Alexandria in Northern Africa
The
history of Alexandria
dates back to the city's founding, by
Alexander the Great
, in 331 BC.
[1]
Yet, before that, there were some big 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
[
edit
]
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.
[2]
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
[
edit
]
Alexandria was founded by
Alexander the Great
in 331 BC (the exact date is disputed) as
?λεξ?νδρεια
(
Aleksandreia
). 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.
[3]
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.
[4]
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.
[5]
Ptolemaic era
[
edit
]
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
,
[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.
[7]
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
[
edit
]
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
.
[8]
Library of Alexandria
[
edit
]
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.
[9]
Ethnic divisions
[
edit
]
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.)
[10]
Alexandrian Greeks placed an emphasis on
Hellenistic culture
, in part to exclude and subjugate non-Greeks.
[11]
The
law
in Alexandria was based on Greek?especially
Attic
?law.
[12]
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."
[11]
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.
[13]
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
[
edit
]
Roman annexation
[
edit
]
Wikisource
has original text related to this article:
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
dallied with
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
[
citation needed
]
. 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."
[14]
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
.
Jewish?Greek ethnic tensions in the era of Roman administration led to riots
in AD 38
and
again in 66
. Buildings were burned during the
Kitos War
(
Tumultus Iudaicus
) of AD 115, giving
Hadrian
and his architect,
Decriannus
, an opportunity to rebuild.
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
[
citation needed
]
. This brutal order seems to have been carried out even beyond the letter, for a general massacre ensued. According to historian
Cassius Dio
, over 20,000 people were killed.
In the 3rd century AD, Alexander's tomb was closed to the public, and now its location has been forgotten.
Late Roman and Byzantine period
[
edit
]
Even as its main historical importance had sprung from pagan learning, Alexandria now acquired new importance as a center of
Christian
theology
and church government. There,
Arianism
came to prominence, and there also
Athanasius
opposed Arianism and the pagan reaction against Christianity, experiencing success against both and continuing the
Patriarch of Alexandria
's major influence on Christianity into the next two centuries.
Persecution of Christians under
Diocletian
(beginning in AD 284) marks the beginning of the
Era of Martyrs
in the
Coptic calendar
.
[15]
As native influences began to reassert themselves in the
Nile valley
, Alexandria gradually became an alien city, more and more detached from Egypt and losing much of its commerce as the peace of the empire broke up during the 3rd century, followed by a fast decline in population and splendor.
In 365, a tsunami caused by
an earthquake in Crete
hit Alexandria.
[16]
[17]
In the late 4th century, persecution of
pagans
by Christians had reached new levels of intensity. Temples and statues were destroyed throughout the Roman empire: pagan rituals became forbidden under punishment of death, and libraries were closed. In 391, Emperor
Theodosius I
ordered the destruction of all pagan temples, and the Patriarch
Theophilus
complied with his request. The
Serapeum
of the Great Library was destroyed, possibly effecting the final
destruction of the Library of Alexandria
.
[18]
[19]
The
neoplatonist
philosopher
Hypatia
was publicly murdered by a Christian mob.
The
Brucheum
and Jewish quarters were desolate in the 5th century, and the central monuments, the
Soma
and Museum, fell into ruin. On the mainland, life seemed to have centered in the vicinity of the
Serapeum
and
Caesareum
, both which became Christian churches. The
Pharos
and
Heptastadium
quarters, however, remained populous and were left intact.
Recent archaeology at
Kom El Deka
(heap of rubble or ballast) has found the Roman quarter of Alexandria beneath a layer of graves from the Muslim era. The remains found at this site, which are dated circa the fourth to seventh centuries AD, include workshops, storefronts, houses, a theater, a
public bath
, and lecture halls, as well as Coptic frescoes. The baths and theater were built in the fourth century and the smaller buildings constructed around them, suggesting a sort of
urban renewal
occurring in the wake of Diocletian.
