King Tut-Ankh-Amun Original name TUTANKHATEN (fl. 14th century BC), king of Egypt (reigned 1333-23 BC), known chiefly for his intact tomb discovered in 1922. During his reign, powerful advisers restored the traditional religion and art style after the death of Akhenaton, who had led the “Amarna revolution.” Medical analysis of his mummy shows that Tutankhaten was probably a brother of Smenkhkare, his immediate predecessor, and son-in-law of the great King Akhenaton, with whom Smenkhkare was coregent. As suggested by a docket from Tell el-Amarna (Akhenaton’s capital Akhetaton) and other circumstantial evidence, young Tutankhaten probably became king after the deaths of Akhenaton and his coregent. Seals from Tell el-Amarna suggest that Tutankhaten resided there during his first year or two. He was married to Akhenaton’s third daughter, probably the eldest surviving princess of the royal family, to solidify his claim to the throne. Because at his accession he was still young, his vizier and regent, Ay, who had ties with the royal family, and the general of the armies, Horemheb, became his chief advisers. Under their tutelage, Tutankhaten moved his residence to Memphis, the administrative capital, near modern Cairo, and restored his father’s Theban palace. He also changed his name, at the latest by the fourth year of his reign, to Tutankhamen and issued a decree restoring the temples, images, personnel, and privileges of the old gods and also admitting the errors of Akhenaton’s course. In spite of these capitulations to the Amon priesthood, no proscription or persecution of Aten, Akhenaton’s god, was undertaken. Royal vineyards (up to the king’s death) and elements of the army still remained named after the Aten. During his ninth year, perhaps under Horemheb, the Egyptians marched into Syria to assist Egypt’s old ally, the Mitannian kingdom of northern Syria, which was embroiled in hostilities with vassals of the Hittites. As reinforcements sent by the Hittite king hastened to aid his vassals, Tutankhamen unexpectedly died, aged about 18 years. Because none of his children survived, Ay succeeded him, perhaps marrying his widow. Some time after his death, Tutankhamen’s tomb in western Thebes (not his original, which Ay had appropriated for himself) was entered twice by plunderers who, however, were caught after doing only minor damage. The burial chamber was not entered and remained intact until it was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, the English Egyptologist who excavated the tomb. When in the 19th dynasty the “Amarna kings”–Akhenaton, Smenkhkare, Tutankhamen, and Ay–were stricken from the royal lists and publicly condemned, the location of Tutankhamen’s tomb was forgotten, and his relatively few monuments were usurped, chiefly by his former general, Horemheb, who later became pharaoh. In the 20th dynasty, when the tomb of Ramses VI was cut immediately above that of Tutankhamen, the stone rubble dumped down the side of the valley covered the young king’s tomb with a deep layer of chips. The workers of the 20th dynasty came close to Tutankhamen’s tomb and clearly had no knowledge of it. The tomb escaped the great series of robberies at the end of the 20th dynasty and was preserved until a systematic search of the Valley of the Kings revealed its location. Inside his small tomb, the king’s mummy lay within a nest of three coffins, the innermost of solid gold, the two outer ones of gold hammered over wooden frames. On the king’s head was a magnificent golden portrait mask, and numerous pieces of jewelry and amulets lay upon the mummy and in its wrappings. The coffins and stone sarcophagus were surrounded by four shrines of hammered gold over wood, covered with texts, which practically filled the burial chamber. The other rooms were crammed with furniture, statuary, clothes, a chariot, weapons, staffs, and numerous other objects. But for his tomb, Tutankhamen had little claim to fame; as it is, he is perhaps better known than any of his longer lived and better documented predecessors and successors.

It is the dream of every archaeologist to dig in the Valley of the Kings, the burial ground of the monarchs of the New Kingdom (ca. 1500-1100 BC). Of all the sites in Egypt, this is one of the most magical. It is hard to believe that, of the 63 tombs found in the valley, not one was officially discovered by an Egyptian archaeologist.

