, which is fed by a branch of the river.

The Fayum is an area of marshes and fertile farmland, cut off from the main course of river traffic along the Nile.

Crocodiles were abundant there in ancient times, and the people there saw them as a symbol of the power of the natural world.

The M further north stands for Meso-Chemic, or Middle Egyptian, a term that's a little confusing because Middle Egyptian is also what we call the second major stage of the Egyptian language, so some scholars have shifted to calling this Oxyrhynchite, after the city of Oxyrhynchus, where bunches of ancient manuscripts have been discovered, including that manuscript of the Gospel of Thomas that we started with.

The F here is next to a fertile basin west of the Nile called the Fayyum Oasis, and the dialect found here we call Fayyumic.

It's best known for transposing the R sound into an L and E into I, so a common Coptic word like rōmē, meaning human, is written as lōmē.

Finally, in the Nile Delta, we have B, which stands for Bohairic.

Um,

Yeah, there were 2,000 armed men scattered throughout the palm trees at Al Fayoum before the sun had reached its high point.

So 500 tribesmen appeared on the horizon.

So, like, they were prepared for whatever may or may not happen.

Senyusret assumed sole rule around 1962 BC, just a few dozen years after Ishbi-era's expulsion of the Shamashki from Ur.

His capital of Ijetawi, Caesar of the Two Lands, was located 20 miles south of Memphis, near the Fayum Oasis.

Again, since his father had likely overthrown the previous native Theban dynasty, he may have wanted to establish a little distance, though he could also bill it as a return to the lands of their old kingdom forebears.

Where the 11th dynasty had unified Egypt and forged the Middle Kingdom, the 12th dynasty would take up the task of Egypt's revitalization.

Yeah, and I think that's the technical final destination, too.

It's called Al Fayoum, I think it is.

Yeah.

But that's the oasis that they're heading towards.