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Fig. 5. View of the hypostyle cistern in Qaitbay Fort during excavations in 2001. Photo K. Machinek, © CEAlex archives/Cnrs. exists and is accessible to visitors!”. It is connected to the keep by a narrow tunnel and a well shaft opens inside the building, thus providing water for consumption and for the religious ablutions of the soldiers. The cistern lying west of it was built in the late Mamluk (15th-16th century) and lay adjacent to the northern enclosure. With two rows of columns, it was larger and reached a capacity of almost 350 m?. When constructing the new gun platform, the Ottomans had to abandon this huge water reservoir, most probably with some regret. They filled it with rubble and shattered the small brick domes of its roof in order to level the terrain before constructing the artillery platform. The cistern was uncovered during the excavations conducted by the CEAlex in 2001 (fig. 5). For security reasons, the tank had to be filled up again and is no longer accessible. The archaeological backfill’ contained ceramics from Italy (spirali e ovali, bleu-et-blanc), porcelain from China, Ottoman clay tobacco pipes, glazed Ottoman tiles, cannon balls, Iznik cups, and African ceramics (fig. 6). The clay tobacco pipes or cibuk are a typical item of the Ottoman period and can be found in urban sites and fortresses alike. They were imported from Anatolia or were local productions. In the citadels and fortresses providing water for consumption and for the religious ablutions

Figure 5 View of the hypostyle cistern in Qaitbay Fort during excavations in 2001. Photo K. Machinek, © CEAlex archives/Cnrs. exists and is accessible to visitors!”. It is connected to the keep by a narrow tunnel and a well shaft opens inside the building, thus providing water for consumption and for the religious ablutions of the soldiers. The cistern lying west of it was built in the late Mamluk (15th-16th century) and lay adjacent to the northern enclosure. With two rows of columns, it was larger and reached a capacity of almost 350 m?. When constructing the new gun platform, the Ottomans had to abandon this huge water reservoir, most probably with some regret. They filled it with rubble and shattered the small brick domes of its roof in order to level the terrain before constructing the artillery platform. The cistern was uncovered during the excavations conducted by the CEAlex in 2001 (fig. 5). For security reasons, the tank had to be filled up again and is no longer accessible. The archaeological backfill’ contained ceramics from Italy (spirali e ovali, bleu-et-blanc), porcelain from China, Ottoman clay tobacco pipes, glazed Ottoman tiles, cannon balls, Iznik cups, and African ceramics (fig. 6). The clay tobacco pipes or cibuk are a typical item of the Ottoman period and can be found in urban sites and fortresses alike. They were imported from Anatolia or were local productions. In the citadels and fortresses providing water for consumption and for the religious ablutions

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Fig. 1. Map of Ottoman Alexandria at the end of the 17th century, drawn by K. Machinek, © CEAlex archives/Cnrs. The integration of Egypt into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 greatly increased economic exchanges between the former and Anatolia and Rumelia?. Alexandria became the southern endpoint on the main north-south trading axis between Egypt and Istanbul via Smyrna, to which other sea routes were connected‘. An east-west route between the Maghreb and Syria ran along the northern African coast and also passed through Alexandria, where The city of Alexandria is located at the western edge of the Nile Delta, on a strip of rocky land between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mariout. During Ottoman dominance, from 1517 to 1798, this was Egypt's main seaport and therefore called muftah Misr, the east-west route between the Maghreb and Syria ran along the via Smyrna?, to which other sea routes were connected‘. An
Fig. 1. Map of Ottoman Alexandria at the end of the 17th century, drawn by K. Machinek, © CEAlex archives/Cnrs. The integration of Egypt into the Ottoman Empire in 1517 greatly increased economic exchanges between the former and Anatolia and Rumelia?. Alexandria became the southern endpoint on the main north-south trading axis between Egypt and Istanbul via Smyrna, to which other sea routes were connected‘. An east-west route between the Maghreb and Syria ran along the northern African coast and also passed through Alexandria, where The city of Alexandria is located at the western edge of the Nile Delta, on a strip of rocky land between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mariout. During Ottoman dominance, from 1517 to 1798, this was Egypt's main seaport and therefore called muftah Misr, the east-west route between the Maghreb and Syria ran along the via Smyrna?, to which other sea routes were connected‘. An
