Lake Mariout

Lake Mariout (Arabic: بحيرة مريوط Boḥēret Maryūṭ, IPA: [boˈħeːɾet mɑɾˤˈjuːtˤ], also spelled Maryut or Mariut), is a brackish lake in northern Egypt near the city of Alexandria. The lake area covered 200 square kilometres (77 sq mi) and had a navigable canal at the beginning of the 20th century, but at the beginning of the 21st century, it covers only about 50 square kilometres (19 sq mi).

Etymology

The name of Lake Mariout derives from the Hellenized name of Mareotis (Ancient Greek: Μαρεῶτις) or Marea, by which it was known in the Ptolemaic Period.

Overview

In antiquity, the lake was much larger than it is now, extending further to the south and west and occupying around 700 square kilometres (270 sq mi). It had no mouth connecting it to the Mediterranean, being fed with Nile water via a number of canals. By the twelfth century the lake had dwindled to a collection of salt lakes and salt flats and it had dried up by the Late Middle Ages.

Until the 18th century the lake was fresh water, though much of it would dry up annually during the period shortly before the Nile flooded it again. A storm in 1770 breached the sea wall at Abu Qir, creating a seawater lake known as Lake Abu Qir. The salt waters were kept separate from Lake Mariout by the canal that allowed fresh water to travel from the Nile to Alexandria. As part of the Siege of Alexandria, on 13 March 1801, the British cut the canal, allowing a great rush of sea water from Lake Abu Qir into Lake Mariout. Lake Abu Qir ceased to exist, and Lake Mariout became brackish instead of fresh.

The salt-water flood also destroyed 150 villages while refilling Lake Mariout so that it suddenly regained its ancient area and became too shallow for navigation. Alexandria's access to the Nile was lost, necessitating the opening of the Mahmoudiyah Canal from Alexandria to the Nile in 1820.

Lake Mariout is separated from the Mediterranean Sea by the narrow isthmus on which the city of Alexandria was built. The lake shore is home to fisheries and saltworks. As far back as the early 1900s, it was documented that salt was being refined from the western part of the lake.

According to some records, a homonymous nome was located on the shores of this lake.