Alexandria is a living example of the connection between these cultures, Egyptian and old Pharaonic, Coptic and Islamic, or Greek and Roman. More than 55 places worldwide are called “Alexandria” in honor of the seaside city’s beauty, knowledge, and passion, inspiring people from many different cultures.
Many stories about the city are true, but only one is true: Alexandria, Egypt. Alexander the Great built the city, and Cleopatra ran it. At one time, it was Rome’s biggest rival.
In 331 B.C., the city of Alexandria was built. King Alexander the Great led an attack on Egypt to beat the Persians and then the enemies of the Greeks. “Here the city of my dreams shall stand,” in other words, Alexander the Great said these famous words in 221 BC while he was making a map of the Mediterranean Sea. After the Egyptians beat the Persians, the clergy made Alexander pharaoh because he respected Egyptian religion.
Once upon a time, the city that would become a shining example of what people could do was just a tiny fishing village on the beach near Pharos. The Greeks built a land bridge called “Heptastadion” to connect Pharos to the mainland. This land bridge eventually turned west and became East Harbor. At the end of the arc, a lighthouse was built. Herodotus put it on his list of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Alexandria lighthouse:
The Pharos lighthouse is in the southeast of Pharos Island, which is how it got its name. The building began under the rule of Ptolemy the first and was finished under the control of Ptolemy the second. The lighthouse was 135 meters tall and had four stories. The height of the ground level was 60 meters, and it had a square shape. The second building was 30 meters tall and had an octagonal shape.
A round room about 15 meters in diameter was on the third level. The last one had 18 columns that held up a dome-shaped roof. The height of the Column and the dome together was 23 meters. On top of the dome was a statue of Poseidon made of pure bronze. On the first floor of the lighthouse, there were 300 rooms used to store things that could catch fire, like wood. There were also places for employees and security staff to stay. The lighthouse had to have a water tank buried underground.
Between the columns, there was a pot with oil and wood on the top level. The glass lid of the jar reflected light down to the ships below. Ancient historians have told stories suggesting a person sitting behind this cauldron could see things more clearly. They might have found a way to make lenses.
Flammable items could be moved between the first and fourth floors by elevator. After the Arabs took over Egypt, the lighthouse was still in use for a long time. The building was fixed up while the Tulunids and the Ayubids were in charge. But after the Ayubids left Egypt, a series of earthquakes brought the building to the ground, taking the third and fourth floors with them.
The second earthquake did a lot of damage to the second floor. The Mamluks used the ruins on the first floor as a lookout point to keep an eye on the coast. In the 13th century, a mosque was built on top of what was left of the old lighthouse. A second big earthquake destroyed the lighthouse.
Around 1480, Sultan Quit Bey built a stronghold on the coast to protect Egypt from the Ottoman Empire. You can see what’s left of one of these forts in Alexandria, which is now called after the person who built it. Kite Bey used the broken pieces of the lighthouse to build his fortress.
Qaitbay Citadel:
Where the Pharos lighthouse used to be, there is now a castle built by Quit Bey in the 15th century. It is one of the best examples of Mamluk military architecture. It is a crucial fortress in Egypt and along the Mediterranean coast, and it was an essential part of Alexandria’s defense system during the first half of the 15th century A.D.
Sultan Al-Ashraf Abu Alnas Seif Eldin Qaitbey Alzahiri had this fort built to protect the eastern port entrance on Pharos Island. Some bricks and mortar from the lighthouse were used to make the fort. In the citadel, there are now museums with weapons that were saved from Napoleon’s fleet of ships that sank.
Traditional neighborhoods in cities:
Alexandria was the best example of a Hellenistic walled city. Dinocrates, a famous architect, built it. During the time of the Ptolemies and the Romans, it was the center of government. One hundred years after it was founded, it was the first city in history to have between 100,000 and 150,000 people from many different cultures living there.
It was divided into three parts: the Greek Royal Quarter was near the port, the Egyptian National Quarter was to the west, and the Jewish Quarter was to the east. The palaces, a large stadium, a theater, gardens, and two obelisks built in honor of Cleopatra took up almost a Quarter of the city’s total size (currently in London and New York). Foreigners, especially Greeks and Jews, who helped the city’s economy and infrastructure grow, were welcomed and supported.
