Alexandria
Alexandria
الإسكندرية (Arabic)
Αλεξάνδρεια ( Greek )
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pipelines from Suez .
The city extends about 40 km (25 mi) along the ninth-largest urban area in Africa .
The city was founded originally in the vicinity of an Egyptian settlement named Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641 AD, when a new capital was founded at Fustat (later absorbed into Cairo ).
Alexandria was best known for the Hellenistic age and late antiquity.[9] It was at one time the largest city in the ancient world before being eventually overtaken by Rome .
The city was a major centre of shipping industry and one of the most important trading centres in the world, both because it profited from the easy overland connection between the Mediterranean and Red Seas and the lucrative trade in Egyptian cotton .
HistoryAncient eraRameses the Great for trade with Crete, but it had long been lost by the time of Alexander's arrival.[9] A small Egyptian fishing village named Rhakotis (Egyptian: rꜥ-qdy.t, 'That which is built up') existed since the 13th century BC in the vicinity and eventually grew into the Egyptian quarter of the city.[9] Just east of Alexandria (where Abu Qir Bay is now), there were in ancient times 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 underwater.
Alexandria was founded by Hellenistic centre in Egypt and to be the link between Greece and the rich Nile valley. A few months after the foundation, Alexander left Egypt and never returned to the city during his life. After Alexander's departure, his Hippodamian grid plan. Following Alexander's death in 323 BC, his general Ptolemy Lagides took possession of Egypt and brought Alexander's body to Egypt with him.[13] Ptolemy at first ruled from the old Egyptian capital of Memphis. In 322/321 BC he had Cleomenes executed. Finally, in 305 BC, Ptolemy declared himself Pharaoh as Ptolemy I Soter ("Savior") and moved his capital to Alexandria.
Although Cleomenes was mainly in charge of overseeing Alexandria's early development, the Heptastadion and the mainland quarters seem to have been primarily Ptolemaic work. Inheriting the trade of ruined Tyre and becoming the centre 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 one century, Alexandria had become the largest city in the world and, for some centuries more, was second only to Rome. It became Egypt's main Greek city, with Greek people from diverse backgrounds.[16] The Tanakh, was produced there. The early Ptolemies kept it in order and fostered the development of its museum into the leading Hellenistic centre of learning (Library of Alexandria, which faced destruction during Caesar's siege of Alexandria in 47 BC), but were careful to maintain the distinction of its population's three largest ethnicities: Greek, Egyptian and Jewish.[17] By the time of Augustus, the city grid encompassed an area of 10 km2 (3.9 sq mi),[18] and the total population during the Roman principate was around 500,000–600,000, which would wax and wane in the course of the next four centuries under Roman rule.[19]
According to Alexandrian pogroms. The violence was quelled after Caligula intervened and had the Roman governor, Flaccus, removed from the city.[20]
In 115 AD, large parts of Alexandria were destroyed during the Kitos War, which gave Hadrian and his architect, Decriannus, an opportunity to rebuild it. In 215 AD, the emperor Caracalla visited the city and, because of some insulting satires that the inhabitants had directed at him, abruptly commanded his troops to put to death all youths capable of bearing arms. On 21 July 365 AD, Alexandria was devastated by a tsunami (365 Crete earthquake),[21] an event annually commemorated years later as a "day of horror".[22] Islamic eraIn 619, Alexandria Muslim conquest of Egypt, after a siege that lasted 14 months. The first Arab governor of Egypt recorded to have visited Alexandria was Utba ibn Abi Sufyan, who strengthened the Arab presence and built a governor's palace in the city in 664–665.[24][25]
In reference to Alexandria, Mahmoudiyah Canal in 1820.[citation needed] Alexandria figured prominently in the military operations of expedition to Egypt in 1798. French troops stormed the city on 2 July 1798, and it remained in their hands until the arrival of a British expedition in 1801. The British won a considerable victory over the French at the Battle of Alexandria on 21 March 1801, following which they besieged the city, which fell to them on 2 September 1801. Muhammad Ali, the Ottoman governor of Egypt, began rebuilding and redevelopment around 1810 and, by 1850, Alexandria had returned to something akin to its former glory.[30] Egypt turned to Europe in their effort to modernise the country. Greeks, followed by other Europeans and others, began moving to the city. In the early 20th century, the city became a home for novelists and poets.[11]
In July 1882, the city came under bombardment from British naval forces and was occupied.[31] In July 1954, the city was a target of an Israeli bombing campaign that later became known as the Lavon Affair. On 26 October 1954, Alexandria's Mansheya Square was the site of a failed assassination attempt on Gamal Abdel Nasser.[32] Europeans began leaving Alexandria following the 1956 Suez Crisis that led to an outburst of Arab nationalism. The nationalisation of property by Nasser, which reached its highest point in 1961, drove out nearly all the rest.[11] GeographyAlexandria is located in the country of Egypt, on the southern coast of the Mediterranean. It is in the Far West Nile delta area.[33] Its a densely populated city, its core areas belie its large administrative area.
