Damietta ( arz, دمياط ' ; cop, ⲧⲁⲙⲓⲁϯ, Tamiati) is a

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

city and the capital of the

Damietta Governorate Damietta Governorate ( ar, محافظة دمياط ' ) is one of the governorates of Egypt. It is located in the northeastern part of the country, and has a population of over 1 million. Its capital is the city of Damietta. Damietta (city) is fa ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

, a former

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

and present multiple Catholic

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

. It is located at the Damietta branch, an eastern

distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Distributaries are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributar ...

of the

Nile Delta The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to ...

, from the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

, about north of

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

. Damietta joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities.

Etymology

The modern name of the town comes from its Coptic name Tamiati ( cop, ⲧⲁⲙⲓⲁϯ} Late Coptic: ), which in turn most likely comes from Ancient Egyptian ("harbour, port"), although

al-Maqrizi Al-Maqrīzī or Maḳrīzī (Arabic: ), whose full name was Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-'Abbās Aḥmad ibn 'Alī ibn 'Abd al-Qādir ibn Muḥammad al-Maqrīzī (Arabic: ) (1364–1442) was a medieval Egyptian Arab historian during the Mamluk era, kn ...

suggested a

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

etymology.

History

Mentioned by the 6th-century geographer Stephanus Byzantius,Siméon Vailhé, "Damietta" in ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' (New York 1908)
/ref> it was called ''Tamiathis'' () in the

Hellenistic period In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

. Under

Caliph Omar ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb ( ar, عمر بن الخطاب, also spelled Omar, ) was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () as the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate ...

(579–644), the Arabs took the town and successfully resisted the attempts by the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

to recover it, especially in 739, 821, 921 and 968. The

Abbasids The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

used

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

, Damietta,

Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 peopl ...

and

Siraf Bandar Siraf ( fa, بندر سیراف), also Romanized as Bandar-e Sīraf; also known as Sīraf, Ṭāherī, and Tāhiri; as well as Bandar-e Ṭāherī and Bandar-i Ṭāhirī ( fa, بندر طاهری, Bandar-e Ṭāherī), is a city in the Ce ...

as entry ports to India and the

Tang Empire The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten King ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. Damietta was an important naval base during the Abbasid, Tulunid and

Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dyna ...

periods. This led to several attacks by the

, most notably the sack and destruction of the city in May 853. Damietta was again important in the 12th and 13th centuries during the time of the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were ...

. In 1169, a fleet from the

Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem ( la, Regnum Hierosolymitanum; fro, Roiaume de Jherusalem), officially known as the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Frankish Kingdom of Palestine,Example (title of works): was a Crusader state that was establish ...

, with support from the

, attacked the port, but the besiegers returned home without any success to capture the port, which was defended by

Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt an ...

. During preparations for the Fifth Crusade in 1217, it was decided that Damietta should be the focus of attack. Control of Damietta meant control of the Nile, and from there the crusaders believed they would be able to conquer

. From Egypt they could then attack Palestine and recapture

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. After the siege of Damietta of 1218–1219, the port was occupied by the Crusaders. The siege devastated the population of Damietta. After the crusaders captured Damietta in November 1219 they looted the city. Earlier that year,

Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christianit ...

had arrived to peaceably negotiate with the Muslim ruler. In 1221 the Crusaders attempted to march to Cairo, but were destroyed by the combination of nature and Muslim defenses. Damietta was also the object of the Seventh Crusade, led by

Louis IX of France Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the d ...

. His fleet arrived there in 1249 and quickly captured the fort, which he refused to hand over to the nominal king of Jerusalem, to whom it had been promised during the Fifth Crusade. However, having been taken prisoner with his army in April 1250, Louis was obliged to surrender Damietta as ransom. Hearing that Louis was preparing a new crusade, the

Mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...

Sultan

Baibars Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari ( ar, الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري, ''al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī'') (1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), of Turkic Kipchak ...

– in view of the importance of the town to the Crusaders – destroyed it in 1251 and rebuilt it with stronger fortifications a few kilometers from the river in the early 1260s, making the mouth of the Nile at Damietta impassable for ships.

