Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Egyptian capital Cairo (Al-Qahira)


Known as Al-Qahira or El-Fustat or Memphis.

Memphis
Ramses II statue in Memphis
Memphis located close the Sakara Pyramids in now Gizeh became the capital of Ancient Egypt for over eight consecutive dynasties during the Old Kingdom (c. 2686–2181 BC). The city reached a peak of prestige under the 6th dynasty as a centre for the worship of Ptah, the god of creation and artworks. The alabaster sphinx that guards the Temple of Ptah serves as a memorial of the city's former power and prestige. The Memphis triad, consisting of the creator god Ptah, his consort Sekhmet, and their son Nefertem, formed the main focus of worship in the city.

Alabaster Sphinx of Memphis
Memphis declined briefly after the 18th dynasty with the rise of (1549/1550 BC to 1292 BC.) Thebes and the New Kingdom, and was revived under the Persians before falling firmly into second place following the foundation of Alexandria. Under the Roman Empire, Alexandria remained the most important Egyptian City. Memphis remained the second city of Egypt until the establishment of Fustat (or Fostat) in 641 CE. It was then largely abandoned and became a source of stone for the surrounding settlements. It was still an imposing set of ruins in the 12th century but soon became a little more than an expanse of low ruins and scattered stone.


Babylon Fortress's remains in old Cairo
The area around present-day Cairo, especially Memphis, had long been a focal point of Ancient Egypt due to its strategic location just upstream from the Nile Delta. However, the origins of the modern city are generally traced back to a series of settlements in the first millennium. Around the turn of the 4th century, as Memphis was continuing to decline in importance, the Romans established a fortress town along the East bank of the Nile. This fortress, known as Babylon, was the nucleus of the Roman and then the Byzantine City and is the oldest structure in the city today. It is also situated at the nucleus of the Coptic Orthodox community, which separated from the Roman and Byzantine churches in the late 4th century. Many of Cairo's oldest Coptic churches, including the Hanging Church, are located along the fortress walls in a section of the city known as Coptic Cairo.

Fustat
Rendering of Fustat landscape
El-Fustat (Arabic: الفسطاط), was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule. It was built by the Muslim general 'Amr ibn al-'As immediately after the Muslim conquest of Egypt in AD 641, and featured the Mosque of Amr, the first mosque built in Egypt and in all of Africa.

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.

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.

Rendering of Ibn Toulum mosque
They had established the centre of their caliphate in Baghdad, moving the capital from its previous Umayyad location at Damascus. Similar moves were made throughout the new dynasty. In Egypt, they moved the capital from Fustat slightly north to the Abbasid city of al-Askar (city of the solders مدينة العسكري ), which remained the capital until 868. When the Tulunid dynasty (from Turkish origins) took control in 868, the Egyptian capital moved briefly to another nearby northern city, Al-Qatta'I build by “Ahmed Ebn Tulun”. This lasted only until 905, when Al-Qatta'i was destroyed and the capital was returned to Fustat. The city again lost its status as capital city when its own vizier, Shawar, ordered it's burning in 1168. The capital of Egypt was ultimately moved to Cairo.


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, Mir al-Fusā, or Fusā Mir, popularly translated as "City of the tents", though this is not an exact translation.

Late 1800 picture Old Cairo
The word Mir was an ancient Semitic root designating Egypt, but in Arabic also has the meaning of a large city or metropolis (or, as a verb, "to civilize"), so the name Mir al-Fusā could mean "Metropolis of the Tent". Fusā Mir would mean "The Pavilion of Egypt". Egyptians to this day call Cairo "Mir", or, colloquially, Mar, even though this is properly the name of the whole country of Egypt. The country's first mosque, the Mosque of Amr, was later built in 642 on the same site of the commander's tent.

Moez Street in Al-Qahira
The Mosque of Amr ibn-al-As. Though none of the original structure remains was the first one built in Egypt, and it was around this location, at the site of the tent of the commander Amr ibn-al-As, that the city of Fustat was built.

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.

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.


Inside a very old building
Archaeological digs have found many kilns (high temperature ovens) and ceramic fragments in Fustat, and it was likely an important production location for Islamic ceramics during the Fatimid period.
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
Entrance to the Hanging Church
When General Gawhar (Fatimit General) captured the region, he founded a new city just north of Fustat on August 8, 969, naming it Al Qahira (Cairo) "the Vanquisher" or "the Conqueror", supposedly due to the fact that the planet Mars, an-Najm al-Qāhir "the Conquering Star", was rising at the time when the city was founded, and in 971, the Fatimid Caliph al-Mo'ezz moved his court from al-Mansuriya in Tunisia to Al Qahira in Egypt. Al Qahira was not intended as a center of government at the time, it was used primarily as the royal enclosure for the Caliph and his court and army, while Fustat remained the capital in terms of economic and administrative power. The City thrived and grew, and in 987, the geographer Ibn Hawkal wrote that al-Fustat was approximately one-third the size of Baghdad. By 1168, it had a population of 200,000.
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
Sabil (water fountain) in old Cairo
In the mid-12th century, the caliph of Egypt was the teenager Athid, but his position was primarily ceremonial. The true power in Egypt was that of the vizier, Shawar. He had been involved in extensive political intrigue for years, working to repel the advances of both the Christian Crusaders, and the forces of the Nur al-Din from Syria. Shawar managed this by constantly shifting alliances between the two, playing them against each other, and in effect keeping them in a stalemate where neither army could successfully attack Egypt without being blocked by the other.

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.

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.

Courtyard of old house
The oldest-remaining building from the area is probably the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, from the 9th century, which was built while the capital was in Al-Qatta'i. The first mosque ever built in Egypt (and by extension, the first mosque built in Africa), the Mosque of Amr, is still in use, but has been extensively rebuilt over the centuries, and nothing remains of the original structure. In February 2017 the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization was inaugurated on a site adjacent to the mosque.

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.

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.


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. 
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