Note 35 — Chapter III · THE ARAB CONQUEST OF AFRICA

There has been a succession of great cities since prehistoric times ranging round about or situated on the site of Cairo—an “inevitable” city site, because it is at the head of the Nile Delta. Memphis was only 12 miles away, and Heliopolis or On less than half that distance. Babel or Babylon was built by emigrants from old Babylon on the Euphrates on the actual site of Cairo in about 525 B.C. This became a Roman city and was succeeded by the Arab Al Fostat or Masr.