Ecclesiastical history

Hellenistic Tamiathis became a Christian

, a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

of the

metropolitan see Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a t ...

Pelusium Pelusium ( Ancient Egyptian: ; cop, /, romanized: , or , romanized: ; grc, Πηλουσιον, Pēlousion; la, Pēlūsium; Arabic: ; Egyptian Arabic: ) was an important city in the eastern extremes of Egypt's Nile Delta, 30 km to ...

, the capital of the

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

of Augustamnica Prima, to which Tamiathis belonged. Its bishop Heraclius took part in the

Council of Ephesus The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus (near present-day Selçuk in Turkey) in AD 431 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. This third ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the church t ...

in 431. Helpidius was a signatory of the decree of Patriarch

Gennadius of Constantinople Gennadius (Greek: Ἅγιος Γεννάδιος; d. 25 August 471) was the Patriarch of Constantinople from 458 until his death. Gennadius is known to have been a learned writer who followed the Antiochene school of literal exegesis, although ...

against simony in 459. Bassus was at the

Second Council of Constantinople The Second Council of Constantinople is the fifth of the first seven ecumenical councils recognized by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. It is also recognized by the Old Catholics and others. Protestant opinions and re ...

(553). In a letter from Patriarch Michael I of Alexandria read at the Photian Council of Constantinople (879), mention is made of Zacharias of Tamiathis, who had attended a synod that Michael had convened in support of

Photius Photios I ( el, Φώτιος, ''Phōtios''; c. 810/820 – 6 February 893), also spelled PhotiusFr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., & Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materia ...

. Later bishops too of Tamiathis are named in other documents. In 1249, when

captured the town, it became for a short time the seat of a

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Jo ...

bishop. The Latin bishopric, no longer residential, is today listed by the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

twice as a

under the names Tamiathis (Latin) and Damiata (Curiate Italian), each at time of episcopal or archiepiscopal rank, of the Latin and Melkite Catholic Churches, for the

, having been until the early 20th century an important centre for that church.

Titular Latin see

The diocese was nominally restored in the 17th century when established as Latin

titular archbishopric A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

of Tamiathis of the Romans (Latin; Damiata in Curiate Italian) and had the following incumbents of the intermediary (archiepiscopal) rank : *

Bernardino Spada Bernardino Spada (21 April 1594 – 10 November 1661) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and a patron of the arts whose collection is housed in the Palazzo Spada in Rome. Early life Spada was born in Brisighella, current provi ...

(later Cardinal) (1623.12.04 – 1626.01.19) * Cardinal

Cesare Facchinetti Cesare Facchinetti (17 September 1608 – 30 January 1683) was an Italian Catholic Cardinal. Early life Facchinetti was born 17 September 1608 in Bologna. He was the son of Ludovico Facchinetti (2nd Marquis of Vianino), Senator of Bologna, Amba ...

(1639.09.05 – 1672.11.14) * Neri Corsini (later Cardinal) (1652.08.12 – 1664.01.14) * Angelo Maria Ranuzzi (later Cardinal) (1668.04.30 – 1678.04.18) * Ercole Visconti (1678.07.18 – ?) * Marco Antonio Ansidei (later Cardinal) (1724.06.12 – 1726.12.16) * Raffaele Cosimo De Girolami (later Cardinal) (1728.03.08 – 1743.09.09) * Paul Alpheran de Bussan,

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

(O.B.E.) (1746.09.19 – 1757.04.20) * Vincenzo Maria de Francisco e Galletti,

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of ...

(O.P.) (1757.12.19 – 1769.07.19) * Bonaventura Prestandrea,

Conventual Franciscans The Order of Friars Minor Conventual (OFM Conv) is a male religious fraternity in the Roman Catholic Church that is a branch of the Franciscans. The friars in OFM CONV are also known as Conventual Franciscans, or Minorites. Dating back to ...

