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Concept
Damietta
Summary
Damietta (دمياط Dumyāṭ domˈjɑːtʕ; Tamiati) is a port city and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt, a former bishopric and present multiple Catholic titular see. It is located at the Damietta branch, an eastern distributary of the Nile Delta, from the Mediterranean Sea, about north of Cairo. Damietta joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities.
The modern name of the city comes from its Coptic name Tamiati ( Late Coptic: dɑmˈjɑdi), which in turn most likely comes from Ancient Egyptian dmj.t ("harbour, port"), although al-Maqrizi suggested a Syriac etymology.
Mentioned by the 6th-century geographer Stephanus Byzantius, it was called Tamiathis (Ταμίαθις) in the Hellenistic period.
Under Caliph Omar (579–644), the Arabs took the city and successfully resisted the attempts by the Byzantine Empire to recover it, especially in 739, 821, 921 and 968. The Abbasids used Alexandria, Damietta, Aden and Siraf as entry ports to India and the Tang Empire of China. Damietta was an important naval base during the Abbasid, Tulunid and Fatimid periods. This led to several attacks by the Byzantine Empire, most notably the sack and destruction of the city in May 853.
Damietta was again important in the 12th and 13th centuries during the time of the Crusades. In 1169, a fleet from the Kingdom of Jerusalem, with support from the Byzantine Empire, attacked the port, but the besiegers returned home without any success to capture the port, which was defended by Saladin.
During preparations for the Fifth Crusade in 1217, it was decided that Damietta should be the focus of attack. Control of Damietta meant control of the Nile, and from there the crusaders believed they would be able to conquer Egypt. From Egypt they could then attack Palestine and recapture Jerusalem. After the siege of Damietta of 1218–1219, the port was occupied by the Crusaders. The siege devastated the population of Damietta. After the crusaders captured Damietta in November 1219 they looted the city. Earlier that year, Francis of Assisi had arrived to peaceably negotiate with the Muslim ruler.
Official source
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