Notes:2020 CAPMAS projection based on 2017 revised census figures, may differ significantly from 2017 census preliminary tabulations. The 14 kisms were reported simply as Alexandria city by CAPMAS in 2006 but given explosive growth definitions, likely informal, may have changed or may be set to change. Same area with 12 kisms existed in 1996. Kisms are considered 'fully urbanised'[34] ClimateAlexandria has a Kafr el-Dawwar, and Mersa Matruh. The city's climate is influenced by the Mediterranean Sea, moderating its temperatures, causing variable rainy winters and moderately hot and slightly prolonged summers that, at times, can be very humid; January and February are the coolest months, with daily maximum temperatures typically ranging from 12 to 18 °C (54 to 64 °F) and minimum temperatures that could reach 5 °C (41 °F ).
Alexandria experiences violent storms, rain and sometimes sleet and hail during the cooler months; these events, combined with a poor drainage system, have been responsible for occasional flooding in the city in the past though they rarely occur anymore.[39] July and August are the hottest and driest months of the year, with an average daily maximum temperature of 30 °C (86 °F). The average annual rainfall is around 200 mm (7.9 in) but has been as high as 417 mm (16.4 in)[40] and Alexandria have the least temperature variation in Egypt.The highest recorded temperature was 45 °C (113 °F) on 30 May 1961, and the coldest recorded temperature was 0 °C (32 °F) on 31 January 1994.[41][42][43][44][45]
Climate changeA 2019 paper published in PLOS One estimated that under Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5, a "moderate" scenario of climate change where global warming reaches ~2.5–3 °C (4.5–5.4 °F) by 2100, the climate of Alexandria in the year 2050 would most closely resemble the current climate of Gaza City. The annual temperature would increase by 2.8 °C (5.0 °F), and the temperature of the warmest and the coldest month by 2.9 °C (5.2 °F) and 3.1 °C (5.6 °F).[48][49] According to Climate Action Tracker, the current warming trajectory appears consistent with 2.7 °C (4.9 °F), which closely matches RCP 4.5.[50] Due to its location on a Nile river delta, Alexandria is one of the most vulnerable cities to marine ice sheet instability at high levels of warming would involve up to US$137.5 billion in damages. Additional accounting for the "low-probability, high-damage events" may increase aggregate risks to US$187 billion for the "moderate" RCP4.5, US$206 billion for RCP8.5 and US$397 billion under the high-end ice sheet instability scenario. In every single estimate, Alexandria alone bears around half of these costs.[52] Since sea level rise would continue for about 10,000 years under every scenario of climate change, future costs of sea level rise would only increase, especially without adaptation measures.[53]
Ancient layout
Greek Alexandria was divided into three regions:
Two main streets, lined with colonnades and said to have been each about 60 m (200 ft) wide, intersected in the centre of the city, close to the point where the Sema (or Soma) of Alexander (his Mausoleum) rose. This point is very near the present mosque of Nebi Daniel; the line of the great East–West "Canopic" street is also present in modern-day Alexandria, having only slightly diverged from the line of the modern Boulevard de Rosette (now Sharae Fouad). Traces of its pavement and canal have been found near the Rosetta Gate, but remnants of streets and canals were exposed in 1899 by German excavators outside the east fortifications, which lie well within the area of the ancient city. Alexandria consisted originally of little more than the island of Pharos, which was joined to the mainland by a 1,260 m-long (4,130 ft) mole and called the Heptastadion ("seven stadia"—a stadium was a Greek unit of length measuring approximately 180 m or 590 ft). The end of this abutted on the land at the head of the present Grand Square, where the "Moon Gate" rose. All that now lies between that point and the modern "Ras al-Tin" quarter is built on the silt which gradually widened and obliterated this mole. The Ras al-Tin quarter represents all that is left of the island of Pharos, the site of the actual lighthouse having been weathered away by the sea. On the east of the mole was the Great Harbour, now an open bay; on the west lay the port of Eunostos, with its inner basin Kibotos, now vastly enlarged to form the modern harbour. In Strabo's time (latter half of the 1st century BC), the principal buildings were as follows, enumerated as they were to be seen from a ship entering the Great Harbour.