For the last two centuries, the valley has been explored by adventurers and tomb robbers as well as archaeologists. The most exciting discovery here, indeed the most fabulous find in the history of Egyptology, was made on November 4, 1922, when British excavator Howard Carter found the intact tomb of Tutankhamun (known as KV 62). The story of this great find, and the magnificent objects that were recovered (over 5,000 of them) still captures the hearts of the world, and overshadows many of the other important discoveries that have been made in the Valley, such as the mostly-intact tomb of Yuya and Tjuya, who were probably the great-grandparents of King Tut, and the tomb of Amenhotep II.

When I was young, I went to work on the West Bank at Thebes, where the Valley of the Kings is located, with the University of Pennsylvania-Yale Expedition to Malkata. Malkata is the site of the palace of Amenhotep III, the grandfather of Tut. It lies in the floodplain south and east of the royal Valley. I was one of over 30 young Egyptian archaeologists working with foreign expeditions in the area. This was during the 1973 war, and we were not allowing foreign archaeologists to work at any other sites, so many of us were was gathered at Thebes.

My colleagues and I used to meet in the afternoon at El Marsam Hotel, owned by a man named Shiekh Ali Abdel Rassoul, the last surviving member of the Abdel Rassoul family. In the 19th and early 20th century, the Abdel Rassouls were known as the most successful tomb robbers in the area. In 1871 (or perhaps before), they had stumbled across a deep shaft that led to a series of corridors containing the mummies of many of the kings and queens of the New Kingdom. The royal mummies had been hidden in this secret cache during the Third Intermediate Period, when the central government could no longer guard the Valley of the Kings. The family kept the find hidden for ten years, until the Antiquities Service tracked them down and forced them to reveal their secret. The Abdel Rassouls had also led Victor Loret, then head of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, to the Bab el-Gasus, a tomb containing over 150 mummies and coffins from the Third Intermediate Period, and to the tomb of Amenhotep II in the Valley of the Kings, where more royal mummies had been cached in ancient times.

The Tunnel in the Tomb of Seti I My friends and I used to sit with Sheikh Ali at night, laughing and playing games. But the Sheikh felt that I was different from the others, and he would single me out. We spent a lot of time talking, just the two of us, about many different things. One day he asked me to go with him to the Valley of the Kings, into the burial chamber of the tomb of Seti I.

He pointed out the entrance to a roughly-cut tunnel, which he told me descended for about 100 meters (300 feet) and ended in the secret burial chamber of Seti I.

I found out later that although there certainly is a long tunnel, Seti I’s real burial cannot be hidden at the end, as he was clearly buried in the main part of the tomb. The king’s massive alabaster sarcophagus was found in the burial chamber tomb by Italian adventurer Giovanni Belzoni in 1817.

He took this to England, and it is now displayed in the Sir John Soane Museum in London. More important is the fact the Seti I’s mummy was found in the first royal mummy cache, the one found by the Abdel Rassouls in 1871. But Sheikh Ali told me that one day I would become an important archaeologist, and it would be my destiny to explore this mysterious tunnel.

None of the other tombs in the Valley of the Kings has such a tunnel, and Egyptologists have not been able to explain exactly what it is or why it is there. Some have suggested that it is symbolic, and leads down into the underworld, where the king’s soul would join with the ruler of the dead Osiris so that he could be resurrected. But why is he the only king to have this? How do we know that this is really what it means?

When I became the head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, I decided that I wanted to explore this tunnel. In 2003, I entered the tunnel for the first time. I attached myself to a thick rope for safety, and a light was set up so that I could see.

I wore my famous hat, and took a measuring tape with me. I descended along a gentle slope, but at the 252-foot mark, I decided it was too dangerous to continue. Rock was falling, and the tunnel was clearly unstable. It was also becoming narrower, and I knew that we would have to do serious work to make the tunnel safe before we could explore further.

I entered for a second time as part of a program made by David Jackson of KCBS in Los Angeles about Tutankhamun and the Valley of the Kings.