When Alexander the Great died, Ptolemy became king. He made Alexandria the center of his empire. Thanks to Ptolemy I Soter (325 BC), Alexandria became a center of Greek culture. He did this by bringing many famous scientists and philosophers to the city. He started the Muscion (University) and the Library of Alexandria. Both were very important to Alexandria’s intellectual and scientific growth.
Library of Alexandria:
Ptolemy, I built the library for the academics who live in the museum. The dynasty’s first kings gave the library much care and attention. They also brought in many books from all over the world. Every author who wrote something important was expected to provide the institution with a copy of their work. Since the city was divided into different areas, the library could be in the royal district.
People said that the library had 500,000 books and papyri. Seven divisions were poetry, prose, philosophy, history, logic, tragedy, and novels, and the eighth was for the sciences (mathematics, geography, etc.). When Caesar set fire to his fleet in 48 B.C., the fire spread quickly to the library and burned most of its books.
When Emperor Uralion got to Alexandria, he burned down the royal Quarter and took the books from the library back to Rome. Some of these books are now in the small library at the Serapium temple. Since the fourth century, historians have forgotten about the Library of Alexandria.
At the same time as the library, Ptolemy also set up the museum, which was like today’s university. There, scientists did research but did not teach. Both their time and the results of their study were paid for. The people in charge of this dynasty spent a lot of money on this museum to raise its status and get well-known researchers to move there.
Ptolemy and the Roman emperors who came after him chose a priest to run the museum. The Lighthouse of Alexandria was built during his reign and the reigns of his successors, including Cleopatra. He could predict many architectural, cultural, and economic changes, including one that became one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Buildings from the times of the Romans:
Several Roman buildings have been found in the neighborhood of Kom el-Decca in Alexandria, and one of them is the only Roman amphitheater that still stands in Egypt. Pompey’s Column, also called a ship’s mast, was built in 292 AD to honor Diocletian’s rule, and it is a well-known landmark in the area. In the same way, the ancient private temple of Ras el-Soda still stands in the city of Alexandria.
When the Romans defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra in 31 BCE, Egypt was taken over by the Romans. Christians were already living in Alexandria at this time, and the Church of Alexandria became well-known with St. Mark the Apostle in charge. Alexandria was fought over for many years before it finally fell to the Romans in 30 B.C.
Roman baths:
In ancient Alexandria, there were both public and private Roman baths. The footbath is used for basic cleaning, and the shower private a private bathroom. There was a deep stone pool that anyone could enter by going just a few steps.
Most people who used such a tub were from the upper class, and the tub looked a lot like the standard model of the time. After the owner died, it was sometimes covered with a stone slab and used as a coffin.
The public baths were more than just a place to take a bath, they were also a place to relax and unwind after a long day. Brick was only used for the parts of these baths that people could see, like the changing rooms and the lobby. Limestone was also used to make other buildings, like places for staff to live and store things.
Turkish baths used to have a steam room, a room with hot water, and a room with cold water. The steam room was in a larger space separated from the hot and cold water rooms by a small door. The room’s floor that held the hot water was raised and held up by bricks, and hot water was pumped through stone tiles on the supports to heat the room.
Graves from ancient Greece and Rome:
There are two main areas in Alexandria where the tombs are located. The al-Shatbi cemetery and the Mustafa-Kamal grave are to the east of Alexandria, while al-Anfushi and Kom el-Decca are to the west. The time of the eastern tombs starts with the Ptolemaic era. With their graves, the Romans left their mark on the west. The Greeks put the ashes of their dead in urns and buried them (pot). The Egyptians also turned a dead body into a mummy before burial.
During the time of the Ptolemies, a new way to bury people in coffins was created. Below the tomb, a chamber called a loculus was built, and niches were cut into the room’s walls to hold an urn with the dead person’s ashes. After that, the spots quickly filled up. Another excellent example of a tomb built in this way is the tomb of Tigranes, which has been rebuilt near the catacombs of Kom el Shuqafa.
0 Comment