Alexandria (City port of entry)
a city, port of entry, and county-seat of Alexandria co., Va.; on the Potomac river, the Pennsylvania and Southern railroads and trolley line connecting with Washington, D. C., and Mt. Vernon; 6 miles S. of Washington. The river here expands to the width of a mile, and gives the city an excellent harbor that will accommodate the largest ships. The city is an important trade center; has manufactures aggregating $20,000,000 in value annually; and is noted for its educational institutions, which include Washington High School, Potomac, Mt. Vernon and St. Mary's Academies, and, near by, the Theological Acade Seminary and High School of the Diocese of Virginia (Protestant Episcopal). There are two National banks, public school property valued at $35,000, and daily and weekly periodicals. General Braddock made his headquarters here in 1755, and Colonel Ellsworth was shot in the Marshall House, while removing a Confederate flag, in 1861. Pop. (1910) 15,329; (1920) 18,060.
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Alexandrian Codex
an important manuscript of the sacred Scriptures in Greek, now in the British Museum. It is written on parchment in finely formed uncial letters, and is without accents, marks of aspiration, or spaces between the words. Its probable date is the middle of the 5th century. With the exception of a few gaps, it contains the whole Bible in Greek (the Old Testament being in the translation of the Septuagint), along with the epistles of Clemens Romanus, of whose genuine epistle to the Corinthians it is the only manuscript extant. This celebrated manuscript belonged, as early as 1098, to the library of the Patriarch of Alexandria. In 1628 it was sent as a present to Charles I. of England, by Cyrillus Lucaris, Patriarch of Constantinople.
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Alexandrian Library
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 remarkable collection of books, the largest of the ancient world, was founded by the first Ptolemy, and fostered by his son. It quickly grew, and already in the time of the first Ptolemy, Demetrius Phalereus had 50,000 volumes or rolls under his care. During its most flourishing period, under the direction of Zenodotus, Aristarchus of Byzantium, Callimachus, Apollonius Rhodius, and others, it is said to have contained 490,000, or, according to another authority, including all duplicates, as many as 700,000 volumes. During the siege of Ale Alexandria by Julius Cæsar, this part of the library was destroyed by fire; but it was afterward replaced by the collection of Pergamos, which was presented to Cleopatra by Mark Antony. When Theodosius the Great permitted all the heathen temples in the Roman empire to be destroyed, a mob of Christians wrecked the temple containing the library (391 A. D.). In 641 Arabs under the Caliph Omar completed the destruction of the library treasures.
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Alexandrian School
the common designation of a series of scientific endeavors which were founded and encouraged through the generosity of the Ptolemies, and which had their seat in Alexandria and continued for more than 700 years, from 300 b. c. to 500 A. D. The basis of these schools was the Museion (museum) where the scientists lived and taught as pensioners at the public cost. For the use of these learned men two libraries were founded by the Ptolemies. See ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY.
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Alexandropol
an important fortress and the largest town in the Erivan district of Russian Armenia. It lies on a treeless plateau on the road from Erivan to Kara. The stronghold gives the Russians complete command of the headwaters of the Euphrates. The silk trade is actively carried on in the town. Pop. about 40,000.
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Alexius Comnenus
one of the ablest rulers of the Byzantine empire, was born at Constantinople in 1048. He was the nephew of the Emperor Isaac. Comnenus, on whose abdication, in 1059, his own father refused the purple; and Alexius was, in 1081, elevated by his soldiers to the throne. Everywhere he was encompassed with foes. The Scythians and Turks were pouring down from the N. and N. E.; the fierce Normans, who had effected a lodgment in Sicily and Italy, were menacing his western provinces; and, in 1096, the myriad warriors of the first crusade burst into his empire on their way to Palestine, and encamped around the gates of his capital. Yet he contrived to avoid all perils by the wisdom of his policy, the mingled patience and promptitude of his character, his discipline in the camp, and his humanity on the throne. He died in 1118.
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Aley
ROBERT JUDSON, American scientist and educator, born in Coal City, Ind., in 1863. After graduating from Indiana University in 1888, he took postgraduate studies at Leland Stanford Jr. University and the University of Pennsylvania, taught in the common and high schools, and was appointed director of mathematics in Indiana Indiana University in 1887. He remained in this position position until 1909, when he was appointed Superintendent of Public Instruction and in the following year was appointed president of the University of Maine. Editor of several educational journals and a member of many learned and scientific societies, he was also author of "The Geometry of the Triangle" (1897); "The Essentials of Algebra" (1904); "Story of Indiana" (1912).
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Alfadur
or Alfadir, al-fa'dir, all-father, in Norse mythology, an appellation of Odin, as the supreme god of all mankind. See Odin
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Alfieri
VITTORIO, COUNT, an Italian dramatist, born at Asti in Piedmont, Jan. 17, 1749. He came into his vast paternal inheritance at the age of 14; and two or three years afterward began a series of travels which extended over nearly all the European countries, returning to Turin, 1772. A love affair turned his mind toward literature, and his tragedy "Cleopatra" was produced in Turin in 1775. This and his other tragedies, "Polinice," "Antigone," "Brutus" are on classic themes. "Saul," founded on Hebrew sacred history, was by far the most popular of Alfieri's dramas. The "Filippo" presents, by the hand of a master, the somber character of Philip II. of Spain. He wrote in all 21 tragedies and six comedies, and composed many sonnets; among his odes are five on American independence. His prose works comprise an essay on "Tyranny," a volume of essays on "Literature and Government," and "Memoirs of his Life." He died at Florence, Oct. 8, 1803.
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