DAMIETTA, a town of Lower Egypt, on the eastern (Dam ietta or Phatnitic) branch of the Nile, a few miles above its mouth and 125m. N.N.E. of Cairo by rail. Pop. The town is built on the east bank of the river between it and Lake Menzala. Though ill-built and partly ruinous, the town possesses some fine mosques, with lofty minarets, public baths and busy bazaars. Along the river-front are many substantial houses with terraces and steps leading to the water. Their wooden lattices of saw-work are very graceful. Once the third town in Egypt, it enjoys now little more than a coasting trade, and ships of over 6ft. draught must anchor in the offing.
Damietta is a Levantine corruption of the Coptic name Tamiati, Arabic Dumyat. The original town was 4m. nearer the sea than the modern city. Under the Saracens it had great wealth and commerce, and, as the eastern bulwark of Egypt, was frequently attacked by the crusaders. In June 1249, Louis IX. of France occupied Damietta without opposition, but being defeated near Mansura in the February following, and compelled (April 6) to surrender himself prisoner, Damietta was restored to the Mus lims as part of the ransom exacted. To prevent further attacks from the sea the Mameluke sultan Bibars blocked up the Phatnitic mouth of the Nile (about 1260), razed old Damietta to the ground, and transferred the inhabitants to the site of the modern town. Damietta gives its name to dimity, a kind of striped cloth, for which the place was at one time famous. Cotton and silk goods are still manufactured here and there is some trade in rice and salted fish.