Masr el-’Ateekah, though more than a mile in length, is a small straggling town, lying along the bank of the Nile, and occupying a part of the site of El-Fustát. Many of the vessels from Upper Egypt unload here; and a constant intercourse is kept up, by means of numerous ferryboats, between this town and El-Geezeh. Behind the town are extensive low mounds of rubbishy covering the rest of the site of El-Fustát. In this desolate tract are situated the Mosque of ’Amr, the Kasr esh-Shema, and several Christian convents.
The Mosque of ’Amr has been so often repaired and rebuilt, that almost every part of it may now be regarded as modern: yet there is something very imposing in the associations connected with this building, where the conqueror of Egypt, surrounded by “companions of the Prophet,” so often prayed.
The building occupies a space about 350 feet square; its plan is a square court, surrounded by porticoes, and its whole appearance very simple and plain. The exterior is formed by high bare walls of brick. The portico at the end of the court towards Mekkeh has six rows of columns; that on the left side, four rows; that on the right, three; and on the entrance side only one row. The columns are of veined marble; some, being too small, have an additional plinth, or an inverted capital, at the base. The capitals are of many different kinds, having been taken, as also the columns, from various ancient buildings.
The Kasr esh-Shema is an old Roman fortress, which was the stronghold of Egyptian Babylon, and the headquarters of the Greek army, which the Arabs, under ’Amr, contended with and vanquished. It is said that this building was, in ancient times, illuminated with candles on the first night of every month; and hence it derived the name it now bears, which signifies “the pavilion of the candles.” The area which it occupies extends about a thousand feet from north to south, and six or seven hundred feet from east to west. Its walls are very lofty, constructed of brick with several courses of stone, and strengthened by round towers. The interior is crowded with houses and shops, occupied by Christians, and it contains several churches; among which is that of St. Sergius, where a small grotto, somewhat resembling an oven, is shown as the retreat of the Holy Family. The Egyptian Babylon was situated on a rocky eminence, on the southeast of the Kasr esh-Shema. El-Makreezee and other Arab historians prove that this was the Masr which ’Amr besieged and took. There was another fortress here, besides the Kasr esh-Shema, called the Kasr Bábel-yoon (or the pavilion of Babylon.) This, I am told, was the spacious square building since called Istabl ’Antar (or the stable of Antar,) which in later times became a convent, and is now converted into a powder-magazine. To the west of the hill of Babylon, and close to the Nile, is the small village of Atar em-Nebee; so called from a stone, bearing the impression of the Prophet’s foot, preserved in a small mosque, which rises, with a picturesque effect, from the verge of the river.
El-Geezeh, which is opposite to Masr el-Ateekah, is a small poor town, surrounded, excepting on the side towards the river, by a mean wall, which would scarcely avail to defend it from a party of Bedawees. It has been supposed to occupy a part of the site of Memphis; but this conjecture is known to be erroneous.
I must mention also a few places north of the metropolis. A fine straight road, bordered by mulberry trees, sycamores, and acacias, leads to Shubra, the favourite country residence of the Pasha, rather more than three miles from Cairo. The palace of Shubra is situated by the Nile. Its exterior is picturesque, especially as viewed from the river, and it has an extensive garden laid out with much taste.
About six miles distant from the northern gates of the metropolis, towards the north-northeast, is the site of Heliopolis, the City of the Sun, called by the Egyptians, “On;” and by the Arabs, “Eyn-Shems,” or, “the fountain of the sun;” though, to bear this signification, the name should, I am told, be written “Eyn esh-Shems,” which may also be interpreted, “the rays, or light of the sun.” The route from Cairo to the site of Heliopolis lies along the desert; but near the limits of the cultivable soil. This part of the desert is a sandy flat, strewed with pebbles, and with petrified wood, pudding-stone, red sandstone, &c. A small mountain of red sandstone, called “El-Gebel el-Ahmar” (or “the red mountain,”) lies at a short distance to the right, or east. On approaching within a mile of the site of Heliopolis, the traveller passes by the village of El-Matareeyeh, where are pointed out an old sycamore, under the shade of which (according to tradition,) the Holy Family reposed, and a well which afforded them drink. The balsam-tree was formerly cultivated in the neighbouring fields: it thrived no where else in Egypt; and it was believed that it flourished in this part because it was watered from the neighbouring well. The name given by the Arabs to Heliopolis was perhaps derived from this well. In a space above half a mile square, surrounded by walls of crude brick, which now appear like ridges of earth, were situated the sacred edifices of Heliopolis. The only remaining monument appearing above the soil is a fine obelisk, standing in the midst of the enclosure. The Arabs call it “the obelisk of Pharaoh.” It is formed of a single block of red granite, about sixty-two feet in height, and six feet square at the lower part. The soil has risen four or five feet above its base; for, in the season of the inundation, the water of the Nile enters the enclosure by a branch of the canal of Cairo. Upon each of its sides is sculptured the same hieroglyphic inscription, bearing the name of Osirtesen the First, who reigned not very long after the age when the pyramids were constructed. There are a few other monuments of his time: the obelisk of the Feryoo’m is one of them. ’Abd El-Lateef, in speaking of Eyn-Shems, says that he saw there (about the end of the twelfth century of the Christian era) the remains of several colossal statues, and two great obelisks, one of which had fallen, and was broken in two pieces. These statues, and the broken obelisk, probably now lie beneath the accumulated soil.
Such are the poor remains of Heliopolis, that celebrated seat of learning, where Eudoxus and Plato studied thirteen years, and where Herodotus derived much of his information respecting Egypt. In the time of Strabo, the city was altogether deserted; but the famous temple of the sun still remained, though much injured by Cambyses. The bull Mevis was worshipped at Heliopolis, as Apis was at Memphis. It is probable that the “land of Goshen” was immediately adjacent to the province of Heliopolis, on the north-northeast.
Thirteen miles from Cairo, in the same direction as Heliopolis, is the village of El-Khánkeh, once a large town, and long the camp of the regular troops. El-Khánkeh is two miles to the north of the Lake of the Pilgrims, which is so called because the pilgrims collect and encamp by it before they proceed in a body to Mekkeh. This lake is more than two miles in length, from west to east, and a mile in breadth. It is filled by the canal of Cairo during the season of the inundation.