The description of Egypt in the _Otia imperialia_[1387] was copied in large part from the _De imagine mundi_,[1388] and this in turn had closely followed the words of Isidore.[1389] It ran somewhat as follows. Surrounded by the course of the Nile, which forms a letter _delta_,[1390] Lower Egypt comprises five thousand country estates; these are not watered by rainfall but by the floods of the river alone, for the skies of Egypt are never obscured by clouds. The capital of Egypt is Babylon (Cairo), built by Cambyses. Close to Thebes—a city founded by Cadmus, Agenor’s son and founder of Boeotian Thebes as well—are vast solitudes where there used to dwell a great company of hermits. The _De imagine mundi_ speaks of the island of Meroë and of Syene on the tropic in Upper Egypt, the latter famous for the well built there by the philosophers, into which the sun shines directly in the month of June.[1391] The Jerome map of Palestine also shows Egypt in considerable detail, one of the most important features being the lighthouse at Alexandria.[1392] DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT Egypt, like the Holy Land, was frequently visited by Western merchants throughout our entire period. Benjamin of Tudela testifies to the enormous trade carried on there with the West. Alexandria was the principal port whence the spices and luxuries of the Far East were transshipped to Europe. Benjamin spoke with high appreciation of the wide straight streets of the city and of the architectural beauty of its buildings. He was much impressed by the swarm of merchants from all over the world who congregated in its streets and markets.[1393] William of Tyre enlarged on the commercial importance of the great port and explained that the peppers, spices, ointments, drugs, lectuaries, precious stones, and silks of the Orient were brought first to Aden on the Red Sea and thence transported direct to Alexandria. He pointed out that Alexandria was also important as the meeting place of the river and maritime trades, and he gave a description of the local topography of the city.[1394] Merchants from various Occidental nations and city states of Italy had _fondachi_, or trading stations, in this cosmopolitan metropolis, which was, as Schaube says, more subjected to European influences than any other city of Islam.[1395] The Church endeavored to place severe restrictions on commerce with the infidel, in particular by the prohibition of the importation into Egypt of wood and iron, two materials of vital importance to the Saracens and much in demand. The restrictions, however, were disregarded, and trade flourished between Southern Europe and Egypt throughout nearly the entire twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, except for a short interruption at the time of the Third Crusade. In 1215–1216 there were said to be no fewer than three thousand Frankish merchants in Alexandria.[1396] Egypt was the objective of the Crusaders of the Fifth