Alexandria during summer.
Alexandria (Arabic: al-Iskandariyya; Coptic: ; Greek: ; Egyptian
Arabic: اسكندريه Eskendereyya), with
a population of 4.1 million, is the second-largest city in Egypt
, and is the
country's largest seaport, serving about 80% of Egypt's imports and
exports. Alexandria is also an important tourist
resort.
Alexandria
extends about along the coast of the Mediterranean
Sea
in north-central Egypt. It is home to the
Bibliotheca
Alexandrina
(the new Library
), and is an important industrial center
because of its natural gas and oil pipeline from Suez
, another
city in Egypt. Alexandria was also an important trading post
between Europe and Asia,
because it profited from the easy overland connection between the
Mediterranean Sea and the Red
Sea
.
In
ancient times, Alexandria was one
of the most famous cities in the world. It was founded around a
small
pharaonic town
c. 331
BC by
Alexander the Great.
It
remained Egypt's capital for nearly a thousand years, until the
Muslim conquest of Egypt in
641 AD when a new capital was founded at Fustat
(Fustat was
later absorbed into Cairo
).
Alexandria
was known because of its lighthouse
(Pharos), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient
World; its library (the largest library in the ancient world); and the
Catacombs of
Kom el Shoqafa
, one of the
Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages. Ongoing
maritime archaeology in the harbor of
Alexandria, which began in 1994, is revealing details of Alexandria
both before the arrival of Alexander, when a city named
Rhacotis existed there, and during the
Ptolemaic dynasty.
History
Alexandria at sunset.
Alexandria was founded by Alexander in April 331 BC as
(
Alexándreia). Alexander's
chief
architect for the project was
Dinocrates.
Alexandria was intended to supersede Naucratis
as a Hellenistic center in Egypt, and to
be the link between Greece
and the rich
Nile Valley. An Egyptian city,
Rhakotis, already existed on the shore, and later
gave its name to Alexandria in the
Egyptian language (Egypt.
Ra'qedyet). It continued to exist as the Egyptian quarter
of the city. 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 expansion.
Following a struggle with the other successors of Alexander, his
general
Ptolemy succeeded in
bringing Alexander's body to Alexandria.
Though Cleomenes was mainly in charge of seeing to Alexandria's
continuous development, the
Heptastadion and the mainland
quarters seem to have been primarily Ptolemaic work.
Inheriting the trade
of ruined Tyre
and becoming
the center of the new commerce between Europe and the Arabia 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
. It
became the main Greek city of Egypt, with an extraordinary mix of
Greeks from many cities and
backgrounds.
Alexandria was not only a center of
Hellenism but was also home to the
largest
Jewish community in the world. The
Septuagint, a
Greek translation of the
Hebrew Bible, was produced there.
The early Ptolemies
kept it in order and fostered the development of its museum into
the leading Hellenistic center of learning (Library of
Alexandria) but were careful to maintain the distinction of
its population's three largest ethnicities: Greek, Jewish, and Egyptian. From this division arose much of
the later turbulence, which began to manifest itself under
Ptolemy Philopater who reigned from
221–204 BC. The reign of
Ptolemy
VIII Physcon from 144–116 BC was marked by purges and civil
warfare.
The city passed formally under Roman jurisdiction in 80 BC,
according to the will of
Ptolemy
Alexander but only after it had been under Roman influence for
more than a hundred years. It was captured by
Julius Caesar in 47 BC during a Roman
intervention in the domestic civil war between king
Ptolemy XIII and his advisors,
and usurper queen
Cleopatra VII. It
was finally captured by
Octavian, future
emperor Augustus on
August 1, 30 BC, with the name of the month later being changed to
august to commemorate his victory.