Just this year, I decided to make Sheikh Ali’s dream come true. As part of the first truly Egyptian archaeological project in the Valley of the Kings, we are now doing a scientific study of the tunnel. A geological survey has been carried out, and we have begun clearance, working slowly to guarantee the safety of my all-Egyptian team. This team, which works under my supervision, is headed by Dr. Tarek El Awady. To date, we have cleared about 40 meters (120 feet) of the tunnel. The results are intriguing: among the finds are a number of non-royal New Kingdom shabtis, dating to near the reign of Seti I. I hope that by the end of 2008 we will be able to reveal the final mysteries of the tomb of Seti I, the most beautiful tomb in the valley.

The Tomb of Ramesses VIII?

In 1974, during my second season in Thebes, I spent a magical night in the Valley of the Kings. It was during the summer, and there was a full moon.

I asked Sheikh Nagdy, the chief of the guards on the West Bank, to accompany me to climb the Qurn, the pyramidal peak that stands sentinel over the Valley. Sheikh Nagdy was the son of Sheikh Abdel Maugoud, who had known Howard Carter personally. Sheikh Maugoud told me once that he had seen Evelyn Herbert, the daughter of Lord Carnarvon, enter the tomb of Tutankhamun at night several times. He believed that Howard Carter was in love with her, not, as many people think, that she was in love with him but he was indifferent. When I climbed the Qurn that night, I felt magic in the silence that surrounded me.

Later, I became interested in pyramids and spent most of my life excavating around them. But my eyes would always turn again to the Valley of the Kings. A few years ago, there was an English expedition working in the Valley, looking for the lost tomb of Nefertiti. They used radar to see what might be hidden below the ground, and found an “anomaly” that they tentatively identified as KV 64, an unknown tomb. This anomaly is very interesting, and the area should be explored some day, but right now we are working in a different area of the Valley. We are hoping to find the tomb of Ramesses VIII, which has never been discovered, somewhere between the tomb of Merenptah (KV 8), son and successor of Ramesses II, and the tomb of Ramesses II himself (KV 7).

The team that I have appointed to search for the tomb of Ramesses VIII is headed by Afifi Rohiem, who has worked with me for many years at Giza. We began our work to the north, south, and west of the tomb of Merenptah. We have rediscovered ancient graffiti recorded by the great scholar Jaroslav Czerny. One of these was written by the 18th Dynasty vizier Userhat, who says that he built a tomb for his father, Amennakht, in this area. The site is littered with large blocks, which we are moving in our search for lost tombs – and we are finding tantalizing clues that something is hidden here. In the area to the south of Merenptah’s tomb, we found a cutting in the bedrock, but the rubble at the entrance to whatever lies beyond has been disturbed. If there is a tomb here, it is unlikely to be intact. However, another cutting, to the north, appears to be undisturbed. We have also found workmen’s huts, which we have recorded carefully. We are planning to bring in very sophisticated radar that can see 20 meters down, and hope that this will help guide us in our work.

There are many secrets still hidden in Valley of the Kings, and on the West Bank of Luxor. The real tomb of Amenhotep I is still being debated. Some scholars believe that he was buried in KV 39 (in the Valley of the Kings), and others believe that his tomb is at Dra Abu el-Naga, at the northern end of the Theban necropolis. Now a Polish archaeologist is exploring his theory that the tomb is hidden in the rocky cliffs behind the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, and, although the king’s mummy and coffin were found in the first royal mummy cache, he dreams that it is still intact. The tomb of Thutmose II is also still not definitely identified. Was he buried in KV 42, or DB 358, or is his tomb still unknown? (Again, it is unlikely to be intact, since his body was in the first royal mummy cache.) Where is the Amarna royal family: Akhenaten (whose body may be the one that was found in KV55), the elusive Smekhkare, Nefertiti, and their princesses? There are many other queens of the New Kingdom whose burials have not yet been found; any of these, if found intact, are sure to be absolutely spectacular; if robbed, they would still be fantastic. As I always say, you never know what secrets are hidden beneath the sand of Egypt.

