The history of Alexandria dates back to the city's founding, by Alexander the Great, in 331 BC. Yet, before that, there were large port cities just east of Alexandria, at the western edge of what is now Abu Qir Bay. The Canopic (westernmost) branch of the Nile Delta still existed at that time, and was widely used for shipping.
After its foundation, Alexandria became the seat of the Ptolemaic Kingdom, and quickly grew to be one of the greatest cities of the Hellenistic world. Only Rome, which gained control of Egypt in 30 BC, eclipsed Alexandria in size and wealth.
The city fell to the Arabs in AD 641, and a new capital of Egypt, Fustat, was founded on the Nile. After Alexandria's status as the country's capital ended, it fell into a long decline, which by the late Ottoman period, had seen it reduced to little more than a small fishing village. The French army under Napoleon captured the city in 1798 and the British soon captured it from the French, retaining Alexandria within their sphere of influence for 150 years. The city grew in the early 19th century under the industrialization program of Mohammad Ali, the viceroy of Egypt.
The current city is the Republic of Egypt's leading port, a commercial, tourism and transportation center, and the heart of a major industrial area where refined petroleum, asphalt, cotton textiles, processed food, paper, plastics and styrofoam are produced.
Early settlements in the area Just east of Alexandria in ancient times (where now is Abu Qir Bay) there was marshland and several islands. As early as the 7th century BC, there existed important port cities of Canopus and Heracleion. The latter was recently rediscovered under water. Part of Canopus is still on the shore above water, and had been studied by archaeologists the longest. There was also the town of Menouthis. The Nile Delta had long been politically significant as the point of entry for anyone wishing to trade with Egypt.Christine Favard-Meeks & Dimitri Meeks, "The heir of the Delta"; in Jacob & de Polignac (1992/2000); pp. 20–29.
An Egyptian city or town, Rhakotis, existed on the shore where Alexandria is now. Behind it were five villages scattered along the strip between Lake Mareotis and the sea, according to the Romance of Alexander.
Foundation
Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC (the exact date is disputed) as (Aleksándreia). Alexander's chief architect for the project was Dinocrates. Ancient accounts are extremely numerous and varied, and much influenced by subsequent developments. One of the more sober descriptions, given by the historian Arrian, tells how Alexander undertook to lay out the city's general plan, but lacking chalk or other means, resorted to sketching it out with grain. A number of more fanciful foundation myths are found in the Alexander Romance and were picked up by medieval historians.
A few months after the foundation, Alexander left Egypt for the East and never returned to his city. After Alexander departed, his viceroy, Cleomenes, continued the expansion of the city.
In a struggle with the other successors of Alexander, his general, Ptolemy (later Ptolemy I of Egypt) succeeded in bringing Alexander's body to Alexandria. Alexander's tomb became a famous tourist destination for ancient travelers (including Julius Caesar). With the symbols of the tomb and the Lighthouse, the Ptolemies promoted the legend of Alexandria as an element of their legitimacy to rule.François de Polignac, "The shadow of Alexander"; in Jacob & de Polignac (1992/2000); pp. 32–42. "Ultimately, the monument gave rise to numerous allegorical interpretations where it stood as the axis of the planet, the central point around which the whole universe was ordered. Nothing, however, could better signify this change than the placing of Alexandria's tomb within the city. The dynasty and capital, built upon such a prestigious relic, could, more than any other, claim to hold up and preserve the universal vision that attached to a royalty inherited from the deceased. This encompassed, at one and the same time, the Alexander of 331, Macedonian king and founder of the city, the Alexander of 323, son of Ammon, universal conqueror and god unvanquished, and finally the Alexander of 321, protector of Egypt who, by coming back from Memphis, transferred the heritage of the pharaohs to the heart of Alexandria."
Alexandria was intended to supersede Naucratis as a Hellenistic center in Egypt, and to be the link between Greece and the rich Nile Valley. If such a city was to be on the Egyptian coast, there was only one possible site, behind the screen of the Pharos island and removed from the silt thrown out by the Nile, just west of the westernmost "Canopic" mouth of the river. At the same time, the city could enjoy a fresh water supply by means of a canal from the Nile.Mostafa el-Abbai, "The Island of Pharos in Myth and History"; in Harris & Ruffini (2004), p. 286–287. The site also offered unique protection against invading armies: the vast Libyan Desert to the west and the Nile Delta to the east.
Though Cleomenoes was mainly in charge of seeing to Alexandria's continuous development, the Heptastadion (causeway to Pharos Island) and the main-land quarters seem to have been mainly Ptolemaic work. Demographic details of how Alexandria rose quickly to its great size remain unknown.Walter Scheidel, "Creating a Metropolis: A Comparative Demographic Perspective"; in Harris & Ruffini (2004), p. 2. "The true extent of our ignorance about the most fundamental demographic features of Alexandria is well brought out by Fraser's massive tomes on the history of the city under the Ptolemies. 1,100 pages of text and notes cannot change the fact that 'the development of Alexandria as a city largely escapes us'. Among other things, we do not know how many people were initially settled at the site; how their numbers changed over time; where successive generations of immigrants came from; and what the maximum size of the population was, or when it was reached. Nor do we know whether it was the food supply, demographic conditions, or other variables that mediated the city's growth, or how its development affected the urban system of Egypt as a whole."
