Alexandria
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Modern Alexandria, from Qaitbay's Citadel |
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Antiquity and modernity stand side-by-side in Egypt's chief Mediterranean seaport. |
Alexandria (
Greek: ,
Coptic: ,
Arabic:
), (population of 3.5 to 5 million), is the second largest city in
Egypt, and its largest seaport. Alexandria extends about 20 miles (32 km) up and down the
Mediterranean sea in northwest Egypt. It is home to the
Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the New Library of Alexandria, and is an important industrial centre because of its
natural gas and
oil pipelines from
Suez.
In ancient times, the city was known for the
Lighthouse of Alexandria (one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) and the
Library of Alexandria (the largest library in the ancient world). Ongoing
maritime archaeology in the harbour of Alexandria (which began in 1994) is revealing details of Alexandria both before the arrival of Alexander, when a city named
Rhakotis existed there, and during the
Ptolemaic dynasty.
The city of Alexandria was named after its founder,
Alexander the Great and as the seat of the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt, quickly became one of the greatest cities of the
Hellenistic world — second only to
Rome in size and wealth. However, upon the founding of
Cairo by Egypt's mediæval Islamic rulers, its status as the country's capital ended, and fell into a long decline, which by the late
Ottoman period, had seen it reduced to little more than a small fishing village. The city is Egypt's leading port, a commercial and transportation center, and the heart of a major industrial area where refined
petroleum,
asphalt, cotton textiles, processed food,
paper, and
plastics are produced.
Foundation
Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in or around 334 BC (the exact date is disputed; also, see the "External links" section for counterarguments) as (
Aleksándreia; see also
List of traditional Greek place names). Alexander's chief architect for the project was
Deinocrates of Rhodes. Ancient accounts are extremely numerous and varied, and much influenced by subsequent developments. One of the more sober descriptions, given by the historian
Arrian, tells how Alexander undertook to lay out the city's general plan, but lacking chalk or other means, resorted to sketching it out with grain. Alexander's seers, and in particular
Aristander of Telmessus, interpreted this as an omen that the city would prosper, particularly in grain. Other authors make the omen not the grain itself, but the arrival of flocks of birds that ate it. First feared as an ill omen, Aristander the Seer averred it meant that the city would attract and feed many people. In any case, the story explains Alexandria's role as the shipping-point for Egyptian grain, which fed a majority of the
Hellenistic and
Roman world.
A number of the more foundation myths are found in the
Alexander Romance and were picked up by mediæval Arab historians. The 14th century Arab historian
Ibn Khaldun ridiculed one where sea-monsters prevent the foundation, but were thwarted when Alexander descends in a glass box, armed with exact knowledge of their appearance, and goes on to erect metal effigies on the beach which succeed in frightening the monsters away.
Alexandria was intended to supersede
Naucratis as a Greek centre in Egypt, and to be the link between
Greece and the rich
Nile Valley. If such a city was to be on the Egyptian coast, there was only one possible site, behind the screen of the
Pharos island and removed from the silt thrown out by Nile mouths. An Egyptian townlet,
Rhacotis, already existed on the shore and was a resort of fishermen and pirates. Behind it there were five native villages scattered along the strip between Lake Mareotis and the sea, according to a history of Alexander attributed to the author known as
Pseudo-Callisthenes.
A few months after the foundation, Alexander left Egypt for the East and never returned to his city. After Alexander departed, his viceroy,
Cleomenes, continued the creating and expanding of the city.
The story goes that Homer appeared to Alexander the Great in a Dream and described a City he would build as "An island set in ocean deep, lies off far Egypt's rich and fertile land, and the name of the island called Pharos".
Ptolemaic history, to Ptolemy VIII - Centre of Learning
In a struggle with the other successors to Alexander, his general, Ptolemy (later
Ptolemy I of Egypt) succeeded in bringing Alexander's body to Alexandria, where it became a famous tourist destination for ancient travellers (including
Julius Caesar).
Though Cleomenes was mainly in charge of seeing to Alexandria's continuous development, the
Heptastadion and the main-land quarters seem to have been mainly Ptolemaic work. Inheriting the trade of ruined
Tyre and becoming the centre of the new commerce between
Europe and the
Arabian and
Indian East, the city grew in less than a generation to be larger than
Carthage. In a century, Alexandria had become the largest city in the world and for some centuries more, was second only to
Rome. Nominally a free Greek city, Alexandria retained its
senate to Roman times and the judicial functions of that body were restored by
Septimius Severus after temporary abolition by
Augustus.
