A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

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]