Warfare and Fortifications in the Medieval Middle East

2012-2015: Warfare & Cultures in the Medieval Middle East

Co-Directors: Stephane Pradines (ISMC-AKU), Mathieu Eychenne (IFPO), and Abbes Zouache (CNRS).

Partner institutions: French Institute of Archaeology in Cairo (IFAO); French Institute in Near East, Beirut-Damascus (IFPO).

Outline: From the Fatimid conquest to the fall of the Mamluk Empire, militarised political power imposes a military aristocracy at the head of society, legitimised by the battles against the Crusaders and the Mongols. Cultures of war spread throughout all societies. This International and multidisciplinary program (history, archaeology and anthropology) aimed to identify and to analyses the cultures of war, to understand how the war model deeply influenced the Muslim societies. Several seminars and sub-research programs were organized around this theme. I was in charge of the program “Forts and Ports” and I organized an international panel in Istanbul around the theme “Fortified Cities and Fortified Harbors”. I edited a collective volume around this panel with ten contributions and the manuscript was given and accepted for publication in October 2017 by the French Institute in Cairo.

Publications

2020 –   Ports and Forts of the Muslims. Coastal Military Architecture, from the Arab Conquest to the Ottoman Period, IFAO (French institute of Archaeology), Cairo.

2019 – Co-edited with Mathieu Eychenne and Abbès Zouache, Guerre et paix dans le Proche-Orient médiéval, xe-xve siècles. Histoire, archéologie et anthropologie, IFAO / IFPO, Cairo, 574 p.

2008-2011: War & Peace in the Medieval Middle East

Co-Directors: Stephane Pradines and Abbes Zouache (CNRS).

Partner institutions: French Institute of Archaeology in Cairo (IFAO); French Institute in Near East, Beirut-Damascus (IFPO).

Outline: This International and multidisciplinary program (history, archaeology and anthropology) aimed to create a new discipline amongst the historians and archaeologists working on the Medieval Middle East: a social history of war. Our project ended with two major conferences: the first conference was organized in Damascus in 2010 and the second conference was organized in Cairo in 2011. The first volume, around historiography of war and the discipline, was published in 2015: Guerre dans le Proche-Orient médieval; and the second volume, around recent case studies Guerre et paix dans le Proche-Orient médiéval, xe-xve siècles, is expected to be published in May 2018. During these four years, I was also in charge of a sub-program called “Fortifications of Medieval Egypt” and I’m preparing a book around this topic.

2000-2016 : The Medieval Walls of Cairo, Egypt

Director: Stephane Pradines (ISMC-AKU).

Partner institutions: French Institute of Archaeology in Cairo (IFAO); Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities (SCA); Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC).

Outline: Since 2000, the French Institute of Archaeology (IFAO) and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) launched a program of study, excavation and conservation of the medieval walls of Cairo. Our excavations started first on the site of Darrasa and were directly linked to the al-Azhar park project, later (2004) we extended our project to other sites, Bab al-Tawfiq (2004-05), Burg al-Zafar (2007-2016), Bab al-Nasr (2012-2015) and al Mashtal (2016). We focused first on the Ayyubid wall built by Saladin in 1169-1177 AD. We then extended our excavations to the newly discovered Fatimid walls from Badr al-Jamali (1087-1091 AD.) and Jawhar al-Siqqili (969-971 AD.). I was the first archaeologist to find these two Fatimid walls and to follow them on the eastern and northern sides of the city. These walls, made of mud bricks and rammed earth, are unique and demonstrate that the Fatimid city was much larger than was previously thought and described by historians. My excavations were also the first large scale excavations done in Fatimid Cairo, all the other major excavations were conducted previously in Fustat (and Istabl Antar). Our excavations were not limited to the study of the fortifications and were a great field of investigation for the knowledge of medieval Cairo and allowed us to observe the interaction between the city and the fortifications of Cairo, from the Fatimid era to the Ottoman period. Our studies focused on the city and the study of the material culture from the 10th to 16th centuries. We focused particularly on the following topics: domestic architecture, hydraulic systems, cemeteries and funerary anthropology, epigraphy, numismatics, ceramics, wood and textiles, glass and production areas and metalwork. Three book volumes are planned: The Fatimid Walls (vol 1), The Ayyubid Walls (vol. 2) and Excavations in the Mamluk City (vol. 3).

