Editing Suez Canal (section)

=== Cairo to the Red Sea ===
The ancient canal was re-excavated by [[Roman Empire|Roman]] emperor [[Trajan]] in the first century AD, who named it {{Lang|lt|Amnis Traianus}} after himself. He reportedly moved its mouth on the Nile further south, at the site of what is now [[Old Cairo]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Sheehan |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-9ZjDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA35 |title=Babylon of Egypt: The Archaeology of Old Cairo and the Origins of the City |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-977-416-731-7 |pages=35–40 |language=en}}</ref> By the time of the [[Arab conquest of Egypt|Arab conquest]] in 641 AD, this canal had fallen out of use.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Raymond |first=André |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tdLALt9AbQQC |title=Cairo |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-674-00316-3 |pages=15–16 |language=en |translator-last=Wood |translator-first=Willard |orig-date=1993}}</ref> The commander of the Muslim force, [[Amr ibn al-As]], ordered that it be restored so as to improve connections between Egypt and [[Medina]], the Muslim capital at the time. The Muslim canal was excavated further north from Trajan's canal, joining the Nile close to what is now the Sayyida Zaynab neighbourhood of Cairo.<ref name=":5" /> This canal reportedly ended near modern [[Suez]].<ref name="Britannica"/><ref>[[August Heinrich Petermann|Petermann, A.]] ''Karte Der Bai Von Súes'' (1856). Nach der Engl. Aufnahme v. Comm. Mansell.</ref> The site of the former Roman channel near the Nile was absorbed into the new city of [[Fustat]].<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":4" />

A geography treatise [[Dicuil#De mensura Orbis terrae|''De Mensura Orbis Terrae'']] written by the Irish monk [[Dicuil]] (born late 8th century) reports a conversation with another monk, Fidelis, who had sailed on the canal from the Nile to the Red Sea during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the first half of the 8th century.<ref>[[Barbara Tuchman|Tuchman, Barbara]] ''Bible and Sword: How the British came to Palestine'' MacMillan, London (1987) {{ISBN|0-333-33414-0}}</ref>

The [[Abbasid]] caliph [[al-Mansur]] is said to have ordered this canal closed in 767 to prevent supplies from reaching [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabian]] detractors.<ref name="Britannica" /><ref name="Rappoport" /> The [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimid]] caliph [[Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah|al-Hakim]] is claimed to have repaired the Cairo to Red Sea passageway, but only briefly, circa 1000 CE, as it soon "became choked with sand".<ref name="Rappoport" />{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is old and vague, please use a clearer and/or more recent reliable source([[WP:RS]]).|date=February 2024}} The remaining section of the canal near the Nile, known as the ''[[Khalij (Cairo)|Khalij]]'', continued to serve as part of Cairo's water infrastructure until the 19th century. In later periods, the canal was closed with a dike for much of the year and reopened during the flood season.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abu-Lughod |first=Janet L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVmYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA134 |title=Cairo: 1001 Years of the City Victorious |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1971 |isbn=978-0-691-65660-1 |pages=134 |language=en}}</ref>