The story of Cairo . appears frequentlyin the medigsval chronicles and romances. WhenRichard Coeur de Lion defeated Saladin, the romancerelates, The chefF Sawdon off HethenysseTo Babyloyne was flowen, I wysse. Whether or not there is any foundation for thetradition reported by Strabo and Diodorus that thecastle was first built by exiles from the greater Babylonof Chaldaea, the present fortress dates from the third orpossibly the second century of our era. The exterioris imposing, though the walls have been injured, andthe sand has buried their feet. The greater part ofthe oblong outline is sti
The story of Cairo . appears frequentlyin the medigsval chronicles and romances. WhenRichard Coeur de Lion defeated Saladin, the romancerelates, The chefF Sawdon off HethenysseTo Babyloyne was flowen, I wysse. Whether or not there is any foundation for thetradition reported by Strabo and Diodorus that thecastle was first built by exiles from the greater Babylonof Chaldaea, the present fortress dates from the third orpossibly the second century of our era. The exterioris imposing, though the walls have been injured, andthe sand has buried their feet. The greater part ofthe oblong outline is still sufficiently distinguishable,and five bastions and two circular towers are wellpreserved. The walls are built in the usual Romanmanner, five courses of stone alternating with three ofbrick—the origin, probably, of the striped red andyellow decoration of the Muslim mosques and houses—and their massive aspect even now makes one realizehow much the capture of such a stronghold must havemeant to the early 51 The Town of the Tent When we enter the stronghold the strange characterof the fortress grows upon us. Passing through narrowlanes, narrower and darker and dustier even than theback alleys of Cairo, we are struck by the deadly still-ness of the place. The high houses that shut in thestreet have little of the lattice ornament that adornsthe thoroughfares of Cairo ; the grated windows aresmall and few, and but for an occasional heavy doorhalf open, and here and there the sound of a voice inthe recesses of the houses, we might question whetherthe fortress was inhabited at all. Nothing, certainly,indicates that these plain walls contain six sumptuouschurches, with their dependent chapels, each of whichis full of carvings, pictures, vestments and furniture,which in their way cannot be matched. A Copticchurch is like a Mohammedan harim—it must notappear from the outside. Just as the studiously plainexterior of many a Cairo house reveals nothing of thelatticed court
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