[20]
Arab rule
[
edit
]
In 619, the city was taken by
Khosrau II
, King of
Persia
. Although the
Byzantine Emperor
Heraclius
recovered it a few years later, in 641 the
Arabs
, under the general
Amr ibn al-As
during the
Muslim conquest of Egypt
, captured it decisively after
a siege
that lasted fourteen months. The city received no aid from
Constantinople
during that time; Heraclius was dead and the new Emperor
Constans II
was barely twelve years old. In 645 a Byzantine fleet recaptured the city, but it fell for good the following year. Thus ended a period of 975 years of the Greco-Roman control over the city. Nearly two centuries later, between the years 814 and 827, Alexandria came under the control of pirates of Andalusia (
Spain
today), later to return to Arab hands.
[21]
In the year 828, the alleged body of
Mark the Evangelist
was stolen by Venetian merchants, which led to the
Basilica of Saint Mark
. Years later, the city suffered many earthquakes during the years 956, 1303 and then in 1323. After a long decline, Alexandria emerged as major metropolis at the time of the Crusades and lived a flourishing period due to trade with agreements with the Aragonese, Genoese and Venetians who distributed the products arrived from the East through the Red Sea. It formed an emirate of the
Ayyubid Empire
, where
Saladin
's elder brother
Turan Shah
was granted a sinecure to keep him from the front lines of the
crusades
. In the year 1365, Alexandria was brutally sacked after being taken by the armies of the Crusaders, led by King
Peter of Cyprus
. The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Venice has eliminated the jurisdiction and its Alexandrian warehouse became the center of the distribution of spices to the Portuguese Cape route to open in 1498, which marks the commercial decline, worsened by the Turkish invasion.
There has been a persistent belief that the
Library of Alexandria
and its contents were destroyed in 642 during the Arab invasion.
[19]
[18]
The Lighthouse was destroyed by earthquakes in the 14th century,
[22]
and by 1700 the city was just a small town amidst the ruins.
Though smaller, the city remained a significant port for Mediterranean trade well through the medieval period, under the
Mamluk
sultanate, playing a part in the trade network of Italian city-states.
[23]
However, it declined still further under the
Ottoman Empire
, losing its water supply from the Nile, and its commercial importance, as Rosetta (Rashid) became more useful as a port.
[24]
Modern history
[
edit
]
Napoleonic invasion
[
edit
]
Alexandria figured prominently in the military operations of
Napoleon
's expedition to Egypt in 1798. French troops stormed the city on July 2, 1798 and it remained in their hands until the British victory at the
Battle of Alexandria
on March 21, 1801, following which the British
besieged the city
which
fell to them
on 2 September 1801.
Two French savants assessing the population of Alexandria in 1798 estimated 8,000 and 15,000.
[25]
Muhammad Ali
[
edit
]
Muhammad Ali
, the Ottoman Governor of Egypt, began rebuilding the city around 1810, and by 1850, Alexandria had returned to something akin to its former glory.
British occupation
[
edit
]
In July 1882 the city was the site of the first battle of the
Anglo-Egyptian War
, when it was
bombarded
and occupied by the
Royal Navy
. Large sections of the city were damaged in the battle, or destroyed in subsequent fires.
[26]
Republic of Egypt
[
edit
]
Relations between Egypt and the United Kingdom
grew strained in the 1950s, with violence periodically erupting between local police units and the
British Army
, in Alexandria as well as
in Cairo
. These clashes culminated in the
Egyptian coup of 1952
, during which the army occupied Alexandria and drove King
Farouk
from his residence at
Montaza Palace
.
[27]
In July 1954, the city was a target of an Israeli bombing campaign that later became known as the
Lavon Affair
. Only a few months later, Alexandria's Manshia Square was the site of the famous, failed assassination attempt on the life of
Gamal Abdel Nasser
.
