Babylon Fortress
Babylon Fortress was an ancient fortress city or castle in the Delta of Egypt, located in the area today known as Coptic Cairo
Located at the head of the Nile River Delta, the strategic importance of the place where the Babylon Fortress now stands has been recognized since ancient times. It is believed that a fortress has stood on the spot since at least the 6th century BC, when the Babylonian Empire ruled over most of the Middle East. When Egypt was conquered by the Roman Empire during the reign of Augustus Caesar in the 1st century BC, Babylon and its fortress was annexed to guard the southern approaches to the Nile River Delta and the great port city of Alexandria. Over the next century or so, Babylon became an important base from which the Roman Empire spread its influence down the Nile River.
In the early 2nd century AD, the Emperor Trajan decided to build a new, larger and more up-to-date fortress in Babylon. This new fortress was massive, and at its height encompassed perhaps as much as sixty acres, making it easily Egypt’s second most important city after Alexandria. For the next five hundred years, the Babylon Fortress would be one of the Eastern Empire’s most important and strategic military possessions, and it remained in Roman and Byzantine hands from the time of its construction until the Sassanid conquest of Egypt in the 620s.
