What is "karanis"

Karanis , located in modern Kom Aushim, was an agricultural town in Graeco-Roman Egypt, located in the northeast corner of the Fayum. "It was one of a number of towns established in the Arsinoite nome under Ptolemy II Philadelphus as part of a scheme to settle Greek mercenaries among the indigenous Egyptians and to exploit the potential fertile Fayum basin".