Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
ALEXANDRIA (Arab. Iskenderia)
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: AJA-ALL
del.icio.us it!
|
See also:ALEXANDRIA (Arab. Iskenderia) , a See also:city and See also:chief seaport of See also:Egypt, and for over a thousand years from its See also:foundation the See also:capital of the See also:country, situated on the Mediterranean in 31° 12' N., 29° 15' E., and 129 m. by See also:rail N.W. of See also:Cairo The See also:ancient Canopic mouth of the See also:Nile (now dry) was 12 M. E. I. The See also:Modern City.—The city is built on the See also:strip of See also:land which separates the Mediterranean from See also:Lake See also:Mareotis (Mariut), and on a T-shaped See also:peninsula which forms harbours See also:east and See also:west. The See also:stem of the T was originally a See also:mole leading to an See also:island (Pharos) which formed the See also:cross-piece. In the course of centuries this mole has been silted up and is now an See also:isthmus See also:half a mile wide. On it a See also:part of the modern city is built. The cape at the western end of the peninsula is See also:Ras et-See also:Tin (Cape of See also:Figs); the eastern cape is known as Pharos or Kait See also:Bey. See also:South of the town—between it and LakeMareotis—runs theMahmudiya See also:canal, which enters the western See also:harbour by a See also:series of locks. The customs See also:house and chief warehouses are by the western harbour, but the See also:principal buildings of the city are in the east and south-east quarters. From the landing-See also:stage, by the customs house, roads See also:lead to the See also:Place Mehemet See also:Ali, the centre of the See also:life of the city and the starting-point of the electric tram-ways. The place, usually called the See also:Grand Square, is an oblong open space, See also:tree-lined, in the centre of which there is an equestrian statue of the See also:prince after whom it is named. The square is faced with handsome buildings mainly in the See also:Italian See also:style. The most important are the See also:law courts, See also:exchange, See also:Ottoman See also:bank, See also:English See also: Except Kom ed-Dik the forts have not been repaired since the See also:bombardment of 1882. Equally obsolete is the old See also:line of fortifications which formerly marked the limits of the city south and east and has now been partly demolished. Throughout the central part of Alexandria the streets are paved with blocks of See also:lava and lighted by See also:electricity. The See also:north See also:quarter is mainly occupied by natives and Levan-tines. The narrow winding streets and the Arab bazaars See also:present an See also:Oriental See also:scene contrasting with the See also:European aspect of the See also:district already described. This Arab quarter is traversed by the rue Ras et-Tin, leading to the promontory of that name. Here, overlooking the harbour, is the khedivial yacht See also:club (built 1903) and the palace, also called Ras et-Tin, built by Mehemet Ali, a large but not otherwise noteworthy building. In the district between the Grand Square and the western harbour, one of the poorest quarters of the city, is an open- space with Fort Caffareli or See also:Napoleon in the centre. This quarter has been pierced by several straight roads, one of which, See also:crossing the Mahmudiya canal by the See also:Pont Neuf, leads to Gabbari, the most See also:westerly part of the city and an See also:industrial and manufacturing region, possessing See also:asphalt See also:works and oil, See also:rice and See also:paper See also:mills. On either side of the canal are the warehouses of whole-See also:sale dealers in See also:cotton, See also:wool, See also:sugar, See also:grain and other commodities. In the See also:southern part of the city are the Arab See also:cemetery, " See also:Pompey's See also:Pillar" and the catacombs. "Pompey's Pillar," which stands on the highest spot in Alexandria, is nearly 99 ft. high, including the See also:pedestal. The See also:shaft is of red See also:granite and is beautifully polished. Nine feet in See also:diameter at the See also:base, it tapers to eight feet at the See also:top. The catacombs, a short distance S.W. of the pillar, are hewn out of the rocky slope of a See also: The breakwater starts opposite the promontory of Ras et-Tin, on which is a lighthouse, 18o ft. above the sea, built by Mehemet Ali. Another breakwater starts from the Gabbari side, the opening between the two works being about half a mile. A number of scattered rocks See also:lie across the entrance, but through them two fairways have been made, one 60o ft. wide and 35 ft. deep, the other 300 ft. wide and 30 ft. deep. The enclosed See also:water is divided into an