Babylon Fortress

About Babylon Fortress

Fortification located in Coptic Cairo, Egypt

Babylon Fortress is an ancient Roman fortress in the Old Cairo district, beside the Mar Girgis metro station, in the area known today as Coptic Cairo. Emperor Trajan ordered it built in the 2nd century to guard the entrance of the ancient canal linking the Nile with the Red Sea; Diocletian rebuilt it around 300 AD, and Arcadius restored and strengthened it in the 4th century. The fortress stood at the boundary between Lower and Middle Egypt, where river craft paid tolls on their way up and down the Nile. After the end of Roman rule some of the earliest Coptic landmarks were built on its foundations and within its walls. The former enclosure today contains the Coptic Museum, a convent and several churches, including the Hanging Church, which rests on the two towers of the southern gate, and the Church of St George. What survives of the fortress itself are its two massive round towers, built in alternating courses of stone and red brick, and parts of the gate visible beneath the Hanging Church. The fortress is the natural starting point for a tour of Old Cairo: a cluster of historic churches surrounds it, and the Mosque of Amr ibn al-As, the first mosque in Egypt and Africa, stands next door.

Where:

Cairo, Egypt