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Alexandria was founded by Alexander the great when he invaded Egypt in 331 B.C.; he went to Memphis city to be crowned as the new pharaoh by the priests of god Ptah.
Then he decided to ask god Amen at Siwa oasis, and after he returned back from the temple of Amen, he sent a letter to his mother Olympus telling her that she will be the first person to know the details of the oracle when he returned back to Macedonia.
While he was on his way to the temple of Amen at Siwa oasis, he followed the Canopic branch of the Nile River until he reached the Mediterranean Sea, then he began to head to the west to Marsa Matrouh in order to reach Siwa oasis.
At this point he noticed the strategic site of the Ancient Egyptian village for fishemen which was called Rakotis, it will be a good port between Egypt and Hellas, and it is surrounded by Lake Mariotes from the south, from the west, there is a desert so it is easy to defend.
Also, it is close to the Delta where the Egyptians exist and the Greeks will not live among them.
He ordered his chief architect, Dinocrates, to plan the new city; the plan was vertical streets intersected by horizontal streets, like a chess board. There were 2 main streets; one running from east to west (El Horreya Street), another street which runs from north to south, now difficult to identify, some scholars believed that it is (El Nabi Daniel Street).
The city was divided into five main districts, named after the first five letters of the Greek alphabet, they were called (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon) and unfortunately, very little is known about these districts, except for the Delta which was quarter of Jews but we do not know its exact location.
Rakotis was the district for the Egyptians and they were considered as the lowest class of the society and it was situated to the west of the city, while the Royal quarter occupied 1/3 of the city and it contained the royal palaces, the royal cemeteries, the governmental buildings and public buildings such as the library of Alexandria and also it contained the Sema or Soma, it was overlooking the eastern harbor (portos Magnus).
There was an island called (Pharos) situated in the sea opposite to the main land of Alexandria, Dinocrates built in the island of Pharos a dyke in order to connect the island of Pharos and Alexandria, this dyke was called (Hepta Stadia), Hepta means 7 and Stadia is a Greek unit of measurement equals to 187 meters, and as a result of building the Dyke, two ports were made, Portus Magnus (The eastern port) and Portus Eunestos (The western port).
Portus Magnus was the main port of Alexandria while Portus Eunestos was a subsidiary port, in modern times; Portus Eunestos became the main port while Portus Magnus became a small port used by fishermen.
During the Roman era, Alexandria began to lose its importance; it began its rapid decline after the reign of the emperor Marcous Oralious who destroyed the royal quarter also it was the earthquake of the 14th century which made the people deserted the city of Alexandria.
Then the Mamluks came to Egypt and built the fort of Qaitbay at the island of Pharos to defend the city from any invasion, then later the Turks came and took control of Egypt and built the Turkish town in Alexandria which is different in its design as it takes the European features.
At the time of Mohamed Ali, Alexandria was rebuilt and vivid and became the second biggest city of Egypt, the population reached seven millions in it and also it became a commercial center. |
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