Babylon Fortress (Egypt)

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Babylon fortress
limes late antique internal fortifications
Dating (occupancy) tetrarchical
Type fortress
Construction Brick, stone
State of preservation very well preserved, restored building remains
place Old Cairo
Geographical location 30 ° 0 ′ 21.2 "  N , 31 ° 13 ′ 47.6"  E hf
Today's wall remains of a tower of the Babylon fortress

The fortress of Babylon was an ancient Roman military installation in Egypt at the transition from the upper Nile valley to the Nile delta , right at the junction of a canal that connected the Nile with the Red Sea . Because of this strategically important location, the Islamic conquerors of Egypt founded their new capital, the garrison town of al-Fustat , in the vicinity of Babylon in 642 , while the existing Christian-Jewish population stayed in the fortress of Babylon. Al-Fustat grew into an important metropolis in the early Middle Ages , together with other palace and garrison cities of later ruling dynasties (al-Askar, al-Qata'i, al-Qahira), the Egyptian capital and today's cosmopolitan city of Cairo emerged . In the area of ​​the former fortress of Babylon, known today as "Old Cairo", there are many important monuments of the Christian-Jewish culture of Egypt from the time before Islam. Visitors can see Coptic and Orthodox churches , monasteries and a cemetery, the Coptic Museum and a synagogue here .

Old Egypt

At the time of Pharaonic Egypt there was a suburb of Heliopolis , which served as a port on the Nile, on the site of the later Roman fortress . Heliopolis was one of the most important religious centers in ancient Egypt. The Greeks called this port city "Nilopolis", the Egyptian name was "House of the Nile of Heliopolis". Hans Bonnet derives the name “Babylon” from the Egyptian original name “P (er) -hapu-l'on” .

In the Pharaonic era, Babylon was only a branch and port of the religious center of Heliopolis, but as a city it had its own religious identity and mythological location. Babylon is a place of worship of the god Sepa , who was worshiped in the shape of a millipede and later fused with Osiris . As a terrestrial animal, Sepa was considered a chthonic deity, i.e. belonging to the underworld. At Babylon there was a place of worship called "the house of the millipede". It gained a certain importance because its cult was based on the idea of ​​a source of the "Lower Egyptian Nile" in "a deep cave" on the nearby island of Roda in the "House of the Nile". This "House of the Nile" was adjacent to or identical to the "House of the Ninth" (see Ninth of Heliopolis ) or "House of the Primeval" at Babylon.

The ancient Egyptian god Sepa in hieroglyphic script :

O34
Q3 		G40 A. L5

The Greek writer Strabo reported in its Geographika later (XVII 812) that in Babylon on heliopolitanischem field of κῆβος (kēbos), a Meerkatzenart was held sacred.

The conflict between Horus and Seth , which is significant in the myth and already mentioned in the pyramid texts , took place in the eyes of the ancient Egyptians near Babylon, at a place which was called the “battlefield” (Egyptian: Cheri-aha).

"Cheri aha" battlefield, in the spelling of the pyramid texts (pyramid of Pepi I. ):

T28 D34 O49

The use of the symbol ( determinative ) for "city" indicates that it is not a general name, but a special place name.

Roman occupation

Egypt as a Roman province

The Roman general Octavian, who later became Emperor Augustus , took power in Egypt after his victory over the rulers Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra VII . BC Egypt became a Roman province and military base ( Aegyptus ). The main task of the legions was to secure the grain supply, because Rome was soon dependent on the rich grain deliveries from Egypt.

Legions and their locations

The Greek author Strabo reports (Geographika XVII 1,12) that three legions were stationed in Egypt during the reign of Augustus. The locations were Alexandria , Babylon and probably Luxor . It was probably the Legio III Cyrenaica and the Legio XXII Deiotariana , the third is unknown. It is not known which of them was stationed in Babylon.

In 23 AD there were only two legions left in Egypt, and in the middle of the 2nd century only the Legio II Traiana fortis . Babylon is not mentioned as a location for any of these legions.

The Notitia dignitatum , a late Roman state manual from the late 4th or early 5th century, explicitly lists the Legio XIII Gemina in Babylon.