H.E. Farouk Hosni, Minister of Culture, announced today that a section of the avenue of sphinxes, known among archaeologists as the avenue associated with the Anubieion, and the superstructure of an unidentified pyramid have been found at Saqqara during excavations carried out by an Egyptian archaeological mission led by Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

The Minister of Culture explained that this avenue was previously mentioned in Roman manuscripts and documents unearthed beside the Serapeum, the necropolis of the Apis bulls at Saqqara.

Dr. Hawass stated that the French archaeologist Auguste Mariette found a section of the avenue of sphinxes in 1850; its western extension led him to the Serapeum. It also extended to the east towards the Anubieion. Dr. Hawass added that another section of the avenue dated to the Ptolemaic period was found during recent excavations. It extends to the east reaching the area of the Nile Valley and the Anubieion’s gate, which once was opposite the valley.

The mission also unearthed a limestone block decorated with inscriptions of Ptolemy V (204-180 BC), which suggests that the newly discovered section of the avenue may be the southern edge of the Anubis temple.

Dr. Hawass also said that the superstructure of a pyramid, which was mentioned by the German archaeologist Karl Richard Lepsius and given the number XXIX, has been located. This pyramid was covered with sand for a long time, and none of the Egyptologists succeeded in locating it until recent excavations uncovered it beside the pyramid of Teti I, first king of the Sixth Dynasty (c. 2374-2354 BC). The entrance of the pyramid, its walls, and burial chamber were also discovered. Inside the burial chamber, a white limestone block was found which may be the northern wall of the chamber, as well as the lid of a sarcophagus and a pit used for the chest containing the canopic jars.

Some Egyptologists believe that the newly discovered pyramid dates back to the Old Kingdom, while others assign it to the Middle Kingdom. Despite the fact that there is no cartouche giving the name of the pyramid’s owner, Hawass believes that it may belong to King Menkauhor of the Fifth Dynasty.

H.E. Farouk Hosni, Minister of Culture, announced that the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), in collaboration with a Japanese-American mission, is carrying out a laser scanning survey of the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, in an attempt to create a virtual three-dimensional model of Egypt’s oldest pyramid. This project is within the framework of the Ministry of Culture’s and SCA’s commitment to protect and preserve Egypt’s cultural and archaeological heritage.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the SCA, considers the survey of Djoser’s pyramid to be an archaeological salvage project. The Step Pyramid was built during the reign of King Djoser of the Third Dynasty (c. 2687-2668 BC). It is the first pyramid in Egyptian history and also the earliest stone structure of its size. Over the years, the six steps of the pyramid have been exposed to natural erosion leading to its deterioration.

Dr. Hawass stated that this survey is being conducted in collaboration with a Japanese mission headed by Dr. Kosuke Sato of Osaka University and an American mission led by Dr. Mark Lehner, Director of Ancient Egypt Research Associates (AERA). This project intends on archaeologically documenting the Step Pyramid in order to greater understand its various stages of construction by using a variety of laser scanners including the Zoser Scanner, which was custom designed to scan the pyramid by Develo Solutions of Osaka, Japan.

Dr. Sato said that the Zoser Scanner, which is carried on the backs of professional climbers as they rappel down the faces of the pyramid’s six gigantic steps, uses infrared signals to gather coordinates and elevations of the thousands of points on the monument. The scanner gathers data at the exceedingly fast rate of 40,000 points per second in order to create a virtual three-dimensional model of the Step Pyramid, which will be a valuable reference for restorers, archaeologists, and architects involved in the restoration of the pyramid and for the continual monitoring of its condition. The laser scanning survey of the Step Pyramid will take four weeks to complete.

13th and 17th Dynasty structures unearthed

H.E. Farouk Hosni, Minister of Culture, announced today that an American archaeological mission from the University of Chicago has unearthed an administrative building and silos dating back to Dynasty 17 (c. 1665-1569 BC), as well as an older columned hall during routine excavations at Edfu.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), explained that the columned hall is a mud-brick building with sixteen wooden columns that predates the silos. Pottery and seal impressions dated to early Dynasty 13 (c. 1786-1665 BC) were found inside the hall. Hawass said that the layout of the building shows that it may have been part of the governor’s palace, which was a typical feature of provincial towns. It was used by scribes for accounting, opening and sealing containers, and also for receiving letters.

