The Bride of the Mediterranean
There is nothing in Egypt that connects the ancient Egyptian civilization with the Greek civilization like the bride of the Mediterranean, Alexandria. In this city, thought, culture, love, politics, passion, war, science, and philosophy intertwined. Since its establishment in 331 BC by Alexander the Great, it has been a city for various cultures and ethnicities.
The Founding of the City:
Founded by one of the greatest kings of ancient European civilization, Alexander the Great. When Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, he took the advice of his famous philosopher teacher Aristotle to respect the Egyptian religion and its gods, especially since the Persians, who were the greatest enemies of the Greeks, were ruling Egypt at the time of Alexander’s invasion and were oppressing the Egyptians and disrespecting their gods. Therefore, when he conquered Egypt in 332 BC, he was crowned in the Temple of the god Amun-Ra in the Siwa Oasis. During his return from that journey, he decided to establish a new capital for the country instead of Memphis in the middle of the country. He decided to establish a capital on the Mediterranean Sea to be close to Athens. He chose a small village called Rhacotis, located opposite Athens on the Mediterranean Sea. He decided to build the city there. What increased his optimism about building this city was that while digging in the city, a snake named Agathodaemon, a symbol of goodness among the Romans, emerged from one of its cracks. He was very optimistic and considered this a symbol of goodness. He ordered his engineer Dinocrates to plan the city according to the same pattern as the planning of Greek cities. It is a crossing of two streets, one horizontal and the other vertical. He established the city to be a city and a port on the Mediterranean Sea from which he could take Egyptian goods, especially food, because Egypt at that time was the breadbasket of the world. And he wanted to conquer the world, so he needed food first, for his soldiers, secondly for his people in Greece. Alexander died and the city was not completed but was completed by his successor Ptolemy I. In the Ptolemaic era, the greatest scientific complex was established, the Library of Alexandria, which was established in the era of Ptolemy III around 237 BC. The value and importance of this scientific university is that all the great Greek scientists, such as Euclid and Pythagoras, studied and graduated from it. Schools of philosophy also emerged. Alexandria became the most important capital in the ancient world in the last three centuries BC. For this reason, the Roman emperors coveted Alexandria’s wealth. In 51 BC, a war broke out between Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy XIII, and unfortunately, this war resulted in an unintended disaster, which was the burning of the ancient Library of Alexandria. Julius Caesar intervened to solve the problem between Cleopatra and her brother, but the beauty of the woman made him side with her. He fought with her against her brother until she ruled alone and married her and took her with him to Rome, and she bore him a son, Ptolemy XIV (Caesarion). But after the assassination of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra returned to Egypt and the commander Mark Antony returned with her. Problems arose between her, Antony, and the new Roman ruler, Augustus. The famous naval battle of Actium took place between them, in which Augustus won and Cleopatra committed suicide for fear that Augustus would take her captive to Rome. Since then, Egypt became a Roman province. Even in the Roman era, Alexandria was the capital of Egypt because of its proximity to Rome. But it lost its independence, which it had enjoyed in the Greek era and the Ptolemaic era. From the city of cities to just the capital of a Roman province. As a result of the sciences and philosophy in Alexandria, whose roots date back to the city’s founding, when Christianity was recognized as the religion of the Roman Empire, the theologians of Alexandria had a dual culture, one Egyptian and the other Greco-Roman. Even when there was a difference in the religious council on the creation of the world in the fourth century AD, the popes of Alexandria had the prevailing opinion. When the Roman Empire was divided into a Western Empire in Rome and an Eastern Empire in Byzantium, Alexandria became a part of the Eastern Empire in Byzantium. The Church of Alexandria began to play a very important role in the Byzantine Church. Alexandria remained the capital of Egypt until the Arabs entered Egypt in 642 AD and established the capital in the middle of the city of Cairo and named it Fustat. Alexandria did not lose its cultural, intellectual, and economic value despite the shift of the capital, because it was the most important port of Egypt, connecting it to the Mediterranean Sea with its European and Asian cities. It is worth mentioning that in this great city, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world existed, the Lighthouse of Alexandria (its current location is Qaitbay Castle).
General view of Alexandria
Alexandria Sea Port
Lighthouse of Alexandria
Alexandria’s Most Important Tourist and Historical Sites
Given the city’s rich history, it contains various attractive sites from different historical eras, some of which are archaeological and historical, some are impressive, and some have great tourist appeal. Among the most important archaeological landmarks from the Greco-Roman era are: • The Pompey’s Pillar • The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa • The Roman Theatre From modern historical eras, the most important is: • Qaitbay Citadel, which was built on the ruins of the ancient Lighthouse of Alexandria, which was destroyed in an earthquake in ancient times. As for the landmarks of the contemporary historical era, we find unparalleled palaces such as: • Montaza Palace • The Royal Jewelry Palace Also, due to the interest in the history and greatness of Alexandria, a museum was established to express the Egyptian culture full of love and a blend with the Greek culture: • The Greco-Roman Museum, which was established to preserve what was found and discovered in Alexandria of artifacts dating back to the Greco-Roman era. And because it is a city of science and culture, a huge library called the Alexandria Library was established in the 1990s, imitating the great library that existed in the Ptolemaic era in Alexandria. In the city of love, beauty, and charm, Alexandria, the city of the beautiful Cleopatra, the city of love between her and Mark Antony, and all the charming magic of the East, and all the legends that were told about Cleopatra. And it is said that she used to bathe in horse milk, and her bath was called Cleopatra’s Bath. Even great scientists in medicine, such as Galen, said that the materials that Cleopatra used helped not only in health but also in treating baldness in men. How great is this immortal lady who reached such a level of science and culture that she created unparalleled medical products, and the whole world wished to find her tomb. Therefore, excavations began in the Bay of Abu Qir, where what is known as the sunken city of Alexandria was found. Since 2006, a group of artifacts named the sunken city has been found, but unfortunately, we have not found the tomb of the great lady, and perhaps we will find it in the future on land or in the sea.
The Pompey’s Pillar
The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa
The Roman Theatre
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Montaza Palace
The Royal Jewelry Palace
The Greco-Roman Museum
Library of Alexandria
A picture of the sunken ruins of Abu Qir
Alexandria Today
Alexandria is now the largest port in Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea. It is considered the second capital of Egypt after Cairo and has a population of about 7 million. The city is divided into several districts, the most important of which is the royal district, where kings and presidents still reside in the summer. This is called ‘the Montaza district’, as Alexandria was considered the summer headquarters of the Egyptian government for the past 200 years. Among its most important beaches are Mamoura, Gleim, and Stanley beaches.
Alexandria Corniche
Stanley beach
