Nilometer: Technology, Economy and Power
The Nilometer in Cairo, on the southern tip of Roda Island
Although a Nilometer has existed in the Cairo area since the Pharaonic Period, the Umayyads (an early Arab dynasty) constructed a Nilometer on Roda Island in about 715 AD. This structure was restored in 815, but was destroyed by a flood in 850.
The Nilometer existent on Roda Island today was designed by Abu'l 'Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kathir al-Farqhani, a native of Farghana, West Turkestan, who is known in the West as the astronomer Alfraganus. The structure was restored in the 870's and again in 1092. It remains mostly original, except for the wooden conical roof (domed on the inside) which is a modern restoration. The earlier dome was destroyed by an explosion during the French occupation in 1825. It was rebuilt using, as a reference, an 18th century drawing by a Danish traveler.
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