In 115 AD, vast parts of Alexandria were destroyed during the
Greek-Jewish civil wars which gave
Hadrian
and his architect,
Decriannus, an
opportunity to rebuild it. In 215 AD the
emperor Caracalla
visited the city and, because of some insulting
satires that the inhabitants had directed at him,
abruptly commanded his troops to
put
to death all youths capable of bearing arms. On 21 July 365,
Alexandria was devastated by a
tsunami
(
365 Crete earthquake), an
event two hundred years later still annually commemorated as "day
of horror". In the late 4th century, persecution of
pagans by newly Christian Romans had reached new
levels of intensity. In 391, the Patriarch
Theophilus destroyed all pagan
temples in Alexandria under orders from Emperor
Theodosius I. The
Brucheum and Jewish quarters were desolate in the
5th century. On the mainland, life
seemed to have centered in the vicinity of the
Serapeum
and
Caesareum, both which became
Christian churches. The
Pharos and
Heptastadium
quarters, however, remained populous and were left intact.
In 619, Alexandria
fell to
the
Sassanid Persians. Although the
Byzantine Emperor
Heraclius recovered it in 629, in 641 the
Arabs under the general
Amr ibn al-As,
captured it after a siege that
lasted fourteen months. Alexandria figured prominently in the
military operations of
Napoleon's expedition to Egypt in 1798.
French troops stormed the city on July 2, 1798 and it remained in
their hands until the arrival of the British expedition in 1801.
The British won a considerable victory over the French at the
Battle of Alexandria on March
21, 1801, following which they besieged the city which fell to them
on 2 September 1801. Mohammed Ali, the Ottoman Governor of Egypt,
began rebuilding the city around 1810, and by 1850, Alexandria had
returned to something akin to its former glory. In July 1882 the
city came under bombardment from
British
naval forces and was occupied. In July 1954, the city was a
target of an Israeli bombing campaign that later became known as
the
Lavon Affair. Only a few months
later, Alexandria's Mansheyya Square was the site of a failed
assassination attempt on
Gamal Abdel Nasser.
The most important battles and sieges of Alexandria include:
Geography
Climate
Alexandria has an arid
desert climate
(
Koppen climate
classification BWh) , but the prevailing north wind,
blowing across the Mediterranean, gives the city a different
climate from the desert hinterland. The city's climate shows
Mediterranean (Csa)
characteristics, namely mild, variably rainy winters and hot, dry
summers which, at times, can be very humid. January and February
are the coolest months with daily maximum temperatures typically
ranging from 12°C (53°F) to 18°C (64°F). Alexandria experiences
violent storms, rain and sometimes
hail during the cooler months. July and August are the hottest and
most humid months of the year with an average daily maximum
temperature of 30°C (87°F). Autumn and spring are the ideal seasons
to visit Alexandria, with temperatures averaging about 22°C
(71°F).
Alexandria from space, March
1990
Layout of the ancient city
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 four
regions in all. The city was laid out as a grid of parallel
streets, each of which had an attendant subterranean canal;
- The Jewish quarter
- forming the northeast portion of the city;
- Rhakotis
- The old city of Rhakotis that had been
absorbed into Alexandria. It was 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 center 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
(now Sharia Fouad).
Traces of its pavement and canal have been
found near the Rosetta Gate, but remnants 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.
Roman Theater in Alexandria
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 the "Moon Gate" rose. All that now lies
between that point and the modern "Ras al-Tiin" quarter is built on
the silt which gradually widened and obliterated this mole. The
"Ras al-Tiin" 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 Harbor, now
an open bay; on the west lay the port of Eunostos, with its inner
basin Kibotos, now vastly enlarged to form the modern harbor.
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 Harbor.
- The Royal Palaces, filling the northeast
angle of the town and occupying the promontory of Lochias, which
shut in the Great Harbor 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 Theater, on the modern Hospital Hill near the Ramleh
station. This was used by Caesar as a fortress, where he withstood
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 Marc
Antony
- The Emporium (Exchange)
- The Apostases (Magazines)
- The Navalia (Docks), lying west of the Timonium, along the
seafront as far as the mole
- Behind the Emporium rose the Great
Caesareum, by which stood the two great obelisks, which become known as “Cleopatra's Needles”, and were
transported to New York
City
and London
. This
temple became, in time, the Patriarchal Church, though some ancient
remains of the temple have been discovered. The actual Caesareum,
the parts not eroded by the waves, lies under the houses lining the
new seawall.
- 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 theater 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 as to place it near
“Pompey's Pillar” which 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 actual position.
