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Alexandria

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Events

1. c. 331 BCAlexander founds Alexandria in Egypt
2. c. 250 BCThe Torah is translated into Greek at Alexandria (the Septuagint)
3. 30 BCOctavian takes Alexandria; Egypt becomes Roman
4. AD 367Athanasius' Easter letter lists the twenty-seven books of the New Testament
5. AD 415A Christian mob kills Hypatia in Alexandria
6. AD 642The last Byzantine troops leave Alexandria; Egypt passes to the Arabs

In ancient writers

• Strabo, Geography 17.1.6 — The island of Pharos shuts in the bay of Alexandria and makes a harbour with a double entrance; on its rocky eastern tip stands the tower of the same name, admirably built of white marble in several storeys.
• Strabo, Geography 17.1.8 — The Museum is part of the royal palaces, with a covered walk, seats and a great hall where its scholars dine together under a priest now appointed by Caesar; nearby the Sema holds the tombs of the kings and of Alexander.
• Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 17.52.1–3 — Alexander laid out the city between the marsh and the sea, aligning its streets to catch the cooling etesian winds; shaped like a cloak, it is bisected by an avenue forty furlongs long lined with houses and temples.

History

Alexandria lies on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, west of the Nile delta, on a strip of land between the sea and Lake Mareotis. Alexander the Great founded it in the winter of 332/331 BC, marking out its market place, its temples and the line of its walls himself. A causeway seven stades long, the Heptastadion, joined the city to the island of Pharos and formed two harbours, and the harbour on the lake, fed by canals from the Nile, was richer still. Under the Ptolemies it became the capital of Egypt and the greatest city of the Greek world, with the lighthouse on Pharos built by Sostratus of Cnidus, the Museum and the royal library.

Rome annexed Egypt in 30 BC, after the death of Cleopatra VII. A large Jewish community lived in the city. According to the Letter of Aristeas, seventy-two elders translated the Law into Greek on Pharos under Ptolemy II; this is the origin story of the Septuagint, and its details are legendary. Philo of Alexandria wrote here in the first century AD and described how, in AD 38, the Jews were driven into one quarter of the city and their synagogues profaned. In the Jewish revolt of 115–117 under Trajan the community was crushed.

In Acts, Jews of the synagogue of the Alexandrians disputed with Stephen in Jerusalem. Apollos, an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures, was born at Alexandria. On his voyage to Rome Paul sailed in a ship of Alexandria bound for Italy, and after the wreck on Malta in another that had wintered on the island. Eusebius records the tradition that Mark was the first to preach in Egypt and founded the churches of Alexandria.

A Christian school of learning flourished here under Pantaenus, Clement and Origen. Arius was a presbyter of Alexandria, and the city's bishop Athanasius (328–373) became his chief opponent. About 391, by order of Theodosius, Bishop Theophilus destroyed the Serapeum, and in 415 a Christian mob murdered the philosopher Hypatia. After the Council of Chalcedon in 451 most of Alexandria's Christians rejected its creed, and the city remained one of the great cities of the eastern empire until the Arab conquest of 641–642.

Scripture: Acts 6:9; Acts 18:24–25; Acts 27:6; Acts 28:1; Acts 28:11

Checked against its sources; not yet read by a historian.

Verses (4)

Acts 6:9

Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.

Acts 18:24

And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.

Acts 27:6

And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy; and he put us therein.

Acts 28:11

And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux.

King James Version

Tours through this place

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