Tanta Although this is the capital of al-Gharbiyyah province and one of the principal cities of the Delta, it retains a thoroughly rural atmosphere. (Railway station and bus station for local and longdistance coaches.) The Museum contains material from the Delta and the Delta headquarters of the Dept of Antiquities. It also has a university and several higher institutes. Hotel. Arafa, 3*. She. alSikkah al-Gadidah. The Coptic name of the town was Tantatho, derived from the ancient name. Apart from its strategic position, its fame rests on the tomb of AQmad al-Badawi, a 13C sufi. His mii.lid directly following the cotton harvest is the most important of these celebrations in the Delta, drawing up to two million visitors. In the centre of the city is the Maydan al-Alµnadi. Dominating the SE side of the square is the Mosque and Tomb of Sayyid Al)mad al-Badawi.

Descended from an Arab family who had re-emigrated to Arabia from Fez, AQmad al-Badawi (1199-1276) travelled to Ba~a’ih in Iraq to receive instruction
from the shaykhs of the Rifa,yyah brotherhood. He was sent as their representative in Egypt and settled in Tania in 1234. Subsequently h~ received permission
to found his own brotherhood, the Badawiyyah or AQmadiyyah, which flourished and, with related brotherhoods, still floutj_shes throughout the Middle East.
After his death his successor, ~ala.Q cAbd al-cAl, built the tomb and mosque in Tanta. However, that building was demolished in the mid 19C and the pres!’!nt
building was raised by the Pasha cAbbas I and Khedive Isma”il. The mosque is large but undistinguished, the arcade on the main fai;ade and
the attached minaret were added in 1979. A large dome covers the tomb and the minaret on the SE wall is part of the 19C building. In the NW fai;ade are two entrances separated by a large window overlooking the tomb. Immediately inside is a large room containing the Tomb of Alµnad al-Badawi and other
shaykhs of the brotherhood. The interior, with its parallel arcades, is entirely modem. From Tanta the H23 runs NE to al-Mahallah al-Kubra; the H9 E to
Zifta; the H4 S to Shibin al-Kawm and N to Kafr al-Shaykh. The H1 leaves Tan ta to the W, passing (4km) Mahallat Mar~um. From here the
H43 goes NW to (32km) Basyiin. To the NW beside the Rosetta branch of the Nile and perched on a mound is Si al-ljagar, Ancient Egyptian
Zau, Gk Sais, capital of the 5th nome of Lower Egypt and of the kings of the 26 Dyn.

Kafr al Zayyat 

Beyond Mahallat Marhii.m the H1 continues W to (26km) Kafr alZayyit where it crosses’ the Rosetta branch of the Nile and turns NW, running parallel to and S of al-Khandaq al-Gharbi Canal to (27km) Ityiy al-Barad. Just S of the road a track leads SW to al-Niqrish, with a mound marking the site of ancient Naukratis in the 5th nome of Lower Egypt, discovered by Petrie. It was settled by the Greeks as a trading colony in the 1C BC. It contained many Greek temples and an
Egyptian temple dedicated to Amun and Thoth, but the stone of which they were built has been removed by the farmers.