Publications

  • 2025 – “The Architectural History of the Citadel of Cairo, from the Ayyubids to the Ottomans”, Castle Study Group Journal 39, 122-150.
  • 2025 – “Fatimid Archaeology and Excavations in Cairo: what we really know about the Ismaili Capital City and Fustat”, in Fatimid Cosmopolitanism: History, Material Culture, Politics, and Religion, Gregory Bilotto, Farhad Daftary, Shainool Jiwa, editors, I.B. Tauris – The Institute of Ismaili Studies, pp. 409-430.
  • 2025 – “The Fortifications of Cairo: The wall of Gawhar, Egypt, Mission Report 2012”, in Nyame Akuma, n°79, University of Alberta, p. 4-12.
  • 2024 – « Les ouvrages défensifs au Caire » in Atlas des mondes médiévaux musulmans,sous la direction de Sylvie Denoix et Hélène Renel, Paris, CNRS, 154-155.
  • 2020 – Coastal Fortifications in 9th Century Tunisia and Egypt” in Ports and Forts of the Muslims. Coastal Military Architecture, from the Arab Conquest to the Ottoman Period, IFAO (French institute of Archaeology), Cairo, pp. 53-78.
  • 2021 – “Archaeological Excavations of Bāb al-Ghurayb Cemetery: Plague Epidemics and the Ruin of Fourteenth Century Cairo”, Mamluk Studies Review XXIV (2021), Chicago, pp. 119-170.
  • 2021 – “From the Ribats to the Fortresses, the Fāṭimid Period of Transition in Muslim Military Architecture”, International Journal of Islamic Research, Ankara, pp. 493-514.
  • 2019 – « Maintien de la paix et protection du territoire : le réseau fortifié des Ottomans en Egypte », in Guerre et paix dans le Proche-Orient médiéval, xe-xve siècles. Histoire, archéologie et anthropologie, M. Eychenne, S. Pradines and A. Zouache eds, IFAO / IFPO, Cairo, pp. 251-287.
  • 2019 – “Redrawing the Boundaries: Excavating Cairo’s Islamic Walls” in the Egyptian Archaeology Journal 52, Egypt Exploration Society, London, pp. 15-19.
  • 2019 – “On Fatimid Gardens. A Note on the Darrāsa Excavations” In The World of the Fatimids, Assadullah Souren Melikian-Chirvani Editor, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, pp. 68-69.
  • 2019 – “Ethnicity and architecture. The Fatimid town walls in Cairo” in Earthen Architecture in Muslim Cultures: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives, BRILL, Leiden, pp. 104-145.
  • 2019 – “The Mamluk Fortifications of Egypt”, Mamluk Studies Review Vol. 19, University of Chicago, pp. 1-54.
  • 2019 – “Discovering the Fatimid Walls” in Cairo: renewing the Historic City, Jodidio, Philip, editor, Munich: Prestel, pp.112-125.
  • 2019 – “On Fatimid Gardens. A Note on the Darrāsa Excavations” in The World of the Fatimids, Assadullah Souren Melikian-Chirvani Editor, Aga Khan Museum &IIS, Toronto, pp. 68-69.
  • 2016 – Burg al-Zafar, architecture de passage des Fatimides aux Ayyoubides, in Egypt and Syria in the Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk Eras VIII, Vermeulen U., D’hulster K., Van Steenbergen J. Editors,Proceedings of the 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd International Colloquium Organized at Ghent University in May 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, Peeters, Leuven , p. 51-119.
  • 2016 – « Le Qalat al-Qabsh et les forteresses abbasides d’Egypte », in Journal of Oriental and African Studies 23, p. 86-114.
  • 2016 – « Architecture militaire française au Caire, de 1798 à 1801 », in Annales islamologiques 48.2, IFAO, Le Caire, p. 269-320.
  • 2016 – Les fortifications fatimides, Xe- XIIe siècle (Ifriqiyya, Misr et Bilâd al-Šam) in Historiographie de la guerre dans le Proche-Orient médiéval (xe-xve siècle). Co-édition Ifao-Ifpo, Le Caire / Damas, p. 231-276.
  • 2014 – “Napoleonic Fortifications in Egypt 1798-1801” in Forts 42, Fortress Study Group, Totton, p. 88-116.
  • 2012 – « Les murailles du Caire, de Saladin à Napoléon », dans Comptes rendus de l’Académie, CRAI 2012-II, Académie des Inscriptions et des Belles-Lettres, Paris, p. 1027-1063.
  • 2011 – « Les murailles de Creswell. Approche historiographique des fortifications du Caire », Mishkah 5, Egyptian Journal of Islamic Archaeology, SCA, Cairo, p. 67-107.
  • 2009 – Stéphane Pradines, Diane Laville, Maia Matkowski, Julie Monchamp, Niall OHora, Magdi Sulayman et Tarek Zurrud. “Excavations of the Archaeological Triangle. 10 years of Archaeological excavations in Fatimid Cairo (2000 to 2009)” dans Mishkah, vol. 4, p. 177-219.
  • 2008 – with Johannes Den Heijer. « Bâb al-Tawfîq : une porte du Caire fatimide oubliée par l’histoire », Le Muséon 121, Peeters, Louvain, p. 143-170.
  • 2007 – with Osama Talaat. « Les fortifications fatimides du Caire : Bâb al-Tawfiq et l’enceinte en briques crues de Badr al-Gamâlî », Annales Islamologiques 41, IFAO, Le Caire, p. 229-275.
  • 2007 – « Les sites du Parking Darassa et de Bâb al-Tawfiq, Le Caire. Résultats des fouilles de 2001 à 2005 », Mishkah, vol. 2, SCA, Le Caire, p. 123-146.
  • 2004 – with Marianne Barrucand, « La muraille de Saladin, Le Caire », In Archéologies. 20 ans de recherches françaises dans le monde, ERC- Maisonneuve et Larose, Paris, p. 364 – 366.
  • 2002 – with S. Michaudel, B. & Monchamp, J.  « La muraille ayyoubide du Caire : les fouilles archéologiques de Bab el Barqiyya à Bab el Mahrouq», Annales Islamologiques 36, IFAO, Le Caire, p. 287-337.
  • 2001 – « L’enceinte urbaine du Caire ayyoubide : résultats préliminaires de la mission 2000 », Archéologie islamique, n°11, Maisonneuve Larose, Paris, p. 195-200.