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Moeris

Μοῖρις) or Myris (Μύρις). A supposed king of Egypt, who is said to have dug, about B.C. 1350, the great lake known by his name. It covered over sixty square miles at the entrance to the Fayûm; and was really constructed by Amenemhat III. of the Twelfth Dynasty about B.C. 2300. It was employed for storing the water of the Nile for irrigation, and is now properly to be identified with the natural lake Borket-el-Kurûn. Herodotus says that the king erected two pyramids in the lake, one supporting a statue of himself and the other a statue of his wife. Remains of these pyramids have been discovered in modern times. The name Moeris is the Egyptian meri, “a lake,” and no such king as Moeris ever lived. See Herod. ii. 13, 101, 149; Diod. i. 52; Pliny , Pliny H. N. v. 9, 50; xxxvii. 12, 76; and Linant Bey, Mémoire sur le Lac Moeris (1843).

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  • Cross-references from this page (2):
    • Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 37.12
    • Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 5.9
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