The Ancient Landmarks of Alexandria. Today the Modern city stands on the site of ancient Alexandria and very few visible remains of this former capital of the ancient world have survived.Though nothing remains of the Pharos the Lighthouse, the temples or the houses, the remains of Ptolemaic palaces, baths and other public buildings are constantly being discovered and added to the collections of the city’s Greco-Roman museum. 1-The Caesareum: It was founded by Queen Cleopatra in honour of Mark Antony, then it was rededicated to Caesar Augustus (Mark Antony’s conqueror).It may be in this temple that Cleopatra committed suicide in 30 B.C. The temple stood near the shore at the centre of the great harbour. It was a lavish temple with porticos, parks and Libraries. In front of the temple stood two red granite obelisks called ‘Cleopatra’s Needles’ which were decorating the entrance of Caesareum. Though these two obelisks bear the names of Tuthmosis III, Seti I and Ramesses II, the Obelisks were brought to Alexandria from Heliopolis by the Romans twenty years after the death of Cleopatra. These giant obelisks stood facing the old harbour until 1877, when the British forces took them and they were shipped away. One of them was removed to England and erected on the Thames embankment near the Houses of Parliament in London. In 1881 the other one was taken to New York where it now stands in the Central Park. Nothing else remains today of the Caesareum. Nowadays, a statue of a great Egyptian nationalist called ‘Saad Zaghloul’ stands where the Caesareum used to be. The statue is surrounded with a park which is considered to be one of the busiest squares in Alexandria. 2- The Ancient Library of Alexandria The ancient Library of Alexandria was established by Ptolemy I (Soter) in the year 288 B.C. It was intended as a meeting place of the most eminent minds of the time who would gather in the temple of Muses of the Museum. This was the first research centre in the world. It was a sort of scholarly academy attracting prominent scientists and intellectuals, with a library annexed to it. Several buildings were involved, of which the most famous were, The Museum, the Library by the waterfront (both in the royal district ‘Brucheion’) and the Daughter Library in the temple of Serapis( Serapeum). The Library expanded to include all the branches of knowledge in the ancient world, the library at its Zenith may have contained over 700.000 scrolls. The library had attracted the Intellectuals, Scientists and Scholars to visit its institution, the most important ones were: -Aristarchus, the first to proclaim that the Earth revolves around the sun. -Hipparchus, the first to measure the solar year within six and a half minutes accuracy. -Eratosthenes, the first to measure the circumference of the Earth. -Euclid who wrote the elements of geometry. -Archimedes.The greatest mathematician of the ancient world. -Callimachus. A poet and the first to write a catalogue for books, classified by topic and author, thereby becoming the father of Library Science. The ancient Library of Alexandria was open to all civilizations .Systematic efforts were made to collect and purchase the best written works from all over the world and any ship that docked in the Alexandrian port were searched and any books on board were copied. Thus, the Ancient library of Alexandria in its first centuries was a mixture of all civilizations and languages. However the Greek language was the most dominant (as English is today). As an example of this, the Old Testament was translated for the first time from Hebrew to Greek. No doubt the role of Greek thought and Philosophy was remarkable in formulating the Hellenistic Civilization. The genius of the Hellenistic Culture was to combine the glory of Ancient Greek (Hellenic) with the Egyptian and Asian cultures. It was an enriching result. For the question: Was the Alexandrian culture & scholarship a Greek or an Egyptian? The answer is both, both peoples participated in establishing this culture. The Destruction of the Ancient Library: It was not destroyed by the Arab conquest as some stories would have us believe. The destruction happened much earlier, through a long decline punctuated with fires and destruction over four and a half centuries. The first fire came about during the Alexandrian war, when Julius Caesar burnt the Egyptian fleet in 48 B.C. and the fire inadvertently spread to the Library buildings near the docks. During the upheavals of the Roman Empire in the third century Alexandria suffered many upheavals and suppressions which led to the city being invaded by the Roman army several times and the whole royal district, where the Old Library and Museum were located, was destroyed. The Alexandrian scholars and the rescued remains of the books were moved to the daughter library (Mouseion). That too succumbed to destruction in a wave of anti-pagan actions. The year 415 AD. brought the end to the seven centuries of Alexandrian Scholarship. That was 230 years before the Arabian leader Amr Ibn El Asa entered Egypt at the head of the first Arab Muslim army. The age of the ancient Library came to an end as a centre for dialogue and tolerance, as well as science and learning. 3-The Mouseion(the daughter Library) : Photograph of part of what remains of the daughter Library Alexandria. After a half century of building the great Library of Alexandria, it was decided to open a branch library to accommodate the surplus books. The Mouseion was a scientific institution and was provided with a park, a meeting court where the scientists used to gather and a dining room for the resident scientists and who those worked in the Mouseion. After the destruction of the royal library in 48 B.C., the daughter library became the principal library in Alexandria. Located as it was, within the precinct of the Serapeum, it continued to enjoy protection so long as pagan temples were sacred and secure. However, after the proclamation of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire, the Sanctity of the temples began to be threatened. The situation became critical during the reign of Emperor Theodosius (379-395 A.D.) who launched a widespread campaign against paganism and its temples throughout the Empire. Theophilus, the fanatic bishop of Alexandria, was able to obtain the Emperor’s approval to transform the temple of Dionysus into a church, this action frightened many of the inhabitants who were still pagan, and they sought refuge in the compound of Serapeum. In 391 A.D. the Emperor Theodosius issued a decree sanctioning the demolition of the temples of Alexandria. Theophilus led his fanatic mob to the entrance of Serapeum where he read aloud the words of the Emperor to a terrified crowd of the inhabitants, then he walked up to the temple and himself gave the first blow to the cult statue of Serapis, his followers emulated his example in destroying, demolishing and plundering. When the devastation was complete, Theophilus ordered a church to be set up in its place. The library of the Serapeum ‘ Mouseion’ met its fate with the temple and was burnt in 391 A.D. 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