Siwa Oasis
Government
Siwa (Egyptian: Sekhetam = " Palm Land "; Arab واحات سيوة, DMG Wahat Siwa ) than the western group in Egypt oasis in the Libyan desert and extends between the Qattara Depression in the north and the Egyptian Sand Sea in the south. It extends over a length of 80 km and a width of 2-20 km and lies as depression, on average, 18 m below sea level.
Siwa is home to approximately 23,000 inhabitants, the majority of the population belongs to the group of Berber. In the Siwa Berber language Siwi is spoken. The Oasis Group is thus the only Berber -speaking enclave of Egypt.
Apart from the main town of Siwa are still some villages ( Aghurmi, Abu Schuruf, Chamisa, Bilad ar-Rum and Bahi al-Din ) and military bases scattered throughout the oasis. The large gardens and orchards in Siwa primarily consist of about 300,000 date palms and 70,000 olive trees. For local consumption, vegetables, grapes, figs, oranges, apricots and other agricultural products are grown the same time.
History
The history of the oasis can be traced to the 18th dynasty (1500 BC) to trace. The main temple, which was dedicated to the god Amun, and the sayings of his oracle were known far beyond the borders of the empire of the Pharaohs. The most famous visitor of the oracle is undoubtedly Alexander the Great, the power and influence of the oracle used and was welcomed as a " son of Zeus " in Siwa.
In ancient times, Siwa was under the name Ammonion or ammonium as the oracle of the Bedouins are known (see Oracle of Siwa ). At the end of the 18th century was the location of the so-called Ammon oasis in which Alexander the Great consulted the oracle, in Europe hardly known. After Johann Michael Wansleben ( 1664) visited only William George Browne (1792 ) and Friedrich Conrad Hornemann the sink and delivered by our own view notes for the identification of Ammon Oasis and Siwa.
Gallery
Siwa Lake
Waterhole in the oasis of Siwa
Temple of Amun of Siwa Oasis
Shali ( "Old Siwa " )