791 ART. XXX. — Minr in the Fifteenth Century. By A. R. GUEST and E. T. RICHMOND. IN speaking of Misr, it is in the first place necessary to define exactly what it is meant to include, as the name has been used at different periods with different meanings. Misr here denotes the southern half of the Arab capital of Egypt, as opposed to the northern one. For its application to this part of Cairo we have the authority of El Maqrizi, but it must be borne in mind that this author does not always adhere to his own definition, and frequently uses Misr in a limited sense also. In order to avoid confusion the town to which the name Misr in this restricted sense is given will here be distinguished as Fustat. The boundaries of Misr are: east and west, El Muqattam and the Nile; south, a line the exact direction of which will be enquired into hereafter, but which may be now- stated as about the parallel of Dair et Tin; north, the main road running from the citadel to meet the Khali j near the mosque of Saiyidah Zainab. The area within these boundaries includes all the earlier sites of the capital, the sites of everything, that is, which was built before the advent of the Fatimites. It can hardly be doubted that this area is the most hopeful field that exists for the exploration of the antiquities of the early Islamic period. Although it is now mostly desert, at one time or another practically the whole of it has been occupied by either dwellings or tombs, and it is the early date of the abandonment of many of its sites that renders them particularly interesting. The remains of former occupation are, in many places, at once visible in mounds or traces of houses showing above ground, but there must be much more now buried of which the systematic examination could hardly fail to yield results, of the greatest value to the study of early Arab civilization. J.E.A.S. 1903. 51 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 12 Oct 2018 at 10:40:25, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00031154 792 HISR IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. In such a land of antiquities as Egypt the claims of earlier antiquity seem to have prevented Misr from receiving the attention which it merits. No part of it appears yet to have been regularly explored. It is to be hoped that its scientific exploration will be undertaken before its most valuable remains disappear at the hands of the antiquity digger and the carrier of sib&kh. As a preliminary, the most accurate information which is obtainable from written records relative to topography is obviously desirable. Although something has been done to make the references of the mediaeval native authors on Misr intelligible, and to locate the position of former sites, there still seems room for improvement in this direction. It is the object of this paper to endeavour to reproduce the plan of Misr as it formerly was, in a little more detail than has been done hitherto, and, in order to avoid confusion, the enquiry will be as closely as possible confined to what was in existence in about the year 800 A.H., the beginning of the fifteenth century of our era, at which time the two principal authors on the subject whose works are generally available wrote their books. These are El Maqrizi and Sarim ed Din ibn Duqmaq. The Khitat of the former and El Intisar of the latter, both printed at Bulaq, the one in 1270 A.H., the other 1309 A.H., will be cited as Maq. and S.D. respectively; Napoleon's " Description de l'Egypte, Etat Moderne," planches, tome i, which has also been extensively used, will be cited as Descr. with the number of the plate, as Descr. xvi. In the first place, a list may be given of the positions that can be fixed with certainty, including those of one or two buildings that date from after our period, but which are useful as marks. This list contains the name of every place within the limits of Misr which is of the period, and which it has been found possible to locate directly. Although some of these are not of much use for the present purpose, it may Tbe useful to make it as complete as practicable. The dates given are approximate. Nearly all the buildings mentioned still exist, but many have been restored or rebuilt. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 12 Oct 2018 at 10:40:25, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00031154 MISE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. 