Alexandria was not only a centre of
Hellenism but was also the largest city with a
Jewish population in the world. The
Septuagint, a text of the
Hebrew Bible, was produced there. The early Ptolemies kept it in order and fostered the development of its museum into the leading Greek
university (
Library of Alexandria) but were careful to maintain the distinction of its population into three nations: "Greek", Jewish and Egyptian. From this division arose much of the later turbulence which began to manifest itself under
Ptolemy Philopater, who reigned 221–204 BC. The reign of
Ptolemy VIII Physcon from 144–116 BC was marked by purges and civil warfare (including the expulsion of
Apollodorus) surrounding the intrigues among the king's wives and sons.
One of the earliest well-known inhabitants of Alexandria during the Ptolemaic reign was the geometer and number-theorist
Euclid.
Roman interest and annexation – 80 to 30 BC
The city passed formally under Roman jurisdiction in 80 BC, according to the will of
Ptolemy Alexander but after it had been previously under Roman influence for more than a hundred years. Julius Caesar dallied with
Cleopatra in Alexandria in 47 BC, saw Alexander's body (quipping 'I came to see a king, not a collection of corpses' when he was offered a view of the other royal burials) and was mobbed by the rabble. His example was followed by
Marc Antony, for whose favor the city paid dearly to
Octavian, who placed over it a prefect from the imperial household.
Alexandria in the Roman province of Egypt
From the time of annexation onwards, Alexandria seems to have regained its old prosperity, commanding, as it did, an important granary of Rome. This fact, doubtless, was one of the chief reasons which induced Augustus to place it directly under
imperial power. In AD 215 the
emperor Caracalla visited the city and for some insulting
satires that the inhabitants had directed at him, abruptly commanded his troops to put to death all youths capable of bearing arms. This brutal order seems to have been carried out even beyond the letter, for a general massacre ensued.
Late Roman history – The Fall of Rome
Even as its main historical importance had formerly sprung from pagan learning, now Alexandria acquired fresh importance as a centre of
Christian theology and church government. There
Arianism was formulated and where also
Athanasius, the great opponent of both Arianism and pagan reaction, triumphed over both, establishing the
Patriarch of Alexandria as a major influence in Christianity for the next two centuries.
As native influences began to reassert themselves in the
Nile valley, Alexandria gradually became an alien city, more and more detached from Egypt and losing much of its commerce as the peace of the empire broke up during the 3rd century AD, followed by a fast decline in population and splendour.
In the late 4th century, persecution of
pagans by Christians had reached new levels of intensity. Temples and statues were destroyed throughout the Roman empire: pagan rituals became forbidden under punishment of death, and libraries were closed. In 391, Emperor
Theodosius I ordered the destruction of all pagan temples, and the Patriarch
Theophilus, complied with his request. It is possible that the great
Library of Alexandria and the
Serapeum was
destroyed about this time. The pagan mathematician and philosopher
Hypathia was a prominent victim of the persecutions.
The
Brucheum and Jewish quarters were desolate in the 5th century, and the central monuments, the
Soma and Museum, fell into ruin. On the mainland, life seemed to have centred in the vicinity of the
Serapeum and
Caesareum, both which became Christian churches. The
Pharos and
Heptastadium quarters, however, remained populous and left intact.
Post-Roman history
In 616, it was taken by
Khosrau II, King of
Persia. Although the
Byzantine Emperor Heraclius recovered it a few years later, in 640 the Arabs, under the general
Amr ibn al-As, captured it decisively after a siege that lasted fourteen months. The city received no aid from
Constantinople during that time; Heraclius was dead and the new Emperor
Constantine III was barely twelve years old. Notwithstanding the losses that the city had sustained, Amr was able to write to his master, the
caliph Omar, that he had taken a city containing "4,000 palaces, 4,000 baths, 12,000 dealers in fresh oil, 12,000 gardeners, 40,000 Jews who pay tribute, 400 theatres or places of amusement."
In July
1882 the city came under bombardment from
British naval forces and was occupied (See
Egypt under Muhammad Ali and his successors).
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Alexandria from space, March 1990 |
Layout of the ancient city
The Greek Alexandria was divided into three regions:#
Brucheum, the Royal or Greek quarter, forming the most magnificent portion of the city. In Roman times Brucheum was enlarged by the addition of an official quarter, making up four regions in all. The city was laid out as a grid of parallel streets, each of which had an attendant subterranean canal;#
The Jews' quarter, forming the northeast portion of the city;#
Rhakotis, on the west, occupied chiefly by Egyptians (from
Coptic Rakotə "Alexandria").
Two main streets, lined with
colonnades and said to have been each about 60
metres (200
feet) wide, intersected in the centre of the city, close to the point where the Sema (or Soma) of Alexander (his
Mausoleum) rose. This point is very near the present
mosque of Nebi Daniel; and the line of the great East–West "Canopic" street only slightly diverged from that of the modern Boulevard de Rosette. Traces of its pavement and canal have been found near the Rosetta Gate, but better remains of streets and canals were exposed in 1899 by
German excavators outside the east fortifications, which lie well within the area of the ancient city.
