A Description of Cairo by Abû al-Salt Umayya al-Dânî in VI./XII. th. century

Abstract

A significiant cultural picture of Cairo in the middle ages is that of Abû al-Salt al-Dânî in his al-Risâlah al-Misriyyah. After a brief geographical and historical knowledge in his risalah the auther then gave a description of the Nil and the pyramids in account of his own impressions. During his long stay in Cairo the capital of the Fatimids, Abû al-Salt lived there in a condnious touch with the cultural and literaty environments, and participated meetings and discussions with physicians, astrologers, scholars and poets of the time. At the last when he left to Tunusia to join Abû Tâhir al-Sanhâcî he attemped to draw a brilliant sciene of what he witnessed in Cairo. And this was the al-Risâlah al-Misriyyah. As it is worthy of a study in many aspects, here, I analized the contents and detailed in what it seems to be authentic and utiusal compared to the similar works