A portable, easy-to-use map guide that locates over 700 hundred Islamic-era monuments in historic Cairo using the most sophisticated Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology This portable, easy-to-use map guide helps you locate over seven hundred Islamic-era monuments in Cairo's historic core, stretching from the city's northern walls all the way southward to the Mosque of Ibn Tulun and the Citadel, and beyond to Coptic Cairo, which includes monuments that pre-date Islamic rule. Clearly divided into six digestible main sections, the first five contain clusters of monuments, while the sixth covers structures scattered all around the old Cairene urban fabric. The clear, uncluttered cartographic style makes finding where you want to go a pleasure, and the maps are accompanied by a comprehensive index of monuments that gives their dates where known, their location referenced to their corresponding map pages, and a timeline of key periods and dynasties. Attractively designed in full color and including over twenty photographs of key monuments, this guide is conveniently packed into a slim 104 pages--handy enough to take anywhere and great for planning and remembering excursions. It is not only an ideal companion for the city's visitors and residents but an invaluable resource for historians, writers, and students.

About a millennium ago, in Cairo, an unknown author completed a large and richly illustrated book. In the course of thirty-five chapters, this book guided the reader on a journey from the outermost cosmos and planets to Earth and its lands, islands, features, and inhabitants. This treatise, known as The Book of Curiosities, was unknown to modern scholars until a remarkable manuscript copy surfaced in 2000. Lost Maps of the Caliphs provides the first general overview of The Book of Curiosities and the unique insight it offers into medieval Islamic thought. Opening with an account of the remarkable discovery of the manuscript and its purchase by the Bodleian Library, the authors use The Book of Curiosities to re-evaluate the development of astrology, geography, and cartography in the first four centuries of Islam. Their account assesses the transmission of Late Antique geography to the Islamic world, unearths the logic behind abstract maritime diagrams, and considers the palaces and walls that dominate medieval Islamic plans of towns and ports. Early astronomical maps and drawings demonstrate the medieval understanding of the structure of the cosmos and illustrate the pervasive assumption that almost any visible celestial event had an effect upon life on Earth. Lost Maps of the Caliphs also reconsiders the history of global communication networks at the turn of the previous millennium. It shows the Fatimid Empire, and its capital Cairo, as a global maritime power, with tentacles spanning from the eastern Mediterranean to the Indus Valley and the East African coast. As Lost Maps of the Caliphs makes clear, not only is The Book of Curiosities one of the greatest achievements of medieval mapmaking, it is also a remarkable contribution to the story of Islamic civilization that opens an unexpected window to the medieval Islamic view of the world.

Hundreds of exceptional cartographic images are scattered throughout medieval and early modern Arabic, Persian, and Turkish manuscript collections. The plethora of copies created around the Islamic world over the course of eight centuries testifies to the enduring importance of these medieval visions for the Muslim cartographic imagination. With Medieval Islamic Maps, historian Karen C. Pinto brings us the first in-depth exploration of medieval Islamic cartography from the mid-tenth to the nineteenth century. Pinto focuses on the distinct tradition of maps known collectively as the Book of Roads and Kingdoms (Kitab al-Masalik wa al-Mamalik, or KMMS), examining them from three distinct angles—iconography, context, and patronage. She untangles the history of the KMMS maps, traces their inception and evolution, and analyzes them to reveal the identities of their creators, painters, and patrons, as well as the vivid realities of the social and physical world they depicted. In doing so, Pinto develops innovative techniques for approaching the visual record of Islamic history, explores how medieval Muslims perceived themselves and their world, and brings Middle Eastern maps into the forefront of the study of the history of cartography.

Adventurous, informative and opinionated, on everything from where to find Cairo's best restaurants to the latest discoveries from antiquity, the Rough Guide to Cairo & the Pyramids ranges from the famous Cities of the Dead to nightlife that only locals know. Getting the best deal, avoiding hassles and having fun are what this guidebook keeps in mind - so you can experience Cairo at its best. An ancient city and the greatest metropolis in the Middle East, its bazaars, museums, mosques, tombs and pyramids are covered in detail. There are clear directions on getting around, accurate maps including the complex byways of Saladin's Islamic Cairo, as well as Christian Coptic Cairo, modern Downtown Cairo, and the mind-blowing Egyptian Museum, plus excursions out of town, including to Alexandris. Well-informed listings - from authors who have been visiting the city for twenty years - reflect an inside knowledge of the city's hotels, restaurants and entertainment from shoestring to expense-account luxury. Whatever you plan to do in Cairo, the Rough Guide puts you in charge.

The Rough Guide to Egypt is your essential travel guide to this ancient land. Fully revised and updated, the guide provides unparalleled coverage of everything from Egypt's tombs, temples and pyramids to diving in the Red Sea, desert safaris and cruising the Nile in style. With accurate maps, plans, colour spreads and beautiful colour photography throughout; you'll find informed practical advice on what to see and do in Egypt, plus honest reviews of the best hotels, bars, clubs, shops and restaurants for all budgets. Adventurous, informative and opinionated, The Rough Guide to Egypt puts the facts at your fingertips, introducing you to the country's best reefs and beaches, the latest discoveries from antiquity, the remotest oases, nightlife only locals know and much, much more. Make the most of your time with The Rough Guide to Egypt