Known as Al-Qahira or El-Fustat or Memphis.
Memphis
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| Ramses II statue in Memphis |
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| Alabaster Sphinx of Memphis |
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| Babylon Fortress's remains in old Cairo |
Fustat
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| Rendering of Fustat landscape |
The city reached its peak in the
12th century, with a population of approximately 200,000. It was the centre of
administrative power in Egypt, until it was ordered burnt in 1168 by its own
vizier, Shawar, to keep its wealth out of the hands of the invading Crusaders.
The remains of the city were eventually absorbed by nearby Cairo, which had
been built to the north of Fustat in 969 when the Fatimid’s (descents
from Fatimah, the daughter of Islamic prophet Mohammed) conquered the region and created a new city as a
royal enclosure for the Caliph. The area fell into disrepair for hundreds of
years and was used as a rubbish dump.
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| Ben Ezra Synagogue in old Cairo (1892) |
Today, Fustat is part of Old
Cairo, with few buildings remaining from its days as a capital. Many
archaeological digs have revealed the wealth of buried material in the area.
Many ancient items recovered from the site are on display in Cairo's Museum of
Islamic Art.
Fustat was the capital of Egypt
for approximately 500 years. After the city was founded in 641, its authority
was uninterrupted until 750, when the Abbasid dynasty (descendents of El-Abas
Ebn Abbi El-Moutalib uncle of prophet Mohammed) staged a revolt against the Umayyad
(Umayya Ibn Shams from Syria). This conflict was focused not in Egypt, but
elsewhere in the Arab world. When the Abbasids gained power, they moved various
capitals to more controllable areas.
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| Rendering of Ibn Toulum mosque |
According to legend, the location of
Fustat was chosen by a bird: A dove laid an egg in the tent of 'Amr ibn al-'As
(585–664), the Muslim conqueror of Egypt, just before he was to march against
Alexandria in 646. His camp at that time was just north of the Roman fortress
of Babylon. Amr declared the dove's nest as a sign from God, and the tent was
left untouched as he and his troops went off to battle. When they returned
victorious, Amr told his soldiers to pitch their tents around his, giving his
new capital city its name, Miṣr al-Fusṭāṭ, or Fusṭāṭ Miṣr, popularly translated as "City of the
tents", though this is not an exact translation.
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| Late 1800 picture Old Cairo |
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| Moez Street in Al-Qahira |
For thousands of years, the
capital of Egypt was moved with different cultures through multiple locations
up and down the Nile, such as Thebes and Memphis, depending on which dynasty
was in power. After Alexander the Great conquered Egypt around 331 BC, the
capital became the city named after him, Alexandria, on the Mediterranean coast.
This situation remained stable for nearly a thousand years. After the army of
the Arabian Caliph Umar captured the region in the 7th century, shortly after
the death of Muhammad, he wanted to establish a new capital. When Alexandria
fell in September 641, Amr ibn-al-As, the commander of the conquering army,
founded a new capital on the eastern bank of the river.
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| To the right the hanging church (2 bell towers) To the left remains from Babylon fortress (round structure) |
The early population of the city
was composed almost entirely of soldiers and their families, and the layout of
the city was similar to that of a garrison. Amr intended for Fustat to serve as
a base from which to conquer North Africa, as well as to launch further
campaigns against Byzantium. It remained the primary base for Arab expansion in
Africa until Qayrawan was founded in Tunisia in 670.
Fustat developed as a series of
tribal areas, khittas, around the central mosque and administrative buildings.
The majority of the settlers came from Yemen, with the next largest grouping
from western Arabia, along with some Jews and Roman mercenaries. Arabic was
generally the primary spoken dialect in Egypt, and was the language of written
communication. However Coptic was still spoken in Fustat in the 8th century.
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| Inside a very old building |
Fustat was the centre of power in
Egypt under the Umayyad dynasty, which had started with the rule of Muawiyah I,
and headed the Islamic caliphate from 660 to 750. However, Egypt was considered
only a province of larger powers, and was ruled by governors who were appointed
from other Muslim centres such as Damascus, Medina, and Baghdad.
Fustat was a major city, and in
the 9th century, it had a population of approximately 120,000.
Al Qahira
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| Entrance to the Hanging Church |
During that time, Jawhar also
commissioned the construction of the al-Azhar Mosque by order of the Caliph,
which developed into the third-oldest university in the world. Cairo would
eventually become a centre of learning.
The city was known for its
prosperity, with shaded streets, gardens, and markets. It contained high-rise
residential buildings, some seven storey’s tall, which could reportedly
accommodate hundreds of people. Al-Muqaddasi in the 10th century described them
as Minarets, while Nasir Khusraw in the early 11th century described some of
them rising up to 14 stories, with roof gardens on the top storey complete with
ox-drawn water wheels for irrigation.
The Persian traveller,
Nasir-i-Khusron, wrote of the exotic and beautiful wares in the Fustat markets:
iridescent pottery, crystal, and many fruits and flowers, even during the
winter months. From 975 to 1075, Fustat was a major production centre for
Islamic art and ceramics, and one of the wealthiest cities in the world. Modern archaeological digs have turned
up trade artifacts from as far away as Spain, China, and Vietnam. Excavations
have also revealed intricate house and street plans; a basic unit consisted of
rooms built around a central courtyard, with an arcade of arches on one side of
the courtyard being the principal means of access.
