The Districts of Alexandria City: Alexander's city was divided into five quarters (districts); named after the first five letters of the Greek alphabet: The first Quarter is Alpha, the second is Beta, the Third is Gamma, the fourth is Delta, the fifth quarter is Epsilon. These Five letters are the abbreviation of five Greek words; forming the phrase inscribed by the Alexander the Great for his future city: Alexandrus Basileus genos Dios ektisen. It has been founded by Alexander the king, the son of God. The Five Districts were:- 1 - The Quarter of Flaccum :- The largest quarter that was built on the far eastern edge of the ancient city. This quarter was not inhabited, as its vast land was occupied by the race circus. 2 -The Royal Quarter ' Brocheon' :- The Royal quarter occupied nearly one third of the whole area of the ancient city. It was the stretch of land lying between the sea shore and Canopic street (at the present time it extends from Shatbi area to Qaitbey fort). Brocheon was distinguished by its imposing buildings such as the Royal palaces of Ptolemies, the city's theatre, the Library, and the Royal tombs. 3 - The public quarter 'Rhakotis': Rhakotis was a small fishing village when the Alexander the Great gave his order to found new city on that location. This quarter was generally inhabited by the Egyptian citizens and was designed to become the Acropolis of Alexandria city. Acropolis is the upper fortified part of an ancient Greek city as in Athens. It is usually the fortified highest area of a city or district elsewhere. At the top of the acropolis Hill, the temple of Serapeum was built and dedicated to the god of Alexandria city, 'Serapis', who represents the trinity of Serapis, Isis and Harpocratis. Photo shows the site of the Apis Bull in modern day Alexandria. This temple was serving as an official cult centre, and the Daughter Library was attached to the temple compound. Photo shows part of the remains of the Daughter Library in modern day Alexandria. To the east of this temple and at a later period 'Pompeii's Pillar' was erected and is still standing up to the present. The city of the dead (the catacombs of Kom El Shoqqafa) lies to the west of the Pompeii's Pillar site, which contain underground tombs that were sculpted into the rocks in three floors. Photo of Pompey`s Pillar and a sphinx in modern day Alexandria. 4 - The Quarter of Soma: The Soma quarter (presently known as the Kom el Dekka area) was bordered from the north by the Gymnasium and from the south by the ancient city's walls. It's still believed that the Royal tomb of Alexander was standing in Soma district, but it`s remains have yet to be found. 5- The Quarter of Museion :- It was the site of the citys museum and university and was considered the smallest district. In general, Egyptians lived in the area of Pharos and Rhakotis, deep in the west of Alexandria. Greeks and Macedonians lived in the Delta district to the east of the Royal district. Nevertheless this residential division was not maintained during the daytime when people moved about with their everyday dealings. As an example, the district of Rhakotis was overlooking the port where the Egyptian craftsmen by necessity had to make trading deals with the Greek traders who purchased part of the Egyptian goods for exporting.Meanwhile the Greeks and Egyptians used to frequent the temple of the Serapeum in the same district. 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 © Diane Day 2001-2006