Babylon Fortress (; ) is an

Ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

fortress on the eastern bank of the

Nile Delta The Nile Delta (, or simply , ) is the River delta, delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's larger deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the eas ...

, located in the area known today as

Old Cairo Old Cairo (, Egyptian pronunciation: Maṣr El-ʾAdīma) is a historic area in Cairo, Egypt, which includes the site of a Babylon Fortress, Roman-era fortress, the Christian settlement of Coptic Cairo, and the Muslim-era settlement of Fustat that ...

Coptic Cairo Coptic Cairo (Arabic: القاهرة القبطية, romanized: ''al-Qāhira al-Qibṭiyya'', lit. Coptic Cairo) is a part of Old Cairo which encompasses the Babylon Fortress, the Coptic Museum, the Hanging Church, the Greek Church of St. ...

. The fortress was built circa 300 AD by Emperor

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

in order to protect the entrance to an ancient canal, previously rebuilt by

Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...

, that linked the Nile with the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

. It was at the boundary between

Lower Lower may refer to: * ''Lower'' (album), 2025 album by Benjamin Booker *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is sit ...

and

Middle Egypt Middle Egypt () is the section of land between Lower Egypt (the Nile Delta) and Upper Egypt, stretching upstream from Asyut in the south to Memphis, Egypt, Memphis in the north. At the time, Ancient Egypt was divided into Lower and Upper 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 The Coptic Museum is a museum in Coptic Cairo, Egypt with the largest collection of Coptic Christian artifacts in the world. It was founded by Marcus Simaika in 1908 to house Coptic antiquities. The museum traces the history of Egypt from its b ...

, a convent, and several churches, including the Church of St. George and the Hanging Church.

Name

According to the 7th-century writer

John of Nikiu John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...

, the name "Babylon" was given by

Nebuchadnezzar II Nebuchadnezzar II, also Nebuchadrezzar II, meaning "Nabu, watch over my heir", was the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling from the death of his father Nabopolassar in 605 BC to his own death in 562 BC. Often titled Nebuchadnezzar ...

, who conquered or campaigned in the area circa 568 BC. He named it after his own home city,

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

, which was the dominant city of

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

. According to Egyptologists, the ancient name of the site was Kheriaha, although

Spiegelberg Spiegelberg is a municipality in the Rems-Murr district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History Spiegelberg's name originates from a glassworking manufactory built in 1699-1700 that produced mirrors from 1705 to 1794. The municipality started w ...

derives the modern Babylon name from Perhabinon.

Situation

Babylon lay northeast of Memphis, on the east bank of the

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

, and near the commencement of the

Canal of the Pharaohs The Canal of the Pharaohs, also called the Ancient Suez Canal or Necho's Canal, is the forerunner of the Suez Canal, constructed in ancient times and kept in use, with intermissions, until being closed in 767 AD for strategic reasons during a re ...

connecting the Nile to the

. It was the boundary town between

and

, where the river craft paid tolls when ascending or descending the Nile.

History

Some historical sources, such as John of Nikiu, report that a fortress named Babylon was first founded by

circa 568 BC, at the site where an ancient Egyptian canal linked the Nile with the Red Sea. During an uprising, Babylonian prisoners established a stronghold between Memphis and Heliopolis, on an elevation on the east bank of the Nile. The canal was re-dug by the

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

king

Darius Darius may refer to: Persian royalty ;Kings of the Achaemenid Empire * Darius I (the Great, 550 to 487 BC) * Darius II (423 to 404 BC) * Darius III (Codomannus, 380 to 330 BC) ;Crown princes * Darius (son of Xerxes I), crown prince of Persia, ma ...

(r. 521–486 BC). Babylon Fortress 010

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. The construction of the present Babylon Fortress (whose remains are visible today) has been attributed by more recent archeological research to the reign of

(r. 285–305), who expanded the fortifications at the mouth of the canal around 300 AD. The large new fortress, probably made necessary after the

Crisis of the Third Century The Crisis of the Third Century, also known as the Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis, was a period in History of Rome, Roman history during which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressure of repeated Barbarian invasions ...

, 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. In later centuries, a wall was built between the two large towers to block the canal. CairoCoptMuseumGateAmrIbnAs

The town was the seat of a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

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 ...

, a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

Leontopolis Leontopolis was an ancient Egyptian city located in the Nile Delta, Lower Egypt. It served as a provincial capital and Metropolitan Archbishopric. The archaeological site and settlement are known today as Kafr Al Muqdam. Name Known most popularl ...

, the capital and

metropolitan see Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ...

of the

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) 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 ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

of Augustamnica Secunda. The names of several of its bishops are recorded. After the

Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon (; ) was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bithynia (modern-day Kadıköy, Istanbul, Turkey) from 8 Oct ...

(451), some are of those who accepted the council, but most are of those who rejected it. No longer a residential bishopric, Babylon is today listed by both the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

and 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 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

as a

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 ...

.''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 844 During the

Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

period the city revolted against the rule of its emperor,

Phocas Phocas (; ; 5475 October 610) was Eastern Roman emperor from 602 to 610. Initially a middle-ranking officer in the East Roman army, Roman army, Phocas rose to prominence as a spokesman for dissatisfied soldiers in their disputes with the cour ...

. During the

Arab conquest of Egypt The Arab conquest of Egypt, led by the army of Amr ibn al-As, took place between 639 and 642 AD and was overseen by the Rashidun Caliphate. It ended the seven-century-long Roman Egypt, Roman period in Egypt that had begun in 30 BC and, more broa ...

the Byzantine fortress held out for about seven months before finally falling in December 640 to the Arab general

'Amr ibn al-'As Amr ibn al-As ibn Wa'il al-Sahmi (664) was an Arab commander and companion of Muhammad who led the Muslim conquest of Egypt and served as its governor in 640–646 and 658–664. The son of a wealthy Qurayshite, Amr embraced Islam in and wa ...

. 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.

References

Citations

Bibliography

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