Egypt History Post-Dynastic
Alexander the Great’s Sarcophagus portrays the Battle of Issus; credit Wiki Commons/Unk
Egypt is such an ancient, advanced civilization that its history is best viewed in two parts. Here is Part 2 after its dynastic rule by pharaohs.
Persian and Greek Dominance
Heliopolis, another important city and major religious center, was located in what are now the northeastern suburbs of Cairo. It was largely destroyed by the Persian invasions in 343 BC and partly abandoned by the late first century BC.
From the third century BC to the third century AD, northern Nubia would be invaded and annexed by Egypt. Ruled by the Macedonians (Persians) and Romans for the next 600 years, this territory would be known in the Greco-Roman world as Dodekaschoinos.
Kush was later taken back under control by the fourth Kushite king Yesebokheamani. The Kingdom of Kush persisted as a regional power until the fourth century AD, when it disintegrated from internal rebellion amid worsening climatic conditions and conquest by the Noba people.
Macedon (Greece) became a rising power in Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. In 332 BC, Alexander III of Macedon (Alexander the Great) conquered Egypt with little resistance from the Persians.
He was welcomed by the Egyptians as a deliverer. He visited Memphis and went on a pilgrimage to the oracle of Amun at the Siwa Oasis.
The oracle declared him the son of Amun. He conciliated the Egyptians by the respect he showed for their religion, but he appointed Greeks to virtually all the senior posts in the country, and founded a new Greek city, Alexandria, to be the new capital.
Early in 331 BC, Alexander led his forces away to conquer Phoenicia and Babylon, never returning to Egypt.
Ptolemaic Dynasty Ended By the Romans
Following Alexander’s death in 323 BC, a succession crisis erupted among his generals. Perdiccas ruled the empire as regent for Alexander’s half-brother Arrhidaeus, who became Philip III of Macedon, and Alexander’s infant son, Alexander IV of Macedon. Perdiccas appointed Ptolemy, one of Alexander’s closest companions, to rule Egypt in the name of the joint kings.
As Alexander’s empire disintegrated, Ptolemy concurrently established himself as the sole ruler of Egypt.
Ptolemy defended Egypt against an invasion by Perdiccas in 321 BC and consolidated his power during the Wars of the Diadochi (322–301 BC). In 305 BC, Ptolemy I took the title of Pharaoh and founded the Ptolemaic dynasty that was to rule Egypt for nearly 300 years.
The later Ptolemies took on Egyptian traditions by marrying their siblings, had themselves portrayed on public monuments in Egyptian style and dress, and participated in Egyptian religious life.
Hellenistic culture thrived in Egypt well after the Muslim conquest. The Egyptians soon accepted the Ptolemies as the successors to the pharaohs of independent Egypt.
All the male rulers of the dynasty took the name Ptolemy. Ptolemaic queens, some of whom were the sisters of their husbands, were usually called Cleopatra, Arsinoe, or Berenice.
Roman Conquest of Egypt
The most famous member of the line was the last queen, Cleopatra VII, known for her role in the Roman political battles between Julius Caesar and Pompey, and later between Octavian and Mark Antony. Her apparent suicide at the conquest by Rome marked the end of the Ptolemaic Dynasty in 30 BC.
Rome ruled Egypt and most of the recorded world for several centuries.
The ruins of Pompey’s Pillar and Sphinx in Alexandria, when Rome ruled over Egypt; credit Shivani Singh04/Wiki Commons
The origins of modern Cairo trace to a series of settlements in the fourth century AD, as Memphis was continuing to decline. The Romans established a large fortress along the east bank of the Nile.
The fortress, called Babylon, was built by the Roman Emperor Diocletian (285–305 AD) at the entrance of a canal connecting the Nile to the Red Sea that was created earlier by Roman Emperor Trajan (98–115 AD).
Further north of the fortress, near the present-day district of al-Azbakiya, was a port and fortified outpost known as Tendunyas.
The Byzantine-Sassanian War between 602-628 AD caused great hardship and likely caused much of the urban population to leave for the countryside, leaving the settlement partly deserted. The site today remains at the nucleus of the Coptic Orthodox community.
Cairo’s oldest extant churches, such as the Church of Saint Barbara and the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, are located inside the fortress walls in what is now known as Old Cairo or Coptic Cairo.
Muslim Conquest of Egypt
The Muslim conquest of Byzantine Egypt was from 639-642 AD. The city, known as Fustat, served as a garrison town and as the new administrative capital of Egypt. One of the first projects of the new Muslim administration was to clear and reopen Trajan’s ancient canal to ship grain more directly from Egypt to Medina, the capital of the caliphate in Arabia.
Mohammed Ali Mosque in Cairo; (c) Abdelhakeem Elshinnawi/UNSPLASH
Ibn al-As also founded a city mosque at that time, now known as the Mosque of Amr Ibn al-As, the oldest mosque in Africa.
In 750 AD, following the overthrow of the Umayyad caliphate by the Abbasids, the new rulers created their settlement to the northeast of Fustat, which became the new provincial capital. This was known as al-Askar, laid out like a military camp.
In 861 AD, a Nilometer was built on Roda Island near Fustat. Although it was repaired and given a new roof in later centuries, its basic structure is preserved, making it the oldest Islamic structure in Cairo.
In 878 AD, a commander of Turkic origin, Ahmad ibn Tulun, became the effective governor of Egypt. He used his growing wealth to establish a new administrative capital to the northeast of Fustat. Between 876-879 AD, Ibn Tulun built a great mosque, now known as the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, at the center of the city, next to the palace.
In 905 AD, the Abbasids sent General Muhammad Sulayman al-Katib to reassert direct control over the country. The al-Qatta’i was razed to the ground, except for the mosque, which remains standing today.