The Glory of Cairo: An Illustrated History
2003; Middle East Institute; Volume: 57; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1940-3461
Autores Tópico(s)Historical and Architectural Studies
ResumoThe Glory of Cairo: An Illustrated History, ed. by Andre Raymond. Tr. from the French (Editio-Editions Citadelles & Mazenod, 2000) by Jane Brenton and Barbara Mellor. Cairo: The American University Press in Cairo, 2002. 450 pages. 530 color illustrations. Chron. to p. 476. Gloss, to p. 478. Bibl. to p. 484. Index to p. 492. $90. The Glory of Cairo celebrates the culture and artistry of a city whose geographical parts began in the Neolithic age and whose historical sum has made it the cultural colossus of the Arab It is a city that continues to be the primate city of Egypt and the largest urban unit on the African continent. Visually this comprehensive and resplendent book is certainly equal to its subject. There are more illustrations than pages of text in this hefty book, the majority of which are full-page dimension. These handsome color views - from ancient detail to modern context, of varied artifacts and monuments, from manuscripts, paintings, and photographs - invite Cairo to speak for itself, and it responds magnificently.1 Interspersed among the images is a text divided into five parts. Jean-Pierre Corteggiani begins with the site on the Nile, from primeval era to the Arab invasion. It is a prologue not often given in a history of Cairo, and it imparts practical roots to the early settlements, at a place where the river was most easily crossed, and access to Upper and Lower Egypt was best controlled. The next two chapters concentrate on Cairo's Arab foundations and its status as Imperial capital. Sylvie Denoix writes about the early Arab Period, from the Conquest in 641, through the northward establishment of early cantonments, to the founding of al-Qahira by the invading Shi'i Fatimid Dynasty. The medieval development is continued by Jean-Claude Garcin in a discussion of the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods whose almost four centuries of urban amenities and magnificent architecture made Cairo the mother of the world. Unfortunately these two chapters seem beset by particularly infelicitous and turgid prose, as well as factual discrepancies that will waylay the unwary reader. For example, there are references to portative mihrabs (figs 50, 90, 155), and flourished and florid Kufic (p. 100, fig. 104). The Ayyubids and the Mamluks are given names that reflect the Arabic, such as Nur al-Din, al-Malik al-'Adil, but Salah al-Din, in dismissive fashion, appears as Saladin. There is also the statement that the Qarafa, the great Eastern-Southern cemetery, was so-named because it was the eponym of the tribe to whom it was allotted (p. 61); pilgrimage is equated with mawlid (p. …
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