Babylon military installation

Roman wall of the Babylon fortress

Archaeological excavations in the years 2000 to 2006 showed architectural remains for Babylon from the 6th century BC. Until today. Important finds were the massive stone walls on the canal that connected the Nile with the Red Sea, and the port built for it, both built by Emperor Trajan in 110 AD. Emperor Diocletian built around the port and the canal in 300 AD. The Roman fortress of Babylon with the thick walls and fortification towers still visible today. The masonry technique with brick penetration is typically Roman .

After the fall of Western Rome (476 AD), Egypt and with it Babylon became part of the Eastern Roman and Byzantine Empire (Eastern Rome) . The Persian Sassanids were temporarily able to conquer and occupy Egypt under Chosrau II in 619 . In the years 629/630 the Byzantine Emperor Herakleios recaptured Egypt.

Islamic conquest

The Islamic Conquest of Egypt

In the early 7th century AD, the two great powers of late antiquity, Byzantium (Ostrom) and the Persian Sassanid Empire, were engaged in protracted, violent wars that resulted in extensive military exhaustion on both sides. This favored the rise of the young Arab-Islamic empire, which had conquered large parts of the Arabian peninsula under the leadership of the Prophet Mohammed and which continued to expand under the early caliphs . After the battle of Yarmuk , Syria and Palestine were wrested from the Byzantine Empire. Almost simultaneously, under the leadership of the caliph KalUmar ibn al-Chattāb, the large, rich and culturally important countries of Persia and Egypt were attacked.

In December 639, the Muslim general ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀs set out with an attacking army of around 4,000 men from Medina to Egypt. First the cities of Pelusium and Bilbeis were conquered, after which several skirmishes with the Byzantine troops ensued. The Byzantines withdrew to the mighty fortress of Babylon, where the Muslims arrived in May 640. During the several months of siege, other villages in the Nile Valley and the Fayyum were conquered, but the fortress of Babylon offered fierce resistance. Negotiations between the warring parties did not lead to any result. Eventually the army of Muslims was increased from 4,000 to 12,000 men by reinforcements from the Arabian Peninsula. So the walls of Babylon could be overcome and the fortress was conquered in April 641.

In September 641, Alexandria , the Byzantine capital of Egypt, was taken with further support from the Arabian Peninsula. The Arab troops gradually occupied the whole of Egypt and set about conquering the rest of North Africa.

The question now arose where the Islamic capital of Egypt should be established. ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀs relied on the rich and luxurious Alexandria, which had been the capital since the time of Alexander the Great , i.e. for over 950 years. But there were military concerns. The port city on the Mediterranean Sea was exposed to Byzantine counter-attacks. In addition, Caliph Umar did not want to allow his army to be cut off from the Arabian Peninsula for months during the flood of the Nile . He opted for a solution on the eastern bank of the Nile. The fortress of Babylon was on the eastern bank and had excellent transport links to Asia. In front of the fortress of Babylon, which was mainly inhabited by Christians and Jews, the new al-Fustat camp for the Muslim conquerors was built.

Al-Fustat developed in connection with Babylon from an army camp to an important medieval metropolis and trading center with high-rise buildings in close development. Other ruling dynasties built further palace and garrison cities further north and east according to their needs. The Abbasids created “al-Askar”, the Tulunids “al-Qata'i” and the Fatimids in the 10th century finally “al-Qahira”, which was to become the eponymous capital of Egypt. All these settlements were surrounded by a wall by Sultan Saladin in the 12th century and thus combined into a single unit. This is how modern Cairo came about.

Al-Fustat was destroyed in the Middle Ages and is now a ruin site, of which the mosque of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀs can still be seen. Al-Askar has now completely disappeared under the modern buildings and is no longer recognizable. The Ibn Tulun mosque from the Tulunid city of al-Qata'i still stands within the modern development . Al-Qahira became a trading center in the Mamluk period and is now the lively bazaar district of Cairo ( Khan il-Khalili ).

Babylon is today known as "Old Cairo", a cultural center of the Christian- Coptic and Jewish culture of Cairo and a tourist attraction.