Dr. Nadine Moeller, head of the American mission, said that the seal impressions were made by scarab seals decorated with ornamental patterns, such as spirals and a combination of hieroglyphic symbols including ankh signs. Patterns belonging to different officials were also uncovered, which provide evidence for the various administrative activities, such as accounting in addition to sealing boxes, ceramic jars, and other commodities.

Dr. Moeller said that this discovery reflects Egypt’s political situation at that time, a time when Egypt’s unity no longer existed and a small kingdom had developed at Thebes which controlled Upper Egypt. During this period, Dr. Moeller added, connections between the provincial elite, such as the family of the governor, and the royal family in Thebes were strengthened through marriage or the awarding of important offices.

The god Horus is one of the most famous gods of ancient Egypt. Egypt Air has taken Horus as its Logo because of it ancient symbolism, as a winged god of the Sky, Horus, was this and more. The name “HORUS” stems from the ancient Egyptian word hr (her) which in its simple form was the preposition “above”, “upon” so Horus the falcon soars above all the land and its inhabitants, and was, the natural symbol of the King who reigns over all Egypt.

It is also the perfect symbol for Egypt Air which flies throughout Egypt and the World.

Every pharaoh was an incarnation of Horus, who according to legend conquered Seth the evil god of Upper Egypt. Seth was god of turmoil and confusion who murdered Osiris, Horus’s father. Horus avenged his father’s death and became the god of order and justice. Therefore the pharaoh in Ancient Egypt became Horus on earth, the ruler of the two lands (Upper and Lower Egypt).

Horus, represented by the hawk, was the god of the Sky, a symbol of divine Kingship, and protector of the ruling King. -

The name Horus also means the forsighted, where one eye represents the Sun and other represents the Moon. The Sun was Known as “Horakhty”, or Horus in the Horizon., Horus was considered as the god of the east and the rising Sun. Horus has the Shape of a falcon or a hawk or can take a human Shape with a falcon.

Horus was the god of the Nile Delta (Lower Egypt) and Seth was the god of Upper Egypt, but Horus became the Symbol of Kingship and the King of Upper and Lower Egypt because it was he who united the two Kingdoms.

The Kings of the predynastic Egypt were known as the followers of Horus. In this period, Horus was known as the son of Isis and Osiris and inherited the throne of his father.

Horus also was connected with the goddess Hathor. She was the eye of the Sun god Re, the wife of the living King, and the mother of coming King. Her name was written with the hieroglyph of the Horus falcon inside a rectangle-mean “house” or “mansion” of Horus.

Horus, in the shape of a falcon was worshiped in Hierakonpolis in Upper Egypt (north of Edfu). Archaeologists found a golden head of a falcon inside the temple in Hierakonpolis, and the name of the city means “City of the Hawk”. Another temple was built for Horus in the city of Behdet (now Damnhour in the Nile Delta), where Horus was represented in the shape of a winged Sun disk. The modern name Damnhour itself “town of Horus” derives from the ancient Egyptian dmi-Hor.

Horus took anew form in the late Period (747 B.C.), when he became a popular god and was represented as a naked child standing above a crocodile holding in his hands snakes, scorpions and lions.

Therefore Horus became known as a healer for the people with snake bites and scorpion stings.

One of the most famous scenes of Horus is the representation of the falcon (Horus) perched on a throne behind the head of King Khafre, the builder of the second pyramid at Giza.

The falcon embraces the King with its wings in order to fly with him to the Sky. Another scene shows Isis nursing Horus. She and Hathor nursed and raised him to take revenge on his uncle Seth, the evil King of Upper Egypt, who killed Osiris, Horus’s father.

Ancient Egyptian literature relates great battles between Horus and Seth and how Horus conquered Seth and united the two lands of Egypt. Therefore he was also known as Horus the fighter.