At the beginning of the 16th century, Alexandria lay within the perimeter of the ruined ancient city and was strongly fortified by a defensive system which had gradually been developed and modified over the centuries (fig. 1). The Mamluk authorities of the 14th and 15th centuries had prohibited Alexandrians from settling extra muros because of the permanent threat coming from the open sea, especially the frequent assaults by Christian corsairs. Thus, the medieval residential districts were entirely enclosed by a solid city wall built at the end of the 9th century under Ibn Tulun®. The city extended 3.2 km from the eastern to the western gate, and 950 m from the northern to the southern gate (fig. 1). The enclosure had a stretch of double walls to the landward and a single wall to the seafront: it was punctuated by numerous large towers”, certain of which played the role of fortlets. Five main gates were the well-guarded entrances for travellers coming either by the overland roads from Rosetta and Cairo or by ship. The two harbours, divided by a peninsula, were defended by separate- harbours, divided by a peninsula, were defended by separate- Fig. 2. Portolan of Alexandria in the Kitab-t bahriyye, Piri Re‘is, 1525, blished by Bacqué-Grammont — Tuchscherer 2013, 45, fig. 1, transcription K. Machin of forts at Aboukir, Rosetta and Damietta. The eastern harbour was the main anchorage for Christian merchants coming from Venice, Genoa and other European nations, whereas the western harbour was reserved for Muslim vessels and the imperial armada. For that reason the eastern harbour was also called kefere limani (Harbour of the Infidels) (fig. 2). Its entrance was guarded by two fortresses, Qaitbay Fort to the west of the pass and the Pharillon, or Gundi Qal’esi, standing opposite, a small rectangular tower with an encircling wall erected in the mid-14th century (fig. 1). Both forts were well equipped with heavy artillery and travellers describe how vessels had to lower their sails when entering the harbour”. On the western shore of the eastern harbour stood another rectangular tower, the Kiz kullesi, which had been built in the middle of the 15th century by the Mamluk Sultan Jaqmaq (1438-1453). The southern area of the port was secured by Borg Rami}, known to westerners as the Tower of the Romans, a round artillery tower originally built in the 9th century as part of the Tulunid wall. Not far from this tower lay the pier for the Christian vessels, where they had to disembark and pass customs control before they were allowed to enter the city.
At the beginning of the 16th century, Alexandria lay within the perimeter of the ruined ancient city and was strongly fortified by a defensive system which had gradually been developed and modified over the centuries (fig. 1). The Mamluk authorities of the 14th and 15th centuries had prohibited Alexandrians from settling extra muros because of the permanent threat coming from the open sea, especially the frequent assaults by Christian corsairs. Thus, the medieval residential districts were entirely enclosed by a solid city wall built at the end of the 9th century under Ibn Tulun®. The city extended 3.2 km from the eastern to the western gate, and 950 m from the northern to the southern gate (fig. 1). The enclosure had a stretch of double walls to the landward and a single wall to the seafront: it was punctuated by numerous large towers”, certain of which played the role of fortlets. Five main gates were the well-guarded entrances for travellers coming either by the overland roads from Rosetta and Cairo or by ship. The two harbours, divided by a peninsula, were defended by separate- harbours, divided by a peninsula, were defended by separate- Fig. 2. Portolan of Alexandria in the Kitab-t bahriyye, Piri Re‘is, 1525, blished by Bacqué-Grammont — Tuchscherer 2013, 45, fig. 1, transcription K. Machin of forts at Aboukir, Rosetta and Damietta. The eastern harbour was the main anchorage for Christian merchants coming from Venice, Genoa and other European nations, whereas the western harbour was reserved for Muslim vessels and the imperial armada. For that reason the eastern harbour was also called kefere limani (Harbour of the Infidels) (fig. 2). Its entrance was guarded by two fortresses, Qaitbay Fort to the west of the pass and the Pharillon, or Gundi Qal’esi, standing opposite, a small rectangular tower with an encircling wall erected in the mid-14th century (fig. 1). Both forts were well equipped with heavy artillery and travellers describe how vessels had to lower their sails when entering the harbour”. On the western shore of the eastern harbour stood another rectangular tower, the Kiz kullesi, which had been built in the middle of the 15th century by the Mamluk Sultan Jaqmaq (1438-1453). The southern area of the port was secured by Borg Rami}, known to westerners as the Tower of the Romans, a round artillery tower originally built in the 9th century as part of the Tulunid wall. Not far from this tower lay the pier for the Christian vessels, where they had to disembark and pass customs control before they were allowed to enter the city.
