The episcopate of Pope Athanasius III of Alexandria started at the time when the Ayyubid Dynasty (الأيوبيون) (1171 -1250 AD) lost power to their slave troops (Mamluks) in Egypt (1250 AD) and elsewhere (1260 AD). The Bahriyya Mamluks ("al-Mamalik al-Bahariyya" - المماليك البحرية) was a Mamluk dynasty of mostly Turkic origin that ruled the Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate from 1250 to 1382. They were succeeded by a second Mamluk dynasty, the Burji dynasty (1382-1517 AD). Their name ""Bahriyya"" means 'of the river', referring to the location of their original settlement on Al-Rodah Island in the Nile ("Nahr al-Nil") in Medieval Cairo at the castle of Al-Rodah which was built by the Ayyubid Sultan as-Salih Ayyub(الملك الصالح نجم الدين ايوب) (reign 1240 – 22 November 1249)