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A history of the cities that have appeared and disappeared on the Nile over 5,000 years
The Nile, the world's longest river system, has figured prominently in historic events over millennia. This book views the Nile as both the stage on which these events occurred and as an actor in its unfolding history. It examines the intersection of natural forces and human intervention to take readers on a series of historical journeys along the river, from its sources to the Mediterranean Sea.
Nezar AlSayyad explores the histories of important individuals who played significant roles in the development of settlements and nation-states along the Nile, and engages with space and built form as the primary units of analysis, anchoring specific events in the cities of the Nile.
Key Features
¿ In-depth engagement with 16 cities: Memphis, Thebes, Amarna, Avaris, Napata, Meroe, Alexandria, Fayoum, Cairo, Damietta, Mansoura, Gondar, Rosetta, Khartoum, Omdurman and Aswan
¿ Covers the multiple sources of the Nile and the process of their discovery
¿ Beautifully illustrated with 85 colour photographs of the sources of the Nile and many of its historic cities, and 15 colour maps of cities along the banks of the Nile
Nezar AlSayyad is an architect, planner, urban historian and public intellectual. He is Professor Emeritus of Architecture and Planning at the University of California at Berkeley where he was Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies for two decades. He is author and editor of numerous books, most recently Traditions: The Real, the Hyper, and the Virtual in the Built Environment (2014) and Cairo: Histories of a City (2011).
List of contents
Dedication
Preface
Roadmap
Prologue: The Urban Life of a River
Chapter 1. Finding the Source of the Nile: Centuries of Discovery
Chapter 2. Birth of the Nile: Water Carves a Path through Rugged Land
Chapter 3. The Nile of Lower Egypt: Memphis, the First Capital City
Chapter 4. Thebes of the Pharaohs: The Nile of Upper Egypt
Chapter 5. Avaris and Akhetaten: Temporary Capitals on the Nile
Chapter 6. Nubia on the Nile: The Kingdom of the Black Pharaohs in Napata and Meroe
Chapter 7. Alexandria: Greeks and Romans on the Western Edge of the Nile Delta
Chapter 8. A Nile Oasis in the Sahara: Fayoum of the Ptolemies
Chapter 9. Cairo: The Thousand Years Capital on the Nile
Chapter 10. Crusaders on the Nile: Damietta and Mansoura
Chapter 11. Cities of the Blue Nile: Lake Tana and the Ethiopian Empires
Chapter 12. Rosetta and the Discovery of Ancient Egypt: Where the Nile Meets the Sea
Chapter 13. Khartoum and Omdurman: An Islamic State on the Nile in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
Chapter 14. A Pyramid for the Living: The Nile at Aswan
Epilogue: On the Possible Death of the Nile and the Life of Its Cities
About the author
Nezar AlSayyad is an architect, planner and urban historian. He is Professor of Architecture and Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was Faculty Director of the Centre for Arab Societies and Environment Studies for two decades. He has published numerous books including, most recently,
Cairo: Histories of a City (Harvard University Press, 2011) and
Traditions: The Real, the Hyper and the Virtual (Routledge, 2014).
Summary
This book narrates the history of cities that appeared and disappeared on the banks of the river Nile the world's longest river system over four millennia.