Alexandria consisted originally of little more than the island of Pharos, which was joined to the mainland by a
mole nearly a mile long (1260 m) and called the
Heptastadion ("seven stadia" — a
stadium was a Greek unit of length measuring approximately 180 m). The end of this abutted on the land at the head of the present Grand Square, where rose the "Moon Gate". All that now lies between that point and the modern Ras et-Tin quarter is built on the silt which gradually widened and obliterated this mole. The Ras et-Tin quarter represents all that is left of the island of Pharos, the site of the actual lighthouse having been weathered away by the sea. On the east of the mole was the Great Harbour, now an open bay; on the west lay the port of Eunostos, with its inner basin Kibotos, now vastly enlarged to form the modern harbour.
In
Strabo's time, (latter half of
1st century BC) the principal buildings were as follows, enumerated as they were to be seen from a ship entering the Great Harbour.
#The Royal Palaces, filling the northeast angle of the town and occupying the promontory of Lochias, which shut in the Great Harbour on the east. Lochias (the modern Pharillon) has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, together with the palaces, the "Private Port" and the island of Antirrhodus. There has been a land subsidence here, as throughout the northeast coast of Africa.#The Great Theatre, on the modern Hospital Hill near the Ramleh station. This was used by Caesar as a fortress, where he stood a siege from the city mob after the
battle of Pharsalus#The
Poseidon, or
Temple of the
Sea God, close to the
Theatre#The Timonium built by
Mark Antony#The Emporium (Exchange)#The Apostases (Magazines)#The Navalia (Docks), lying west of the Timonium, along the sea-front as far as the mole#Behind the Emporium rose the Great Caesareum, by which stood the two great
obelisks, each later known as "
Cleopatra's Needle", and now removed to
New York City and
London. This temple became in time the Patriarchal Church, some remains of which have been discovered; but the actual Caesareum, so far as not eroded by the waves, lies under the houses lining the new sea-wall.#The
Gymnasium and the
Palaestra are both inland, near the Boulevard de Rosette in the eastern half of the town; sites unknown.#The Temple of
Saturn; site unknown.#The Mausolea of Alexander (Soma) and the Ptolemies in one ring-fence, near the point of intersection of the two main streets#The
Musaeum with its famous
Library and theatre in the same region; site unknown.#The
Serapeum, the most famous of all Alexandrian temples. Strabo tells us that this stood in the west of the city; and recent discoveries go far to place it near "Pompey's Pillar" which, however, was an independent monument erected to commemorate
Diocletian's siege of the city.
The names of a few other public buildings on the mainland are known, but there is little information as to their position. None, however, are as famous as the building that stood on the eastern point of Pharos island. There,
The Great Lighthouse, one of The
Seven Wonders of the World, reputed to be 138 meters (450 feet) high, was constructed. The first
Ptolemy began its erection, and the second Ptolemy completed it, at a total cost of 800
talents. It took 12 years to complete and served as a
prototype for all later
lighthouses in the world. The light was produced by a furnace at the top and was built mostly with solid blocks of limestone. The Pharos lighthouse was destroyed by an earthquake in the 14th century, making it the second longest living ancient wonder next to The
Great Pyramid of Giza.
A temple of
Hephaestus also stood on Pharos at the head of the mole. In the first century, the population of Alexandria contained over 180,000 adult male citizens (from a papyrus dated 32 CE), in addition to a large number of freedmen, women, children and slaves. Estimates of the total population range from 500,000 to over 1,000,000, making it one of the largest cities ever built before the
Industrial Revolution and the largest pre-industrial city that was not an imperial capital.
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"Pompey's Pillar" |
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Qaitbay's Citadel, built in 1477 AD |
Very little of the ancient city has survived into the present day. Much of the royal and civic quarters sunk beneath the harbour due to
earthquake subsidence, and much of the rest has been rebuilt upon in modern times.
"
Pompey's Pillar" is the most well-known ancient monument still standing. It is located on Alexandria's ancient
acropolis — a modest hill located adjacent to the city's Arab
cemetery — and was originally part of a temple colonnade. Including its
pedestal it is 30 m (99 feet) high; the shaft is of polished red granite, roughly three meters in diameter at the base, tapering to two and a half meters at the top. The structure was plundered and demolished in the
fourth century when a bishop decreed that paganism must be eradicated. "Pompey's Pillar" is a misnomer perpetuated by the Crusaders, as it has nothing to do with Pompey, having been erected in
AD 293 for
Diocletian. Beneath the acropolis itself are the subterranean remains of the Serapeum, where the mysteries of the god
Serapis were enacted, and whose carved wall niches are believed to have provided overflow storage space for the ancient Library.
