Foundation By: Alexander

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Alexandria is a port city located on the Mediterranean Sea in

northern Egypt founded in 331 BCE by Alexander the Great. It is most famous in


antiquity as the site of the Pharos, the great lighthouse, considered one of the seven
wonders of the ancient world, for the Temple of Serapis, the Serapion, which was
part of the legendary library at Alexandria, as a seat of learning and, once, the largest
and most prosperous city in the world. It also became infamous for the religious
strife which resulted in the martyrdom of the philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria in
415 CE. The city grew from a small port town to become the grandest and most
important metropolis in ancient Egypt.

FOUNDATION BY ALEXANDER
After conquering Syria in 332 BCE, Alexander the Great swept down into Egypt
with his army. He founded Alexandria in the small port town of Rhakotis by the sea
and set about the task of turning it into a great capital. It is said that he designed the
plan for the city which was so greatly admired later by the historian Strabo (63 BCE-
21CE) who wrote,

The city has magnificent public precincts and royal palaces which cover a fourth or
even a third of the entire area. For just as each of the kings would, from a love of
splendour, add some ornament to the public monuments, so he would provide
himself at his own expense with a residence in addition to those already standing.

ALEXANDRIA ATTRACTED SCHOLARS,


SCIENTISTS, PHILOSOPHERS,
MATHEMATICIANS, ARTISTS, & HISTORIANS. 
The palaces and grand homes Strabo mentions did not exist at the time
Alexander founded the city. Although he was greatly admired by the Egyptians (and
was even declared a demi-god by the Oracle at Siwa), Alexander left Egypt only a
few months after his arrival to march on Tyre in Phoenicia. It was left to his
commander, Cleomenes, to build the city Alexander had envisioned. While
Cleomenes accomplished a great deal, the full expansion of Alexandria came under
the rule of Alexander’s general Ptolemy and the rule of the Ptolemaic Dynasty (332-
30 BCE) which followed. After Alexander’s death in 323 BCE, Ptolemy brought his
body back to Alexandria to be entombed and, following the wars of the Diodachi,
began rule of Egypt from Alexandria, supplanting the old capital of Memphis. Tyre
had been an important city for trade and commerce in the region and, after its
destruction by Alexander, Alexandria filled the void which had been
left. Carthage (which largely became so prosperous owing to the sack of Tyre) was
still a young port town when Alexandria began to thrive. The historian and scholar
Mangasarian writes,

“Under the Ptolemies, a line of Greek kings, Alexandria soon sprang into eminence,
and, accumulating culture and wealth, became the most powerful metropolis of the
Orient. Serving as the port of Europe, it attracted the lucrative trade
of India and Arabia. Its markets were enriched with the gorgeous silks and fabrics
from the bazaars of the Orient. Wealth brought leisure, and it, in turn, the arts. It
became, in time, the home of a wonderful library and schools of philosophy,
representing all the phases and the most delicate shades of thought. At one time it
was the general belief that the mantle of Athens had fallen upon the shoulders of
Alexandria.
Gold Octadrachm of Ptolemy II &
Arsinöe II

The city grew to become the largest in


the known world at the time, attracting
scholars, scientists, philosophers,
mathematicians, artists, and
historians. Eratosthenes (c.276-194 BCE)
calculated the circumference of the
earth to within 50 miles (80 km) at
Alexandria. Euclid taught at the
university there. Archimedes (287-212
BCE) the great mathematician and
astronomer may have taught there and
was certainly studied there.  The
greatest engineer and mathematician of
his day, Hero (also known as Heron, 10-
70 CE) was born and lived in
Alexandria. Hero was credited with
amazing feats in engineering and
technology including the first vending machine, the force-pump, and a theatre of
automated figures who danced, among his other inventions.

THE LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA WAS


COMPLETED BY PTOLEMY II (285-246 BCE)
WHO SENT INVITATIONS TO RULERS AND
SCHOLARS ASKING THEM TO CONTRIBUTE
BOOKS.
THE LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA
The library, begun under Ptolemy I (305-285 BCE) was completed by Ptolemy II
(285-246 BCE) who sent invitations to rulers and scholars asking them to contribute
books. According to historians Oakes and Gahlin, “There was room for up to 70,000
papyrus scrolls. Most of the items were bought but other means were sometimes
used. In order to procure coveted works, all ships entering the harbour were
searched. Every book found was taken to the Library where it was decided whether
to give it back or confiscate it and replace it with a copy” (230). No one knows how
many books were held in the library at Alexandria but estimates have been made of
500,000. It is said that Mark Antony gave Cleopatra 200,000 books for the library but
this claim has been disputed since antiquity. Mangasarian writes,

After its magnificent library, whose shelves supported a freight more precious than
beaten gold, perhaps the most stupendous edifice in the town was the temple of
Serapis. It is said that the builders of the famous temple of Edessa boasted that they
had succeeded in creating something which future generations would compare with
the temple of Serapis in Alexandria. This ought to suggest an idea of the vastness
and beauty of the Alexandrian Serapis, and the high esteem in which it was held.
Historians and connoisseurs claim it was one of the grandest monuments of
Pagan civilization, second only to the temple of Jupiter in Rome, and the
inimitable Parthenon in Athens. The Serapis temple was built upon an artificial hill,
the ascent to which was by a hundred steps. It was not one building, but a vast body
of buildings, all grouped about a central one of vaster dimensions, rising on pillars of
huge magnitude and graceful proportions. Some critics have advanced the idea that
the builders of this masterpiece intended to make it a composite structure, combining
the diverse elements of Egyptian and Greek art into a harmonious whole. The
Serapion was regarded by the ancients as marking the reconciliation between the
architects of the pyramids and the creators of the Athenian Acropolis. It
represented to their minds the blending of the massive in Egyptian art with the
grace and the loveliness of the Hellenic.