See also:outer and inner harbour by a mole, woo yds. long, projecting N.W. from the southern shore. The inner harbour covers 464 acres. It is lined for 22 M. by quays, affording See also:accommodation for See also:ships See also:drawing up to 28 ft. The outer harbour (1400 acres water area) is furnished with a graving See also:dock, completed in 1905, 520 ft. long, and with quays and jetties along the Gabbari foreshore. Their construction was begun in 1906. Alexandria is linked by a network of railway and See also:telegraph lines to the other towns of Egypt, and there is a See also:trunk See also:telephone line to Cairo. The city secured in 1906 a new and adequate water-See also:supply, modern drainage works having been completed the previous See also:year. Being the See also:great See also:entrepot for the See also:trade of Egypt, the city is the headquarters of the British chamber of See also:commerce and of most of the merchants and companies engaged in the development of the See also:Delta. About 90 % of the See also:total exports and imports of the country pass through the See also:port, though the completion, in 1904, of a broad-See also:gauge railway connecting Cairo and Port Said deflected some of the cotton exports to the See also:Suez Canal route. The See also:staple export is raw cotton, the value of which is about 8o % of all the exports. The principal imports are manufactured cotton goods and other textiles, machinery, See also:timber and See also:coal. The value of the trade of the port increased from £30,000,000 in 1900 to £46,000,000 in 1906. In the same See also:period the See also:tonnage of the ships entering the harbour See also:rose from 2,375,000 to 3,695,000. Of the total trade Great See also:Britain supplies from 35 to 40 % of the imports and takes over 50 % of the exports. Among the exports sent to See also:England are the great See also:majority of the 8o,000,000 eggs annually shipped (see also EGYPT: Commerce). The See also:population of the city (1907) was 332,246 or including thesuburbs, about 400,000. The foreigners numbered over 90,000. The majority of these were Greeks, Italians, Syrians, Armenians and other Levantines, though almost every European and Oriental nation is represented. The predominant See also:languages spoken, besides the Arabic of the natives, are Greek, See also:French, English and Italian. The labouring population is mainly Egyptian; the Greeks and Levantines are usually shopkeepers or See also:petty traders. In its social life Alexandria is the most progressive and occidental of all the cities of North See also:Africa, with the possible exception of See also:Algiers. (F. R. C.)
II. The Ancient City.—The Greek Alexandria was divided into three regions: (1) the See also:Jews' quarter, forming the north-east portion of the city; (2) Rhacotis, on the west, occupied chiefly by Egyptians; (3) 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 See also:official quarter, making up the number of four regiones in all. The city was laid out as a gridiron of parallel streets, each of which had an attendant subterranean canal. Two See also:main streets, lined with colonnades and said to have been each about 200 ft. wide, intersected in the centre of the city, See also:close to the point where rose the Sema (or See also:Soma) of See also: On the east of the mole was the Great Harbour, now an open bay; on the west See also:lay the port of Eunostos, with its inner See also:basin Kibotos, now vastly enlarged to See also:form the modern harbour. In See also:Strabo's See also:time, (latter half of 1st See also:century B.C.) the principal buildings were as follows, enumerated as they were to be seen from a See also:ship entering the Great Harbour. (1) The Royal Palaces, filling the N.E. See also:angle of the See also: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 N. Delta and indeed all the N.E. coast of Africa; and on See also:calm days the See also:foundations of buildings may be seen, running out far under sea, near the Pharillon. See also:Search was made for See also:relics of these palaces by German explorers in 1898–1899, but without much success. (2) The Great Theatre, on the modern See also:Hospital Hill near the Ramleh station. This was used by See also:Caesar as a fortress, where he stood a See also:siege from the city See also:mob after the See also:battle of Pharsalus. (3) The Poseideion or See also:Temple of the Sea See also:God, close to the theatre and in front of it. (4) The Timonium built by Antony. (5, 6, 7) The See also:Emporium (Exchange), Apostases (Magazines) and Navalia (Docks), lying west of (4), along the sea-front as far as the mole. Behind the Emporium rose (8) the Great Caesareum, by which stood the two great obelisks, later known as " See also:Cleopatra's Needles," and now removed to New See also:York and