The names of a few other public buildings on the mainland are known, but there is little information as to their actual position. None, however, are as famous as the building that stood on the eastern point of Pharos island. There, The Great Lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, reputed to be 138 m (453 ft) high, was situated. The first Ptolemy began the project, and the second Ptolemy (Ptolemy II Philadelphus) completed it, at a total cost of 800 talents. It took 12 years to complete and served as a prototype for all later lighthouses in the world. The light was produced by a furnace at the top and the tower was built mostly with solid blocks of limestone. The Pharos lighthouse was destroyed by an earthquake in the 14th century, making it the second longest surviving ancient wonder, after the Great Pyramid of Giza. A temple of Hephaestus also stood on Pharos at the head of the mole. In the 1st century, the population of Alexandria contained over 180,000 adult male citizens,[55] according to a census dated from 32 AD, in addition to a large number of freedmen, women, children and slaves. Estimates of the total population range from 216,000[56] to 500,000,[57] making it one of the largest cities ever built before the Industrial Revolution and the largest pre-industrial city that was not an imperial capital.[citation needed] CityscapeDue to the constant presence of war in Alexandria in ancient times, very little of the ancient city has survived into the present day. Much of the royal and civic quarters sank beneath the harbour and the rest has been built over in modern times. Pompey's Pillarobelisk erecting experiments including a successful attempt to erect a 25-ton obelisk in 1999. This followed two experiments to erect smaller obelisks and two failed attempts to erect a 25-ton obelisk.[59][60]
"Pompey's Pillar" is a misnomer, as it has nothing to do with Pompey, having been erected in 293 for Diocletian, possibly in memory of the rebellion of Domitius Domitianus.[citation needed] The structure was plundered and demolished in the 4th century when a bishop decreed that Paganism must be eradicated.[citation needed] Beneath the acropolis itself are the subterranean remains of the Serapeum, where the mysteries of the god Serapis were enacted and whose carved wall niches are believed to have provided overflow storage space for the ancient Library. In more recent years, many ancient artifacts have been discovered from the surrounding sea, mostly pieces of old pottery.[citation needed] Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafareligious symbols, burial niches, and sarcophagi, as well as a large Roman-style banquet room, where memorial meals were conducted by relatives of the deceased. The catacombs were long forgotten by the citizens until they were discovered by accident in 1900.[61]
Kom El DekaThe most extensive ancient excavation currently being conducted in Alexandria is known as Kom El Deka. It has revealed the ancient city's well-preserved theater, and the remains of its Roman-era baths. Temple of Taposiris MagnaPharos Lighthouse.[62]
Citadel of QaitbayEastern Harbour. It was erected on the exact site of the famous Lighthouse of Alexandria, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was built on an area of 17,550 square metres .
Excavation
Persistent efforts have been made to explore the antiquities of Alexandria. Encouragement and help have been given by the local Archaeological Society and by many individuals. Excavations were performed in the city by Greeks seeking the tomb of Alexander the Great without success.[63] The past and present directors of the museum have been enabled from time to time to carry out systematic excavations whenever opportunity is offered; D. G. Hogarth made tentative researches on behalf of the Egypt Exploration Fund and the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies in 1895; and a German expedition worked for two years (1898–1899). But two difficulties face the would-be excavator in Alexandria: lack of space for excavation and the underwater location of some areas of interest. Since the great and growing modern city stands immediately over the ancient one, it is almost impossible to find any considerable space in which to dig, except at enormous cost. Cleopatra VII's royal quarters were inundated by earthquakes and tsunami, leading to gradual subsidence in the 4th century AD.[64] This underwater section, containing many of the most interesting sections of the Hellenistic city, including the palace quarter, was explored in 1992 and is still being extensively investigated by the French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio and his team.[65] It raised a noted head of Caesarion.[66] These are being opened up to tourists, to some controversy.[67] The spaces that are most open are the low grounds to northeast and southwest, where it is practically impossible to get below the Roman strata .