Mayors of Alexandria (since the implementation of the local-government act of 1960):
[28]
- Siddiq Abdul-Latif
(October 1960 - November 1961)
- Mohammed Hamdi Ashour
(November 1961 - October 1968)
- Ahmad Kamil
(October 1968 - November 1970)
- Mamdouh Salim
(November 1970 - May 1971)
- Ahmad Fouad Mohyee El-Deen
(May 1971 - September 1972)
- Abdel-Meneem Wahbi
(September 1972 - May 1974)
- Abdel-Tawwab Ahmad Hadeeb
(May 1974 - November 1978)
- Mohammed Fouad Helmi
(November 1978 - May 1980)
- Naeem Abu-Talib
(May 1980 - August 1981)
- Mohammed Saeed El-Mahi
(August 1981 - May 1982)
- Mohammed Fawzi Moaaz
(May 1982 - June 1986)
- Ismail El-Gawsaqi
(July 1986 - July 1997)
- Abdel-Salam El-Mahgoub
(1997?2006)
- Adel Labib
(August 2006 - )
Arts
[
edit
]
You won’t find a new country, won’t find another shore.
This city will always pursue you.
You’ll walk the same streets, grow old
in the same neighborhoods, turn gray in these same houses.
You’ll always end up in this city. Don’t hope for things elsewhere:
there’s no ship for you, there’s no road.
Now that you’ve wasted your life here, in this small corner,
you’ve destroyed it everywhere in the world.
From
Constantine P. Cavafy
, "
The City
" (1910), translated by
Edmund Keeley
Alexandria was the home of the ethnically Greek poet
Constantine P. Cavafy
.
E. M. Forster
, who worked in Alexandria for the
International Red Cross
during
World War I
, wrote two books about the city and promoted Cavafy's work.
[29]
Lawrence Durrell
, working for the British in Alexandria during
World War II
, achieved international success with the publication of
The Alexandria Quartet
(1957?1960).
[30]
Recent discoveries
[
edit
]
In July 2018, archaeologists led by Zeinab Hashish announced the discovery of a 2,000-year-old 30-ton black granite
sarcophagus
. It contained three damaged skeletons in red-brown sewage water. According to archaeologist
Mostafa Waziri
, the skeletons looked like a family burial with a middle-aged woman and two men. Researchers also revealed a small gold artifact and three thin sheets of gold.
[31]
[32]
[33]
In June 2022, archaeologists from The Cairo Ministry of Antiquities announced the discovery of an alabaster bust of
Alexander the Great
as well as molds and other materials for creating amulets for warriors and for statues of Alexander the Great.
[34]
[35]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Alexandria, Egypt"
.
World History Encyclopedia
. Retrieved
2020-04-12
.
- ^
Christine Favard-Meeks & Dimitri Meeks, "The heir of the Delta"; in Jacob & de Polignac (1992/2000); pp. 20?29.
- ^
Francois 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."
- ^
Mostafa el-Abbai, "The Island of Pharos in Myth and History"; in Harris & Ruffini (2004), p. 286?287.
- ^
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."
- ^
Diodorus Siculus
, 17, 52.6.
- ^
Erskine, Andrew (April 1995). "Greece & Rome, 2nd Ser".
Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: The Museum and Library of Alexandria
.
42
(1). pgs 38?48 [42].
One effect of the newly created Hellenistic kingdoms was the imposition of Greek cities occupied by Greeks on an alien landscape. In Egypt there was a native Egyptian population with its own culture, history, and traditions. The Greeks who came to Egypt, to the court or to live in Alexandria, were separated from their original cultures. Alexandria was the main Greek city of Egypt and within it there was an extraordinary mix of Greeks from many cities and backgrounds.
- ^
Walter Scheidel, "Creating a Metropolis: A Comparative Demographic Perspective"; in Harris & Ruffini (2004), p. 23.
- ^
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.
- ^
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."
- ^
a
b
Erskine, Andrew (April 1995). "Greece & Rome, 2nd Ser".
Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: The Museum and Library of Alexandria
.
