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(Redirected from Fostat)
'Fustat' (), also spelled 'Fostat', 'Al Fustat', or 'Fustat-Misr', was the first capital of Egypt under Arab rule. It was built by the Arab general Amr ibn al-As immediately after the Arab conquest of Egypt in 641 CE, and also featured the Mosque of Amr, the first mosque ever built in Egypt, also the first mosque built on the African continent. The city reached its peak in the 9th century, when it had a population of approximately 120,000.[1] It was the center of administrative power in Egypt, until it was ordered burned in 1168 by its own vizier Shawar, to keep its wealth out of the hands of the invading Crusaders. The remains of the city were eventually absorbed by nearby Cairo, which had been built to the north of Fustat in 969 when the Tunisian Fatimids conquered the region and created their own capital. Today, Fustat is part of the 'Old Egypt' District in Cairo, with few buildings remaining from its days as capital.
For thousands of years, the capital of Egypt moved through multiple locations up and down the Nile, in locations such as Thebes and Memphis, depending on which dynasty was in power. After Alexander the Great conquered Egypt around 331 BC, the capital became the city named for him, Alexandria, on the Mediterranean coast. This situation remained stable for nearly a thousand years, until the army of the Arabian Caliph Umar captured the region in the 7th Century, shortly after the death of Muhammad. When Alexandria fell in September 641, a new capital was needed, but Caliph Umar decreed that it could not be Alexandria -- that city was on the far western side of the Nile river delta, and Umar did not want a body of water separating his new capital from Arabia, for strategic regions. So Amr ibn al-As, the commander of the conquering army, founded a new capital on the eastern bank of the river.[2]
The city's name comes from the Arabic word ''Fustat'' (فسطاط) which means tent. According to tradition, the location of Fustat was chosen by a bird: A dove laid an egg in the tent of Amr ibn al-'As, the Muslim conqueror of Egypt, just before he was to march on Alexandria. His camp at that time was just north of the Roman fortress of Babylon.''Eyewitness'', p. 124 Amr declared the site of the egg sacred, and when he returned victorious from battle, he told his soldiers to pitch their tents around his, giving his new capital city its name, "Town of the tents", ''Misr al-Fustat''.[3] Egypt's first Islamic mosque, the Mosque of Amr was later built on the same site of the commander's tent, in 642, and the name "Misr" became the Arabic name for Egypt.
The early population of the city was composed almost entirely of soldiers and their families, and the layout of the city was similar to that of a garrison: Amr intended for Fustat to serve as a base on which to conquer North Africa, as well as launch further campaigns against Byzantium. It grew into a series of tribal areas, ''khittas'', around the central mosque and administrative buildings.[4] The majority of the settlers came from Yemen, with the next largest grouping from western Arabia, along with some Jews and Roman mercenaries.
Fustat was considered the center of power in Egypt under the Ummayads, though Egypt itself was considered only a province of larger powers, and was ruled by governors who were appointed from other Muslim centers such as Damascus, Medina, and Baghdad. But when General Gawhar of the Tunisian-based Fatimids captured the region, this launched a new era when Egypt was the center of its own power. Gawhar founded a new capital just north of Fustat on August 8, 969, naming it ''Al Qahira'' (Cairo), Cairo, a Millenial Irene Beeson and the Fatimid Caliph al-Mo'ezz moved his court from al-Mansuriya in Tunisia to the new city that Gawhar founded. But Cairo stayed primarily as the royal enclosure for the Caliph and his court and army, while Fustat remained the capital in terms of economic and administrative power. The city thrived and grew, and in 987, the geographer Ibn Hawkal wrote that al-Fustat was approximately one third the size of Baghdad.
The city was famous for its beauty, with shaded streets, gardens, and markets. There were reports of houses that were seven stories tall, and could accommodate hundreds of people. The Persian traveler, Nasir-i-Khusron, wrote of the exotic and beautiful wares in the Fustat markets: iridescent pottery, crystal, and many fruits and flowers available, even during the winter months. From between 975 and 1075, Fustat was a major production centre for Islamic art and ceramics, and one of the wealthiest cities in the world.[5] One report stated that it paid taxes that were equivalent to $150,000 per day, to the administration of Caliph Mo'ezz. Modern archaelogical digs have turned up artifacts from as far away as Spain, China, and Vietnam. Excavations have also revealed intricate house and street plans; a basic unit consisted of rooms built around a central courtyard, with an arcade of arches on one side of the courtyard being the principal means of access.
