- Fustat
- the first Arab city in Egypt, which Amr ibn al-As built before her
- the Fatimids
- the Shi'i dynasty that founded the city as its capital in 969
- al-Azhar
- her Azhar mosque, which grew into the world's oldest still-running university
- Saladin''s citadel
- his citadel on the Muqattam hill, which became the emblem of the anti-Crusader age
- the Mamluks
- the dynasty of soldier-rulers that filled the city with minarets and schools
- Khan al-Khalili
- her famous market, which has lasted from Mamluk days until our own
- Muhammad Ali
- Egypt's ruler who set to modernizing her with factories and schools
- the Muqattam
- the eastern hill that carries the citadel and many of the oldest mosques
- the Ayyubids
- Saladin's dynasty, which ruled Egypt and Syria after the Fatimids
- 969
- the year of her Fatimid founding, north of Fustat
- the thousand minarets
- her nickname for the minarets crowding every quarter and every era
- the Nile
- the great river she has stood on since the days of the pharaohs
