SIWA, an oasis in the Libyan Desert, politically part of Egypt. It is also known as the oasis of Amon or Jupiter Ammon; its ancient Egyptian name was Sekhet-am, "Palm-land." The oasis lies about 35o m. W.S.W. of Cairo; its chief town, also called Siwa, being situated in 12' N., 3o' E. The oasis is some 6 m. long by 4 to 5 wide. Ten miles north-east is the small oasis of Zetun, and westward of Siwa extends for some 5o m. a chain of little oases. The population of Siwa proper is nearly 4,000. The inhabitants are of Libyan (Berber) stock and have a lan guage of their own, but also speak Arabic. The oasis is extremely fertile and contains many thousands of date palms. The town of Siwa is built on two rocks and resembles a fortress. The houses are frequently built on arches spanning the streets, which are narrow and irregular.
The oasis owes its distinction to the oracle temple of Amon, which was already famous in the time of Heroclotus, and was con sulted by Alexander the Great. The remains of the temple are in the walled village of Aghormi, 2 m. E. of the town of Siwa. It is a small building, with inscriptions dating from the 4th century B.C. The oracle fell into disrepute during the Roman occupation
of Egypt, and was reported dumb by Pausanias, c. A.D. 160. Near the temple are the scanty remains of another temple of the same century, Umm Beda, with reliefs depicting the prince of the oasis making offerings to Amon, "lord of oracles." At Jebel Muta, I m. N.E. of Siwa, are tombs of Ptolemaic and Roman date; To m. E. of Aghormi is a well-preserved chapel, with Roman graves ; at Kasr Rumi is a temple of the Roman period.
The oasis lies close to the Tripolitan frontier and is largely dominated by the sect of the Senussi (q.v.), whose headquarters were formerly at Jarabub, to the north-west. The Senussi suc cessfully prevented various explorers penetrating westward be yond Siwa. The first European to reach Siwa since Roman time was W. G. Browne, who visited the oasis in 1792. There were serious disturbances in 1909, and as a result in 1910 a telegraph line was built across the desert from Alexandria to the oasis.