The construction of Alexandria

• Alexander ordered the city to be constructed in the Greek style of cities

• The construction of Alexandria began in the reign of Ptolemy I and
finished in Ptolemy II
• The architect who designed the city is called Dinocrates
• He designed the city to include straight roads that intercept each other
• North of the city there was the island of Pharoh
• He ordered the construction of a bridge known as Heptastadion
meaning 7 stadia which was a unit of measurement
• due to the bridge two ports were formed
• the south port called Portus magnus meaning the big port
• the western port called Portus Eunostos or safe comeback port
• the southern port was most used
• the city was 30 stadia long and 7 or 8 stadia wide
• there were two main streets one that crossed the city from the east to
west known as canopy street
• and the other one crossed the city from north to south and was called
Souma street
• the streets were paved with black basalt
• The city was surrounded with a strong wall and had many gates like the
sun gate from the east and the moon gate from the west
• The city was divided into 5 quarters, the quarters were named after the
letters of the Greek alphabet:
• 1: royal quarter (the Brucheum): it was called Alpha quarter and it was
the biggest quarter and included the temples, palaces, gardens, the
library and the house of wisdom
• 2: 2nd quarter: it was called Beta quarter and it was the aristocrat’s
quarter
• 3: 3rd quarter: it was called Gamma quarter and it was the place for the
Greeks and the elite of society

• 4:4th quarter: it was called Delta quarter and was the place for the
foreign societies (Jews / Syrians / Persians/ etc.) and the Jews had a
better social standing than the other foreigners

• 5:5th quarter: it was called Epsilon and it was the Egyptian quarter, it
was for those who had crafts but didn’t have the citizenship, the first
Ptolemies built the Serapeum there to unite the Egyptians and Greeks
on the religious side

Archeological sites in Alexandria:

• Most sites in Alexandria were destroyed over time and the reason of
destruction varied from natural causes to man caused reasons
• Gone sites: these are sites that are completely gone but we know about
them from the writings of travelers and historians
The light house of Alexandria
• It is the 3rd wonder of the seven old world wonders
• The start of the construction began in the reign of Ptolemy I and finished
in Ptolemy II
• It was built by the Greek architect Sostratus
• The lighthouse consisted of four floors made from limestone and the
pillars were made from granite
• The 1st floor was a square and was 60 meters high and had 300 rooms
for the workers
• The 2nd floor was octagonal and was 30 meters high
• The 3rd floor was round and was 15 meters high
• The 4th floor was 8 pillars with a dome and had a statue of probably
Poseidon made out of bronze
• The lighthouse use a reflecting mirror to reflect sunlight in the day and
in night they used artificial light sources
• The lighthouse light was visible from 70 miles away as described by an
Arab traveler by the name of: Ibn Jubayr
• There is a tale that the mirror of the lighthouse fell and was destroyed in
the year 700 A.D and was never replaced
• In the 15th century the lighthouse got hit by an earthquake that
completely destroyed it
• In 1480 A.D sultan Qaitbay built his fort on the old location of the
lighthouse
The library of Alexandria:
• It was considered the oldest public library but not the first library due to
the old Egyptian temples having libraries but only for the priests
• Every scientist who lived there had to leave a copy of their work in the
library
• It had more than Seven hundred thousand book
• The library had many fires and a large number of scripts were burned in
the year 48 A.D in the Alexandrian war and again in 270 A.D when
emperor Aurelian ordered the deconstruction of the royal quarter
Musaeum
• Its name means the house or temple of science and arts ( the Greeks
had 9 goddesses of science and art) and it’s the oldest college in the
world
 Standing monuments:
• 1: private tombs:
• The site of the tombs can be divided into the east which were of the
Ptolemaic era and the west which were the roman tombs
• The eastern tombs: A: Shatby Necropolis
• This necropolis is considered the oldest tomb in Alexandria and was
found by coincidence in 1904
• This necropolis has two types of graves:
• 1: superficial tombs: which is a hole in the ground where they put the jar
with the ash of the deceased
• 2: tombs in the Greek house style: these are tombs excavated
underground and had a general plan of an entrance leading to a hall and
from that hall to another hall then to a courtyard on the eastern side
exiting from it leading to the burial room which had usually two beds
one for the husband and one for the wife
• The main tomb dates to the middle of the 3rd century and belonged to a
wealthy family, it was later turned into a common burial site in the late
3rd century
• B: Mustafa Kamel tombs
• These tombs date to approximately the year 250 A.D
• it contains four rock carved tombs, two completely underground and
two half underground half above ground
• the two that are half and half are in the worst shape
• the most important tomb is the 1st tomb
• the southern side is the most decorated side
• the unique thing about this tomb is its water system
 Tigran street tombs:
• it was accidentally discovered in 1952
• this tomb dates to the end of the 2nd century A.D to the early 3rd century
A.D
• due to the bad conditions of the tombs the ministry of antiquities
moved the wall scenes to the museum garden in Kom El Shoqafa
• the ceiling of the tomb has a scene of two medusa heads
kom el shoqada catacombs:
• it is considered the most important tomb in the city
• its called this name due to the area being filled with broken pieces of
pottery
• the excavation began in 1892 and continued to 1900 and was
accidentally discovered when a donkey fell in it
• the importance of the tomb:
• 1: it was used for a long period of time
• 2: its scenes combined between the ancient Egyptian style and the
Greco-Roman style
• 3: it’s the only one of its kind that still stands
• The oldest part of the tomb is dated between the 1st century and 2nd
century A.D
• It was a tomb for a rich family then used as a common burial site
• It consists of three floors dug in the rocks underground
• The 3rd floor is still flooded with water
• To reach the tomb you go down a spiral staircase
• The 1st floor: at the end of the spiral staircase there is a small lobby on
each side there are two holes resembling a mihrab
• The lobby ends with a circular Rotunda in the middle of it there is the
2nd well that leads to the 3rd floor directly
• The triclinium: to the left of the rotunda there is an entrance that leads
to a square room that is supported by four pillars and this room contains
three mastabas for the family of the deceased to eat while visiting the
tombs
• The main tomb (2nd floor): in the end of the rotunda to the west side
there is a stair that leads to the 2nd floor
• The 2nd floor consists of a lobby and a burial room
• To the left and right of the lobby there are recess that had statues of the
owners of the tombs
• In the end of the lobby there is the burial room and on the sides of the
burial room there are images of a cobra wearing the crowns of upper
and lower Egypt
• Burial room: it has three entrances one in the front of the tomb and two
to the sides
Scenes of the middle coffin:
• The middle scene shows the deceased on a funerary bead that takes the
form of a lion and behind the bed there is God Anubis that places his
hand on the mummy
Scenes of the right coffin:
• The middle scene shows us Serapis in the form of a cow standing on a
stand and the emperor (in the form of a pharaoh) is presenting him a
necklace
Scenes of the left coffin:
• It resembles the scenes of the right coffin with slight changes
 The 3rd floor:
• When exiting the burial room there is an entrance leading to the 3rd
floor that is flooded
Caracalla hall:
• It can be accessed from the rotunda through a crack in a sarcophagus
that blocked the route between the two tombs and its original entrance
is through a stair from the outside that is closed for security reasons
• What makes this hall unique is the amount of human and horse bones
found inside
Pompei's Pillar (‫)عمود السواري‬:
• This pillar was built in 292 A.D in the middle of the yard of the temple of
Serapis
• It was built by the Alexandrians as a way to thank the Roman emperor
Diocletian and was made of red granite
• It was accidentally called Pompei’s pillar by the crusaders that thought
that the head of Pompei was placed on a jar on top of the pillar
• Its current name is that it resembles a boat`s mast
The monuments surrounding Pompei’s pillar:
• Around the pillar there is a scarab made out of pink granite and this
scarab is the 2nd biggest found in Egypt
• There is also three statues resembling the sphinx, the first and third are
made from pink granite while the second is made from black granite
• There are also three statues of humans: the first is Psmatik I and is made
from pale pink granite, the 2nd statue is for Ramses II sitting in his throne
and the 3rd is Ramses II made from black granite presenting the king
kneeling while holding a shrine
 Roman theater in Kom El Deka:
• It was discovered in 1960 by the Poland expedition by accident
• This theater dates to the 1st or 2nd century A.D
• The opinions vary on what use this circular building had, some say it was
a theater that was converted to an auditorium
• The building takes the shape of a horse shoe with rows of seating made
out of white marble
Black head temple:
• It`s made with the tetrastyle style of roman building, and its name came
from being located in the black head area in the most eastern side of
Alexandria
• It was located in 1936 but due to the temple being affected by sewage
water it was relocated in 1988
The plan of the temple:
• It’s a custom and unknown style, it was small in size and it consisted of
two floors
• Since it’s a roman temple its foundation was placed on an elevated
ground called podium which can be reached by climbing the ten steps
• When you ascend the stairs, you are greeted by a lobby that has four
marble pillars in the Greek style
• In the middle of the pillars there is a stand with a foot made out of
marble
• After passing the four pillars you can reach the main hall which is a
square, on the eastern wall there is a stair which was probably for
priests and on the northern wall there is a mastaba made from
limestone that had five statues of white marble for these gods in order
from east to west: statue for Isis/ two statues for canopy Osiris/ statue
of Hermanubis / a statue of Harpocrates)