The roots of modern Egypt
by Crecelius, Daniel, Ali Bey al-Kabir
fromStudies in Middle Eastern history
ʿAlī Bey al-Kabīr (c. 1140–87/1728–73), an Egyptian mamlūk of Georgian origin, rose to become one of the most powerful political figures of Egypt. According to his contemporary biographer Sauveur Lusignan, he was born in Abkhazia, then a small province in northwestern Georgia. S…
Ismāʿīl Bey al-Kabīr (the Elder, d. 1205/1791) was one of the most prominent amīr s of the Qazdūghlī faction that dominated the Ottoman province of Egypt during the second half of the eighteenth century. He was among the cadre of young mamlūk s (military slaves) of Georgian desc…
Ibrāhīm Bey (c.1148–1228/1735–1813), who experienced an unusually long career in Mamlūk politics in Ottoman Egypt, played a central role in virtually all the major events that engulfed that province during the last three decades of the eighteenth century. Born Abram Shinjikashvi…