Herodotus once said: "Egypt is the gift of the Nile." Surrounded by the inhospitable Sahara Desert, the Nile indeed provides life. Its floods, rich with silts, made the river’s shores one of the most fertile lands on the planet, providing bountiful harvests for the ancient Egyptians. However, these floods could also displace countless numbers of Egyptians. This made controlling the Nile waters crucial to ensuring prosperity. This begs the question: How did ancient Egypt control the Nile?
Our story begins during the Bronze Age, with Egypt being ruled by its 12th Dynasty. This Dynasty is known to have built numerous projects aimed at increasing the agricultural output of Egypt. The region that saw the most investment by these pharaohs is now known as the Faiyum, back then known as the Ta-she, which means "land of the lakes." This name comes from the fact that the region lay in a depression that filled up with water whenever the Nile overflowed, creating many lakes. This made the region so lush that numerous groups of people came from the surrounding arid plateaus to settle, attracted by the abundant game and grasses.
As such, many pharaohs tried to take advantage of this land and built many irrigation systems in the Faiyum. Nevertheless, it is believed that during the reign of Amenemhat III, in the 19th century BCE, a canal linking the Nile to the Faiyum was opened. This canal would branch off from the Nile in the city of Assiut. From there, it would follow the previously mentioned depression, although now expanded, flowing parallel to the Nile for hundreds of kilometers until it reached the city of Lahun, where stood a dam which served as a regulatory station for the canal.
At Lahun, the waterway would be either closed or opened depending on the time of the year. When the dam’s sluices were closed in January, the waterways would be drained and cleared in order to be ready for the year's flood. Officially, after crossing this dam, one would find themselves in the Faiyum proper, where the remainder of the canal would discharge into Lake Moeris. During the flood season, Lake Moeris was estimated to double in size, providing the Egyptians with 27,000 new acres of farmland.
Nowadays, this canal is known as the Bahr Yussef, but to the Greeks, it was known as Dioryx Megale—the Great Canal. This title is well justified, as its construction revolutionized the Faiyum for millennia to come, still being used to this very day as an important irrigation system.
The construction of the Great Canal underlines the ancient Egyptians' incredible engineering prowess. The ability to harness and control the life-giving waters of the Nile ensured that Egypt could flourish even in the face of the challenges posed by its natural environment. This remarkable feat of engineering not only provided practical benefits but also underscored the ingenuity and forward-thinking of ancient Egyptian society.
