ALEXANDRIA
GEOGRAPHY |
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Layout of the ancient city
The Greek Alexandria was divided into three regions:
The Jews' quarter, forming the northeast portion of the city;
Rhacotis, on the west, occupied chiefly by Egyptians;
Brucheum, the Royal or Greek quarter, forming the most magnificent portion
of the city.
In Roman times Brucheum was enlarged by the addition of an official quarter,
making up four regions in all. The city was laid out as a grid of parallel
streets, each of which had an attendant subterranean canal. |
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Two main streets, lined with colonnades and said to have been each about 60
meters (200 feet) wide, intersected in the centre of the city, close to the
point where rose the Sema (or Soma) of Alexander (i.e. his Mausoleum). This
point is very near the present mosque of Nebi Daniel; and the line of the
great east-west "Canopic" street only slightly diverged from that of the
modern Boulevard de Rosette. Traces of its pavement and canal have been
found near the Rosetta Gate, but better remains 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 mole nearly a mile long and called the
Heptastadion ("seven stadia" – a stadium was a Roman unit measuring somewhat
more than 200m). The end of this abutted on the land at the head of the
present Grand Square, where rose the "Moon Gate." All that now lies between
that point and the modern Ras et-Tin quarter is built on the silt which
gradually widened and obliterated this mole. The Ras et-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 1st century BC) the principal buildings
were as follows, enumerated as they were to be seen from a ship entering the
Great Harbour.
The Royal Palaces, filling the northeast angle of the town and occupying the
promontory of Lochias, which shut in the Great Harbour on the east. Lochias
(the modern Pharillon) has almost entirely disappeared into the sea,
together with the palaces, the "Private Port" and the island of Antirrhodus.
There has been a land subsidence here, as throughout the northeast coast of
Africa.
The Great Theatre, on the modern Hospital Hill near the Ramleh station. This
was used by Caesar as a fortress, where he stood a siege from the city mob
after the battle of Pharsalus
The Poseideion, or Temple of the Sea God, close to the Theatre
The Timonium built by Mark Antony
The Emporium (Exchange)
The Apostases (Magazines)
The Navalia (Docks), lying west of the Timonium, along the sea-front as far
as the mole
Behind the Emporium rose the Great Caesareum, by which stood the two great
obelisks, each later known as "Cleopatra's Needle," and now removed to New
York City and London. This temple became in time the Patriarchal Church,
some remains of which have been discovered; but the actual Caesareum, so far
as not eroded by the waves, lies under the houses lining the new sea-wall.
The Gymnasium and the Palaestra are both inland, near the Boulevard de
Rosette in the eastern half of the town; sites unknown.
The Temple of Saturn; site unknown.
The Mausolea of Alexander (Soma) and the Ptolemies in one ring-fence, near
the point of intersection of the two main streets
The Museum with its Library and theatre in the same region; site unknown.
The Serapeum, the most famous of all Alexandrian temples. Strabo tells us
that this stood in the west of the city; and recent discoveries go far to
place it near "Pompey's Pillar" which, however, was an independent monument
erected to commemorate Diocletian's siege of the city.
We know the names of a few other public buildings on the mainland, but
nothing as to their position.
On the eastern point of the Pharos island stood the Great Lighthouse, one of
the "Seven Wonders," reputed to be 122 meters (400 feet) high. The first
Ptolemy began it, and the second completed it, at a total cost of 800
talents. It took 12 years to construct. It is the prototype of all
lighthouses in the world. The light was produced by a furnace at the top. It
was built mostly with solid blocks of limestone. The Pharos lighthouse was
destroyed by an earthquake.
A temple of Hephaestus also stood on Pharos at the head of the mole. In the
Augustan age the population of Alexandria was estimated at 300,000 free folk,
in addition to an immense number of slaves. |