793 SQUARE „ EARLIEST DATE m MAP. NAME- A.D. E 8 (1) Er Kumailah 13th cent. Descr. xxvi, sect, ii, 228. ,, (2) Salibat ibn Tulun before 14th cent. Descr. xxvi, sect, i, 122. ,, (3) El Madrasat es Surghut- mishiyah ' 1356 „ (4) Bir el Watawit 966 Descr. xxvi, sect, ii, 148. „ (5) Khangah and Jami'Shaikhu 1356 Descr. xxvi, sect, ii, 121. ,, (6) Jami'el Baqli 1268 Descr. xxvi, sect, ii, 49. ,, (7) Turbat ghajar ed Durr and Satan el Khulafa 1258 Eap. Com. Cons. Mon. Art. Arabe, Fasc. ii, p. 21; Fasc. xvii, p. 112. .„ (8) Mashhad es Saiyidah Kaqi- yah mentioned by Descr. xxvi, sect, ii, 90. Maq. .,, (9) MadihadesSaiyidahSaMnah ,, Descr. xxvi, sect, ii, 97. ,,, (10) Mashhad es Saiyidah 'Ayishah ? Descr. xxvi, sect, ii, 37. D 8 (11) Madrasat el Jawali ... 1324 ,, (ll«)ElKabsh before 14th cent. Descr. xxvi, sect, ii, 167. ,, (12) Qanatir es Siba' circ. 1260 Descr. xxvi, sect, iii, 160. C 8 (13) (Qasr el'Aini) prob. circ. 1450 Descr. xvi. ,, (14) Kanlsat Mari Mina or Bumina ancient, i.e. prob. before 640 F 9 (15) Masjid el Juyushi («) ... 1105 „ (16) Khangah Qausun 1330 Descr. xxvi, sect, ii, 2. E 9 (17) Bab el Qarafah before 14th cent. Descr. xxvi, sect, ii, 15. ,, (18) El Madrasat el Ashrafiyah circ. 1290 Descr. xxvi, sect, ii, 85. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 12 Oct 2018 at 10:40:25, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00031154 794 MISR IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. EARLIEST DATE NAME. IN MAP- A.D. E 9 (19) Mashhad es Saiyidah Kafisah 824 Descr. xxvi, sect, ii, 81. D 9 (20) Mashhad Zain el 'Abidin 740 Descr. xv, "Zennou F 10 (21) Qubbat el Imam esh Shan't 818 (22) Turbat es Sadat eth Tha'alibah 1213 „ (23) Turbat el Laith ibn Sa'd 1243 (?792) D 10 (24) Zawiyat Abl Sa'M ... 1517 Descr. xv. C 10 (25) Jami' 'Amr 641 Descr. xvi. ,, (26) Masjid es Sirwaidi 'before 15thcent. Rap. Com. Cons. Mon. Art. Arabe, Fasc. xviii, p. 14 L B 10 (27) ElMiqyasandRaudah... 862 F 11 (28) Turbat'Uqbah ibn'Amir 678 C 11 (29) Qasr esh Sham' before 641 Descr. xvi. Containing:— (a) Kanisat el 'Adra (b) KanisatelMu'allaqah (c) Kanlsat Barbarah (d) Kantsat Mar Jirjis (e) Kanisat Bu Sarjah (/) A Jewish Synagogue v. Butler's " Ancient ,, (30) DairBa.bla.yun ancient Coptic Churches." „ (31) Dair Yuhanna „ „ (32) DairTadrus „ C 12 (33) DairMika'il „ „ (34) Ribat Athar en NabS ... circ. 1300 Descr. xv. C 13 (35) Dair et Tin ancient Descr. xv. F 14 (36) Basatin el Wazir circ. 1000 Descr. xv. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 12 Oct 2018 at 10:40:25, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00031154 MISR IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTTJEY. 795 To this list a few may be added whose derivation, though not absolutely direct, does not seem to leave room for much error :— E 8 (37) El Qubaibat contained Jami' el Baqli before mentioned.1 E 9 (37«) Et Turbat el KMtuniyah and Turbat TJmm Sallh, 1284 A.D. = Tombeau Fatma KMtun, v. Com. Cons. Mon. Art. Arabe, Ease, xviii, p. 110, and cf. S.D. iv, 125, 1. 3; Maq. ii, 394, 1. 26. D 10 (38) Kaum el Jarih was the site of Zawiyat Ab! Sa'M before mentioned, v. Ibn Iyas, Bada'i, iii, 75, 1. 25. (39) Kanisat Abu Shanudah (or Kana'is) is the same as Dair AM Saifain, which contains a church dedicated to Shanudah. (40) Jami' el KharruM is marked in Descr. xvi, 20, but there were three mosques of this name in the vicinity, and it is impossible to be certain which one this is, especially as Maq. has confused his own references. It is probably Jami' Badr ed Din el Kharrubi.2 (41) Er Eab' el Kartmi follows, according to the Eapports of the Comite, from the position of Masjid es Suwaidi, v. ante. C 11 (42) Kaum ibn Ghurab. The mound seems to have dis- appeared, but we still find Shari' Kaum ibn Ghurab, which is doubtless close to its site. El Madabigh, now the name of a station on the Hulwan railway, seems not to be the same site as the El Madabigh mentioned by 8.D., although the latter was not far off. (43) Esh Sharaf,3 a rocky knoll near the mosque of Zain el 'Abidtn. This seems to be the place marked. We will leave Qantarat es Sadd and Dar en Nuhas for discussion a little further on, as their position is a little more doubtful; and now commencing at the north-west angle of Misr we will proceed to sketch in from description.