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Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology

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Posted at Nov 18/2007 06:02PM:
Audrey: As in the case of Baghdad and Samarra, al-Qahira is the result of an elite attempt to separate itself from the lower classes living in Fustat. Al-Qahira had walls and city gates to distinguish it from Fustat. The palace in Al-Qahira was an architectural indication of authority and established a code of interaction between the two societal classes. Inscriptions common throughout the the Fatimid architecture aided in this, because they helped spread pertinent Qur'anic versus to the masses and provided a forum for caliphal propaganda as well. These inscriptions were particular to the Fatimids and were thus recognizable even by the illiterate. When the Crusaders came to Fustat, they were able to burn it because the Fatimids didn't defend it effectively. However, the walls around Cairo saved it for a time. After the city fell to the Sunni Ayyubids, a wall was built to encompass Cairo and Fustat, and the two social classes were forced to inhabit the same city once more.

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Posted at Dec 10/2007 09:06AM:
ian: The key to its significance is that we see a newaspect fo the segregation fo the ruling class to the commoners. Here in al-Qahira it maps on not to ethnic distinctions so mush as that of the two main sects of Islam Sunni and Shii (here Ismaili branch).