Fustat remained off and on as the capital of Egypt for approximately 500 years. After the city's founding in 641, its authority was uninterrupted until 750, when the Abbasid caliphate came into power. This conflict was focused not in Egypt, but elsewhere in the Arab world. The Abbasids had taken power from the Ummayads, moving their capital from Damascus to Baghdad. Along with this power shift, the capital of Egypt was moved slightly north from Fustat, to the Abbasid city of al-Askar. This remained the capital from 750-868, when there was another power shift, and the capital was moved briefly to another nearby northern city, Al-Qatta'i. This situation lasted only until 905, when the city was destroyed and the capital returned to Fustat, where it remained until the city was ordered burned by its own vizier, Shawar.
In 1168, the Christian King Amalric I of Jerusalem, intent on capturing Egypt, had sacked the Egyptian city of Bilbeis, slaughtered nearly all of its inhabitants, and then continued on with his army towards Fustat. Amalric and his troops camped just south of the city, and then sent a message to the current Egyptian caliph Athid, a young man of 18, to surrender the city or suffer the same fate as Bilbeis. Athid's vizier, Shawar, who was the true power in Egypt at the time, and famous for shifting alliances, had previously been allied with Amalric and then later betrayed him. When Shawar learned that Amalric's attack was imminent, Shawar ordered the city of Fustat burned, to keep it out of Amalric's hands. According to the Egyptian historian Al-Maqrizi (1346-1442):
After the destruction of Fustat, the Syrian Caliph Nur al-Din repelled the Crusaders, and then invaded Egypt himself, via his general Shirkuh. The untrustworthy Shawar was put to death, and the reign of the Fatimids was effectively over. Shirkuh was placed in power, and then after he died, his nephew Saladin became vizier of Egypt on March 2, 1169, launching the Ayyubid dynasty. With Fustat no more than a dying suburb, the focus of power moved permanently to nearby Cairo. Saladin later attempted to unite Cairo and Fustat into one city by enclosing them in massive walls, although this proved to be largely unsuccessful.
While the Mamluks were in power from the 1200s to the 1500s, the area of Fustat was used as a rubbish dump, though it still maintained a population of thousands, with the primary crafts being those of pottery and trash-collecting. The layers of garbage accumulated over hundreds of years, and gradually the population decreased, leaving what had once been a thriving city as an effective wasteland.
Today, little remains of the grandeur of the old city. The three capitals, Fustat, Al-Askar and Al-Qatta'i were absorbed into the growing city of Cairo. Some of the old buildings remain visible in the region known as "Old Cairo", but much of the rest has fallen into disrepair, overgrown with weeds or used as garbage dumps.
The oldest-remaining building from the area is probably the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, from the 9th Century, which was built while the capital was in Al-Qatta'i. The first Mosque ever built in Egypt (and by extension, the first mosque built in Africa), the Mosque of Amr, is still in use, but has been extensively rebuilt over the centuries, and nothing remains of the original structure.
It is believed that further archaeological digs could yield substantial rewards, considering that the remains of the original city are still preserved under hundreds of years of rubbish. Some archaeological excavations have taken place, and the paths of streets are still visible, and some buildings have been partially-reconstructed to waist-height. But the site is difficult and dangerous to access because of the nearby slums. However, some artifacts that have been recovered so far, can be seen in Cairo's Museum of Islamic Art. Islamic Cairo Alison Gascoigne
1. Fustat Tore Kjeilin
2. Petersen (1999) p. 44
3. David (2000) p. 59
4. Petersen (1999) p. 91
5. Mason (1995) pp.5-7
★ The Experience of Ancient Egypt, , Rosalie, David, Routledge, , ISBN 0415032636
★ Amitav Ghosh, ''In an Antique Land'' (Vintage Books, 1994). ISBN 0-679-72783-3
★ Janet L. Abu-Lughod, ''Cairo: 1001 Years of the City Victorious'' (Princeton University Press, 1971), ISBN 0691030855
★ Eyewitness Travel: Egypt, , , , Dorlin Kindersley Limited, London, ,
★ Historic Cairo - rehabilitation of Cairo's historic monuments Jim Antoniou
★ New Looks at Old Pots: Results of Recent Multidisciplinary Studies of Glazed Ceramics from the Islamic World, , Robert B., Mason, Muqarnas: Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture,
★ Dictionary of Islamic Architecture, , Andrew, Petersen, Routledge, , ISBN 0415213320
★ Al-Fusṭāṭ, its foundation and early urban development, , W., Kubaik, American University in Cairo Press, , ISBN 9774241681
★ Fustat Finds: Beads, Coins, Medical Instruments, Textiles, and Other Artifacts from the Awad Collection, Jere L. Bacharach, , , American University in Cairo Press, ,
A drawing of Fustat, from Rappoport's ''History of Egypt''
'Fustat' (), also spelled 'Fostat', 'Al Fustat', or 'Fustat-Misr', was the first capital of Egypt under Arab rule. It was built by the Arab general Amr ibn al-As immediately after the Arab conquest of Egypt in 641 CE, and also featured the Mosque of Amr, the first mosque ever built in Egypt, also the first mosque built on the African continent. The city reached its peak in the 9th century, when it had a population of approximately 120,000.[1] It was the center of administrative power in Egypt, until it was ordered burned in 1168 by its own vizier Shawar, to keep its wealth out of the hands of the invading Crusaders. The remains of the city were eventually absorbed by nearby Cairo, which had been built to the north of Fustat in 969 when the Tunisian Fatimids conquered the region and created their own capital. Today, Fustat is part of the 'Old Egypt' District in Cairo, with few buildings remaining from its days as capital.
