Burning of Fustat
Shawar is famous for in 1168 ordering the burning of his own capital of Fustat (the remnants of which are today in what is known as Old Cairo) simply to keep his former ally King Amalric from capturing its wealth. According to the Egyptian historian Al-Maqrizi (1346–1442):
Shawar ordered that Fustat be evacuated. He forced to leave their money and property behind and flee for their lives with their children. In the panic and chaos of the exodus, the fleeing crowd looked like a massive army of ghosts.... Some took refuge in the mosques and bathhouses...awaiting a Christian onslaught similar to the one in Bilbeis. Shawar sent 20,000 naphtha pots and 10,000 lighting bombs and distributed them throughout the city. Flames and smoke engulfed the city and rose to the sky in a terrifying scene. The blaze raged for 54 days....
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Famous quotes containing the word burning:
“The boy stood on the burning deck,
Whence all but he had fled;
The flame that lit the battle’s wreck,
Shone round him o’er the dead.
Yet beautiful and bright he stood,
As born to rule the storm;
A creature of heroic blood,
A proud though childlike form.”
—Felicia Dorothea Hemans (1783–1835)