Damietta, Egypt

🇪🇬 Damietta (: دمياط ⲧⲁⲙⲓⲁϯ,  Tamiati) is a port city and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt. It is located at the Damietta branch, an eastern distributary of the Nile Delta, 15 km (9.3 mi) from the Mediterranean Sea, and about 200 km (120 mi) north of Cairo. It was a Catholic bishopric and is a multiple titular see. It is also a member of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities.

Etymology The modern name of the city comes from its Coptic name Tamiati (ⲧⲁⲙⲓⲁϯ), which in turn most likely comes from Ancient Egyptian, although al-Maqrizi suggested a Syriac etymology.

History Mentioned by the 6th-century geographer Stephanus Byzantius, the city was called Tamíathis (Greek: Ταμίαθις) in the Hellenistic period.

Under Caliph Omar (579–644), the Arabs took the city and successfully resisted the attempts by the Byzantine Empire to recover it, especially in 739, 821, 921 and 968. The Abbasids used Alexandria, Damietta, Aden and Siraf as entry ports to India and the Tang Empire of China. Damietta was an important naval base during the Abbasid, Tulunid and Fatimid periods. This led to several attacks by the Byzantine Empire, most notably the sack and destruction of the city in May 853.

Damietta was again important in the 12th and 13th centuries during the time of the Crusades. In 1169, a fleet from the Kingdom of Jerusalem, with support from the Byzantine Empire, attacked the port, but the besiegers returned home without any success to capture the port, which was defended by Saladin.

During preparations for the Fifth Crusade in 1217, it was decided that Damietta should be the focus of attack. Control of Damietta meant control of the Nile, and from there the crusaders believed they would be able to conquer Egypt. From Egypt they could then attack Palestine and recapture Jerusalem. After the siege of Damietta of 1218–1219, the port was occupied by the Crusaders. The siege devastated the population of Damietta. After the crusaders captured Damietta in November 1219 they looted the city. Earlier that year, Francis of Assisi had arrived to peaceably negotiate with the Muslim ruler. In 1221 the Crusaders attempted to march to Cairo, but were destroyed by the combination of nature and Muslim defenses.

Damietta was also the object of the Seventh Crusade, led by Louis IX of France. His fleet arrived there in 1249 and quickly captured the fort, which he refused to hand over to the nominal king of Jerusalem, to whom it had been promised during the Fifth Crusade. However, having been taken prisoner with his army in April 1250, Louis was obliged to surrender Damietta as ransom.

Hearing that Louis was preparing a new crusade, the Mamluk Sultan Baibars – in view of the importance of the city to the Crusaders – destroyed it in 1251 and rebuilt it with stronger fortifications a few km from the river in the early 1260s, making the mouth of the Nile at Damietta impassable for ships.

Ecclesiastical history Hellenistic Tamiathis became a Christian bishopric, a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Pelusium, the capital of the Roman province of Augustamnica Prima, to which Tamiathis belonged. Its bishop Heraclius took part in the Council of Ephesus in 431. Helpidius was a signatory of the decree of Patriarch Gennadius of Constantinople against simony in 459. Bassus was at the Second Council of Constantinople (553). In a letter from Patriarch Michael I of Alexandria read at the Photian Council of Constantinople (879), mention is made of Zacharias of Tamiathis, who had attended a synod that Michael had convened in support of Photius. Later bishops too of Tamiathis are named in other documents.

In 1249, when Louis IX of France captured the city, it became for a short time the seat of a Latin Church bishop.

The Latin bishopric, no longer residential, is today listed by the Catholic Church twice as a titular see under the names Tamiathis (Latin) and Damiata (Curiate Italian), each at time of episcopal or archiepiscopal rank, of the Latin and Melkite Catholic Churches, for the Catholic Church, having been until the early 20th century an important centre for that church.

Titular Latin see The diocese was nominally restored in the 17th century when established as Latin titular archbishopric of Damietta of the Romans (Latin: Tamiathis or Tomiathianus Romanorum; Italian: Damiata in Curiate).

Titular Melkite see Established in 1900 as titular bishopric of Damietta of the Melkite Greeks (Latin: Tamiathis or Tomiathianus Graecorum Melkitarum; Italian: Damiata), it was suppressed in 1935.

Economy Damietta is very famous for its furniture industry. In addition to the Egyptian market, its furniture is sold in Arab countries, Africa, Europe, the United States, and almost all over the world. Today, there is a canal connecting it to the Nile, which has made it an important port once again. Containers are transported through the new Damietta Port. The Damietta governorate has a population of about 1,093,580 (2006). It contains the SEGAS LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) plant, which will ultimately have a capacity of 9.6 million ton/year through two trains. The plant is owned by Segas, a joint venture of the Spanish utility Unión Fenosa (40%), Italian oil company Eni (40%) and the Egyptian companies EGAS and EGPC (10% each). The plant is unusual since it is not supplied from a dedicated field, but is supplied with gas from the Egyptian grid. As of 2010, EMethanex, the Egyptian division of Methanex Corporation, a Canadian owned company, was building a 3600 MTPD methanol plant. Damietta also has a woodworking industry and is also noted for its White Domiati cheese and other dairy products and Pâtisserie and Egyptian desserts. It is also a fishing port.

Mosques • Amr ibn al-As Mosque (Damietta), the second mosque to be built in Egypt and Africa by the Arabs after entering Egypt. It was twice converted to a church during the city's occupation by the Crusaders. Louis IX of France's son, John Tristan, was baptized by a legate of the pope in this mosque. • Al-Bahr Mosque, dating to the Ottoman rule era. • Al-Hadidy Mosque in Faraskour, 200 years old. • Al-Maainy Mosque, dating to the reign of al-Naser Mohammed ibn Qalawon. • Al-Matbuly Mosque, dating to the Mamluk era. • Al-Radwaniya Mosque, dating to the Mamluk era.

Other sights Urabi fort (Tabiet Orabi) in Ezbet al-Borg • Tabiet Ahmed Urabi, ruins of Damietta Fort at Ezbet El-Borg. • The Old Bridge (el-Kōbrī el-Qadīm), dating to the early 20th century. • Souk al-Hesba, the old city centre, dating to the Abbasid rule era.