3. Brief introduction
second largest city and a major economic centre in Egypt
Alexandria is Egypt's largest seaport
serving approximately 80% of Egypt's imports and exports
an important industrial center
its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez
an important tourist destination.
.
5. Basic History
founded around a small Ancient Egyptian town c. 331 BC by
Alexander the Great.
became an important center of the Hellenistic civilization and
remained the capital of Hellenistic and Roman and Byzantine Egypt
for almost 1000 years until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in AD
641
From the late 18th century, Alexandria became a major center of the
international shipping industry and one of the most important
trading centers in the world
1)it profited from the easy overland connection between the
Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea
2)the lucrative trade in Egyptian cotton
6. Best known for...
1)the Lighthouse of Alexandria (Pharos)
one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
2)its Great Library
3)the Necropolis
one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages
Alexandria was the second most powerful city of the ancient
world after Rome
7. Ptolemaic era
In a struggle with the other successors of Alexander, his general,
Ptolemy succeeded in bringing Alexander's body to Alexandria.
Inheriting the trade of ruined Tyre and becoming the center of the new
commerce between Europe and the Arabian and Indian East, the city
grew in less than a generation to be larger than Carthage.
In a century, Alexandria had become the largest city in the world and
for some centuries more, was second only to Rome.
It became the main Greek city of Egypt, with an extraordinary mix of
Greeks from many cities and backgrounds.
8. Ptolemaic era
Alexandria was not only a center of Hellenism but was also home to the
largest Jewish community in the world.
The Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, was produced
there.
Alexandrian Greeks placed an emphasis on Greek culture in part to
exclude and subjugate non-Greeks. Also the Law in Alexandria was
based on Greek.
One of the earliest well-known inhabitants of Alexandria during the
Ptolemaic reign was the geometry and number-theorist Euclid.
9. Roman Era
Roman Anexation
The city passed formally under Roman jurisdiction in 80 BC
Julius Caesar dallied with Cleopatra in Alexandria in 47 BC and
was besieged in the city by Cleopatra's brother and rival.
From the time of annexation and onwards, Alexandria seemed to
have regained its old prosperity
In 115 AD Alexandria was destroyed
In 215 AD the emperor Caracalla visited the city (over 20,000
people were killed)
In the 3rd century AD, Alexander's tomb was closed to the
public.
10. Roman Era
Late Roman and Byzantine period
Alexandria now acquired new importance as a center of Christian
theology and church government.
As native influences began to reassert themselves in the Nile valley,
Alexandria gradually became an alien city during the 3rd century
In 365, a tsunami caused by an earthquake in Crete hit Alexandria.
In the late 4th century, persecution of pagans by newly Christian
Romans had reached new levels of intensity.
In 391, Emperor Theodosius I ordered the destruction of all pagan
temples, and the Patriarch Theophilus complied with his request.
The Brucheum and Jewish quarters were desolate in the 5th century,
and the central monuments, the Soma and Museum, fell into ruin.
11. Arab Rule
In 616, the city was taken by Khosrau II, King of Persia.
In 645 a Byzantine fleet recaptured the city, but it fell for good the
following year.
Between the years 811 and 827, Alexandria came under the control of
pirates of Andalusia to some form of almogavars history.
In the year 1365, Alexandria was brutally sacked after being taken by
the armies of the Crusaders.
The 14th and 15th centuries, Venice has eliminated the jurisdiction and
its Alexandrian warehouse became the center of the distribution of
spices to the Portuguese Cape route to open in 1498
The Lighthouse was destroyed by earthquakes in the 14th century.
12. Districts
al-Montaza District
Shark (Eastern Alexandria) District
Wassat (Central Alexandria) District
al-Amriya District: population 845,845
Agamy (Western Alexandria) District
al-Gomrok District
Borg Al-Arab city
New Borg El Arab city
13. Montaza Palace, in Montaza
Ras al-Tiin Palace, in Ras al-Tiin
Antoniadis Palace
15. Education
Colleges and universities
has a number of higher education institutions.
Alexandria University is a public university that follows the Egyptian
system of higher education.
Many of its faculties are internationally renowned, most notably its
Faculty of Medicine & Faculty of Engineering.