Fig. 3. Plan and section of the Fort Vieux in 1800, extract from On a Spanish map from 1605 drawn by Alvaro de Bazan, Marqués de Santa Cruz, and conserved in the general archives of Simancas®, the fort is called “Torre nova de Porto Vecchio”. Two hundred years later, the French engineers surveyed and registered it as “Fort Vieux” or “Fort des figuiers” (fig. 3). A detailed description was given by Evliya Celebi in 1672, who called it “kal’e-i kadirga limani"®: (Fort of the galley’s harbour).
Fig. 3. Plan and section of the Fort Vieux in 1800, extract from On a Spanish map from 1605 drawn by Alvaro de Bazan, Marqués de Santa Cruz, and conserved in the general archives of Simancas®, the fort is called “Torre nova de Porto Vecchio”. Two hundred years later, the French engineers surveyed and registered it as “Fort Vieux” or “Fort des figuiers” (fig. 3). A detailed description was given by Evliya Celebi in 1672, who called it “kal’e-i kadirga limani"®: (Fort of the galley’s harbour).
Fig. 6. Ottoman tobacco pipes and glazed Ottoman tiles from the excavations at Qaitbay Fort. Photo K. Machinek, © CEAlex archives/Cnrs. Fortresses as urban living quarters Under Ottoman governance not only Qal’at Qaitbay became a residential quarter, civilians also settled in the spacious Qal’at al- Rukn and in the towers of the city walls that provided comfortable dwellings because of their solid construction and underground cisterns. The same phenomenon can be observed during the 17th and 18th centuries in other fortresses and citadels of the former Mamluk kingdom in Cairo, Damascus or in Aleppo. More and more people started to build their houses and workshops within the military enclosures, and the fortresses became new urban residential districts!2.
Fig. 6. Ottoman tobacco pipes and glazed Ottoman tiles from the excavations at Qaitbay Fort. Photo K. Machinek, © CEAlex archives/Cnrs. Fortresses as urban living quarters Under Ottoman governance not only Qal’at Qaitbay became a residential quarter, civilians also settled in the spacious Qal’at al- Rukn and in the towers of the city walls that provided comfortable dwellings because of their solid construction and underground cisterns. The same phenomenon can be observed during the 17th and 18th centuries in other fortresses and citadels of the former Mamluk kingdom in Cairo, Damascus or in Aleppo. More and more people started to build their houses and workshops within the military enclosures, and the fortresses became new urban residential districts!2.
Fig. 7. View of the mosaic floor in the prayer room of Qaitbay Fort Photo J. Helmbold-Doyé, 2006.
Fig. 7. View of the mosaic floor in the prayer room of Qaitbay Fort Photo J. Helmbold-Doyé, 2006.
Fig. 8. View of the keep and the Ottoman barracks in Qaitbay Fort in 1798, extract from DE-EM, pl. 87, fig. 1, ‘Alexandrie. 1.2.3 Vues du chateau du Phare et du rocher du diamant. 4.5 Plan et élévation du chateau du Phare."
Fig. 8. View of the keep and the Ottoman barracks in Qaitbay Fort in 1798, extract from DE-EM, pl. 87, fig. 1, ‘Alexandrie. 1.2.3 Vues du chateau du Phare et du rocher du diamant. 4.5 Plan et élévation du chateau du Phare."
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Ottoman Military HistoryMedieval Fortifications
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