. Saladin and the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. original enceinte. It records how the buildingof this splendid Citadel,—hard by Cairo the Guarded,on the terrace which adds use to beauty, and spaceto strength, for those who seek the shelter of hispower,—was commanded by our Master the KingStrong to Aid, Honour of the World and the Faith(el-Melik en-Nasir Salah ed-dunya wa-d-din), Fatherof the Conquering, Yusuf son of Ayyub, Restorer ofthe Empire of the Caliph ; with the direction of hisbrother and heir the Just King (el-Adil) Seyf-ed-dinAbu-Bekr Mohammed, friend of the Commander ofthe Faith
. Saladin and the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. original enceinte. It records how the buildingof this splendid Citadel,—hard by Cairo the Guarded,on the terrace which adds use to beauty, and spaceto strength, for those who seek the shelter of hispower,—was commanded by our Master the KingStrong to Aid, Honour of the World and the Faith(el-Melik en-Nasir Salah ed-dunya wa-d-din), Fatherof the Conquering, Yusuf son of Ayyub, Restorer ofthe Empire of the Caliph ; with the direction of hisbrother and heir the Just King (el-Adil) Seyf-ed-dinAbu-Bekr Mohammed, friend of the Commander ofthe Faithful; and under the management of theEmir of his Kingdom and Support of his EmpireKarakush son of Abdallah, the slave of el-Melik en-Nasir, in the year 579 (or 1183-4 ). \. The * Ibn-Jubeyr, Travels, ed. W. Wright, 49. f The subject has been elaborately treated by M. P. Casanova inthe Mini, de la mission archeol. au Caire, vi. See also LanesCairo Fifty Years Ago, ch. iv. \ See Berchem in the Memoires dela miss, arched, au Caire, xix. § THE GATE OF STEPS, IN THE CITADEL OF CAIRO, WITH SALADINSINSCRIPTION OVER THE ARCH. 1177] Building the Citadel of Cairo. 153 famous Well of the Winding Stairs, 280 feet deep,still called the Bir Yusuf, Josephs Well, wascertainly excavated in the solid rock by Karakushunder Saladins orders*; but the other buildingslately existing in the Citadel and called after hisname really belonged to later times. The people ofEgypt were accustomed to name public works afterthe famous Sultan. His memory, but not his act, ispreserved in the long aqueduct of Cairo, and even inthe great canal of Upper Egypt, still known as the River of Joseph, Bahr Yusuf, though it datesfrom the time of the Pharaohs. The chief publicwork, however, that he carried out, beyond Cairoitself, was the great bridge or dyke of Giza, whichwas built, like the Citadel, with stones from thepyramids, in 1183-4, and carried on forty archesalong the border of the desert, seven miles
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Keywords: ., bookauthorlanepool, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookyear1898