(O.F.M. Conv.) (1769.12.18 – 1777.12.21) *

Bartolomeo Pacca Bartolomeo Pacca (27 December 1756, Benevento – 19 April 1844) was an Italian cardinal, scholar, and statesman as Cardinal Secretary of State. Pacca served as apostolic nuncio to Cologne, and later to Lisbon. Biography Bartolomeo Pacca was ...

(later Cardinal) (1785.09.26 – 1801.02.23) * Giovanni Francesco Compagnoni Marefoschi (1816.04.29 – 1820.09.17) * Giovanni Giacomo Sinibaldi (1821.08.13 – 1843.01.27) (later Patriarch)* * Vincenzo Gioacchino Pecci (later

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-ol ...

) (1843.01.27 – 1846.01.19) * Diego Planeta (1850.01.07 – 1858.06.05) *

Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano (9 July 1828, Bene Vagienna, Italy – 7 December 1913, Rome, Italy) was a cardinal of the Catholic Church in the late nineteenth century. He was Bishop of Ostia e Velletri and Dean of the Sacred College of Card ...

(later Cardinal) (1866.05.04 – 1873.12.22) * Eugène-Louis-Marie Lion, O.P. (1874.03.13 – 1883.08.08) * Eugenio Lachat,

Missionaries of the Precious Blood The Missionaries of the Precious Blood ( la, Congregatio Missionariorum Pretiosissimi Sanguinis) is a Catholic community of priests and brothers. The society was founded by Saint Gaspar del Bufalo in 1815. The Missionaries of the Precious Bl ...

(C.PP.S.) (1885.03.23 – 1886.11.01) * Ignazio Persico (德斯馬曾), O.F.M. Cap. (later Cardinal) (1887.03.14 – 1893.01.16) * Andrea Aiuti (later Cardinal) (1893.06.12 – 1903.06.22) * Edoardo Carlo Gastone Pöttickh de Pettenegg,

Teutonic Order The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

(O.T.) (1904.11.14 – 1918.10.01) * Sebastião Leite de Vasconcellos (1919.12.15 – 1923.01.29) * Luigi Pellizzo (1923.03.24 – 1936.08.14) Demoted in 1925 as Titular bishopric, it has been vacant for decades, having had the following incumbents, all of the episcopal (lowest) rank: * Guglielmo Grassi (1937.01.13 – 1954.09.14) * Eugenio Beitia Aldazabal (1954.10.30 – 1962.01.27) * Marco Caliaro,

Scalabrinians The Congregation of the Missionaries of Saint Charles Borromeo ( la, Congregatio Missionariorum a S. Carolo), commonly called the Scalabrinian Missionaries, is a Roman Catholic religious institute of brothers and priests founded by Giovanni Batt ...

(C.S.) (1962.02.10 – 1962.05.23) * Antonio Cece (1962.08.06 – 1966.03.31)

Titular Melkite see

Established in 1900 as

titular bishopric A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

of Damiata of the Melkite Greeks (Italian; Latin Tamiathis), it was suppressed in 1935, after a single incumbent of this episcopal (lowest) rank: * Titular Bishop Paul-Raphaël Abi-Mourad (1900.07.02 – 1935.08.08) Restored in 1961 as Titular archbishopric, it has had the following incumbents of the archiepiscopal (intermediary) rank: * Titular Archbishop Antonio Farage (1961.03.07 – 1963.11.09) * Titular Archbishop Nicolas Hajj (1965.07.30 – 1984.11.03) * Titular Archbishop Joseph Jules Zerey (2001.06.22 – ... ), protosyncellus of Jerusalem of the Greek-Melkites (Palestine)

Climate

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as

hot desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one ...

(BWh), but blowing winds from the

greatly moderate the temperatures, typical to the Egypt's north coast, making its summers moderately hot and humid while its winters mild and moderately wet where sleet and

hail Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...

are also common.

Port Said Port Said ( ar, بورسعيد, Būrsaʿīd, ; grc, Πηλούσιον, Pēlousion) is a city that lies in northeast Egypt extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal. With an approximate population of 6 ...

