Old Cairo

Our last afternoon in Cairo, we took a tour of Old Cairo, where there are lots of historic sites and the Khan el-Khalili Bazaar. The bazaar was our first stop, with lunch at the Naguib Mahfouz Coffee Shop (I am finding out that it’s namesake won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988!) it has a beautiful interior and delicious food. The market reminded me of the old city of Jerusalem, with its markets (which in turn, reminded me of my childhood classic Aladdin..). Our guide took us to a shop where the owner makes the goods sold – out of mother of pearl, camel bone, and also ivory. He showed us how ivory is cooling, and a thread won’t burn next to it when a match is lit next to it. The camel bone isn’t cooling like that. Ivory also has the look of tree rings, and that’s how customs would tell the difference between the two. (We did not buy ivory). Most of the rest of the market had goods made in China, nothing of note, a lot of the same stuff that we’d find most markets had. We tried to find the places that had authentic Egyptian goods as we traveled around.

We visited a few religious sites in Old Cairo. 80% of Egyptians are Muslim and 20% are Christian, mostly Coptic Christians (about 22 million people total. Their patriarch is now in Alexandria. They are similar but not the same as Greek Orthodox. There is one Catholic Church in Cairo, and its congregants are foreigners. There are not many Jewish people living in Egypt; many that were in Sinai moved to Israel after the 6 Day War in 1967. The people were afraid of being blamed for losing the war and left. The Jewish population has been decreasing over time. 20 years ago there were 267 familes and now there are about 55, for around a total of 1000 people.

The weekend and workweek looks different in Egypt than in the west. The weekend is Friday to Saturday, and it was that way when we visited Israel as well. Friday is the holy day for Muslims, Saturday is the holy day for Jewish people and thenholy day for Christians is on Sundays. But really, Mondays are still Mondays, since much of the world does operate with that as the first day of the workweek, and the Christians would also not have a holy day, so it’s still the more stressful day for workers.

Ben ‘Ezra Synogogue

Ben Ezra was originally a Coptic Church and became a synagogue. It is not an active synogogue since you need 10 men to have religious services, and there are not that many in this area. They sometimes bring in men to have occasional services here. There are 70 temples throughout Cairo. The setup of a synagogue is evident here, and is the same as in mosques and Coptic churches – men worship downstairs and women are upstairs in a balcony. (We were not able to take pictures inside).

The significance of this location is that legend has it that this is where Moses was found on the Nile. The location of this is outside of the synagogue, and another legend is that Mary the mother of Jesus found water here. This synagogue held the Cairo Genizah – important documents that span from the 6th to 19th centuries. In multiple languages, they comprise the most diverse and expansive collection of writings from mideval times. There is a mikveh, or purifying pool for women, at the synagogue.

We visited two Coptic Christian churches. Coptic Christians are different than Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic (and all their later offshoots) churches. There is not a lot of Coptic art because the Roman Empire dominated and oppressed them for centuries. The Coptic language is the ancient Egyptian language plus seven letters. The progression of languages was Hieroglyphic, Hieratic, Demotic and then Coptic. Christmas is celebrated on January 7th. The Bible is written in Arabic and Coptic, which is actually only spoken in one village in the south, otherwise is only a written language.

The Coptic cross includes 5 crosses at once. We were told that the meanings within the cross (numbers and symbolism) are 3 points for the trinity, 12 disciples (each point of each cross), and then tear-like ovals for the 4 evangelists. The Coptic Christians don’t embalm the dead and also do not wait to hold funerals.

Coptic Christians originally lived in Alexandria and St Marks was the first church. The Romans at the time didn’t like Christianity, so people fled south and lived in temples throughout Egypt (more on that later). They were not safe to practice Christianity until Constantine converted to Christianity.

The Church of the Cavern of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (Also known as Abu Serga)

The Holy family (in Christianity) fled to a Egypt when Jesus was between 2-6 years old. They often spent one night in the towns they went through. It is believed that they spent between six nights and three months in a cave in this area. The Church of the Cavern claims to be the place, though it is likely hard to know exactly where they stayed. They headed home to their homeland when King Herod died.

Saints Sergius and Bachhus are Syrian saints depicted in the church. They were two Roman soldiers martyred and relics from them remain in this church. There are columns separating the worship space into three areas with three altars. Each Coptic church has one column that is from a Roman temple. This shows how paganism was won over by the Church. In this church, it’s a granite column. The column in this church also represents Judas and has no crown or base like the other marble columns. The church design is on the basilica or ark style which was a symbol of salvation.

The Hanging Church (St Virgin Mary’s)

The Hanging Church is one of the oldest churches in Egypt, dating to the fourth century (per a sign at the church). It’s called the Hanging Church because it hangs over the two towers of the Roman Fortress, also known as Babylon (not the Babylon in Syria in the Bible). Palm tree logs with a layer of stones over were placed on the fortress as the church floor, and the church built on top of them. It was also built in the basilica or ark design.

For 500 years (7th to 13th century CE) this church was the seat of the Coptic Pope. It has seven altars (the other church has six). The pulpit here has 13 columns on it – for the 12 disciples and Jesus. There are escape tunnels in the floor – potentially to escape the Romans. There are many old icons and the walls are decorated with ebony, ivory and cedar. The baptismal font is from the 5th century and the pulpit is from the 11th century.

A canal between the Red Sea and the Nile was completed by Persian King Darius (circa 500 BCE) and a few centuries later the head of the canal was shifted to Babylon by the Roman emperor Trajan (112 CE). A massive stone harbour was built around the entrance to the Nile. Babylon was a strategic crossing point on the Nile. In 300 CE, the massive fortress of Babylon was built by Emperor Diocletian. There was a string of military fortresses along the Nile during this period. Babylon would have had a street level 30-40 feet below present day street level. We could see the remains of an old tower at the edge of the fortress. There are many other early-mediaeval religious buildings that are within the walls of Old Cairo that we didn’t have time to visit.