Fayyum (160), a fertile province of Central Egypt, lies W. of the Nile, 65 miles from Cairo, is in reality a southern oasis in the Libyan desert, irrigated by means of a canal running through a narrow gorge to the Nile valley; its area is about 840 sq. m., a portion of which is occupied by a sheet of water, the Birket-el-Kern (35 m. long), known to the ancients as Lake Moeris, and by the shores of which stood one of the wonders of the world, the famous "Labyrinth."