When Carthage rose to the height of her power, Alexandria was relatively unaffected
as trade had long been established and the city posed no threat to the sea power of
the Carthaginians. Even after the fall of Carthage following the Punic Wars (264-146
BCE), when Rome became supreme and Alexandria fell under her sway, the city
remained prosperous and continued to attract visitors from all over the world. The
increasing tensions in Rome between Julius Caesar and Pompey first impacted
Alexandria negatively in 48 BCE. Prior to this date, though the city certainly
experienced its share of problems, it remained a stable environment. Following
the Battle of Pharsalus, however, at which Caesar defeated Pompey, Pompey fled to
Alexandria seeking sanctuary and was killed by the co-regent Ptolemy XIII. Caesar
arrived and, whether real or feigned, claimed outrage at the death of his former
friend and ally. He then declared martial law, took over the royal palace, and sent
for the exiled co-regent Cleopatra VII. In the civil war which ensued much of
Alexandria was burned including, according to some scholars, the famous library.

Roman
Theatre, Alexandria

ROMAN ALEXANDRIA
Following Caesar’s assassination in 44 BCE, his right-hand man, Marcus
Antonius (Mark Antony) became Cleopatra’s consort and left Rome for Alexandria.
The city became his base of operations over the next thirteen years until he and
Cleopatra were defeated by Octavian Caesar at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE. The
next year, Cleopatra and Antony both committed suicide and, with her death, the
Ptolemaic line came to an end. Octavian became first emperor of Rome and took the
title `Augustus’.  Alexandria now became a simple province of the Roman
Empire under the rule of Augustus Caesar.

Augustus consolidated his power in the provinces and had Alexandria restored.
Scholars who argue against Julius Caesar’s role in the burning of the great library
point to the fact that there is evidence it was still extant under the reign of Augustus
and that visitors were still attracted to the city as a seat of learning. Alexandria was
again ruined in 115 CE in the Kitos War and was again restored, this time by the
Emperor Hadrian, who, as a man of learning, took great interest in Alexandria.
According to tradition, the Greek Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Bible) was
composed in Alexandria, completed in 132 CE, in order that it could take its place
among the great books of the library in the city. Religious scholars were said to
frequent the library for research and Alexandria had long attracted people of many
different faiths who vied for dominance in the city. Under Augustus’ reign there
were disputes between Jews and pagans and, as Christianity grew in popularity, the
Christians added to the public unrest. After the Roman emperor Constantine the
Great(272-337 CE) passed the Edict of Milan in 313 CE (decreeing religious
tolerance), Christians were no longer liable for prosecution under the law and began
to not only demand more religious rights, but more vociferously attack the pagans
and the Jews.

CHRISTIANITY & THE DECLINE OF ALEXANDRIA


Alexandria, which had been a city of prosperity and learning, became an arena of
religious contention between the new faith of the Christians and the old faith of the
pagan majority. The Christians increasingly felt bold enough to strike at the symbols
of the old faith in an attempt to topple it. Magasarian writes,

It is not so much religion that makes the character of a people, as it is the people


who determine the character of their religion. Religion is only the resume of the
national ideas, thoughts, and character. Religion is nothing but an expression. It is
not, for instance, the word or the language which creates the idea, but the idea which
provokes the word into existence. In the same way religion is only the expression of
a people's mentality. And yet a man's religion or philosophy, while it is but the
product of his own mind, exerts a reflex influence upon his character. The child
influences the parent, of whom it is the offspring; language affects thought, of which,
originally, it was but the tool. So it is with religion. The Christian religion, as soon as it
got into power, turned the world about.

Perhaps nowhere more than in Alexandria was this turn-about more apparent.
Under the reign of Theodosius I (347-395 CE) paganism was outlawed and
Christianity encouraged. In 391 CE the Christian Patriarch Theophilus followed
Theodosius’ lead and had all the pagan temples in Alexandria destroyed or
converted into churches.  By the year 400 CE Alexandria was in constant religious
turmoil and, in 415 CE, this resulted in the murder of the Neo-Platonic
philosopher Hypatia and, according to some scholars, the burning of the great
library and the complete destruction of the temple of Serapis. Alexandria declined
rapidly after this date with scholars, scientists, and thinkers of all disciplines leaving
the city for safer locales.
Ivory Pyxis
Depicting Saint Menas

The city became steadily impoverished after the rise of Christianity, both financially
and culturally, and became increasingly a battlefield for warring faiths. It was
conquered by the Sassanid Persians in 619 CE. The Christian Byzantine
Empire under Heraclius re-claimed the city in 628 CE but lost it to the invading
Arab Muslims under Caliph Umar in 641 CE. The forces of the Christian Byzantines
and the Muslim Arabs then fought for control of the city, and Egypt, until the
Arabian forces prevailed in 646 CE and Egypt fell under Islamic rule. The churches
were now destroyed or transformed in mosques and Christian legend claims that it
was at this time that the great library was burned by the Muslim conquerors. 

What was not destroyed by war was taken down by nature and, by 1323 CE, most of
Ptolemaic Alexandria was gone. The great lighthouse was steadily destroyed by
earthquakes as was much of the port. In 1994 CE the first discoveries were made
known of a number of relics, statuary, and buildings in the harbor of Alexandria.
These have been steadily excavated by Professor Jean-Yves Empereur and his team
who continue to bring to light the lost golden age of Alexandria.

EDITORIAL REVIEWThis Article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to
academic standards prior to publication.

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