| Contents |
| History |
| Other Egyptian capitals |
| Destruction |
| Modern Fustat |
| Notes |
| References |
| Further reading |
History
For thousands of years, the capital of Egypt moved through multiple locations up and down the Nile, in locations such as Thebes and Memphis, depending on which dynasty was in power. After Alexander the Great conquered Egypt around 331 BC, the capital became the city named for him, Alexandria, on the Mediterranean coast. This situation remained stable for nearly a thousand years, until the army of the Arabian Caliph Umar captured the region in the 7th Century, shortly after the death of Muhammad. When Alexandria fell in September 641, a new capital was needed, but Caliph Umar decreed that it could not be Alexandria -- that city was on the far western side of the Nile river delta, and Umar did not want a body of water separating his new capital from Arabia, for strategic regions. So Amr ibn al-As, the commander of the conquering army, founded a new capital on the eastern bank of the river.[2]
Alexandria, at the far northwest of the Nile river delta. Fustat (not shown on this map) was on the eastern side of the Nile, just south of what is now the modern city of Cairo, at the southern base of the river delta
The city's name comes from the Arabic word ''Fustat'' (فسطاط) which means tent. According to tradition, the location of Fustat was chosen by a bird: A dove laid an egg in the tent of Amr ibn al-'As, the Muslim conqueror of Egypt, just before he was to march on Alexandria. His camp at that time was just north of the Roman fortress of Babylon.''Eyewitness'', p. 124 Amr declared the site of the egg sacred, and when he returned victorious from battle, he told his soldiers to pitch their tents around his, giving his new capital city its name, "Town of the tents", ''Misr al-Fustat''.[3] Egypt's first Islamic mosque, the Mosque of Amr was later built on the same site of the commander's tent, in 642, and the name "Misr" became the Arabic name for Egypt.
The early population of the city was composed almost entirely of soldiers and their families, and the layout of the city was similar to that of a garrison: Amr intended for Fustat to serve as a base on which to conquer North Africa, as well as launch further campaigns against Byzantium. It grew into a series of tribal areas, ''khittas'', around the central mosque and administrative buildings.[4] The majority of the settlers came from Yemen, with the next largest grouping from western Arabia, along with some Jews and Roman mercenaries.
Fustat was considered the center of power in Egypt under the Ummayads, though Egypt itself was considered only a province of larger powers, and was ruled by governors who were appointed from other Muslim centers such as Damascus, Medina, and Baghdad. But when General Gawhar of the Tunisian-based Fatimids captured the region, this launched a new era when Egypt was the center of its own power. Gawhar founded a new capital just north of Fustat on August 8, 969, naming it ''Al Qahira'' (Cairo), Cairo, a Millenial Irene Beeson and the Fatimid Caliph al-Mo'ezz moved his court from al-Mansuriya in Tunisia to the new city that Gawhar founded. But Cairo stayed primarily as the royal enclosure for the Caliph and his court and army, while Fustat remained the capital in terms of economic and administrative power. The city thrived and grew, and in 987, the geographer Ibn Hawkal wrote that al-Fustat was approximately one third the size of Baghdad.
The Mosque of Amr ibn al-As. Though none of the original structure remains, this mosque was the first one built in Egypt, and it was around this location, at the site of the tent of the commander Amr ibn al-As, that the city of Fustat was built.
