TheMokattam (Egyptian Arabic:المقطم [elmoˈʔɑtˤ.tˤɑm], also spelledMuqattam), also known as theMukattam Mountain orHills, is the name of anEastern Desert plateau as well as the district built over it in the Southern Area ofCairo,Egypt.[1][2][3]
The Arabic nameMokattam means cut off or broken off and apparently refers to how the lowrange of hills is divided into three sections. Paul Casanova advocated the idea that it is a corruption of an older nameMaqaduniya (Arabic:مقدونية), mentioned in Medieval Arabic sources, which he derives fromMakhetow (Ancient Egyptian:Mḫꜣ.t-Tꜣ.wy,lit. 'Scales of the Two Lands'[4]), one of the names ofMemphis.[5]
The highest segment is a low mountain landform called Moqattam Mountain.[6]In the past the low mountain range was an importantancient Egyptian quarry site forlimestone, used in the construction oftemples andpyramids.[2][7]
The hills are in the region of ancientFustat, the new capital founded by'Amr ibn al-'As after theMuslim conquest of Egypt in 642 CE.[8] TheZabbaleen people, who are an integral part of collecting and processing Cairo'smunicipal solid waste, live inManshiyat Naser,Garbage City, at the foot of the Mokattam Hills.
EMAAR Misr, the Egyptian subsidiary of the Dubai-based real estate organizationEmaar Properties built Uptown Cairo in Mokattam.[9]
The Moqattam district lies in the Southern Area of Cairo, Egypt. In 2017, it had 224,138 residents in its 10 shiakhas:[10]
| Shiakha | Code 2017 | Population |
|---|---|---|
| `Abd, al- | 011210 | 13,792 |
| Aḥyâ' | 011202 | 24,202 |
| Aṭlas C | 011209 | 39,191 |
| Jîza (Gizeh) | 011205 | 15,361 |
| Mukaṭṭam | 011201 | 19,426 |
| Naṣr al- | 011203 | 9,903 |
| Sab`în Faddân, al- | 011207 | 47,943 |
| Sharq li-l-Ta'mîn, al- | 011204 | 19,743 |
| Subḥî Ḥusayn | 011208 | 19,389 |
| Ṣa`îd, al- | 011206 | 15,188 |
In Mokkattam, like other places in Cairo, the locals support eitherAl Ahly SC orEl Zamalek, yet Mokkattam itself has a football team that plays in the Egyptian third division calledMisr Insurance (Masr Le El Tammeen). Moreover, the top division clubAl Mokawloon Al Arab SC actually lies on the border of the Mokkattam mountain.
Mokattam is widely known in theCoptic Church, as it is believed that the mountain has moved up and down when the CopticPope Abraham of Alexandria, following the advice of Saint Simon the Tanner, performed a mass near it in order to prove to the Caliph that the Gospel is true when it says that "if one has faith like a grain of mustard one can move a mountain". The name "Broken-off Mountain" may be related to the fact that in the story the mountain breaks off from the underlying rock and rises up, before coming back down again.[11]
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30°01′N31°18′E / 30.02°N 31.30°E /30.02; 31.30
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