None, however, are as famous as the building that stood on the
eastern point of Pharos island.
There, the The Great
Lighthouse, one of the Seven
Wonders of the World, reputed to be 138 meters
(450 ft) high, was sited. The first
Ptolemy began the project, and the second Ptolemy
completed it, at a total cost of 800
talent. 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 the tower 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 surviving 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.
Ancient remains
Pompey's Pillar
Very little of the ancient city has survived into the present day.
Much of the royal and civic quarters sank beneath the harbor due to
earthquake subsidence, and the rest has been built over in
modern times.
"Pompey's Pillar" is the best-known
ancient monument still standing today. 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 ft) high; the
shaft is of polished red granite, 2.7 meters in diameter at the
base, tapering to 2.4 meters at the top. The shaft is 88 feet high
made out of a single piece of granite. This would be 132
cubic meters or approximately 396 tons. Pompey's
Pillar may have been erected using the same methods that were used
to erect the ancient
obelisks.
The Romans had cranes but they weren't strong
enough to lift something this heavy. Roger Hopkins and Mark Lehrner
conducted several
obelisk erecting
experiments including a successful attempt to erect a 25 ton
obelisk in 1999. This followed two experiments to erect smaller
obelisks and two failed attempts to erect a 25 ton obelisk. The
structure was plundered and demolished in the 4th century when a
bishop decreed that Paganism must be eradicated. "Pompey's Pillar"
is a
misnomer, as it has nothing to do with
Pompey, having been erected in 293 for
Diocletian, possibly in memory of the
rebellion of
Domitius
Domitianus. 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-Soqqafa, 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 were discovered by accident in the
1800s.
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 theater, and the remains of its
Roman-era baths.
Antiquities
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 whenever
opportunity is 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: lack of space for excavation and the underwater
location of some areas of interest.
Since the great and growing modern city stands immediately 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 submerged the
lower-lying parts of the ancient town under water. This underwater
section, containing many 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. It
raised a noted head of
Caesarion. These
are being opened up to tourists, to some controversy. The spaces
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 neighborhood 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. Nearby, 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
artificially lit and open 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 Kom
al-Shoqqafa (Roman) and Ras al-Tiin (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 al-Dikka, 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 doubtlessly immense; but despite all
efforts, there is not much for antiquarians to see in Alexandria
outside the museum and the neighborhood of “Pompey's Pillar”. The
native tomb-robbers, well-sinkers, dredgers, and the like, however,
come upon valuable objects from time to time, most of which find
their way into private collections.
Modern city
Districts
Modern Alexandria is divided into six districts:
There are also two cities under the jurisdiction of the Alexandria
governorate forming
metropolitan
Alexandria:
Alexandria at night
Neighbourhoods
Agami,
Amreya, Anfoushi, Assafra, Attarine,
Azarita (aka Mazarita; originally Lazarette), Bab
Sidra, Bahari, Bacchus, Bolkly
(Bokla),
Burg el-Arab, Camp Shezar, Cleopatra, Dekheila, Downtown, Eastern Harbour, Fleming, Gabbari (aka:
Qabbari, Qubbary, Kabbary), Gianaclis
, Glym (short for Glymenopoulos), Gumrok
(aka al-Gomrok), Hadara, Ibrahimeya, King Mariout, Kafr
Abdu, Karmous, also known as Karmouz, Kom el-Dik (aka
Kom el-Dekka), Labban, Laurent,
Louran, Maamoura Beach
, Maamoura, Mafrouza, Mandara, Manshiyya, Mex,
Miami, Montaza, Muharram Bey,
Mustafa Kamel, Ramleh (aka
el-Raml), Ras el-Tin, Rushdy,
Saba Pasha , San Stefano, Shatby, Schutz, Sidi Bishr, Sidi Gaber, Smouha,
Sporting, Stanley, Syouf, Tharwat,
Victoria, Wardeyan, Western Harbour
and Zizinia.