Old Cairo as a tourist attraction

  • Mar Girgis underground station, line 1

  • Coptic Museum (Cairo)

  • The hanging church

  • Greek Orthodox Church of St. George

  • St. George's Convent

  • Ben Esra Synagogue

  • Coptic cemetery

Old Cairo today is many kilometers from the modern downtown Cairo and removed the Cairo Metro Line 1 station "Mar Girgis" (German St. Georg ,) to the passenger connected. Various sights are now accessible to visitors:

literature

  • Hans Bonnet Lexicon of Egyptian Religious History. Nikol, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , pp. 77f.
  • Hermann Kees : The belief in gods in ancient Egypt. 5th unchanged edition. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1983 (7th unchanged edition: ISBN 3-05-000471-1 ), pp. 20 (note 1), 59, 239, 266, 394, 403 (note 3), 409
  • Peter Sheehan: Babylon of Egypt. The Archeology of Old Cairo and the Origins of the City (Revised Edition). Cairo 2015, ISBN 9789774167317
  • Nigel Pollard, Joanne Berry: Die Legionen Roms , Darmstadt 2016, ISBN 978-3-8062-3360-5
  • Stefan Radt (Ed.): Strabons Geographika . 10 volumes. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen (authoritative edition with translation)
  • Oleg V. Volkoff: 1000 years of Cairo. History of an enchanting city . Mainz 1984, ISBN 3-8053-0535-4 .
  • Alfred J. Butler: The Arab Conquest of Egypt , Oxford 1902; reissued and provided with a critical bibliography by PM Fraser, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1998, ISBN 0-19-821678-5
  • Hans-Günther Semsek: Egypt and Sinai. Pharaonic temples and Islamic traditions. Dumont Art Guide, 3rd edition, Ostfildern 2011, pp. 257–265

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans Bonnet Lexicon of Egyptian Religious History. Nikol, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , pp. 77f.
  2. ↑ Occasionally the Osiris cult of the "great sawyer" (Egyptian "Itef Wer") is mentioned, see Hermann Kees : The Faith of Gods in Ancient Egypt. 5th unchanged edition. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1983 (7th unchanged edition: ISBN 3-05-000471-1 ), pp. 266, 403 (note 3), 409
  3. ↑ Hermann Kees : The belief in gods in ancient Egypt. 5th unchanged edition. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1983 (7th unchanged edition: ISBN 3-05-000471-1 ), pp. 59, 394
  4. ↑ Hermann Kees : The belief in gods in ancient Egypt. 5th unchanged edition. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1983 (7th unchanged edition: ISBN 3-05-000471-1 ), p. 20 (Note 1)
  5. ↑ Pyramid Texts 1350
  6. ↑ Hermann Kees : The belief in gods in ancient Egypt. 5th unchanged edition. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1983 (7th unchanged edition: ISBN 3-05-000471-1 ), p. 239
  7. ↑ Hans Bonnet Lexicon of Egyptian Religious History. Nikol, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , pp. 77f.
  8. ↑ Nigel Pollard, Joanne Berry: Die Legionen Roms , Darmstadt 2016, ISBN 978-3-8062-3360-5 , pp. 120–129
  9. ^ Nigel Pollard, Joanne Berry: Die Legionen Roms , Darmstadt 2016, ISBN 978-3-8062-3360-5 , p. 216
  10. ↑ Peter Sheehan: Babylon of Egypt. The Archeology of Old Cairo and the Origins of the City (Revised Edition). Cairo 2015, ISBN 9789774167317 ( blurb )
  11. ^ Alfred J. Butler: The Arab Conquest of Egypt , Oxford 1902; reissued and provided with a critical bibliography by PM Fraser, Clarendon Press, Oxford 1998, ISBN 0-19-821678-5
  12. ^ Oleg V. Volkoff: 1000 Years of Cairo. History of an enchanting city . Mainz 1984, ISBN 3-8053-0535-4 , pp. 15-19
  13. ^ Oleg V. Volkoff: 1000 Years of Cairo. History of an enchanting city . Mainz 1984, ISBN 3-8053-0535-4 .
  14. ↑ Hans-Günther Semsek: Egypt and Sinai. Pharaonic temples and Islamic traditions. Dumont Art Guide, 3rd edition, Ostfildern 2011, p. 258