Alexandria, besieged,
Amru lost no time in marching upon Alexandria, so as to reach it before the Greek troops, hastily called in from the outlying garrisons, could rally there for its defence. capitulates A.H. XX. A.D. 641.On the way he put to flight several columns which sought to hinder his advance; and at last presented himself before the walls of the great city, which, offering (as it still does) on the land side a narrow and well-fortified front, was capable of an obstinate resistance. Towards the sea also it was open to succour at the pleasure of the Byzantine Court. But during the siege, Heraclius died, and the opportunity of relief was supinely allowed to slip away.[371] Some of the protective outworks on the narrow isthmus were taken by storm; and there appearing no prospect of support from Constantinople, the spirit of the garrison began to flag. The Greeks took to their ships, and in great numbers pusillanimously deserted the beleaguered city. At last Mucoucus, who after his defeat had retired to Alexandria, finding the place too weak for a prolonged defence, offered to capitulate, on the same terms as were given to Upper Egypt, and on condition that the prisoners taken throughout the campaign were set free. The Caliph, being referred to, readily agreed. ‘Tribute,’ he replied, ‘is better than booty; for it continueth, whereas spoil soon vanisheth as if it had not been. Touching the captives, such as are already scattered, are beyond my power; but those that remain, saving such as were seized on the field of battle, shall be restored.’ And so the city escaped sack, and the people became tributary to the conquerors.[372]
Amru founds Fostât, or Cairo.
Amru, it is said, wished to fix his seat of government at Alexandria, but Omar would not allow him to remain so far away from his camp, with so many branches of the Nile between. So he returned to Upper Egypt. A body of the Arabs crossed the Nile and settled in Ghîzeh, on the western bank—a movement which Omar permitted only on condition that a strong fortress was constructed there to prevent the possibility of their being surprised and cut off.[373] The head-quarters of the army were pitched near Memphis. Around them grew up a military station, called from its origin Fostât, or ‘the Encampment.’ It expanded rapidly into the capital of Egypt, the modern Cairo.[374] And there Amru laid the foundations of a great Mosque, which still bears his name.
The soil left in the hands of the cultivators.
Zobeir urged Amru to enforce the right of conquest, and divide the land among his followers.[375] But Amru refused; and the Caliph, as might have been expected, confirmed the judgment. ‘Leave the land of Egypt,’ was his wise reply, ‘in the people’s hands to nurse and fructify.’ As elsewhere, Omar would not allow the Arabs to become proprietors of a single acre. Even Amru was refused ground whereupon to build a mansion for himself. He had a dwelling-place, the Caliph reminded him, at Medîna, and that should suffice. So the land of Egypt, left in the hands of its ancestral occupants, became a rich granary for the Hejâz, even as in bygone times it had been the granary of Italy and the Byzantine empire.
Amru reopens communication between the Nile and Suez. A.H. XXI. A.D. 641–2.
A memorable work, set on foot by Amru after his return from Alexandria to Fostât, facilitated the transport of corn from Egypt to Arabia. It was nothing less than the reopening of the communication of old subsisting between the waters of the Nile in Upper Egypt and those of the Red Sea at Suez. The channel followed the most eastern branch of the river as far north as Belbeis, then turned to the right through the vale of Tumlât, and, striking the Salt Lakes near Timseh, so reached the Red Sea by what is now the lower portion of the Suez Canal. Long disused, the bed, where shallow and artificial, had in that sandy region become choked with silt. The obstructions, however, could not have been very formidable, for within a year they were cleared away by the labour of the Egyptians, and navigation thus restored. The Caliph, going down to Yenbó (the Port of Medîna), there saw with his own eyes vessels discharge the burdens with which they had been freighted by Egyptian hands under the shadow of the Pyramids of Ghîzeh. The Canal remained navigable till the reign of Omar II., that is, for eighty years, when, choked with sand, it was again abandoned.[376]
Amru would teach the natives to respect the Arabs.
Finding that the Egyptians, used to the delicate and luxurious living of their land, looked down upon the Arabs for their simple and frugal fare, Amru chose a singular expedient to disabuse them of the prejudice, and raise his people in their estimation. First he had a feast prepared of slaughtered camels, after the Bedouin fashion; and the Egyptians looked on with wonder while the army satisfied themselves with the rude repast. Next day he commanded a sumptuous banquet to be set before them, with all the dainties of the Egyptian table; and here again the warriors fell to with equal zest. On the third day there was a grand parade of all the troops in battle array, and the people flocked to see it. Then Amru addressed them, saying: ‘The first day’s entertainment was to let you see the plain and simple manner of our life at home; the second to show you that we can, not the less, enjoy the good things of the lands we enter; and yet retain, as ye see in the spectacle here before you, our martial vigour notwithstanding.’ Amru gained his end; for the Copts retired saying one to the other, ‘See ye not that the Arabs have but to raise their heel upon us, and it is enough!’ Omar was delighted at his lieutenant’s device, and said of him, ‘Of a truth it is on wisdom and resolve, as well as on mere force, that the success of warfare doth depend.’