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Hawara 'Labyrinth' and the Faiyum Works of the 12th Dynasty

Amenemhat III's vast administrative temple and the land reclamation many link to Yosef's era

Egypt & the Exodus · palace / house, temple / altar, water system · Debated · found 1843

Eroded mud-brick pyramid in the desert with a flat field of rubble before it
Photo: Einsamer Schütze · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Found 1843 — Karl Richard Lepsius (Prussian expedition, 1843) located the site; Flinders Petrie excavated it in 1888–89 and 1911

Where Hawara, at the mouth of the Faiyum depression, near the Bahr Yussef (Egypt)

Dates from c. 1860–1800 BCE (Senusret III and Amenemhat III) · Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty · Yosef in Egypt (one proposed setting)

Now at Site; finds in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, the Petrie Museum (London) and the Ashmolean (Oxford)

How Hawara 'Labyrinth' and the Faiyum Works of the 12th Dynasty was found

Herodotus and Strabo described a 'Labyrinth' beside a pyramid at the entrance to the Faiyum with thousands of rooms. Lepsius found brick chambers there; Petrie showed that the building had been quarried away to its foundations, a bed of limestone chips 300 by 250 m, and recovered statues of Sobek and Hathor and shrines of Amenemhat III. Geophysical work by the Mataha expedition (2008) mapped sub-surface walls.

What it is

Amenemhat III's mud-brick pyramid, once cased in limestone, and beside it the foundation platform of the largest building of Middle Kingdom Egypt, about 28,000 square metres. Classical writers said it had twelve courts and 3,000 rooms and served as an assembly place for all the nomes. The same kings dug and dredged the channel into the Faiyum, built dikes and reclaimed farmland around Lake Moeris, and set up the colossal statues at Biahmu.

Why it matters for the Bible

Many who place Yosef (Joseph) in the Middle Kingdom see the 12th Dynasty as the natural setting: a strong central government, a huge state administrative building at the gate of the Faiyum, large-scale grain storage and land reclamation, and a canal still called Bahr Yussef ('Joseph's waterway'). These are the kind of works Genesis 47 describes, when Yosef reorganised Egypt's land under Pharaoh. The archaeology is solid and undisputed; the connection to Yosef is a chronological argument, not an inscription, and Egyptologists date the Faiyum works to the kings, not to any Semitic vizier.

Debated: The site and the Faiyum reclamation are fully accepted archaeology; the association with Yosef is a proposed setting favoured by some evangelical scholars and not an identification supported by any text.

The Hebrew word: mish-NEH

מִשְׁנֶה

מִשְׁנֶה is pronounced mish-NEH and means second (in rank); Yosef rode in Pharaoh's second chariot (Strong's H4932).

People this discovery connects to

Places

Events

Yosef's administration of Egypt's grain and land (proposed setting)

Hawara 'Labyrinth' and the Faiyum Works of the 12th Dynasty in Scripture

Genesis 30:24 First mention of Joseph in Scripture.

Genesis 41:43 Yosef is made second in Egypt; a vizier of Amenemhat III's court is the role proponents imagine.

Genesis 47:20-21 Yosef buys all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh and reorganises the population; the 12th Dynasty's centralised land works are cited as the setting.

Questions people ask

What is Hawara 'Labyrinth' and the Faiyum Works of the 12th Dynasty?
Amenemhat III's mud-brick pyramid, once cased in limestone, and beside it the foundation platform of the largest building of Middle Kingdom Egypt, about 28,000 square metres. Classical writers said it had twelve courts and 3,000 rooms and served as an assembly place for all the nomes. The same kings dug and dredged the channel into the Faiyum, built dikes and reclaimed farmland around Lake Moeris, and set up the colossal statues at Biahmu.

When was Hawara 'Labyrinth' and the Faiyum Works of the 12th Dynasty discovered?
It was found in 1843 by Karl Richard Lepsius (Prussian expedition, 1843) located the site; Flinders Petrie excavated it in 1888–89 and 1911, at Hawara, at the mouth of the Faiyum depression, near the Bahr Yussef.

Where is Hawara 'Labyrinth' and the Faiyum Works of the 12th Dynasty today?
Site; finds in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, the Petrie Museum (London) and the Ashmolean (Oxford).

Which Bible verses does Hawara 'Labyrinth' and the Faiyum Works of the 12th Dynasty relate to?
Genesis 30:24, Genesis 41:43, Genesis 47:20-21.

Is Hawara 'Labyrinth' and the Faiyum Works of the 12th Dynasty authentic?
The site and the Faiyum reclamation are fully accepted archaeology; the association with Yosef is a proposed setting favoured by some evangelical scholars and not an identification supported by any text.

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Sources

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