Sedes Cairi fere idem est atque civitatis antiquae nomine Babylon[5] Aegypti. Cuius oppidi mentio iam fit in DiodoriBibliotheca Historica (1.56.3), sed fieri potest ut locus iam diu Aegyptiis in usu esset. Fontem nominis nonnulli dicunt esse Pr-Ḥˁpy-n-Ỉwn "Domus Nili Heliopolitana," quod quidem verisimiliter /pʰħaʕbn̩ˈʔoːn/ audiebatur.
Cum Arabes Aegyptum anno 641 Byzantinorum devincerent, castra Arabis ducis Amr ibn al-As hic posta erant, quae facta sunt urbs Fossatum nomine (Arabice الفسطاط al-Fusṭāṭ). Sub regibus domuum Arabum, urbs floruit ut caput terrae. Anno 969, Fatimidi Aegypto potiti sunt et urbem fundaverunt supra Fossatum, principio appellata al-Mansuriyah, at postea al-Qahirah vel Cairus nominata est.
Saeculis XII et XIII crucesignati in Aegyptum invaserunt. Apud Willelmum Tyrensem in Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum scriptum est historia brevis Aegypti ab pharaonum tempore usque ad aevum suum. Cairus vel "Cahere" dictus est "egregia metropolis, quae vulgo Babylonia dicitur, lingua vero Arabica Macer appellatur".[6]
Aer Cairi calidus est praesertim hieme. Paululum pluviae annuae (circa 24 mm) e mense Octobri usque ad Aprilem effunditur.
Cairi olim vixerunt aut nati sunt et hodie vivunt multi incluti viri atque feminae:
Willemi Tyrensis Archiepiscopi Chronicon, editum R. B. C. Huygens (1986), liber XIX, caput XIV.
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