42
(1). pgs 38?48 [42?43].
The Ptolemaic emphasis on Greek culture establishes the Greeks of Egypt with an identity for themselves. […] But the emphasis on Greek culture does even more than this ? these are Greeks ruling in a foreign land. The more Greeks can indulge in their own culture, the more they can exclude non-Greeks, in other words Egyptians, the subjects whose land has been taken over. The assertion of Greek culture serves to enforce Egyptian subjection. So the presence in Alexandria of two institutions devoted to the preservation and study of Greek culture acts as a powerful symbol of Egyptian exclusion and subjection. Texts from other cultures could be kept in the library, but only once they had been translated, that is to say Hellenized.
[…] A reading of Alexandrian poetry might easily give the impression that Egyptians did not exist at all; indeed Egypt itself is hardly mentioned except for the Nile and the Nile flood, […] This omission of the Egypt and Egyptians from poetry masks a fundamental insecurity. It is no coincidence that one of the few poetic references to Egyptians presents them as muggers.
- ^
Alessandro Hirata,
Die Generalklausel zur Hybris in der alexandrinischen Dikaiomata
, Savigny Zeitschrift 125 (2008), 675-681.
- ^
Erskine, Andrew (April 1995). "Greece & Rome, 2nd Ser".
Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: The Museum and Library of Alexandria
.
42
(1). pgs. 38?48 [44].
This procession is very revealing about Ptolemaic Egypt. In essence it is a religious procession, but its magnificence and its content transform it into something more than this. For anyone watching, whether they are foreigners, who might be paying a visit or there on a diplomatic mission, or Alexandrian Greeks or native Egyptians, the procession hammers out the message of Ptolemy's enormous wealth and power. For Alexandrian Greeks, both those watching and those taking part, it will be a celebration and affirmation of Greekness. But it is even more than this it is also a procession shouting out Greek superiority to any native Egyptians who happen to be in the vicinity. Thus in a popular, visual form the procession embodies those same elements which were observed above in the case of the Library and Museum.
- ^
Cassius Dio,
Roman History
, LI, 16
- ^
Haas (1997), p. 9.
- ^
Stiros, Stathis C.: "The AD 365 Crete earthquake and possible seismic clustering during the fourth to sixth centuries AD in the Eastern Mediterranean: a review of historical and archaeological data",
Journal of Structural Geology
, Vol. 23 (2001), pp. 545-562 (549 & 557)
- ^
Mediterranean's 'horror' tsunami may strike again
,
New Scientist
online, March 10, 2008.
- ^
a
b
MacLeod, Roy (2004).
The Library of Alexandria: Centre of Learning in the Ancient World
. I. B. Tauris. pp. 73?74.
ISBN
978-1850435945
. Retrieved
4 March
2016
.
- ^
a
b
Marjorie Venit (2012). "Alexandria". In Riggs, Christina (ed.).
The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt
. Oxford University Press. pp. 109?110.
ISBN
978-0199571451
.
- ^
Haas (1997), pp. 17?18. "This quarter is especially noteworthy as it provides our first archaeological window onto urban life in late antique Alexandria. Workshops and street-front stores as well as private dwellings complement the depictions in literary sources of the city's varied commercial and social life. An elegant theaterlike structure was uncovered, along with a large imperial bath complex and lecture halls, the latter being unprecedented archaeological evidence for the city's intellectual reputation. Unexpected discoveries from the inhabited quarter include frescoes and other wall decorations that provide clear evidence for the development of Coptic artistic forms in a cosmopolitan urban setting?not just in the chora of Middle and Upper Egypt."
- ^
Haas (1997), p.347
- ^
"The Lighthouse of Alexandria"
. Archived from
the original
on 2007-08-24
. Retrieved
2008-01-25
.