The most important results were those achieved by Dr. G. Botti, late director of the museum, in the neighbourhood of "Pompey's Pillar", where there is a good deal of open ground. Here, substructures of a large building or group of buildings have been exposed, which are perhaps part of the Serapeum. Nearby, immense catacombs and columbaria have been opened which may have been appendages of the temple. These contain one very remarkable vault with curious painted reliefs, now artificially lit and open to visitors. The objects found in these researches are in the museum, the most notable being a great basalt bull, probably once an object of cult in the Serapeum. Other catacombs and tombs have been opened in Kom El Shoqafa (Roman) and Ras El Tin (painted). The German excavation team found remains of a Ptolemaic colonnade and streets in the north-east of the city, but little else. Hogarth explored part of an immense brick structure under the mound of Kom El Deka, which may have been part of the Paneum, the Mausolea, or a Roman fortress. The making of the new foreshore led to the dredging up of remains of the Patriarchal Church; and the foundations of modern buildings are seldom laid without some objects of antiquity being discovered. Places of worship
IslamThe most famous mosque in Alexandria is Bilal mosque, al-Gamaa al-Bahari in Mandara, Hatem mosque in Somouha, Hoda el-Islam mosque in Sidi Bishr, al-Mowasah mosque in Hadara, Sharq al-Madina mosque in Miami, al-Shohadaa mosque in Mostafa Kamel, Al Qa'ed Ibrahim Mosque,[68] Yehia mosque in Zizinia, Sidi Gaber mosque in Sidi Gaber, Sidi B esher mosque, Rokay el-Islam mosque in Elessway, Elsadaka Mosque in Sidibesher Qebly, Elshatbi mosque and Sultan mosque.
Alexandria is the base of the Salafi movements in Egypt. Al-Nour Party, which is based in the city and overwhelmingly won most of the Salafi votes in the 2011–12 parliamentary election, supports the president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.[11] ChristianityAlexandria was once considered the third-most important see in Catholic and Protestant missionaries converted some of the adherents of the Orthodox churches to their respective faiths.
Today the Patriarchal seat of the Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church is Saint Mina Church in Fleming, Saint Mina Church in Mandara and Saint Takla Haymanot's Church in Ibrahimeya.
The most important Saint Theodore Chapel and the Russian church of Saint Alexander Nevsky in Alexandria, which serves the Russian speaking community in the city.
The Armenian Catholic Patriarch of Cilicia, using the Armenian Rite .
The Saint Mark Church in Shatby, founded as part of Collège Saint Marc, is multi-denominational and holds liturgies according to Latin Catholic, Coptic Catholic and Coptic Orthodox rites. In antiquity Alexandria was a major centre of the cosmopolitan religious movement called Gnosticism[69] (today mainly remembered as a Christian heresy). JudaismAlexandria's Jewish community declined rapidly following the Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue .
EducationColleges and universitiesAlexandria has a number of higher education institutions. Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport is a semi-private educational institution that offers courses for high school, undergraduate level, and postgraduate students. It is considered the most reputable university in Egypt after the AUC American University in Cairo because of its worldwide recognition from board of engineers at UK & ABET in US. Université Senghor is a private French university that focuses on the teaching of humanities, politics and international relations, which mainly recruits students from the African continent. Other institutions of higher education in Alexandria include Alexandria Institute of Technology (AIT) and Pharos University in Alexandria.[71]
In September 2023, The Greek University of Patras announced that it is opening a branch in Alexandria, in a first-of-its-kind move by a Greek higher education institution. The Greek university of Patras branch will operate two departments, one Greek-speaking and one English-speaking in the subjects of Greek culture, Greek language and Greek philosophy.[72] SchoolsAlexandria has a long history of foreign educational institutions. The first foreign schools date to the early 19th century, when French missionaries began establishing French charitable schools to educate the Egyptians. Today, the most important French schools in Alexandria run by Catholic missionaries include Collège de la Mère de Dieu, Collège Notre Dame de Sion, Collège Saint Marc , Écoles des Soeurs Franciscaines (four different schools), École Girard, École Saint Gabriel, École Saint-Vincent de Paul, École Saint Joseph, École Sainte Catherine, and Institution Sainte Jeanne-Antide. As a reaction to the establishment of French religious institutions, a secular (laic) mission established Lycée el-Horreya, which initially followed a French system of education, but is currently run by the Egyptian government. The only school in Alexandria that completely follows the French educational system is Lycée Français d'Alexandrie (École Champollion). It is usually frequented by the children of French expatriates and diplomats in Alexandria. The Italian school is the Istituto "Don Bosco".
English-language schools in Alexandria are the most popular; those in the city include: Riada American School, Riada Language School, Forsan American School, Forsan International School, Alexandria Language School, Future Language School, Future International Schools (Future IGCSE, Future American School and Future German school), Alexandria American School, British School of Alexandria, Egyptian American School, Pioneers Language School, Egyptian English Language School, Princesses Girls' School, Sidi Gaber Language School, Zahran Language School, Taymour English School, Sacred Heart Girls' School, Schutz American School, Victoria College, El Manar Language School for Girls (previously called Scottish School for Girls), Kawmeya Language School, El Nasr Boys' School (previously called British Boys' School), and El Nasr Girls' College (previously called English Girls' College).
There are only two German schools in Alexandria which are Deutsche Schule der Borromärinnen (DSB of Saint Charles Borromé) and Neue Deutsche Schule Alexandria, which is run by Frau Sally Hammam.
