Mokattam and the Moqattam Hills, (Arabic: المقطم), also Muqattam and Moqattam Mountain, is the name of a hill range and a suburb in them, located in southeastern Cairo, Egypt.[1][2][3]
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The Arabic name Mokattam, which means "cut up" in English, refers to how the low mountain range of hills is divided into three sections. The highest segment is a low mountain landform called Moqattam Mountain.[4] In the past the low mountain range was an important ancient Egyptian quarry site for limestone, used in construction of the temples and pyramids. [2][2][5]
The hills are in the region of ancient Fustat, the new capital founded by 'Amr ibn al-'As after the Arab conquest of Egypt in 642 CE. A section of the Mokattam Hills contains Muqattam, an affluent suburb of Cairo.[3] Other sections have slums. The Zabbaleen people, who are an integral part of collecting and processing Cairo's municipal solid waste, live in Manshiyat Nasser, Garbage City, at the foot of the Mokattam Hills. [6]
Moqattam is the name of a documentary film about the garbage collecting Manshiyat naser village and its Zabbaleen people, directed by Jehane Noujaim.
in Moqattam Hills foothills
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