See also: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. (9) The Gymnasium and (To) the See also:Palaestra are both inland, near the great Canopic street (Boulevard de Rosette) in the eastern half of the town, but on sites not determined. (11) The Temple of See also:Saturn: site unknown. (12) The Mausolea of Alexander (Soma) and the See also:Ptolemies in one See also:ring-fence, near the point of intersection of the two main streets. (13) The Museum with its library and theatre in the same region; but on a site not identified. (i4) The Scrapeum, the most famous of all Alexandrian temples. Strabo tells us that this stood in the west of the city; and See also:recent discoveries go far to place it near " Pompey's Pillar" (see above), which, however, was an See also:independent See also:monument erected to commemorate See also: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 400 ft. high. The first See also:Ptolemy began it, and the second completed it, at a total cost of 800 talents. It is the prototype of all lighthouses (q.v.) in the See also:world. A temple of See also:Hephaestus also stood on Pharos at the head of the mole. Ip the Augustan See also:age the population of Alexandria was estimated at 300,000 See also:free folk, in addition to an immense number of slaves. Alexandria was intended to supersede See also:Naucratis (q.v.) as a Greek centre in Egypt, and to be the See also:link between See also:Macedonia and the See also:rich Nile Valley. If such a city was to be on the Egyptian coast, there was only one possible site, behind the See also:screen of the Pharos island and removed from the silt thrown out by Nile mouths. An Egyptian townlet, Rhacotis, already stood on the shore and was a resort of fishermen and pirates. Behind it (according to the Alexandrian See also:treatise, known as pseudo-Caffisthenes) were five native villages scattered along the strip between Lake Mareotis and the sea. Alexander occupied Pharos, and had a walled city marked out by Deinocrates on the mainland to include Rhacotis. A few months later he left Egypt for the East and never returned to his city; but his See also:corpse was ultimately entombed there. His See also:viceroy, Cleomenes, continued the creation of Alexandria. The Heptastadium, however, and the mainland quarters seem to have been mainly Ptolemaic See also:work. Inheriting the trade of ruined See also:Tyre and becoming the centre of the new commerce between See also:Europe and the Arabian and See also:Indian East, the city See also:grew in less than a century to be larger than See also:Carthage; and for some centuries more it had to acknowledge no See also:superior but See also:Rome. It was a centre not only of See also:Hellenism but of Semitism, and the greatest Jewish city in the world. There the See also:Septuagint was produced. The See also:early Ptolemies kept it in See also:order and fostered the development of its museum into the leading Greek university; but they were careful to maintain the dis- tinction of its population into three nations, " Macedonian " (i.e. Greek), See also:Jew and Egyptian. From this See also:division arose much of the later turbulence which began to See also:manifest itself under Ptolemy Philopater. Nominally a free Greek city, Alexandria retained its See also:senate to Roman times; and indeed the judicial functions of that See also:body were restored by Septimius See also:Severus, after temporary abolition by See also:Augustus. The city passed formally under Roman See also:jurisdiction in 8o B.C., according to the will of Ptolemy Alexander; but it had been under Roman See also:influence for more than a See also:hundred years previously. There See also:Julius Caesar dallied with Cleopatra in 47 B.C. and was mobbed by the See also:rabble; there his example was followed by Antony, for whose favour the city paid dear to Octavian, who placed over it a See also:prefect from the imperial See also:household. Alexandria seems from this time to have regained its old prosperity, commanding, as it did, an important granary of Rome. This latter fact, doubtless, was one of the chief reasons which induced Augustus to place it directly under the imperial See also:power. In A.D. 215 the See also:emperor See also:Caracalla visited the city; and, in order to repay some insulting satires that the inhabitants had made upon him, he commanded his troops to put to See also:death all youths capable of bearing arms. This brutal order seems to have been carried out even beyond the See also:letter, for a general See also:massacre was the result. Notwith-
See also:standing this terrible disaster, Alexandria soon recovered its
former splendour, and for some time longer was esteemed the
first city' of the world after Rome. Even as its main See also:historical
importance had formerly sprung from See also:pagan learning, so now it
