Sharon Hague takes a tour of the historic sites that the modern city has to offer.
Asense of freedom beckons as the Alexandrian skyline looms into view. Visitors always sit up and take notice. Different from other major ancient Egyptian cities, it was founded in 332 BC by Alexander the Great. The seat of the Ptolemaic kings, Alexandria became one of the largest capitals in the world. Even today it is still a wonderful place to visit.
As Pharaoh of Egypt, Alexander did not choose a traditional inland site, but rather, a location for a port city. Declaring that it would become great, Alexander chose precisely the right spot for one of the great cities of the world. Together with his chief architect, Dinocrates they marked out the city. Lacking chalk, the legend goes, they scattered breadcrumbs. Not surprisingly birds ate the crumbs causing Alexander to interpret this as a bad omen. Quick on his feet a seer pronounced it a good omen. Alexandria would be a prosperous city and feed the world. Oddly, this proved true.
For the next three hundred years the Ptolemies ruled from this city on the sea which was also to become one of the foremost centres of learning, attracting the greatest minds of the ancient world: Euclid (the founder of geometry), Claudius Ptolemy (astronomer, mathematician and writer), Hypatia (the mathematician) and Eratosthenes (who accurately calculated the circumference of the earth) all achieved their breakthroughs, courtesy of Alexandria and its famous library.
Library of Alexandria
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Esta historia es de la edición Issue 98 de Ancient Egypt.
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INSIDE THE STEP PYRAMID OF DJOSER
Sean McLachlan explores the recently reopened interior of this iconic Third Dynasty Saqqara monument.
PER MESUT: for younger readers
She Who Loves Silence
Highlights of the Manchester Museum 29: An Offering by Queen Tiye for her Husband
Campbell Price describes an offering table with a touching significance.
Highlights Of The Manchester Museum 28: Busts Of Jesse And Marianne Haworth
Campbell Price describes the significance of two statue busts on display in the Museum.
TAKABUTI, the Belfast Mummy
Rosalie David and Eileen Murphy explain how scientific examination of the ‘Belfast Mummy’ is revealing much new information about her life and times.
Lost Golden City
An Egyptian Mission searching for the mortuary temple of Tutankhamun has discovered a settlement – “The Dazzling of Aten” – described as the largest city ever found in Egypt (see above). Finds bearing the cartouches of Amenhotep III (see opposite, top) date the settlement to his reign, c. 1390-1352 BC – making it about 3400 years old.
Jerusalem's Survival, Sennacharib's Departure and the Kushite Role in 701 BCE: An Examination of Henry Aubin's Rescue of Jerusalem
BOOK REVIEWS
Golden Mummies of Egypt: Interpreting Identities from the Graeco-Roman Period by Campbell Price
BOOK REVIEWS
Old And New Kingdom Discoveries At Saqqara
An Egyptian team working on a Sixth Dynasty pyramid complex near the Teti pyramid at Saqqara has made a series of important discoveries.
Map Of Egypt
What’s in a name? It is easy for us to forget that the names we associate with the pyramids – such as the Meidum Pyramid, the Bent Pyramid or the Black Pyramid – would have been meaningless to their builders.
