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 from the Canal, at El Arish and at Nekhl. The Ottoman Expeditionary Force, moving only at night, believed that it had been unnoticed, as scouts had observed British officers playing football, when Ottoman forces already established themselves in a camp east of the Suez Canal. Kress von Kressenstein's Suez Expeditionary Force arrived at the Canal on 2 February 1915 and the Ottomans succeeded in crossing the Suez Canal about Ismailia on the morning of 3 February 1915. By 2 February slight forward movements of the attacking force made it clear the main attack would be on the central sector, to