Other Egyptian capitals
Ibn Tulun Mosque, the only surviving structure from Al-Qatta'i
Destruction
In 1168, the Christian King Amalric I of Jerusalem, intent on capturing Egypt, had sacked the Egyptian city of Bilbeis, slaughtered nearly all of its inhabitants, and then continued on with his army towards Fustat. Amalric and his troops camped just south of the city, and then sent a message to the current Egyptian caliph Athid, a young man of 18, to surrender the city or suffer the same fate as Bilbeis. Athid's vizier, Shawar, who was the true power in Egypt at the time, and famous for shifting alliances, had previously been allied with Amalric and then later betrayed him. When Shawar learned that Amalric's attack was imminent, Shawar ordered the city of Fustat burned, to keep it out of Amalric's hands. According to the Egyptian historian Al-Maqrizi (1346-1442):
Shawar ordered that Fustat be evacuated. He forced [the citizens] to leave their money and property behind and flee for their lives with their children. In the panic and chaos of the exodus, the fleeing crowd looked like a massive army of ghosts.... Some took refuge in the mosques and bathhouses...awaiting a Christian onslaught similar to the one in Bilbeis. Shawar sent 20,000 naphtha pots and 10,000 lighting bombs [mish'al] and distributed them throughout the city. Flames and smoke engulfed the city and rose to the sky in a terrifying scene. The blaze raged for 54 days.... The Oil Weapons
After the destruction of Fustat, the Syrian Caliph Nur al-Din repelled the Crusaders, and then invaded Egypt himself, via his general Shirkuh. The untrustworthy Shawar was put to death, and the reign of the Fatimids was effectively over. Shirkuh was placed in power, and then after he died, his nephew Saladin became vizier of Egypt on March 2, 1169, launching the Ayyubid dynasty. With Fustat no more than a dying suburb, the focus of power moved permanently to nearby Cairo. Saladin later attempted to unite Cairo and Fustat into one city by enclosing them in massive walls, although this proved to be largely unsuccessful.
While the Mamluks were in power from the 1200s to the 1500s, the area of Fustat was used as a rubbish dump, though it still maintained a population of thousands, with the primary crafts being those of pottery and trash-collecting. The layers of garbage accumulated over hundreds of years, and gradually the population decreased, leaving what had once been a thriving city as an effective wasteland.
Modern Fustat
Today, little remains of the grandeur of the old city. The three capitals, Fustat, Al-Askar and Al-Qatta'i were absorbed into the growing city of Cairo. Some of the old buildings remain visible in the region known as "Old Cairo", but much of the rest has fallen into disrepair, overgrown with weeds or used as garbage dumps.
The oldest-remaining building from the area is probably the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, from the 9th Century, which was built while the capital was in Al-Qatta'i. The first Mosque ever built in Egypt (and by extension, the first mosque built in Africa), the Mosque of Amr, is still in use, but has been extensively rebuilt over the centuries, and nothing remains of the original structure.
It is believed that further archaeological digs could yield substantial rewards, considering that the remains of the original city are still preserved under hundreds of years of rubbish. Some archaeological excavations have taken place, and the paths of streets are still visible, and some buildings have been partially-reconstructed to waist-height. But the site is difficult and dangerous to access because of the nearby slums. However, some artifacts that have been recovered so far, can be seen in Cairo's Museum of Islamic Art. Islamic Cairo Alison Gascoigne
Notes
1. Fustat Tore Kjeilin
2. Petersen (1999) p. 44
3. David (2000) p. 59
4. Petersen (1999) p. 91
5. Mason (1995) pp.5-7
References
★ The Experience of Ancient Egypt, , Rosalie, David, Routledge, , ISBN 0415032636
★ Amitav Ghosh, ''In an Antique Land'' (Vintage Books, 1994). ISBN 0-679-72783-3
★ Janet L. Abu-Lughod, ''Cairo: 1001 Years of the City Victorious'' (Princeton University Press, 1971), ISBN 0691030855
★ Eyewitness Travel: Egypt, , , , Dorlin Kindersley Limited, London, ,
★ Historic Cairo - rehabilitation of Cairo's historic monuments Jim Antoniou
★ New Looks at Old Pots: Results of Recent Multidisciplinary Studies of Glazed Ceramics from the Islamic World, , Robert B., Mason, Muqarnas: Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture,
★ Dictionary of Islamic Architecture, , Andrew, Petersen, Routledge, , ISBN 0415213320
Further reading
★ Al-Fusṭāṭ, its foundation and early urban development, , W., Kubaik, American University in Cairo Press, , ISBN 9774241681
★ Fustat Finds: Beads, Coins, Medical Instruments, Textiles, and Other Artifacts from the Awad Collection, Jere L. Bacharach, , , American University in Cairo Press, ,
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