Squares
Palaces
Recreational
File:Almontaza palace.jpg|Almontaza
PalaceFile:Ras-el-Tin-Palace008.jpg|Ras El Tin PalaceFile:Musee
national - alexandrie facade vue large.JPG|Alexandria
MuseumFile:Misr Train Station , Alexandria.jpg|Misr Train
StationFile:Abu el-Abbas el-Mursi Mosque in Alexandria.jpg|Abu El
Abbas Masjid (Mosque)File:Alexandria-Sawary.jpg|El Sawari
ColumnFile:Stanley Bridge.jpg|Stanley Bridge
Religion
Christianity
After
Rome, Alexandria was considered the major seat of
Christianity in the world.
The
Pope of Alexandria was the second
among equals, second only to the bishop of Rome
, the capital
of the Roman Empire until 430.
The
Church of Alexandria had
jurisdiction over the entire continent of
Africa. After the
Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D., the
Church of Alexandria was split
between the
Miaphysites and the
Melkites. The
Miaphysites went on to constitute what is known
today as the
Coptic
Orthodox Church of Alexandria. The
Melkites went on the constitute what is known today
as the
Greek
Orthodox Church of Alexandria. In the 19th century,
Catholic and
Protestant
missionaries converted some of the adherents of the Orthodox
churches to their respective faiths.
Today, the patriarchal seat of the
Pope of the Coptic Orthodox
Church is
Saint Mark
Cathedral in Ramleh. The most important
Coptic Orthodox churches in Alexandria
include
Pope Cyril I Church in
Cleopatra,
Saint Georges Church in
Sporting,
Saint Mark &
Pope Peter I Church in Sidi Bishr,
Saint Mary Church in Assafra,
Saint Mary Church in Gianaclis,
Saint Mina Church in Fleming,
Saint Mina Church in Mandara, and
Saint Tekle Haymanot Church in
Ibrahimeya.
The most important
Greek Orthodox
churches in Alexandria are Saint Anargyri Church, Church of the
Annunciation,
Saint Anthony Church,
Archangels Gabriel &
Michael Church,
Saint Catherine Church, Cathedral of
the
Dormition in Mansheya, Church of the
Dormition,
Prophet
Elijah Church,
Saint Georges
Church, Church of the
Immaculate
Conception in Ibrahemeya,
Saint
Joseph Church in Fleming,
Saint
Joseph of Arimathea Church,
Saint
Mark &
Saint Nectarios Chapel in
Ramleh,
Saint
Nicholas Church,
Saint Paraskevi
Church,
Saint Sava Cathedral in
Ramleh, and
Saint
Theodore Chapel. In communion with the
Greek Orthodox Church is the
Russian Orthodox church of
Saint Alexander Nevsky in Alexandria, which
serves the
Russian speaking
community in the city.
Churches that follow the
Latin
Catholic rite include
Saint
Catherine Church in Mansheya and Church of the
Jesuits in Cleopatra.
The
Saint Mark Church in
Shatby, found as part of
Collège Saint Marc is
multi-denominational and hold liturgies according to
Latin Catholic,
Coptic Catholic and
Coptic Orthodox rites.
Islam
Most of the citizens of Alexandria adhere to the religion of
Islam. The most famous mosque in Alexandria is
Abu el-Abbas el-Mursi
Mosque in
Anfoushi. Other notable
mosques in the city include
Ali ibn Abi Talib
mosque in Somouha,
Bilal mosque,
El-Gamee el-Bahari in Mandara, Hatem mosque in Somouha, Hoda
el-Islam mosque in Sidi Bishr, El-Mowasah mosque in Hadara, Sharq
el-Madina mosque in Miami, El-Shohadaa mosque in Mostafa Kamel,
Qaed Ibrahim mosque, Yehia mosque in Zizinya, Sidi Gaber mosque in
Sidi Gaber, and Sultan mosque.
Judaism
Alexandria's once very flourishing
Jewish
community is now almost extinct after
Nasser
expelled them from Egypt. The most important
synagogue in Alexandria is the
Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue.
Education
Colleges and universities
Alexandria comprises a number of higher education institutions.
Alexandria University is a
public university that follows the Egyptian system of higher
education. Many of its faculties are internationally renowned, most
importantly its faculty of engineering. In addition, the
Arab
Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport is a
semi-private educational institution that offers courses o both
high school and undergraduate level students.
