Bilbeis
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Arabic بلبيس Bilbeis |
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| Coordinates | 30 ° 25 ′ N , 31 ° 34 ′ E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Egypt | ||
| al-Sharqiyyah | |||
| ISO 3166-2 | EG-SHR | ||
 Sadat Quraish Mosque
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Bilbeis ( Arabic بلبيس, DMG Bilbais , Coptic Phelbs ) is an old fortress town on the eastern edge of the southern Nile Delta in the Egyptian governorate of Ash-Sharqiyya .
In the Roman province of Augustamnica the place was the seat of a diocese .
During the Fatimid era , Bilbeis was besieged several times. The first siege came in 1164 when the united troops of Shawar and the Crusader King Amalrich I of Jerusalem attacked the city under the vizier Shirkuh for three months . On November 4, 1168, again by Amalrich's soldiers, the city was captured after a three-day siege, and all the residents were slaughtered. This angered the Copts , who viewed the Crusaders as liberators but were treated no better than the Muslims there.
In 1798 the fortifications were rebuilt on the orders of Napoleon .
The agricultural company Sekem of Ibrahim Abouleish and the Egyptian Air Academy are based in Bilbeis.
