Alexandria’s Saga

Some cities just exist. Others are a saga of history and high drama. Egypt’s Mediterranean city of Alexandria is hands-down a poster child for one of the latter.

First, there was nothing. Just a few fishermen and pirates. Then the infamous world conqueror Alexander the Great showed up and in 332 BC, decided that there should be a Hellenistic (Greek) city in pharaonic Egypt to provide a trading link to the rich and fertile Nile valley. He was 23 at the time.

So Alexander founded the city, gave it his name, and a few months later departed East to conquer the rest of the world, never to return again (except in death, some 10 years later, his sarcophagus on display for several centuries).

Then things get interesting.

One of Alexander’s top generals, Ptolemy, took over Alexandria and the Egyptian kingdom and installed himself as pharaoh, and for the next 300 years the Ptolemy Dynasty ruled Egypt from Alexandria, its capital.

Under the rule of the Ptolemies, Alexandria quickly became the largest city in the world (or at times second only to Rome). It housed the Library of Alexandria, which at its peak was the largest repository of written knowledge in the world, with hundreds of thousands of ancient scrolls. And its port featured the famous Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the world’s third tallest building after the two Great Pyramids.

Notably, we can thank Alexandria and its ancient library for geometry (Euclid, the Father of Geometry, was a scholar there), the knowledge that the Earth revolves around the Sun (Alexandrian mathematician Aristarchus), and the calculation of the circumference of the Earth (Erastothenes, mathematician and Chief Librarian).

Then things got complicated.

When Ptolemy XII died in 51 BC, his 18-year old daughter Cleopatra and her 12-year old brother Ptolemy XIII became co-rulers. That didn’t work out very well, and 3 years later Cleopatra was forced to flee Egypt, with her brother keeping the throne.

While this was happening, Julius Caesar was embroiled in a Roman civil war for power with the Senator Pompey. When Pompey fled to Alexandria, 15-year old Ptolemy had him beheaded and presented his head to Julius Caesar, thinking this would please him. He was wrong, and Caesar took control of Alexandria, accidentally burning down the Library in the process. Oops.

Cleopatra saw her opening. She had her servants deliver a Persian rug to Caesar, and when they rolled it out in front of him, out rolled 21-year old Cleopatra at his feet. Well, Caesar apparently quite liked that, and despite a 30-year age difference the two became lovers, thanks to which Cleopatra permanently wrestled away rulership of Egypt from her brother.

When Julius Caesar was assassinated several years later, Cleopatra aligned herself with Roman general Marc Antony, with whom she would have three children (twins and a son, on the heels of her son from Caesar). Unfortunately for the both of them, Marc Antony ended up on the losing side of a power struggle for control of Rome, and after losing the battle to rival Octavian in 30 BC, Marc Antony committed suicide by stabbing himself with his sword. He died in Cleopatra’s arms, and at the age of 41 Cleopatra committed suicide some two weeks later herself.

Octavian’s final victory over Marc Antony and Cleopatra in Alexandria led him to take on the name of Augustus Caesar. Interestingly, the month of July was named after Julius Caesar (it was previously called Quintilis), and since Augustus’ victory happened in Alexandria on the 8th month of the year, that month was renamed from Sextilis to August to commemorate Augustus’ victory. So we owe the name of the month of August to the outcome of a battle in Alexandria over 2,000 years ago.

From there, the city of Alexandria suffered various ups and downs and embroiled in several regional conflicts. In 365 AD the city was devastated by a tsunami resulting from an earthquake on the nearby island of Crete, and in 391 the Christian Pope Theophilus ordered all pagan monuments destroyed, further wreaking havoc on the city’s architectural history. Earthquakes in the early 14th century leveled the historic lighthouse.

To add insult to injury, when the Muslim armies conquered Egypt in the 7th century, they opted out of Alexandria and decided to rule the country from a city farther inland on the banks of the Nile, Cairo. Jilted Alexandria entered its period of greatest decline.

In 1798, eager to fight the British but without a navy to do so at sea, French General Napoleon (prior to becoming Emperor) set off to conquer Egypt from the British, although no one is entirely sure what military objective other than a desire to win something this accomplished. Be that as it may, Napoleon’s expedition also included 167 scientists, whose discoveries after landing in Alexandria included the Rosetta Stone–a landmark archeological event which led to the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphics. The British recaptured Alexandria a few years later.

Alexandria’s renaissance then began in earnest, with substantial rebuilding from 1810 to 1850, and it soon reclaimed its historical status as one of the Mediterranean’s busiest ports. By World War 2 Alexandria was a hotbed of international intrigue, with 40% of the city’s 300,000 inhabitants non-Egyptian and the British Secret Service operating out of the famous Cecil Hotel (later immortalized in writer Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet).

Today, the 4 million strong city of Alexandria is sometimes referred to as the “greatest historical city with the least to show for it,” and in certain respects this is largely true. Unlike many other Mediterranean cities, little of ancient times has survived to this day, and there’s not all that much material for postcards.

But that is also underestimating the inherent beauty and appeal of the city. With a pretty bay, scenic corniche, and a wonderful collection of colonial-era coffee shops, the city is a peaceful and captivating delight, especially compared to the congestion and hubbub of downtown Cairo or the oppressive heat of the desert. And with a new state-of-the art library and cultural center to usher in the millenium, Alexandria looks poised to reclaim its presence on the world cultural stage.

Alexandria has seen a lot of history, a lot of which touches our lives to this day. Sitting at a seaside coffee shop overlooking the blue waters of the Mediterranean, one can’t help but feel both intrigued by its rich past and seduced by its promising future.