Cairo (Arabic: القاهرة transliteration: Al-Qāhirah), which means “The Vanquisher” or “The Triumphant”, is the capital city of Egypt. While Al-Qahirah is the official name of the city, in Egyptian Arabic it commonly shares the dialect’s name for the country, transliteration: Masr. It has a metropolitan area population of about 17.285 million people.[1] Cairo is the sixteenth most populous metropolitan area in the world. It is also the most populous metropolitan area in Africa .

The city was founded in AD 969 as the royal enclosure for the Fatimid caliphs, while the actual economic and administrative capital was in nearby Fustat. After Fustat was destroyed in 1168/1169 to prevent its capture by the Crusaders, the administrative capital of Egypt moved to Cairo, where it has remained ever since. , the residents of Cairo are called Cairenes.

History of Cairo

See also: Capital of Egypt and List of historical national capitals In what is now called Old Cairo, the first Arab capital of Egypt, Al-Fustat الفسطاط, was founded in ACE 751 near other Egyptian cities and villages, including the old Egyptian capital Memphis, Heliopolis, Giza and the Byzantine fortress of Babylon-in-Egypt. Fustat was itself a new city built as a military garrison for Arab troops and was the closest central location to Arabia that was accessible to the Nile. Fustat became a regional center of Islam during the Umayyad period and was where the Umayyad ruler, Marwan II, made his last stand against the Abbasids. Later, during the Fatimid era, Al-Qahira (Cairo) was officially founded in ACE 969 as an imperial capital just to the north of Fustat. Over the centuries, Cairo grew to absorb other local cities such as Fustat, but the year 969 is considered the “founding year” of the modern city.

During the city’s history various dynasties would add suburbs to the city and construct important structures that became known throughout the Islamic world, including the Al-Azhar mosque. Conquered by Saladin and ruled by Ayyubids starting in 1171, Cairo remained an important center of the Muslim world. In 1250, the slave soldiers or Mamluks seized Egypt and ruled from their capital at Cairo until 1517, when they were defeated by the Ottomans. Napoleon’s French army briefly occupied Egypt in the 1700s, after which an Ottoman officer named Muhammad Ali made Cairo the capital of an independent empire that lasted from 1801 to 1882. The city then came under British control until Egypt attained independence in 1922.

Today, Greater Cairo encompasses various historic towns and modern districts into one of the most populous cities in the world. A journey through Cairo is a virtual time travel: from the Pyramids, Saladin’s Citadel, the Virgin Mary’s Tree, the Sphinx, and ancient Heliopolis, to Al-Azhar, the Mosque of Amr ibn al-A’as, Saqqara, the Hanging Church, and the Cairo Tower. It is the Capital of Egypt, and indeed its history is intertwined with that of the country. Today, Cairo’s official name is Al-Qahira (Cairo), although the name informally used by most Egyptians is “Masr” (Egyptian Arabic name for Egypt), from the original name of Egypt’s first Arab capital Fustat, Misr al-Fustat, “City of the Tents.”

Ancient Egypt (BC 3500 - BC 30)

Long before the pyramids were built, Egypt’s northern and southern territories were ruled separately. It was about 5000 years ago that a young prince by the name of Narmer (Menes) unified the Red (North) and White (South) kingdoms and became Egypt’s first Pharaoh. As brilliant a politician as he was a warrior, Narmer chose the site of Memphis as his capital. The city was situated at the then Nile Delta tip, along the North-South border, and about 25 km south of today’s downtown Cairo.

For the next 800 years or so, the first Capital of the ancient Egyptians prospered under the rule of Zoser, Khufu (Cheops), Khafre (Chephren), Menkaure (Mycerinus), Unas, and others. It became one of the most influential and powerful cities in the world, and housed one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Great Pyramid of Giza. Constructed on the Giza three Great Pyramids are the ultimate manifestation of political stability and power of the ruler during the Third and Fourth Dynasties. Khufu’s son built 2 of the Giza pyramids.

The Romans (BC 30 - AD 641)

the Hanging Church is Cairo’s most famous Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria’s church.