Destruction and decline
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| Sabil (water fountain) in old Cairo |
However, in 1168, the Christian
King Amalric I of Jerusalem, who had been trying for years to launch a
successful attack on Egypt in order to expand the Crusader territories, had
finally achieved a certain amount of success. He and his army entered Egypt,
sacked the city of Bilbeis, slaughtered nearly all of its inhabitants, and then
continued on towards Fustat. Amalric and his troops camped just south of the
city, and then sent a message to the young Egyptian caliph Athid, only 18 years
old, to surrender the city or suffer the same fate as Bilbeis.
According to the Egyptian
historian Al-Maqrizi (1346–1442):
Seeing that Amalric's attack was
imminent, Shawar ordered Fustat City burned, to keep it out of Amalric's hands.
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| Mosaic found in Fustat ruins |
Shawar ordered that Fustat be
evacuated. He forced [the citizens] to leave their money and property behind
and flee for their lives with their children. In the panic and chaos of the
exodus, the fleeing crowd looked like a massive army of ghosts.... Some took
refuge in the mosques and bathhouses...awaiting a Christian onslaught similar
to the one in Bilbeis. Shawar sent 20,000 naphtha pots and 10,000 lighting
bombs [mish'al] and distributed them throughout the city. Flames and smoke
engulfed the city and rose to the sky in a terrifying scene. The blaze raged
for 54 days.....
After the destruction of Fustat,
the Syrian forces arrived and successfully repelled Amalric's forces. Then with
the Christians gone, the Syrians were able to conquer Egypt themselves. The
untrustworthy Shawar was put to death, and the reign of the Fatimids was
effectively over. The Syrian general Shirkuh was placed in power, but died due
to ill health just a few months later, after which his nephew Saladin became
vizier of Egypt on March 2, 1169, launching the Ayyubid dynasty.
With Fustat no more than a dying
suburb, the center of government moved permanently to nearby El-Qahira (Cairo).
Saladin later attempted to unite Cairo and Fustat into one city by enclosing
them in massive walls, although this proved to be largely unsuccessful.
While the Mamluks were in power
from the 13th century to the 16th century, the area of Fustat was used as a
rubbish dump, though it still maintained a population of thousands, with the
primary crafts being those of pottery and trash collecting. The layers of
garbage accumulated over hundreds of years, and gradually the population
decreased, leaving what had once been a thriving city as an effective
wasteland.
Today, little remains of the
grandeur of the old city. The three capitals, Fustat, Al-Askar and Al-Qatta'i
were absorbed into the growing city of Cairo. Some of the old buildings remain
visible in the region known as "Old Cairo", but much of the rest has
fallen into disrepair, overgrows with weeds or used as garbage dumps.
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| Courtyard of old house |
It is believed that further
archaeological digs could yield substantial rewards, considering that the
remains of the original city are still preserved under hundreds of years of
rubbish. Some archaeological excavations have taken place, the paths of streets
are still visible, and some buildings have been partially reconstructed to
waist-height. But the site is difficult and dangerous to access because of the
nearby slums. However, some artifacts that have been recovered so far can be
seen in Cairo's Museum of Islamic Art.
Under the Ottomans, Cairo expanded
south and west from its nucleus around the Citadel. The city became the second
largest in the empire, behind Constantinople,
When Napoleon arrived in Cairo in
1798, the city's population was less than 300,000 forty percent lower than it
was at the height of Mamluk influence in the mid-14th century.
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| Saladin / Mohamed Ali Citadel |
The French occupation was
short-lived as British and Ottoman forces, including a sizeable Albanian
contingent, recaptured the country in 1801. Cairo itself was besieged by a
British and Ottoman force culminating with the French surrender on 22 June
1801. The British vacated Egypt two years later, leaving the Ottomans, the
Albanians, and the long-weakened Mamluks jostling for control of the country.
Continued civil war allowed an Albanian officer named Muhammad Ali Pasha to ascend to
the role of commander and eventually, with the approval of the religious
establishment, viceroy of Egypt in 1805.
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| The opera house of Egypt (before burning) |
Until his death in 1848, Muhammad
Ali Pasha instituted a number of social and economic reforms that earned him
the title of founder of modern Egypt. However, while Muhammad Ali initiated the
construction of public buildings in the city, those reforms had minimal effect
on Cairo's landscape. Bigger changes came to Cairo later under Ismail Pasha (r.
1863–1879), who continued the modernization processes started by his
grandfather.
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| Midan Talaat Harb / Soliman Pacha |
Drawing inspiration from Paris, Ismail envisioned a city of maidans (roundabout) and wide avenues; due to financial constraints, only some of them, in the area now composing Downtown Cairo, came to fruition. Ismail also sought to modernize the city, which was merging with neighbouring settlements, by establishing a public works ministry, bringing gas and lighting to the city, and opening a theater and opera house.
Parts of the article and the pictures from Internet sources.
Bonus
سيد درويش - طلعت يا محلا نورها
