ABSTRACT
The phenomenon of Fatimid Armenians—as well as of the other Muslim Armenians in the entire region—lasted almost a century and was very much a part of the Armenian and Near Eastern condition at the time. Earlier, during the early Islamic invasions into Egypt, there were about 150 Armenian military slaves in the troops and similar to all Christians, they also were called rumis. The rise of Badr, a powerful figure, to the highest position in the Fatimid administration encouraged the massive inflow of all sorts of Armenians from the north and the formation of a community of almost a hundred thousand. The Catholicos had a brother called Bahram and it was this Bahram who became the chief of the Armenians. Armenian contribution to Egyptian architecture started with Badr's large-scale construction and reconstruction projects. Lane-Poole says, For almost half a century, from 1074 to 1121 these two great Armenians were, in all but name, kings of Egypt.
