In January and February of 2011 a series of violent confrontations in Cairo’s urban landscape commenced and sporadically occurred for the following three years. In July and August of 2013 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood set up camp in two squares, one in Giza and another in Cairo. In August of that year the camps were violently dispersed by police and military forces leaving hundreds dead. These events represent some of the most visible evidence of how Cairo’s streets can be transformed into violent battlefields and militarized zones. However, in order to better understand the context of these events a map of Cairo must be redrawn to unmask the reality that the city is, and it has been for at least two decades, a city under siege.