- ^
Reimer (1997), p. 23. "Nevertheless, throughout most of the period of the Mamluk sultanate (1250?1517), the city of Alexandria was a busy entrepot for trade between Egypt and Europe. A great assortment of countries had agents in the city, although the European trade was dominated by merchants from the city-states of northern Italy, principally Venetians, Genoese, Florentines, and Pisans. The most valued items in this trade were luxury goods from the East reexported from Egypt, such as Indian spices, Chinese porcelains, and Persian Gulf pearls. European merchants in their turn sold wood, furs, cloth, and slaves in Alexandria. The various tariffs imposed upon this trade generated immense sums that were essential to the fiscal health of the Mamluk state."
- ^
Reimer (1997), p. 27?30.
- ^
Reimer (1997), pp. 30?31.
- ^
Wright, William (2009).
A Tidy Little War: The British Invasion of Egypt, 1882
. Spellmount. p. 107.
- ^
Polyzoides (2014), pp. 7?8.
- ^
"?????? ??????????"
. Archived from
the original
on 2007-01-02
. Retrieved
2008-01-25
.
- ^
Polyzoides (2014), pp. 17?26.
- ^
Polyzoides (2014), pp. 27?29.
- ^
Specia, Megan (2018-07-19).
"Inside That Black Sarcophagus in Egypt? 3 Mummies (and No Curses) (Published 2018)"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
2020-12-29
.
- ^
Daley, Jason.
"Scientists Begin Unveiling the Secrets of the Mummies in the Alexandria 'Dark Sarcophagus'
"
.
Smithsonian Magazine
. Retrieved
2020-12-29
.
- ^
August 2018, Owen Jarus 20.
"That Massive Black Sarcophagus Contained 3 Inscriptions. Here's What They Mean"
.
livescience.com
. Retrieved
2020-12-29
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
Kissel, Thomas (2022-06-30).
"2,200 Year Old Alexander the Great Statue Discovered in Alexandria"
.
GreekReporter.com
. Retrieved
2022-08-11
.
- ^
Duluk, Elif (2022-06-30).
"A 2,200-year-old statue of Alexander the Great has been discovered in Alexandria"
.
Now Archaeology
. Retrieved
2022-08-11
.
Bibliography
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edit
]
- Haas, Christopher (1997).
Alexandria in Late Antiquity: Topography and Social Conflict.
Johns Hopkins University Press.
ISBN
9780801853777
- Harris, W.V.
& Giovanni Ruffini, eds. (2004).
Ancient Alexandria Between Egypt and Greece
. Columbia Studies in the Classical Tradition, Vol. XXVI. Leiden & Boston: Brill.
ISBN
90 04 14105 7
.
- Jacob, Christian, & Francois de Polignac, eds. (1992/2000).
Alexandria, third century BC: The knowledge of the world in a single city
. Translated by Colin Clement. Alexandria: Harpocrates Publishing, 2000.
ISBN
977-5845-03-3
. Originally published in 1992 as
Alexandrie III
e
siecle av. J.-C., tous les savoirs du monde ou l'reve d'universalite des Ptolemees
.
- McKenzie, Judith
(2007).
The Architecture of Alexandria and Egypt, 300 B.C.?A.D. 700.
Pelican History of Art, Yale University Press.
- Polyzoides, A. J. (2014).
Alexandria: City of Gifts and Sorrows: From Hellenistic Civilization to Multiethnic Metropolis
. Sussex Academic Press.
ISBN
978-1-78284-156-2
- Reimer, Michael J. (1997).
Colonial Bridgehead: Government and Society in Alexandria, 1807?1882.
Boulder, Colorado: WestviewPress (HarperCollins).
ISBN
0-8133-2777-6
- Pollard, Justin. Reid, Howard (2006).
The Rise and Fall of Alexandria Birthplace of the Modern World
. Penguin Books.
ISBN
978-0-143-11251-8
- Scwartz, Seth. (2014).
The Ancient Jews from Alexander to Muhammad: Key themes in Ancient History
Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
978-1-107-66929-1
External links
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