Université Senghor is a private French
university
that focuses on the teaching of humanities, politics and
international relations, and which mainly targets students from the
African continent. Other institutions
of higher education in Alexandria include
Alexandria Institute of
Technology and
Pharos University in
Alexandria.
Schools
Alexandria has a very long history of foreign educational
institutions.
The first foreign schools date to the early
19th century, when French missionaries
began establishing French charitable
schools to educate the Egyptians. Today, the most
important French schools in Alexandria run by Catholic missionaries include Collège de la Mère de
Dieu, Collège Notre Dame de Sion, Collège Saint Marc,
Ecoles des Soeurs Franciscaines (4 different schools), Ecole
Gérard, Ecole Saint Gabriel, Ecole Saint-Vincent de Paul, Ecole
Sainte Catherine, and Institution Sainte
Jeanne-Antide
. As a reaction to the establishment of
French religious institutions, a secular (laic) mission established
Lycée el-Horreya,
which initially followed a French system of education, but is
currently a public school run by the Egyptian government. The only
school in Alexandria that completely follows the French educational
system is Ecole Champollion. It is usually frequented by the
children of French expatriates and diplomats in Alexandria.
English schools in Alexandria are
fewer in number and more recently established, in comparison with
the French schools. The most important English language schools in
the city include Alexandria American School, British School of
Alexandria, Egyptian American School, Modern American School,
Sacred Heart Girls' School (SHS),
Schutz American School,
Victoria College,
Kaumeya Language School
(KLS) ,
El Nasr Boys' School
(EBS), and
El Nasr Girls'
College (EGC). Most of these schools have been nationalized
during the era of
Nasser, and are currently
Egyptian public schools run by the Egyptian ministry of
education.
The only
German school in Alexandria
is the Deutsche Schule der Borromärinnen (DSB of Saint Charles
Borromé).
The most notable public schools in Alexandria include Gamal Abdel
Nasser High School and
Manar
English Girls School.
Transport
Alexandria tram
Inside Misr Station
Airports
Alexandria is served by the nearby Alexandria International
Airport
, located 7 km to the southeast.
Another
airport serves Alexandria named Borg al Arab Airport
located about 25 km away from city
center. This airport has been in use since about 2003. It
was a
military airport before that, and
until now there is a military section there.
Highways
- The International coastal road. (Alexandria - Port Said
)
- The Desert road.
(Alexandria - Cairo /220 km 6-8 lanes, mostly lit)
- The Agricultural road. (Alexandria - Cairo)
- The Circular road. the turnpike
- Ta'ameer Road "Mehwar El-Ta'ameer" - (Alexandria - North
Coast)
Train
Extends
from "Misr Station"; the main railway
station in Alexandria, to Abu Qir
.
Railway stations include:
Tram
An extensive tramway network was built in 1860 and is the oldest in
Africa.
Other means of public transport
Buses and
minibuses.
Port
The
port is divided into:
- The Eastern Harbour
- The Western Harbour
Culture
Libraries
The
Royal Library
of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was once
the largest library in the world. It
is generally thought to have been founded at the beginning of the
3rd century BC, during the reign of
Ptolemy II of Egypt. It was
likely created after his father had built what would become the
first part of the Library complex, the temple of the
Muses — the
Museion, Greek
Μουσείον (from which the
modern
English word
museum is
derived).
It has been reasonably established that the Library, or parts of
the collection, were destroyed by fire on a number of occasions
(library fires were common and replacement of handwritten
manuscripts was very difficult, expensive, and time-consuming). To
this day the details of the destruction (or destructions) remain a
lively source of controversy.
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina was inaugurated in 2003 near the site of the old
Library.
Museums
The museum is housed in the old Al-Saad Bassili Pasha Palace, who
was one of the wealthiest wood merchants in Alexandria.
Construction on the site was first undertaken in 1926.
