Heliopolis (ancient Egypt) in the context of "Heliopolis (Cairo suburb)"

Cairo is the capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world, and the Middle East. The Greater Cairo metropolitan area is one of the largest in the world by population with over 22 million people.

The area that would become Cairo was part of ancient Egypt, as the Giza pyramid complex and the ancient cities of Memphis and Heliopolis are near-by. Located near the Nile Delta, the predecessor settlement was Fustat following the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641 next to an existing ancient Roman fortress, Babylon. Subsequently, Cairo was founded by the Fatimid dynasty in 969. It later superseded Fustat as the main urban centre during the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods (12th–16th centuries).

In the creation myth of the Heliopolitan form of ancient Egyptian religion,Benben was the mound that arose from the primordial waters (Nu), and upon which the creator deity Atum settled. The Benben stone is associated with the top stone of a pyramid, which is called a pyramid's pyramidion (or benbenet). It is also related to the obelisk.