acquired fresh importance as a centre of See also:Christian See also:theology and
church See also:government. There Arianism was formulated and there
See also:Athanasius, the great opponent of both See also:heresy and pagan reaction, worked and triumphed. As native influences, however, began to reassert themselves in the Nile valley, Alexandria gradually became an See also:alien city, more and more detached from Egypt; and, losing much of its commerce as the See also:peace of the See also:empire See also:broke up during the 3rd century A.D., it declined fast in population and splendour. The Brucheum and Jewish quarters were desolate in the 5th century, and the central monuments, the Soma and Museum, fallen to ruin. On the mainland life seems to have centred in the vicinity of the Serapeum and Caesareum, both become Christian churches: but the Pharos and Heptastadium quarters remained populous and intact. In 616 it was taken by See also:Chosroes, See also: Omar, on See also:hearing the request of his general, is said• to have replied that if those books contained the same See also:doctrine with the See also:Koran, they could be of no use, since the Koran contained all necessary truths; but if they contained anything contrary to that See also:book, they ought to be destroyed; and therefore, whatever their contents were, he ordered them to be burnt. Pursuant to this order, they were distributed among the public baths, of which there was a large number in the city, where, for six months, they served to supply the fires. Shortly after its capture Alexandria again See also:fell into the hands of the Greeks, who took See also:advantage of `Amr's See also:absence with the greater portion of his See also:army. On hearing what had happened, however, 'Amr returned, and quickly regained See also:possession of the city. About the year 646 `Amr was deprived of his government by the caliph See also:Othman. The Egyptians, by whom `Amr was greatly beloved, were so much dissatisfied by this See also:act, and even showed such a tendency to revolt, that the Greek emperor determined to make an effort to reduce Alexandria. The See also:attempt proved perfectly successful. The caliph, perceiving his See also:mistake, immediately restored `Amr, who, on his arrival in Egypt, drove the Greeks within the walls of Alexandria, but was only able to capture the city after a most obstinate resistance by the defenders. This so exasperated him that he completely demolished its fortifications, although he seems to have spared the lives of the inhabitants as far as lay in his power. Alexandria now rapidly declined in importance. The building of Cairo in 969, and, above all, the See also:discovery of the route to the East by the Cape of See also:Good See also:Hope in 1498, nearly ruined its commerce; the canal, which supplied it with Nile water, became blocked; and although it remained a principal Egyptian port, at which most European visitors in the See also:Mameluke and Ottoman periods landed, we hear little of it until about the beginning of the 19th century. [Alexandria figured prominently in the military operations of Napoleon's Egyptian expedition of 1798. The French troops stormed the city on the 2nd of See also:July 1798, and it remained in their hands until the arrival of the British expedition of 18oi. The battle of Alexandria, fought on the 21st of See also: In a second attack the enemy's cavalry inflicted severe losses on the 42nd. Sir Ralph Abercromby was here engaged in See also:personal conflict with some French dragoons, and about this time received a mortal See also:wound, though he remained on the See also: He restored its water communication with the Nile by making the Mahmudiya canal, finished in 182o; and he established at Ras et-Tin his favourite See also:residence. The old Eunostus harbour became the port, and a flourishing city arose on the old Pharos island and the Heptastadium district, with out-lying suburbs and See also:villa residences along the coast eastwards and the Mareotic shore. Being the starting-point of the " over-land route " to See also:India, and the residence of the chief See also:foreign consuls, it quickly acquired a European See also:character and attractednot only See also:Frank residents, but great See also:numbers of Greeks, Jews and Syrians. There most of the negotiations between the See also:powers and Mehemet Ali were conducted; thence started the Egyptian naval expeditions to See also:Crete, the Morea and See also:Syria; and thither sailed the betrayed Ottoman See also:fleet in 1839. It was twice threatened by hostile fleets, the Greek in 1827 and the combined British, French and See also:Russian squadrons in 1828. The latter withdrew on the viceroy's promise that Ibrahim should evacuate the Morea. The fortifications were strengthened in 1841, and