Alexandria (City of Egypt founded)

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about other peoples, religions, or nationalities that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) a city of Egypt, founded by Alexander the Great in 331 B. C. Before the city, in the Mediterranean, lay an island, up on the N. E. point of which stood the famous lighthouse, the Pharos, built in the time of Ptolemy I., in the 3d century B. c. and said to have been 400 feet high. The plan of Alexandria was designed by the architect Deinocrates, and its original extent is said to have been about 4 miles in length, with a circumference of 15 miles. It was intersected by two straight main streets, crossing each other at right angles in a large square, and adorned with handsome houses, temples, and public buildings. The most magnificent quarter of the city was that called the Brucheion, which ran from the center to the eastern harbor. This quarter of the city contained the palaces of the Ptolemies, the Museum, for centuries the focus of the intellectual life of the world, and the famous library; the mausoleum of Alexander the Great and of the Ptolemies, the temple of Poseidon, and the great theater. To the S. was the beautiful gymnasium. The Serapeum, or temple of Serapis, stood in the western division of the city, which formed the Egyptian quarter, and was called Rhacōtis; a small town of that name had occupied the site before the foundation of Alexandria. To the W. of the city lay the great Necropolis, and to the E. the race-course and suburbs of Nicopolis. From the time of its foundation, Alexandria was the Greek capital of Egypt. After the death of Alexander the Great, Alexandria became the residence of the Ptolemies. They made it, next to Rome and Antioch, the most magnificent city of antiquity, as well as the chief seat of Greek learning and literature. Alexandria had reached its greatest splendor when, on the death of Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemies, in 30 B. C., it came into the possession of the Romans. In the reign of Caracalla, however, it suffered severely; and the rise of Constantinople promoted the decay of Alexandria. Christianity was introduced, according to tradition, by St. Mark. In the 2d century its adherents were very numerous. The Serapeum, the last seat of heathen theology and learning, was stormed by the Christians in 389 A. D., and converted into a Christian church. Alexandria was a chief seat of Christian theology till it was taken by the Arabs, under Amru, in 641, at which time it was much injured. The choice of Cairo as capital of the Egyptian caliphs hastened the now rapid decay of the city, and when, in 1517, the Turks took the place, the remains of its former splendor wholly vanished, walls and buildings being reduced to ruins. Under Mehemet Ali, however, the tide turned, and the city recovered rapidly. It is now again one of the most important commercial places on the Mediterranean. In 1882, during the rising of Arabi Pasha, serious damage was done to the city. The Europeans were maltreated; and as Arabi would not desist from strengthen ing the fortifications, an English fleet, in the interests of the Khedive, bombarded the forts of Alexandria, and British forces occupied the city. The present city (called Skanderieh by the Arabs) is not situated exactly on the site of the old one, but is chiefly built on the mole. The ever increasing Frankish quarters have quite a European appearance, and swarm with cafés, shops, theaters, and the like. The castle stands near the old Pharos, and the handsome new lighthouse has a revolving light, visible at a distance of 20 miles. Of the few remaining objects of antiquity the most prominent is Pompey's Pillar, as it is erroneously called. Pop. about 450,000.