Zagazig

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Arabic الزقازيق
Zagazig
Zagazig (Egypt)
Zagazig
Zagazig
Coordinates 30 ° 34 ′  N , 31 ° 30 ′  E Coordinates: 30 ° 34 ′  N , 31 ° 30 ′  E
Basic data
Country Egypt

Governorate

al-Sharqiyyah
Residents 383,703 (2017)
founding 1830
Zagazig
Zagazig

Zagazig , also Zakazik ( Arabic الزقازيق az-Zaqāzīq ), is a place in Lower Egypt , more precisely in the eastern part of the Nile Delta , and the capital of the Governorate of Ash-Sharqiyya .

In 2017 the city had about 383,703 inhabitants. It was built around 1830 on the Isma'ilia Canal and the al-Mu'izz Canal and is 76 kilometers from Cairo , from where there is a rail link. Located in a very fertile area, Zagazig is a center of the Egyptian cotton and grain trade . Large cotton factories and branches of many European trading companies can be found here.

The city's most famous son was Colonel Ahmed Urabi Pasha , who led the 1882 revolt against the British. There is a small Urabi museum that exhibits some interesting archaeological finds, among other things. The well-known journalist , philosopher and social critic Salama Moussa was also born in the city.

The University of Zagazig, one of the largest universities in Egypt , has faculties located in a wide variety of fields of science and the arts. Here was Mohamed Morsi , who in 2012 elected President, long time professor and department head. The city is also home to a branch of al-Azhar University , the largest Islamic university in the world.

Name origin

The name of the city comes from a Himyarian tribe who settled Lower Egypt in the 3rd century. It is not known whether this tribe was still pagan at the time or whether it was already part of Christianity .

Old Bubastis

3 kilometers southeast of the city are the ruins of ancient Bubastis. Bubastis was the capital of the 12th Gaus and was the home of Bastet -Katzenkultes. Bubastis is the Greek name for Per-Bastet , which means something like House of Bastet . During the 22nd and 23rd Dynasties , Bubastis even became the capital of Egypt. Remains of temples built by Osorkon II and Nectanebos II were found , as well as catacombs in which the sacred cats were buried. These catacombs are located behind the remains of an Old Kingdom chapel from the Pepi I period .

The Archaeological Museum

In 2009 the University of Zagazig housed over 2000 archaeological finds that are open to the public there. Since then there have been plans to build a new museum next to the excavations in Tell Basta in order to present the found objects close to their original context.

literature

  • Mohamed I. Bakr, Helmut Brandl, Faye Kalloniatis (eds.): Egyptian Antiquities from Kufur Nigm and Bubastis. = ʾĀṯār misrīya (= Museums of the Nile Delta. Vol. 1). Opaion, Cairo / Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-00-033509-9 .

Web links

Commons : Zagazig  - collection of images, videos and audio files