Moeris

• Moeris, a king of Egypt in the fifteenth century A. C., who caused the lake which bears his name to be excavated: Moeridis lacus, Plin. 5, 9, 9, § 50.—Hence,

• the Lake Moeris, in Egypt, an artificial lake, fifty miles in width, between Memphis and Arsinoë, designed as a reservoir to hold the superfluous water of the Nile when overflowing, now Birket-Karum, Mel. 1, 9, 5 (ap. Plin. always Moeridis lacus).

• the name of a shepherd and sorcerer, Verg. E. 8, 96, 98; 9, 1; 53, etc.

or Myris (Μοῖρις, Μύρις), a king of Egypt, who, Herodotus tells us, reigned some 900 years before his own visit to that country, which seems to have been about B. C. 450. According to Diodorus, he was twelve generations after Uchoreus, the founder of Memphis. We hear of Moeris that he erected the northern gateway of the temple of Hephaestus at Memphis, and that he formed the lake known by his name and joined it by a canal to the Nile, in order to receive the waters of the river when they were superabundant, and to supply the defect when they did not rise sufficiently. In the lake he built two pyramids, on each of which was a stone statue, seated on a throne, and intended to represent himself and his wife. The revenue from the fishing of the lake was very large, and was given to the queen for her personal expences in dress and perfumes. According to a statement of Anticleides, quoted by Diogenes Laertius, Moeris was the discoverer of the elements of geometry. (Hdt. 2.13, 101, 149; Diod. 1.52; Plin. Nat. 5.9, 36.13; Strab. xvii. pp. 789, 809, 810; D. L. 8.11; comp. Menag. ad loc.; Plat. Phacdr. p. 274; Bunsen, Aegyptens Stelle in der Weltgeschichte, vol. ii. p. 198, &c.) [E.E]

(Μοῖρις), commonly called MOERIS ATTI'CISTA, a distinguished grammarian. Μοίριδος Ἀττικιστοῦ λέξεις Ἀττικῶν καὶ Ἑλλήνων κατὰ στοιχεῖον

The name to which a treatise on Greek dialets is attributed. Of the personal history of the author nothing is known. He is conjectured to have lived about the end of the second century after Christ. His treatise is a sort of comparison of the Attic with other Greek dialects ; consisting of a list of Attic words and expressions, which are illustrated or explained by those of other dialects, especially the comnon Greek. Μοίριδος Ἀττικιστοῦ λέξεις Ἀττικῶν καὶ Ἑλλήνων κατὰ στοιχεῖον

He is the author of a work which is still extant, entitled Μοίριδος Ἀττικιστοῦ λέξεις Ἀττικῶν καὶ Ἑλλήνων κατὰ στοιχεῖον, though the title varies somewhat in different manuscripts. Photius (Phot. Bibl. 157) gives Ἀττικιστής as the name of the treatise itself. In some manuscripts the name of the author is given as Eumoeris or Enumoerides. Editions

Though various manuscripts had been referred to by different scholars, the work was first published in 1712, at Oxford, edited by Hudson. A better edition is that by Pierson. More recent editions have appeared in Germany by Koch and Jacobitz. [C.P.M]

(Μοῖρις) or Myris (Μύρις). A supposed king of Egypt, who is said to have dug, about B.C. 1350, the great lake known by his name. It covered over sixty square miles at the entrance to the Fayûm; and was really constructed by Amenemhat III. of the Twelfth Dynasty about B.C. 2300. It was employed for storing the water of the Nile for irrigation, and is now properly to be identified with the natural lake Borket-el-Kurûn. Herodotus says that the king erected two pyramids in the lake, one supporting a statue of himself and the other a statue of his wife. Remains of these pyramids have been discovered in modern times. The name Moeris is the Egyptian meri, “a lake,” and no such king as Moeris ever lived. See Herod. ii. 13, 101, 149; Diod.i. 52; Pliny H. N. v. 9, 50; xxxvii. 12, 76; and Linant Bey, Mémoire sur le Lac Moeris (1843).

Aelius. Known as “the Atticist” (Moeris Atticista). A Greek grammarian of the second century A.D. He was the author of an Attic lexicon (Λέξεις Ἀττικαί), a list, in alphabetical order, of a number of expressions and forms used by Attic writers, with the parallel expressions used in his own time, and in other dialects. It is edited by Pierson (1759) and Bekker (1833).

• Hdt. 2.13
• his work at Memphis and elsewhere: Hdt. 2.101
• lake of Moeris (in the Fayyum) and labyrinth adjacent described: Hdt. 2.69, Hdt. 2.148, Hdt. 2.149
• revenue of Persia from it: Hdt. 3.91