No one knows the origin of the name of Babylon-in-Egypt. It may be a corrupted version of the ancient Egyptian per-hapi-n-on, or Nile House of On, a nearby Island. It might have come from the Arabic Bab-ila-on, or gateway to On. Or it may be simply a name the Babylonian prisoners of Pharaoh Sesostris gave to the place. Babylon-in-Egypt was more a strategic spot than an intellectual center.

With the re-opening of the canal joining the Nile to the Red Sea, the town became the gateway to Persia and India. Control over the Fortress of Babylon therefore meant control over trade. And while Alexandria was the political and intellectual capital of Egypt under the Greeks and the Romans, Babylon Fortress became its military stronghold.

The year 30 BC marked a significant change in the history of Egypt and the world at large. It was the year when the victorious Octavian (Augustus) entered Alexandria. His former ally and rival Mark Antony died, and Cleopatra ended her own life, realizing that her time was over. Although Cleopatra was of Greek descent, she, like her ancestors, ruled Egypt as an Egyptian. She was both Queen and Pharaoh. With her death, Egypt simply became just another Roman province, a Roman granary rather than a world power.

With the birth of Christianity, the capital city Alexandria witnessed a violent confrontation between the Egyptian followers of the new religion (the Copts) and the Greek and Roman Pagans. Christianity, then widely accepted among native Egyptians, found a safe place to grow away from the eyes of the Roman rulers. It was here that the Holy Family rested when they came to Egypt. It was inside and near the Fortress walls that many of the oldest churches in the world were later built: The Hanging (Muallaqa), Abu Sergah, Mar Guirguis, and others. When later the Romans adopted Christianity as their official religion, the population of Babylon was virtually all Christian.

The Islamic Conquest (641 - 969)

In AD 640 a Muslim army commanded by the Arabian general Amr ibn al-A’as, laid siege to the Fortress of Babylon near what is today Cairo. It was a matter of time before the Byzantine governor of Egypt agreed to peacefully surrender the fortress, and less than a year later, the capital city Alexandria as recorded in the Treaty of Misr. Amr became the first Arab ruler of Egypt and remained so until his death.

Even though the Arabs admired Alexandria’s glamor and wealth, they decided to abandon the city. The reason is simple: no body of water was to separate the Egyptian Capital from the Caliph’s residence in Medina. Al-Fustat was therefore founded on the East bank of the Nile, outside the walls of the Fortress of Babylon. Deriving its name from the Arabic (and Roman) word for “camp” or “tent”, the town was built at the spot where the Arabs camped during the Fortress siege. Here, the first mosque in Africa was built, carrying the name of the Arab general, Amr.

The new capital grew slowly as Alexandria and other Byzantine cities went into decline. With the re-opening of the Red Sea Canal, Al-Fustat became the linking bridge between the East and the West.

Salah El Din and the Crusades (1168 - 1250)

The last Fatimid Caliph was only eighteen when the Seljuks captured Cairo. The Seljuks who came originally form Central Asia had already conquered Syria and Palestine, and established their capital in Damascus. By 1168, Egypt had become a battleground between the Seljuks and the Crusaders, with the Fatimids having virtually little or no control, although they sided mostly with the Crusaders.

It was in 1168 that the victorious Shirkuh entered Cairo, and was named governor of Egypt by the Sultan of Damascus, Nur ad-Din. When Shirkuh died two months later, his nephew was immediately appointed as the next governor. He was young—in his early thirties—and full of will. Quickly, he would become one of the most prominent figures in medieval history. His name was Salah-El-Din the Ayyubid, better known in Western history as Saladin.[3]

The Mamluks (1250 - 1517)

When Saladin established his rule over Cairo, his Seljuk army was mainly composed of slaves and former slaves who had climbed up the ranks. They were mostly Circassians from the Caucasus region or Central Asians who were captured in military raids or, in most instances, kidnapped by slave merchants. The military power of the male slaves had been on the rise since the early Abbasid rule, but their political influence tremendously increased when Saladin rewarded them extravagantly for their loyalty. They were granted ranches and palaces, and some became governors. Women slaves usually became part of the Sultan or ruler’s harem, and had even more influence over politics and internal palace matters.