The Montessori educational system was first introduced in Alexandria in 2009 at Alexandria Montessori. WomenAround the 1890s, twice the percentage of women in Alexandria knew how to read compared to the same percentage in Cairo. As a result, specialist women's publications like al-Fatāh by Hind Nawal, the country's first women's journal, appeared.[73] TransportAirportsThe city's principal airport is currently Borg El Arab Airport , which is located about 25 km (16 mi) away from the city centre.
From late 2011, Borg El Arab Airport from then onwards, where a brand new terminal was completed there in February 2010.[74] In 2017, the government announced that Alexandria International Airport will shut down permanently and will no longer reopen.
PortAlexandria has four ports; namely the Western Port also known as Alexandria Port, which is the main port of the country that handles about 60% of the country's exports and imports,[citation needed] Dekhela Port west of the Western Port, the Eastern Port which is a yachting harbour, and Abu Qir Port at the northern east of the governorate. It is a commercial port for general cargo and phosphates.[citation needed] Highways
RailAlexandria's intracity overhead-electric tram.[citation needed ]
Alexandria plays host to two intercity railway stations: the aforementioned Misr Station (in the older Manshia district in the western part of the city) and Sidi Gaber railway station (in the district of Sidi Gaber in the centre of the eastern expansion in which most Alexandrines reside), both of which also serve the commuter rail line. Intercity passenger service is operated by Egyptian National Railways .
TramsAn extensive tramway network was built in 1860 and is the oldest in Africa.[75] The network begins at the El Raml district in the west and ends in the Victoria district in the east. MetroConstruction of the Alexandria Metro was due to begin in 2020 at a cost of $1.05 billion.[76] CultureLibrariesThe Royal Museion, Greek Μουσείον (from which the Modern English word museum is derived).
It has been reasonably established that the library, or parts of the collection, were destroyed by fire on a number of occasions (library fires were common and replacement of handwritten manuscripts was very difficult, expensive, and time-consuming). To this day, the details of the destruction (or destructions) remain a lively source of controversy.[77] The Bibliotheca Alexandrina was inaugurated in 2002, near the site of the old Library.[78] MuseumsThe Alexandria National Museum was inaugurated 31 December 2003. It is located in a restored Italian style palace in Tariq El Horreya Street (formerly Rue Fouad), near the centre of the city. It contains about 1,800 artifacts that narrate the story of Alexandria and Egypt. Most of these pieces came from other Egyptian museums.[citation needed] The museum is housed in the old Al-Saad Bassili Pasha Palace, who was one of the wealthiest wood merchants in Alexandria. Construction on the site was first undertaken in 1926.[citation needed] The Graeco-Roman Museum was the city's main archeological museum, focused on artifacts from its Greco-Roman period. It was opened in 1892 and was closed in 2005 for extensive renovations and expansion.[79][80] The museum re-opened to the public in October 2023.[81] Other museums in the city include the Cavafy Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Royal Jewelry Museum. TheatersAlexandria Opera House hosts performances of classical music, Arabic music, ballet, and opera. SportsThe main sport that interests Alexandrians is football, as is the case in the rest of Egypt and Africa. country's national team with key players. The city hosted the AfroBasket , the continent's most prestigious basketball tournament, on four occasions (1970, 1975, 1983, 2003).
Alexandria has four stadiums:
Other less popular sports like tennis and squash are usually played in private social and sports clubs, like:
Alexandria is also known as the yearly starting point of Cross Egypt Challenge and a huge celebration is conducted the night before the rally starts after all the international participants arrive to the city. Cross Egypt Challenge is an international cross-country motorcycle and scooter rally conducted throughout the most difficult tracks and roads of Egypt. Twin towns and sister citiesAlexandria is twinned with:
See also
Notes
References
Citations1) El-Shahed, Ahmed. "The History and Architecture of Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque in Alexandria." Journal of Islamic Architecture, vol. 5, no. 2, 2018, pp. 87-102. 2) Hassan, Mahmoud. "The Legacy of Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque: A Historical Analysis." International Journal of Architectural Research, vol. 12, no. 3, 2019, pp. 321-336. 3) Abdallah, Fatma. "The Cultural Significance of Bilal Mosque in Alexandria: A Study in Religious Architecture." Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 27, no. 4, 2020, pp. 45-60. 4) Ali, Mustafa. "Intellectual Centers of Islamic Learning in Medieval Alexandria." Alexandria Studies Journal, vol. 8, no. 1, 2015, pp. 123-140. Further reading
External linksWikiquote has quotations related to Alexandria. Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Alexandria.
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