| Bilbeis | |
| Native Name: | Arabic: بلبيس{{lrm |
| Settlement Type: | City |
| Nickname: | Eastern gate of Egypt |
| Pushpin Map: | Egypt |
| Pushpin Label Position: | left |
| Pushpin Relief: | yes |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location within Egypt |
| Coordinates: | 30.4217°N 31.5592°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: |  Egypt |
| Subdivision Type1: | Governorate |
| Subdivision Name1: | Sharqia Governorate |
| Area Footnotes: | [1] |
| Area Total Km2: | 337.0 |
| Elevation M: | 12 |
| Population Total: | 866,246 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Population Density Metro Km2: | auto |
| Population Blank1 Title: | Ethnicities |
| Timezone: | EET |
| Utc Offset: | +2 |
Bilbeis (Arabic: بلبيس pronounced as /ar/; Bohairic Coptic: Ⲫⲉⲗⲃⲉⲥ/Ⲫⲉⲗⲃⲏⲥ
) is an ancient fortress city on the eastern edge of the southern Nile Delta in Egypt, the site of the ancient city and former bishopric of Phelbes and a Latin Catholic titular see.The city is small in size but densely populated, with over 407,300 residents. It also houses the Egyptian Air Force Academy complex, which contains the town's largest public school in Al-Zafer.
Coptic tradition says that Bilbeis was one of the stopping places of the Holy Family during the Flight into Egypt.[2]
The city was important enough in the Roman province of Augustamnica Secunda to become a bishopric.
Situated on a caravan and natural invasion route from the east, Bilbeis was conquered in 640 by the Arabs. Amr ibn al-As besieged and took the city defended by a Byzantine general called al-Ardubun. According to a Muslim legend, Armanusa, the daughter of Muqawqis lived in Bilbeis.[3] In 727 some of the Qays tribe were resettled here and later chain of fortresses was built to protect Cairo.[4]
The city played a role in the machinations for control of the Fatimid vizierate: first in 1164, when Shirkuh was besieged in the city by the combined forces of Shawar and crusader king Amalric I of Jerusalem for three months; then again in 1168 when the city was assaulted again by Amalric's army, who took the city after three days on 4 November and indiscriminately killed the inhabitants.[5] (See Crusader invasion of Egypt.)
In 1798, its fortifications were rebuilt at the order of Napoleon.
The oldest mosque in Egypt, built in 640.[6]
The bishopric, a suffragan of the Metropolitan of provincial capital Leontopolis, faded.
The diocese of Phelbes was nominally restored in 1933 as a Latin Catholic titular bishopric.
It has had the following incumbents, all of the lowest (episcopal) rank:
Bilbeis is classified by Köppen-Geiger climate classification system as hot desert (BWh), as the rest of Egypt.