Alexandria - Guide to its History And Ancient Monuments.
'Then, as now, she belonged not so much to Egypt as to the Mediterranean' 'E.M. Foster'
According to the historical sources, about 17 cities have been founded by Alexander the Great, and they all carried the name of 'Alexandria'.
Only one city has survived to our present day, the city of Alexandria in Egypt, which has flourished as a Hellenistic interactive science and learning centre in the ancient world.
Founding of Alexandria:
After dominating the Asia Minor and Syria, Alexander the Great led his victorious armies towards Egypt in 332 B.C. in order to put an end to the Persian control.
He was greatly welcomed by Egyptians, and he in return demonstrated his respect for their Gods and religious rites.
Before embarking on his triumphal march towards Persia (central Asia), he headed west to the Oasis of Siwa where he visited the temple of the greatest Egyptian God 'Amun' in order to consult the oracle of 'Amun', and he was proclaimed a pharaoh according to the Egyptian custom.
On the road back to the Mediterranean coast, Alexander stopped at a spot opposite the Island of Pharos. It was a small fishing village called ' Rhakotis'. He admired this stretch of land between the Mediterranean sea and Lake Mariot.
 |
|
| The picture is by a 16th century Italian artist of his impression of the building of Alexandria. |
There were many advantages that convinced Alexander the Great of the necessity of constructing a city on this site, bearing his name and immortalizing his memory throughout the ages, a port city serving the international trade in the area.
Among these advantages were:
1 - Access to a fresh water supply from the Nile through its Canopic branch.
2 - The site overlooked the Mediterranean Sea, which guaranteed that Alexander could obtain the wheat necessary for Greece, to be shipped from Egypt via the sea.
3 - The presence of Lake Mariot to the south of the Island of Pharos acted as a strengthening defence.
Alexander was completely committed to the idea of building his city on this site and, according to the ancient Historian Plutarch's account of the founding of Alexandria city, Homer appeared to Alexander the Great in a dream and described to him the site of his future city.
In 331 B.C., the famous architect Dinocrates of Rhodes was commissioned to lay out the plan for the new city, but the city wall outline was marked by Alexander the Great himself, he even insisted on seeing an initial layout of the city. The workers drew lines around the site using barley meal that had been meant to feed the soldiers.
According to an account by the Greek historian Arrian in his writings called, "Anabasis" and a similar account by Strabo (64/63 BC-AD 32), Geography, XVII, 1,6., a flock of birds arrived and gobbled up all of the barley meal that been used in marking the layout of the city. Alexander considered it a bad Omen, but it was prophesied by his consultants that fate had reserved a great role for this city in the history of the civilized ancient world and it would one day feed the world.
'The city that you gave an order to be founded will become a land of welfare, granting the riches and good for the whole world, as it has for those birds, who have been fed with its barley meal '.
However, Alexander didn't live to see his namesake city, as he left before the first stone was laid, heading west to further victories and his eventual death at Babylon (now known as Iraq ) in 323 BC.Only after his death, was his body brought back by Ptolemy I to be buried in Alexandria.
The city plan wasn't creative but was a practical one, as Dinocrates chose a common plan called the 'Hippodomi plan' which has been used in many of the great ancient cities since the 5 th century B.C.
This 'Hippodomi plan' was attributed to the famous 5th century architect Hippodamos; who laid out the city plan of Rhodes in 408 B.C.
 |
| A diagram showing the Hippodomi Plan used in Alexandria |
Like most of the ancient Greek cities, Alexandria was built in the shape of chessboard, composed of orthogonal streets.
The city was intersected at its centre by two major avenues. A street known as the 'Canopic' (presently known as Fouad Street), was the principal thoroughfare of the city running east to west through its centre. The Canopic street was bordered from the east by the 'Canopic Gate' and from the west by ' Sidera gate' (in the present Kom el Shoqqafa district).
Orthogonal to 'the Canopic' street ,was the 'Soma street' (currently known as Nabi Daniel street). This stretched from north to south and was bordered by
'the Gate of Moon' to the north and by 'the Gate of Sun' to the south.
Soma street was a part of Alexandria's Royal quarter, where it's believed that the royal tombs of Ptolemies and the magnificent Mausoleum of Alexander the Great (The Soma) were situated, in the centre of the ancient city, where the two main streets 'Canopic' and 'Soma' intersected.To date this tomb has not been identified by archaeologists.
In order to connect the Island of Pharos to the mainland for the construction of the great lighthouse of Alexandria, Dinocrates planned a causeway and named it 'the Heptastadion', meaning the seven stadiums, as its length was 7 stadiums (approximately 1300 meters).
Photograph shows a model of how it is thought the ancient lighthouse of Alexandria may have looked. Courtesy of Tour Egypt at http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/alexandriatombs.htm
The Heptastadion was initially a narrow bridge but over time it has been widened and formed the land area which is now occupied by the 'Manshyia' neighborhood.
By constructing the Heptastadion two harbours were then formed, 'the Eastern Harbor' or 'Portus Magnus' (the great port) and 'the Western Port' which was previously known as 'Portus Eunostos' meaning 'safe return'.
The Eastern harbour was very active during both the Ptolemaic and Roman periods and its importance increased in the middle ages, but underwent a gradual decline in the Ottoman period, caused by the competition from the ports of Rosetta and Damiett; whose position at the mouth of two branches of the Nile meant they were directly linked with hinterland.
Today the Eastern harbour is only used by a few fishing boats and Yachts. Boats can be hired for trips around the bay.
My thanks must go to my dear friend, Neri, for all of her research and help in writing the pages about Alexandria.Without her help and knowledge these pages would probably not have materialized. She has a wonderful website of her own, Egyptian Home, which I encourage you to visit at: http://www.geocities.com/egyptianhome/
All
content on this page unless otherwise specified is copyright of Diane Day 2001-2006
|
