Banha

Banha is a city in north-eastern Egypt and the capital of Qalyubiyya Governorate. It lies about 48 kilometres north of Cairo on the east bank of the Damietta Branch of the Nile, in the rich farmland of the southern Nile Delta, and it is counted as part of Greater Cairo. It is an important transport hub: the rail lines that run north from Cairo to the cities of the Delta pass through it, and its station is described as the sixth biggest in Egypt. The city was founded as a city in 1850. Its modern name comes from the Coptic Banaho, which goes back to the ancient Egyptian Per neha, meaning House of Sycamore. North of the city lies the site of Athribis, an ancient capital of the tenth nome of Lower Egypt and a centre of worship of the black bull, and about twenty kilometres to the south-west lies Tall al Yahudiya, the site of Leontopolis, famed for its glazed tiles in ancient times.