remained in an antiquated See also:condition until 1882, when they were renovated by Arabi Pasha. Alexandria was connected with Cairo by railway in 1856. Much favoured by the earlier viceroys of Mehemet Ali's house, and removed from the Mameluke troubles, Alexandria was the real capital of Egypt till Said Pasha died there in 1863 and See also:Ismail came into power. Though this prince continued to develop the city, giving it a See also:municipality in 18661 and new harbour works in 1871-1878, he See also:developed Cairo still more; and the centre of gravity definitely shifted to the inland capital. See also:Fate, however, again brought Alexandria to the front. After a See also:mutiny of soldiers mea Bomtbarofdthere in 1881, the town was greatly excited by the 1882. arrival of an Anglo-French fleet in May 1882, and on the 11th of See also:June a terrible See also:riot and massacre took place, resulting in the death of four hundred Europeans. Since See also:satisfaction was not given for this and the forts were being strengthened at the instigation of Arabi Pasha, the war See also:minister, the British See also:admiral, Sir See also:Beauchamp See also:Seymour (afterwards See also:Lord See also:Alcester), sent an See also:ultimatum on the loth of July and opened fire on the forts the next day. They were demolished, but as no troops were landed immediately a fresh riot and massacre ensued. As Arabi did not submit, a British military expedition landed at Alexandria on the loth of August, the sequel being the British occupation of the whole country, the history of which is set forth under EGYPT. Since the restoration of tranquillity and the See also:establishment of See also:sound See also:political and economic conditions in the Nile valley, Alexandria has greatly See also:expanded. As the British consular See also:report for 1904 says, " Building . . . for residential and other purposes proceeds with almost feverish rapidity. The cost of living has doubled and the See also:price of land has risen enormously." On the E. and S.E. a new town of handsome houses, gardens and boulevards has been called into existence, in the arrangertlent of which the controlling influence of the municipality is evident (see Modern City above). IV. Antiquities.—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, notably Greeks justly proud of a city which is one of the glories of their See also:national story. The past and present See also:directors of the museum have been enabled from time to time to carry out systematic excavations when opportunity offered; Mr D. G. See also: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 See also:face the would-be excavator in Alexandria. First, since the great and growing modern city stands right over the ancient one, it is almost impossible to find any considerable space in which to dig, except at enormous cost. Second,. the general subsidence of the coast has sunk the lower-lying parts of the ancient town under water. Unfortunately the spaces still most open are the See also:low grounds to N.E. and S.W., where it is practically impossible to get below the Roman strata. The most important results were those achieved by Dr G. Botti, See also:late director of the museum, in the neighbourhood of " Pompey's Pillar," where there is a good See also:deal of open ground. Here substructures of a large building or See also:group of buildings have been exposed, which are perhaps part of the Serapeum. Hard by immense catacombs and columbaria have been opened which may have been appendages of the temple. These contain one 1 This municipality was superseded by a new municipal body, with extensive powers, created in 189o. Modern city. very remarkable vault with curious painted reliefs, now lighted by electricity and shown to visitors. The See also:objects found in these researches are in the museum, the most notable being a great See also:basalt See also:bull, probably once an See also:object of cult in the Serapeum. Other catacombs and tombs have been opened in Kom es-Shugafa Hadra (Roman) and Ras et-Tin (painted). The Germans found remains of a Ptolemaic See also:colonnade and streets in the north-east of the city, but little else. Mr Hogarth explored part of an immense See also:brick structure under the See also:mound of Kom ed-Dik, 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. The See also:wealth underground is doubtless immense; but, despite all efforts, there is not much for antiquarians to see in Alexandria outside the museum and the neighbourhood of " Pompey's Pillar." The native See also:tomb-robbers, well-sinkers, dredgers and the like, however, come upon valuable objects from time to time, which find their way into private collections. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] ALEXANDRIA |
[next] ALEXANDRIA TROAS (mod. Eski Stambul) |