Related words
- al-Iskandareyya(h) (الإسكندرية)
(noun) (formal): Refers to the city of "Alexandria", used in formal
texts and speech. Its Egyptian
Arabic equivalent is Eskenderreya or
Iskindereyya(h). Iskandariyya(h)
and Eskendereyya(h) are different in pronunciation, though
they have the same spelling when written in
Arabic. In Literary Arabic,
Iskandariyya(h) always takes the definite article al-, whereas in
Egyptian Arabic, Eskendereyya(h) never takes al-.
The optional h at the end of both of them is called a
ta'
marbuta which is not usually pronounced, but is always
written.
- "Alex" (noun): Natives of both Alexandria and
Cairo who have a certain knowledge of English refer to Alexandria
as "Alex", especially informally.
- Eskandarany (اسكندراني) (adjective):
Means 'native Alexandrian' (masc.) or 'from Alexandria' in Egyptian
Arabic.
Sports
The main sport that interests Alexandrians is
football, as is the case in the rest of
Egypt and
Africa.
Alexandria Stadium is
a multi-purpose stadium in
Alexandria, Egypt. It
is currently used mostly for
football matches, and was used for the
2006 African Cup of
Nations. The stadium is the oldest stadium in Egypt and Africa,
being built in 1929. The stadium holds 20,000 people.Alexandria was
one of three cities that participated in hosting the
African Cup of Nations in January
2006, which
Egypt won.
Sea sports such as
surfing,
jet-skiing and
water polo are practised on a lower scale.
Alexandria has four
stadiums:
Other less popular sports like
tennis and
squash are usually played in private
social and
sports
clubs, like:
Alexandria Cycling Carnival
There is also the Alexandria weekly cycling carnival, Organized by
Cycle Egypt group, which is held every
Friday, Cycling amateurs gather every Friday morning to cycle
through El Courniche from El Montazah to El Qalaa.
Writings
- Novels
- The Alexandria Semaphore by Robert Sole.
- Academic Year (1955, set in late 1940s) by D.J. Enright.
- The Alexandria
Quartet (1957-60, set in 1930s) by Lawrence Durrell.
- The Bat (part of the Drifting Cities trilogy)
(1965, set in 1943-44) by Stratis Tsirkas.
- Miramar (1967) by
Naguib Mahfouz.
- The Danger Tree (1977, set in 1942, partly in
Alexandria) by Olivia Manning.
- The Beacon at Alexandria (1986, set in 4th century) by
Gillian Bradshaw.
- City of Saffron (tr. 1989, set in 1930s) by Edwar
Al-Kharrat.
- Girls of Alexandria (tr. 1993, set in 1930s and '40s)
by Edwar Al-Kharrat.
- The Book on Fire (2009, urban fantasy) by Keith
Miller.
- No One Sleeps in Alexandria (1996, set during World War II) by Ibrahim Abdel Meguid.
- Pashazade (2001)
alternate history by Jon Courtenay Grimwood.
- The Alexander Cipher (2007) by Will Adams.
- Flow Down Like Silver, Hypatia of Alexandria (2009) by
Ki Longfellow.
- History
- Alexandria: A History and a Guide (1922; numerous
reprints) by E.M. Forster.
- Alexandria: City of Memory (Yale University Press,
2004) by Michael Haag.
- Vintage Alexandria: Photographs of the City 1860-1960
(The American University in Cairo Press, 2008) by Michael
Haag.
- Memoirs
- Out of Egypt (1994; describes family history in
Alexandria) by André Aciman.
Songs
Tourism
Alexandria is a main summer resort in the
Middle East, visited by people from all other
cities to enjoy the sun and the sea. Beaches become full of
umbrellas and families and the city is usually crowded in summer.
There are both public beaches (which anyone can use for free, and
are usually crowded) and private beaches (which can be used upon
paying a small fee). There are also private beaches that are
dedicated only to the guests of some hotels.
Notable people
Twin towns — sister cities
Alexandria is
twinned with
See also
Notes
- "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.
- Victor W. Von Hagen. The Roads that led to Rome The
World Publishing Company, Cleveland and New York. 1967.
References
External links
District: population 386,374
city: population 186,900
in Slovakia
in Ukraine
in United
States
in Romania
in Bulgaria
in South Africa
in Russia
in United
States
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Facts
Map
Misc
Search
