Babylon Fortress

Not to be confused with Babylon.

30°0′22″N 31°13′47″E

Babylon

ⲡⲁⲃⲓⲗⲱⲛ
Remains of one of the two towers guarding the Roman canal
Shown within Egypt
Alternative name	ⲡⲁⲃⲓⲗⲱⲛ
Location	Cairo Governorate, Egypt
Region	Lower Egypt
Coordinates	30°0′22″N 31°13′47″E

Babylon Fortress (Arabic: حصن بابليون; Coptic: ⲡⲁⲃⲓⲗⲱⲛ or Ⲃⲁⲃⲩⲗⲱⲛ)^{[1][better source needed]} is an Ancient Roman fortress on the eastern bank of the Nile Delta, located in the area known today as Old Cairo or Coptic Cairo. The fortress was built circa 300 AD by Emperor Diocletian in order to protect the entrance to an ancient canal, previously rebuilt by Trajan, that linked the Nile with the Red Sea.

It was at the boundary between Lower and Middle Egypt, where the river craft paid tolls when ascending or descending the Nile. Within the fortress's former enclosure are the present-day Coptic Museum, a convent, and several churches, including the Church of St. George and the Hanging Church.

Name

ẖrj ꜥḥꜣ (Kheriaha)[2][3] in hieroglyphs
Era: Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC)

pr ḥꜥpj n wn (Perhabinon)[4] in hieroglyphs

According to the 7th-century writer John of Nikiu, the name "Babylon" was given by Nebuchadnezzar II, who conquered or campaigned in the area circa 568. He named it after his own home city, Babylon,^[5] which was the dominant city of Mesopotamia. According to Egyptologists,^[which?] the ancient name of the site was Kheriaha, although Spiegelberg derives the modern Babylon name from Perhabinon.^[6]

Situation

Babylon lay northeast of Memphis, on the east bank of the Nile, and near the commencement of the Canal of the Pharaohs connecting the Nile to the Red Sea. It was the boundary town between Lower and Middle Egypt, where the river craft paid tolls when ascending or descending the Nile.^{[citation needed]}

History

The south gate of Babylon Fortress in a 19th-century illustration

Some historical sources, such as John of Nikiu, report that a fortress named Babylon was first founded by Nebuchadnezzar II circa 568 BC, at the site where an ancient Egyptian canal linked the Nile with the Red Sea.^[7] During an uprising, Babylonian prisoners established a stronghold between Memphis and Heliopolis, on an elevation on the east bank of the Nile.^{[8][better source needed]} The canal was re-dug by the Persian king Darius (r. 521–486 BC).^[7][9]

Exterior of one of the two round towers that flanked the entrance to Trajan's canal

The fortress's origins are often associated with Trajan (r. 98–117), who created the Amnis Traianus, a reconstruction of the Red Sea canal that had fallen out of use. Trajan reportedly moved the mouth of the canal further south from its former location, to the site of what is now Old Cairo, where he also constructed a fortified harbor.^[7] The construction of the present Babylon Fortress (whose remains are visible today) has been attributed by more recent archeological research to the reign of Diocletian (r. 285–305), who expanded the fortifications at the mouth of the canal around 300 AD.^[10][11] The large new fortress, probably made necessary after the Crisis of the Third Century, provided a considerable defense for both the land and sea routes in the region. The canal passed between two massive round towers and ran through the middle of the fortress.^[12] In later centuries, a wall was built between the two large towers to block the canal.^[13]

The south gate of Babylon Fortress (2007 photo), over which the Hanging Church stands today

The town was the seat of a Christian bishopric, a suffragan of Leontopolis, the capital and metropolitan see of the Roman province of Augustamnica Secunda. The names of several of its bishops are recorded. After the Council of Chalcedon (451), some are of those who accepted the council, but most are of those who rejected it.^[14][15] No longer a residential bishopric, Babylon is today listed by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church as a titular see.^[16]

During the Eastern Roman Empire period the city revolted against the rule of its emperor, Phocas.

During the Arab conquest of Egypt the Byzantine fortress held out for about seven months before finally falling in December 640 to the Arab general 'Amr ibn al-'As. The history of this conquest, and of the subsequent rule of the then still Coptic Christian city by the Arabs, is told by John Bishop of Nikiû in his Chronicle, which survives now only in Ethiopic manuscripts.^{[citation needed]}

References

Citations

1. "أسماء بعض البلاد المصرية بالقبطية - كتاب لغتنا القبطية المصرية". St-Takla.org. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
2. Gauthier, Henri (1927). Dictionnaire des Noms Géographiques Contenus dans les Textes Hiéroglyphiques Vol. 4. p. 203.
3. Wallis Budge, E. A. (1920). An Egyptian hieroglyphic dictionary: with an index of English words, king list and geological list with indexes, list of hieroglyphic characters, coptic and semitic alphabets, etc. Vol II. John Murray. p. 1030.
4. Gauthier (1925), p. 110
5. Sheehan 2010, p. 38.
6. Spiegelberg, Wilhelm (1904). Aegyptologische Randglossen zum Alten Testament. Schlesier & Schweikhardt. p. 39.
7. Sheehan 2010, pp. 35–38.
8. Champollion, Jean-François (1814). L'Égypte sous les Pharaons (in French). Vol. II. Paris: De Bure. pp. 33–35.
9. Raymond 2000, pp. 2.
10. Sheehan 2010, pp. 35–38, 55, 59, 62–63.
11. Gabra et al. 2013, pp. 20–22.
12. Sheehan 2010, pp. 58–59.
13. Sheehan 2010, pp. 52, 63–64.
14. Michel Lequien, Oriens christianus in quatuor Patriarchatus digestus, Paris 1740, Vol. II, coll. 555–560
15. Klaas A. Worp, A Checklist of Bishops in Byzantine Egypt (A.D. 325 – c. 750), in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 100 (1994) 283–318
16. Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 844

Bibliography

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Ba'bylon 2.". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
• Gabra, Gawdat; van Loon, Gertrud J.M.; Reif, Stefan; Swelim, Tarek (2013). Ludwig, Carolyn; Jackson, Morris (eds.). The History and Religious Heritage of Old Cairo: Its Fortress, Churches, Synagogue, and Mosque. American University in Cairo Press. ISBN 9789774167690.
• Raymond, André (2000) [1993]. Cairo. Translated by Wood, Willard. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-00316-3.
• Sheehan, Peter (2010). Babylon of Egypt: The Archaeology of Old Cairo and the Origins of the City. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-977-416-731-7.

Further reading

• Karelin, Dmitry A. The Reconstruction of the Diocletianic Fortress in Babylon of Egypt: Architectural Decorations and Details. Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art: Collection of articles. Vol. 9. Ed: A. V. Zakharova, S. V. Maltseva, E. Iu. Staniukovich-Denisova. Lomonosov Moscow State University / St. Petersburg: NP-Print, 2019, pp. 180–188. ISSN 2312-2129.