Roda Island (or Rawdah Island, , ) is an island neighbourhood in 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 ...

in central

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, alternatively or partially known as Manial al-Roda, or al-Manial, in reference to the main village that existed on the island before it was urbanised, and is part of the Misr al-Qadima district.

History

The island was known in Antiquity as Babylonian Island (), referring to the

Babylon Fortress Babylon Fortress (; ) is an Ancient Rome, 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 ...

. During the reign of caliph Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik of the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

dynasty, a

nilometer A nilometer is a structure for measuring the Nile River's clarity and water level during the Flooding of the Nile, annual flood season in Egypt. There were three main types of nilometers, calibrated in Egyptian cubits: (1) a vertical column, (2) ...

was built on the southern tip of the island opposite the mouth of the

Khalij canal The Khalij ( or ''al-khalīg'' in Egyptian pronunciation), also known as the ''Khalij al-Misri'' or ''Khalij al-Masri'' (), was a canal in Cairo, Egypt. It began in the 7th century when the new Arab conquerors rebuilt an ancient canal that link ...

in AD 715 to measure the annual Nile flood. The structure was replaced in AD 861, during the reign of the

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...

caliph

al-Mutawakkil Ja'far ibn al-Mu'tasim, Muḥammad ibn Harun al-Rashid, Hārūn al-Mutawakkil ʿalā Allāh (); March 82211 December 861, commonly known by his laqab, regnal name al-Mutawwakil ala Allah (), was the tenth Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid caliph, rul ...

, overseen by the astronomer

Alfraganus Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Kathīr al-Farghānī () also known as Alfraganus in the West (870), was an astronomer in the Abbasid court in Baghdad, and one of the most famous astronomers in the 9th century. Al-Farghani composed ...

, and despite a number of modifications, is still extant today and known as the Roda Island Nilometer. The

Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty (), also known as the Ayyubid Sultanate, was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egyp ...

Sultan

as-Salih Ayyub Al-Malik as-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub (5 November 1205 – 22 November 1249), nickname: Abu al-Futuh (), also known as al-Malik al-Salih, was the Ayyubid ruler of Egypt from 1240 to 1249. Early life As-Salih was born in 1205, the son of Al-Kamil ...

(Reigned 1240 to 1249, great-nephew of

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

) built a palace at the southern tip of the island near the nilometer.Al-Maqrizi, p.405/vol. 1 The

mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...

Bahri dynasty The Bahri Mamluks (), sometimes referred to as the Bahri dynasty, were the rulers of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt from 1250 to 1382, following the Ayyubid dynasty. The members of the Mamluk ruling class were purchased as slaves ( mamluks) and ma ...

originally settled on Roda Island at the palace. The name of the dynasty, ''"Bahriyya"'', means 'of the river', referring to their original settlement on the island on the Nile. The ''Bostan al-Kebir'' (Great Gardens) started to be planned and grown on the island in 1829 by Viceroy Ibrahim Pasha, of the

Muhammad Ali Dynasty The Muhammad Ali dynasty or the Alawiyya dynasty was the ruling dynasty of Egypt and Sudan from the 19th to the mid-20th century. It is named after its progenitor, the Albanians, Albanian Muhammad Ali of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, regarded as the fou ...

. In 1851 the

Manasterly Palace The Manasterly Palace is an Ottoman Baroque palace and grounds in the south western corner on the southern end of Rawda Island on the Nile in Cairo, Egypt. It stands next to the nilometer that dates back to 861 CE. The one story palace was buil ...

, also known as the Kiosk was built on the island's southern tip on the ruins of the Ayyubid palace for Hassan Fouad Pasha Al-Manasterly, Katkhoda of Egypt during the reign of Abbas I. Later in the early 20th Century the Prince Muhammad Ali Palace was built in the island's mid-north. Today, the island is a bustling neighbourhood of Cairo.

Gallery

Cairo, Nile River, Rhoda Island, Egypt.jpg, Northern tip File:Roda Island in Environs du Kaire (Cairo). Plan général de Boulâq, du Kaire, de l'île de Roudah (el-Rôda), du Vieux Kaire et de Gyzeh (Jîzah) (NYPL b14212718-1268726) (cropped).jpg, c.1800 map of Roda Island File:CairoRodaWoodenBridge.jpg, Wooden bridge near the

Nilometer A nilometer is a structure for measuring the Nile River's clarity and water level during the Flooding of the Nile, annual flood season in Egypt. There were three main types of nilometers, calibrated in Egyptian cubits: (1) a vertical column, (2) ...

File:Nilometer Rhoda Island Cairo June 1966.jpg, The Roda Island Nilometer, and island in the Nile File:قصر المانسترلي بمنيل الروضة.jpg, The

References

External links

The Al-Manyal Palace Museum and gardens
*
Wikivoyage.org: Rōḍa
- ''on

Wikivoyage Wikivoyage is a free web-based travel guide for travel destinations and travel topics written by volunteer authors. It is a sister project of Wikipedia and supported and hosted by the same non-profit Wikimedia Foundation (WMF). Wikivoyage has ...

.org'' Islands of the Nile River islands of Egypt Ayyubid architecture in Egypt Districts of Cairo {{Egypt-geo-stub