Tulunids
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The Tulunids, were a Mamluk dynasty of Turkic origin who were the first independent dynasty to rule Egypt, as well as much of Syria, since the Ptolemaic dynasty. They were independent from 868, when they broke away from the central authority of the Abbasid Caliphate, to 905, when the Abbasids restored the Tulunid domains to their control.
Embroidered tiraz of Emir Khumarawayh b. Ahmad under Caliph al-Mu'tamid. Egypt, Tinnis, Tulunid period. 1932.17, Cleveland Museum of Art.
Minaret of Ibn-Tulun Mosque, the largest remaining building from the Tulunid period today.
Fragment of an ornamental border of a tunic. Egypt, late Abbasid or Tulunic period, 9th century. 1916.1678, Cleveland Museum of Art.
Gold dinar of Harun ibn Khumarawayh.
Egypt in the Middle Ages
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Following the Islamic conquest in 639, Lower Egypt was ruled at first by governors acting in the name of the Rashidun Caliphs and then the Umayyad Caliphs in Damascus, but in 747 the Umayyads were overthrown. Throughout Islamic rule, Askar was named the capital and housed the ruling administration. The conquest led to two separate provinces all under one ruler: Upper and Lower Egypt. These two very distinct regions were governed by the military and followed the demands handed down by the governor of Egypt and imposed by the heads of their communities.
Spiral Minaret of the Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo
The near East in 1025 AD, showing the Fatimid Caliphate and neighbors
The Al-Azhar Mosque, of medieval Fatimid Cairo
Mamluk manuscript