Aida Mary Jane Phillips-Matz argues that the source is actually Temistocle Solera. Isma'il Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, commissioned Verdi to write an opera for performance to celebrate the opening of the Khedivial Opera House, paying him 150,000 francs, but the premiere was delayed because of the Siege of Paris (1870–71), during the Franco-Prussian War, when the scenery and costumes were stuck in the French capital, and Verdi's "Rigoletto" was performed instead. "Aida" eventually premiered in Cairo in late 1871. Contrary to popular belief, the opera was not written to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, for which Verdi
Raid on the Suez Canal when the decision was made that "the obvious line of actual defence of the eastern frontier of Egypt is the Suez Canal." The long canal had a railway running along its whole length and was supplied with water from the west, while only brackish wells were to the east. The length of the canal included about of the Great and Little Bitter Lakes and Lake Timsah, which divided the three sectors organised for the defence. These were, The northern stretch of the canal was shortened by by cutting the Canal bank at Port Said on 25 November to flood a