Exploring Alexandria

Sharon Hague takes a tour of the historic sites that the modern city has to offer.

- Sharon Hague

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