DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4669#0059
38 THE LAND OF I III: MONUMENTS
Kahira signifies "victorious" or "victor)'," and the
two combine to record the conquest of Egypt in
(j6<j A.D. by Abu Tammin of Tunis, who became the
first Khalif of the Fatemite Dynasty, and transferred
to his new city the seat of his permanent govern-
ment.
The site must always have been one of great
strategic importance, as it commands the Nile above
the Delta. In ancient times there were no less than
seven branches of the Nile, The most easterly was
the Pelusiac,from the town of Pelusium on the north-
eastern frontier (if Egypt; the second was the Tanitic,
upon which Tanis or Zoan was situated, the capital
of Lower Egypt and the residence of the Pharaoh of
the Exodus. It was by this river that Moses per-
formed the first of those "marvellous acts" in the
field of Zoan. "The field of Zoan" is written in the
1 [ieroglyphic Lists "Secket-n-T'sar," The Field of Zar,
or Zoan. The third branch was called the Mendesian;
the fourth, the Phatnitic ; the fifth, the Sebenytic ; the
sixth, the Bolbitic ; the seventh, the most westerly,
the Canopic. Of these only two, the Phatnitic, which
enters the Mediterranean Sea at Damielta, and the
Bolbitic at Rosetta, now remain. "And the Lord
shall destroy the tongues of the Egyptian Sea, and
with His might)- wind shall lie shake His hand over
the river, and smite it in the seven streams and make
men go over dry shod." '; In some places the ancient
courses are quite dried up.
The earliest occupation of the site of Cairo was
at a very early period. Ebers mentions the Vlth
Dynasty 3300 B.C., when the name was Karkar ; but,
as it lay between the two most ancient and important
• [oa. a. 15.
Kahira signifies "victorious" or "victor)'," and the
two combine to record the conquest of Egypt in
(j6<j A.D. by Abu Tammin of Tunis, who became the
first Khalif of the Fatemite Dynasty, and transferred
to his new city the seat of his permanent govern-
ment.
The site must always have been one of great
strategic importance, as it commands the Nile above
the Delta. In ancient times there were no less than
seven branches of the Nile, The most easterly was
the Pelusiac,from the town of Pelusium on the north-
eastern frontier (if Egypt; the second was the Tanitic,
upon which Tanis or Zoan was situated, the capital
of Lower Egypt and the residence of the Pharaoh of
the Exodus. It was by this river that Moses per-
formed the first of those "marvellous acts" in the
field of Zoan. "The field of Zoan" is written in the
1 [ieroglyphic Lists "Secket-n-T'sar," The Field of Zar,
or Zoan. The third branch was called the Mendesian;
the fourth, the Phatnitic ; the fifth, the Sebenytic ; the
sixth, the Bolbitic ; the seventh, the most westerly,
the Canopic. Of these only two, the Phatnitic, which
enters the Mediterranean Sea at Damielta, and the
Bolbitic at Rosetta, now remain. "And the Lord
shall destroy the tongues of the Egyptian Sea, and
with His might)- wind shall lie shake His hand over
the river, and smite it in the seven streams and make
men go over dry shod." '; In some places the ancient
courses are quite dried up.
The earliest occupation of the site of Cairo was
at a very early period. Ebers mentions the Vlth
Dynasty 3300 B.C., when the name was Karkar ; but,
as it lay between the two most ancient and important
• [oa. a. 15.