, Kosseir, Ras El Bar,

Baltim Baltim ( ar, بلطيم ) is a city in the Kafr El Sheikh Governorate, in the north coast of Egypt. History The second part of the town's name preserves "end, furthest part (of Egypt)". Baltim was the beneficiary of a tax reduction und ...

, Damietta and

have the least temperature variation in

Economy

Damietta is very famous for its furniture industry. In addition to the Egyptian market, its furniture is sold in Arab countries, Africa, Europe, US, and almost all over the world. Today, there is a canal connecting it to the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest riv ...

, which has made it an important port once again. Containers are transported through the new

Damietta Port Egypt's Damietta Port is located 10 km west of the Nile river of Damietta branch westward Ras El-Bar, 70 km to the west of Port Said and 200 km from Alexandria Port. The port installations extend on an area of 11.8 km2. The por ...

. The Damietta governorate has a population of about 1,093,580 (2006). It contains the

SEGAS LNG The Hellenic Athletics Federation (Greek: ; abbreviated SEGAS) is Greece's governing body for amateur sport. SEGAS was created in 1897 and has been the principal organiser of many international sporting competitions held in Greece. The associatio ...

(Liquefied Natural Gas) plant, which will ultimately have a capacity of 9.6 million ton/year through two trains. The plant is owned by Segas, a joint venture of the Spanish utility

Unión Fenosa ''Unión Fenosa, S.A.'' was, until its acquisition by ''Gas Natural'' in 2009, a large Spanish company dedicated to the production and distribution of gas and electricity. It installed capacity of 11,120 megawatts of power and 8.9 million custome ...

(40%), Italian oil company

Eni Eni S.p.A. () is an Italian multinational energy company headquartered in Rome. Considered one of the seven "supermajor" oil companies in the world, it has operations in 69 countries with a market capitalization of US$54.08 billion, as of 11 Ap ...

(40%) and the Egyptian companies EGAS and EGPC (10% each). The plant is unusual since it is not supplied from a dedicated field, but is supplied with gas from the Egyptian grid. , EMethanex, the Egyptian division of

Methanex Corporation Methanex Corporation is a Canadian company that supplies, distributes and markets methanol worldwide. Methanex is the world’s largest producer and supplier of methanol to major international markets in North and South America, Europe, and As ...

, a Canadian owned company, was building a 3600 MTPD methanol plant. Damietta also has a woodworking industry and is also noted for its White Domiati cheese and other dairy products and

Pâtisserie A () is a type of Italian, French or Belgian bakery that specializes in pastries and sweets, as well as a term for such food items. In some countries, it is a legally controlled title that may only be used by bakeries that employ a licensed ...

and Egyptian desserts. It is also a fishing port.

Main sights

;Mosques * Amr ibn al-A'as Mosque (al-Fateh), the second mosque to be built in Egypt and Africa by the Arabs after entering Egypt. It has been converted to a church twice during occupation by the crusaders.

's son, John Tristan, was baptized by a legate of the pope in this mosque. * Al-Bahr Mosque, dating to the Ottoman rule era. * Al-Hadidy Mosque in Faraskour, 200 years old. * Al-Maainy Mosque, dating to the reign of al-Naser Mohammed ibn Qalawon. * Al-Matbuly Mosque, dating to the Mamluk era. * Al-Radwaniya Mosque, dating to the Mamluk era. ;Other * Tabiet Ahmed Urabi, ruins of Damietta Fort at Ezbet El-Borg. * The Old Bridge (), dating to the early 20th century. * Souk al-Hesba, the old town centre, dating to the Abbasi rule era.

Notable people

* Kamal al-Din Muhammad ibn Musa Al-Damiri, (1344–1405), writer on canon law and natural history *

Refaat Al-Gammal Refaat Ali Suleiman Al-Gammal ( ar, رفعت علي سليمان الجمال) (July 1, 1927 – January 30, 1982), better known as Raafat Al-Haggan ( ar, رأفت الهجّان) in Egypt and as Jack Bitton in Israel, was an Egyptian spy who spe ...

