2 Egypt’s mini Babylon

Cairo’s Persian rulers proved that the pharaohs weren’t alone in having grand designs

The seventh and sixth centuries BC delivered two hammer blows to pharaonic Egypt. First, in 663 BC, the Assyrians seized Memphis and Thebes (modern Luxor). Then, in 525 BC, the Persians destroyed Heliopolis. This was another ancient settlement in the suburbs of modern Cairo, and a major religious centre attached to Memphis.

The age of the pharaohs was now fading. And, as the Persians focused increasing attention on the Mediterranean coast, so was the pre-eminence of the Cairo region – at least as a political and religious centre.

However, the Persians still prized the Nile delta for its strategic and military value. In fact, they began constructing a canal that joined the Red Sea to the Nile at the point where it split into the delta. To do this, they brought in thousands of labourers from all over their empire, and those labourers in turn built themselves a settlement at the spot where the canal joined the Nile. It became known as ‘Babylon in Egypt’ and can today be found in the region of Coptic Cairo. The Persians built a fort on this site, from where they taxed boats sailing along the river.

The Persians were to dominate Egypt for two centuries – until, in 332 BC, they were ousted by an even more formidable conqueror, Alexander the Great. Soon, Cairo had ceded yet more power to Alexandria, the port renamed in the celebrated Greek commander’s honour. But that didn’t stop Egypt’s Ptolemaic rulers (descended from one of Alexander the Great’s generals, Ptolemy) styling themselves as pharaohs and performing rituals at the ancient Egyptian capitals of Thebes and Memphis.

A seventh- century BC Assyrian relief shows soldiers storming an Egyptian city, as the power of Egypt’s once mighty pharaohs waned