Ptolemaic era
Inheriting the trade of ruined Tyre and becoming the center of the new commerce between Europe and the Arabian and Indian East, the city grew in less than a generation to be larger than Carthage. In a century, Alexandria had become the largest city in the world,Diodorus Siculus, 17, 52.6. and for some centuries more, was second only to Rome. It became the main Greek city of Egypt, with an extraordinary mix of Greeks from many cities and backgrounds. Nominally a free Hellenistic city, Alexandria retained its senate of Roman times and the judicial functions of that body were restored by Septimius Severus after temporary abolition by Augustus.
Construction
Monumental buildings were erected in Alexandria through the third century BC. The Heptastadion connected Pharos with the city and the Lighthouse of Alexandria followed soon after, as did the Serapeum, all under Ptolemy I. The Museion was built under Ptolemy II; the Serapeum expanded by Ptolemy III Euergetes; and mausolea for Alexander and the Ptolemies built under Ptolemy IV.Walter Scheidel, "Creating a Metropolis: A Comparative Demographic Perspective"; in Harris & Ruffini (2004), p. 23.
Library of Alexandria
The Ptolemies fostered the development of the Library of Alexandria and associated Musaeum into a renowned center for Hellenistic learning.
Luminaries associated with the Musaeum included the geometry and number-theorist Euclid; the astronomer Hipparchus; and Eratosthenes, known for calculating the Earth's circumference and for his algorithm for finding prime numbers, who became head librarian.
Strabo lists Alexandria, with Tarsus and Athens, among the learned cities of the world, observing also that Alexandria both admits foreign scholars and sends its natives abroad for further education.Strabo, Geographica, XIV.5.13 ("With the Alexandrians, however, both things take place, for they admit1 many foreigners and also send not a few of their own citizens abroad"); quoted in Luciano Canfora, "The world in a scroll"; in Jacob & de Polignac (1992/2000); pp. 43–55.
Ethnic divisions
The early Ptolemies were careful to maintain the distinction of its population's three largest ethnicities: Greek, Jewish, and Egyptian. (At first, Egyptians were probably the plurality of residents, while the Jewish community remained small. Slavery, a normal institution in Greece, was likely present but details about its extent and about the identity of slaves are unknown.)Walter Scheidel, "Creating a Metropolis: A Comparative Demographic Perspective"; in Harris & Ruffini (2004), p. 25. "I suspect that despite their lack of civic status, Egyptians were presumably more numerous than any other group. In contrast to their later prominence, there is no good sign of a sizeable Jewish community in the third century BCE." Alexandrian Greeks placed an emphasis on Hellenistic culture, in part to exclude and subjugate non-Greeks.
The law in Alexandria was based on Greek—especially Attic—law.Alessandro Hirata, Die Generalklausel zur Hybris in der alexandrinischen Dikaiomata, Savigny Zeitschrift 125 (2008), 675-681. There were two institutions in Alexandria devoted to the preservation and study of Greek culture, which helped to exclude non-Greeks. In literature, non-Greek texts entered the library only once they had been translated into Greek. Notably, there were few references to Egypt or native Egyptians in Alexandrian poetry; one of the few references to native Egyptians presents them as "muggers." There were ostentatious religious processions in the streets that displayed the wealth and power of the Ptolemies, but also celebrated and affirmed Greekness. These processions were used to shout Greek superiority over any non-Greeks that were watching, thereby widening the divide between cultures.
From this division arose much of the later turbulence, which began to manifest itself under the rule of Ptolemy Philopater (221–204 BC). The reign of Ptolemy VIII Physcon from 144–116 BC was marked by purges and civil warfare (including the expulsion of intellectuals such as Apollodorus of Athens), as well as intrigues associated with the king's wives and sons.
Alexandria was also home to the largest Jewish community in the ancient world. The Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (the Torah and other writings), was produced there. Jews occupied two of the city's five quarters and worshipped at synagogues.
Roman era
Roman annexation
Having been under Roman influence for more than a hundred years, the city was placed formally within Roman jurisdiction by the will of Ptolemy Alexander in 80 BC. Julius Caesar courted Cleopatra in Alexandria in 47 BC and was besieged in the city by Cleopatra's brother and rival. His example was followed by Mark Antony, for whose favor the city paid dearly to Octavian. Following Antony's defeat at the Battle of Actium, Octavian took Egypt as personal property of the emperor, appointing a prefect who reported personally to him rather than to the Roman Senate. While in Alexandria, Octavian took time to visit Alexander's tomb and inspected the late king's remains. On being offered a viewing into the tombs of the pharaohs, he refused, saying, "I came to see a king, not a collection of corpses."Cassius Dio, Roman History, LI, 16
From the time of annexation and onwards, Alexandria seemed to have regained its old prosperity, commanding, as it did, an important granary of Rome. This was one of the chief reasons that induced Octavian to place it directly under imperial power.