These slaves became known as the Mamluks (lit. Owned), and the term extended to include former slaves who were often freed to become aides and viziers. Shagarit el-Dorr (Tree of Pearls) was the former slave and the wife of Al-Saleh, the last Ayyubid Sultan. When he died in 1249, and with no strong successor within the Ayyubid house, Shagarit el-Dorr became monarch. The Mamluk lady would be the last woman to rule Egypt to this day. She ruled singlehandedly for 80 days, but was later pressured into marrying the Mamluk chief officer, Aybeck, in order to “keep things in perspective”. She continued, however, to rule Egypt, and even had her husband assassinated when he wanted to marry another woman. Shortly after, she herself was killed by her fellow Mamluks who decided she had “gone too far”.[citation needed]

Under the Ottoman Empire (1517 - 1798)

Under the rule of the Ottomans, the Mamluks did not cease to exercise their power. As the Ottoman empire expanded, the new world power adopted a government model that consisted of three authorities: local, military, and political. In Egypt, they realized that the power of the Mamluks was strong enough to subdue the local people, yet not too strong to revolt against the Sublime Porte, or the Ottoman Sultan.

The Mamluks were, therefore, left in charge of local affairs. Feudal Lords or Mamluk Beys were appointed to each of Egypt’s districts, and, in order to ensure no revolt attempt on the part of the Mamluks, the Ottomans stationed their own soldiers, the Janissaries and the Azabs, in Cairo. Both orders consisted of soldiers, much like the Mamluks, enslaved at a young age, raised as fighters, and appointed to high military, political, and civil posts. The Janissaries were among the most skillful of fighters. It was to them that Constantinople fell in 1453.

However, the ultimate political power was, at least theoretically, in the hands of the main authority, the Pasha, a Turk governor usually educated in Istanbul. In several occasions, Pashas were overruled by powerful Mamluk Beys, who were subsequently subdued by the Ottoman troops, who received their orders from the Sultan, and so on. To the Sultans, what mattered most in the provinces was tax collection rather than political power. Meanwhile, little was being done to improve the social and economic status of Egypt or its capital city.

French Expedition (1798 - 1801)

It was in the summer of 1798 that Napoleon’s army landed in Alexandria and advanced to Cairo. Murad Bey and Ibrahim Bey, the Mamelouk rulers of Egypt, sent a messenger with a small tribute and asked the French general to leave the country. They had never heard of Napoleon before. The French captured Cairo with little resistance shortly after. It was during their presence that Egypt came out of its long Dark Age. Jean François Champollion, the father of Egyptology, deciphered the Ancient Egyptian writings on the Rosetta Stone. The French also established the “Institut d’Egypte”, built schools and colleges, and wrote the Description de l’Egypte, the most comprehensive reference on the country’s geography and culture. The French rule soon ended in 1801 with some help from the Ottoman Empire.

The era of Muhammad Ali and his successors

Under Muhammad Ali’s rule, Cairo prospered both economically and culturally. Not only was the infrastructure of the city rebuilt, but a new city center was also planned according to European standards. This new city center today occupies the downtown Tahrir Square, Garden City, and Azbakeya.

It was constructed, by French city planners and engineers, over a swampy flood plain stretching between Ramses Square and the Nile. A new mosque, the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, was erected within the walls of Saladin’s Citadel, and barrages were constructed along the Nile near the city. Cotton was introduced and soon became the country’s main crop, thereby boosting the economy.

During the six-year reign of Muhammad Ali’s grandson, Abbas, the first railway line was constructed between Alexandria and Cairo, soon to be followed by a railroad network covering the Delta and Upper Egypt with Cairo at its center. Much of the hydraulic and transportation infrastructure built during that period is still operating to this day. It is noted that Muhammad Ali’s sons wanted to re-create Cairo according to the European Standards of cities.