Ruins of the extinct city of Karanis, Kom Oshîm, near Al Fayyūm, Egypt

"Having an area of 490 mi² (1,270 km²), Al Fayyum is an oasis and a distinctive region in character between the main Nile Valley and other desert oases: its fields are watered by a channel of the Nile, the Bahr Yussef, as it drains into a desert depression to the west of the Nile Valley. Karanis was one of the largest Greco-Roman cities in the Fayyum. It was founded in the third century BC, probably by Ptolemy II Philadelphus. The ruins of Karanis are situated on a huge mound which rises about twelve meters above the surround plain. At the time, the town would have been located on the shores of Lake Qarun." This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for American Institute of Architects, directing the Egyptian portion of the documentary on Ancient Egypt, March 1965 and September 1965.