Destinations: The Oasis of Amun Siwa, Egypt - The BAS Library
Login
Home > Magazines > Archaeology Odyssey > January/February 2000

Destinations: The Oasis of Amun Siwa, Egypt

Across the Great Sand Sea lies an ancient necropolis, an oracle of the gods and a melted city.

For the ancient Berbers who traveled across the parched desert on camels, the fertile oasis of Amun Siwa was a paradise; for modern travelers, it’s a trip back in time. Sixty-five miles from the Libyan border, in Egypt’s barren Sahara desert, Siwa lies in a fertile depression about 60 feet below sea level. It is surrounded by enormous dunes, shaped like pyramids or flat-topped plateaus, that seem to stretch into the sky. Approaching the Siwa oasis on the road from Cairo, we see trees and shrubs begin to dot the landscape; then, suddenly, Gebel el-Mawta, the Mountain of Death, […]

Please join the BAS Library or become an All Access member of BAS to gain full access to this article and so much more.

Join the BAS Library!

Already a library member? Log in here.

Footnotes

1.

Some scholars have recently suggested it may be even older, as early as the 3rd Dynasty (2649–2575 B.C.), but these claims are still being investigated.