Ibn Khaldun who is considered one of the worlds first philosophers of history ("hovering as giant over a tribe of pygmies" as George Sarton formulates it.) - served two periods in Cairo as Chief of Justice, and was also among those who negotiated with the Mongolian army leader Timur Lenk in Damascus. It's Tunisian born Ibn Khaldun who describes Cairo of his time as follows: "What one sees in dreams surpasses reality, but all that one could dream of Cairo falls short of the truth". He dies 75 years of age in his beloved Cairo in 1406.