Al-Baḥariyya

Bahariyya is an oasis in a depression of Egypt's Western Desert, surrounded by barren hills and plateau. Springs sustain gardens of date palms and olives far from the Nile Valley. The oasis was already known in the Middle Kingdom, when its agricultural products reached the river settlements. It prospered in Egypt's Twenty-sixth Dynasty, leaving tombs and temples that testify to the wealth of its local rulers and inhabitants.