Alexandria's
catacombs, known as
Kom al Sukkfa, are a short distance southwest of the pillar, consist of a multi-level labyrinth, reached via a large spiral staircase, and featuring dozens of chambers adorned with sculpted pillars, statues, and other
syncretic Romano-Egyptian religious symbols, burial niches and
sarcophagi, as well as a large Roman-style banquet room, where memorial meals were conducted by relatives of the deceased. The
catacombs were long forgotten by the citizens until they where discovered by accident in the 1800's.
The most extensive ancient excavation currently being conducted in Alexandria is known as
Kom al Dikka, and it has revealed the ancient city's well-preserved theatre, and the remains of its
Roman-era baths.
Persistent efforts have been made to explore the antiquities of Alexandria. Encouragement and help have been given by the local
Archaeological Society, and by many individuals, notably Greeks proud of a city, which is one of the glories of their national history.
The past and present directors of the museum have been enabled from time to time to carry out systematic excavations when opportunity offered;
D. G. Hogarth made tentative researches on behalf of the
Egypt Exploration Fund and the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies in 1895; and a German expedition worked for two years (1898–1899). But two difficulties face the would-be excavator in Alexandria.
Since the great and growing modern city stands right over the ancient one, it is almost impossible to find any considerable space in which to dig, except at enormous cost. Also, the general subsidence of the coast has sunk the lower-lying parts of the ancient town under water. This underwater section, containing much of the most interesting sections of the Hellenistic city, including the palace-quarter, is still being extensively investigated by the French underwater archaeologist
Franck Goddio and his
team [
1] and [
2]. It raised a noted head of
Caesarion, left. These are even being opened up to tourists, to some controversy [
3].
The spaces however, that are most open are the low grounds to northeast and southwest, where it is practically impossible to get below the Roman
strata.
The most important results were those achieved by Dr. G. Botti, late director of the museum, in the neighbourhood of "Pompey's Pillar", where there is a good deal of open ground. Here substructures of a large building or group of buildings have been exposed, which are perhaps part of the Serapeum. Hard by immense
catacombs and
columbaria have been opened which may have been appendages of the temple. These contain one very remarkable vault with curious painted reliefs, now lighted by electricity and shown to visitors.
The objects found in these researches are in the museum, the most notable being a great basalt bull, probably once an object of cult in the Serapeum. Other catacombs and tombs have been opened in Kome el-Shuqafa (Roman) and Ras et-Tin (painted).
The German excavation team found remains of a Ptolemaic colonnade and streets in the north-east of the city, but little else. Hogarth explored part of an immense brick structure under the mound of
Kom el-Dika, which may have been part of the Paneum, the Mausolea or a Roman fortress.
The making of the new foreshore led to the dredging up of remains of the Patriarchal Church; and the foundations of modern buildings are seldom laid without some objects of antiquity being discovered. The wealth underground is doubtless immense; but, despite all efforts, there is not much for antiquarians to see in Alexandria outside the museum and the neighbourhood of "Pompey's Pillar". The native tomb-robbers, well-sinkers, dredgers and the like, however, come upon valuable objects from time to time, which find their way into private collections.
The main sport that grabs Alexandrian interests is soccer, as is the case in all Egypt and northern Africa. Alexandria has four stadiums:
Harras El-Hedoud Stadium,
Alexandria Stadium,
El-Krom Stadium, and the recently-built
Borg El Arab Stadium which can hold up to 80,000 spectators.
Alexandria was one of three cities that participated in hosting the
African Cup of Nations in January 2006, which
Egypt won.
Other less popular sports like tennis and squash are usually played in private social and sports clubs, like Alexandria Sporting Club, Smouha Club, Lagoon Resort Courts and other places.
Sea-sports such as
surfing,
jet-skiing and
water polo are practised on a lower scale.
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Alexandria tramway routes |
Alexandria is served by the nearby
El Nhouza Airport, located 7 km to the southeast.
In the city itself an extensive tramway network exists.
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Constantine Cavafy (Greek-Egyptian poet)
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Moustafa Amar (Egyptian singer)
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Gideon Gechtman (Israeli sculptor)
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Eric Hobsbawm (British historian)
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Rudolf Hess (deputy fuhrer of the Nazi Party in Germany)
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Bratislava,
Slovakia *
Cleveland,
USA*
Constanţa,
Romania*
Bibliotheca Alexandrina*
The Alexandria Quartet* "Alexandria: City of Memory" by Michael Haag (London and New Haven, 2004). A social, political and literary portrait of cosmopolitan Alexandria during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
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Nile releases city's deep history*
Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, 1976: "Alexandria, Egypt"
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Alexandria Travel Photo Pictures of Alexandria published under Creative Commons License
