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History of Cairo |
While the City of Cairo sprang from the foundations of a "recent"
town, by Egyptian historical standards, it is no wonder that this
location developed the foremost Egyptian city. With one of the few
river crossings, the area around Cairo was originally settled in Paleolithic
times and later saw the development of Neolithic trading communities.
Yet it was Menes, the legendary first King-God of the Dynastic
period who united upper and lower Egypt and established his capital
at Memphis. While it has been suggested that Memphis already existed
upon Menes arrival, what is known is that this city, with its ruins
15 miles south of current Cairo, was a dominate influence throughout
most of Egypt's pharaonic history. Nearby Memphis (nine miles north
and on the opposite side of the Nile) was the contemporary religious
center of On located in the community the Greeks called Heliopolis,
not to be confused with the nearby modern suburb of Cairo by the
same name.
In 525 BC, the invading Persians conquered Egypt and built a strategic
fort north of Memphis called Babylon-on-the-Nile. This was where
the Persians controlled Egypt until its capture by Alexander in
332 BC. During the Greek period, the fort in Cairo held little importance,
but after the Roman conquest, it regained prominence as a stronghold
because of its strategic location guarding the Roman trade routes.
The Roman general Trajan repaired the old Red Sea Canal, originally
built by the pharaohs, which allowed vessels to sail up the Red
Sea, turn west toward Babylon, and then down the Nile to the Mediterranean.
During the Roman period, Babylon continued to be a dominant influence
in the region and a Christian community grew up around it, which
was likewise a prominent center of the new religion. It was here
that St. Mark lived, and where St. Peter sent his greetings from
the sister church in Rome. But in the later Roman period, the Coptic
church of Egypt grew apart from most of the world's Christianity.
This split resulted in unrest and often persecution of the Coptics.
Hence, when the Arab Muslims led by Amr arrived in 640 AD, Babylon
was an easy target and was captured after a disastrous battle for
the Romans. Soon, all of Egypt was in the hands of the Islamic Arabs.
Legend has it that when Amr departed the Babylon area to lay siege
to Alexandria, he left his tent standing in the tent camp next to
Babylon. Upon his return, the tent was still standing and a dove
had built a nest in it. So it was here that Amr built his Mosque,
the first in Egypt, and around the Mosque, Fustat or al-Fustat al-Misr
(the Camp of Egypt), the City of the Tents and the original Muslim
capital of Egypt grew up from his original tent encampment to finally
become Cairo. This encampment was divided into khittat, or districts
which originally divided the various Arab tribes which made up Amr's
army.
Throughout ancient times, Egypt has been one of the most important
trade routes for the world and so it was from that, just as the
archaic cities which proceeded Fustat, this new city also prospered
from all manner of goods which where transshipped to wealthy markets
in Europe. They also developed their own markets in spices, textiles
and perfumes which were legendary throughout the world. Beginning
as a haphazard conglomeration of tents and huts, Fustat grew into
a sophisticated commercial center where its residents enjoyed great
wealth. They built high rise houses with rooftop gardens, public
baths modeled from the Romans (but smaller, earning the name al-hammamat
al-far, or mouse baths). Their architecture grew in both splendor
and magnitude, and they even built covered streets to protect themselves
from the sun.
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