Bilbeis (
Coptic Phelbs;
Arabic بلبيس) is an ancient
fortress city on the eastern edge of the southern
Nile delta in
Egypt.
The city played a role in the machinations for control of the
Fatimid vizierate: first in 1164, when
Shirkuh was besieged in the city by the combined forces of
Shiwar and
Amalric I of Jerusalem for three months; then again in 1168 when the city was assaulted again by Amalric's army, who took the city after three days on
November 4 and indiscriminately killed the inhabitants. This
atrocity angered the
Coptic Egyptians, who had seen the
Crusaders as deliverers but had suffered as much as the
Muslim inhabitants of Bilbeis. The Copts ended their support of the Crusaders and united with their non-Christian neighbors against the foreigners. (See
Crusader invasion of Egypt.)
In 1798, its
fortifications were rebuilt at the order of
Napoleon.
The city is small in size but densely populated, with over 300,000 residents. It also houses the
Egyptian Air Force Academy complex, which contains the town's largest public school in Al-Zafer.
It also has the first Mosque built in north Africa and one may say all Africa and all Egypt its name is Sadat Quriesh .