(Raafat el-Haggan), Egyptian spy * Professor

Aisha Abd al-Rahman Aisha Abd al-Rahman (Arabic: عائشة عبد الرحمن; 18 November 1913 – 1 December 1998) was an Egyptian author and professor of literature who published under the pen name Bint al-Shaṭiʾ ( بِنْت ٱلشّاطِئ"Daughter of the ...

(Bent Al Shatea), journalist and Muslim philosopher *

Latifa al-Zayyat Latifa al-Zayyat ( ar, لطيفة الزيات) (8 August 1923 – 10 September 1996) was an Egyptian activist and writer, most famous for her novel ''The Open Door'', which won the inaugural Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature. Biography Al Za ...

, activist and writer * Professor Abdel Rahman Badawi, professor of philosophy * St. Sidhom Bishay, Coptic martyr * Rifaat El-Fanagily, football player * Mohamed Fahim ElGindy, who established and developed the furniture industry during 20th century in Damietta *

Rifaat el-Mahgoub Rifat (also transliterated as Rifaat, ar, رفعت, , a conjugated form of the Arabic verb رفع with the meaning "lifted", "elated", "joyous") is a masculine name. Variants also include Refat, Rafat, Refaat, etc. Notable people with the name i ...

, former Head of the Egyptian Parliament and a member of the ruling National Democratic Party * Besheer El-Tabei, football player *

Mohammed Hassan El-Zayyat Mohammed Hassan El-Zayyat (14 February 1915 – 25 February 1993) was an Egyptian diplomat and Minister of Foreign Affairs. El-Zayyat served as the Permanent Representative of Egypt in the United Nations from 1969 to 1972. In 1972 he briefly s ...

, former minister of foreign affairs. *

Farag Foda Farag Foda or Fouda ( ar, فرج فودة ; 20 August 1945 – 8 June 1992) was a prominent Egyptian professor, writer, columnist, and human rights activist. He was assassinated on 8 June 1992 by members of the Islamist group El Gama'a El Isl ...

, secular writer shot to death in his office on 8 June 1992 by two Islamic fundamentalists from the

Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya ( ar, الجماعة الإسلامية, "the Islamic Group"; also transliterated El Gama'a El Islamiyya; also called "Islamic Groups" and transliterated Gamaat Islamiya, al Jamaat al Islamiya, is an Egyptian Sunni Islamist movement, and ...

group. *

Zahi Hawass Zahi Abass Hawass ( ar, زاهي حواس; born May 28, 1947) is an Egyptian archaeologist, Egyptologist, and former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, serving twice. He has also worked at archaeological sites in the Nile Delta, the Wes ...

, Egyptologist *

Yusuf Idris Yusuf Idris, also Yusif Idris ( ar, يوسف إدريس) (May 19, 1927 – August 1, 1991) was an Egyptian writer of plays, short stories, and novels. Biography Idris was born in Faqous. He originally trained to be a doctor, studying at the ...

, writer and psychiatrist *

Zaki Naguib Mahmoud Zaki Naguib Mahmoud (Arabic: زكي نجيب محمود‎) (February 2, 1905 – September 8, 1993) was an Egyptian intellectual and thinker, and is considered a pioneer in modern Arabic philosophical thought. He was described by Abbas Mahmoud a ...

, writer and philosopher *

Ali Moustafa Mosharafa Dr. Ali Moustafa Mosharafa ( arz, على مصطفى مشرفة) (11 July 1898 – 16 January 1950) was an Egyptian theoretical physicist. He was professor of applied mathematics in the Faculty of Science at Cairo University, and also served ...

, physicist and contributor to the

theory of relativity The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical phenomena in ...

* Farouk Shousha, poet; previously head of Egyptian Radio (El Soaraa village) * Essam El Hadary, football player

References

External links

GCatholic - Latin titular see with incumbent biography links

{{Authority control Governorate capitals in Egypt Medieval cities of Egypt Populated places in Damietta Governorate Populated coastal places in Egypt Crusade places Nile Delta Port cities of the Mediterranean Sea Populated places established in the 6th century