alexandria senna


[al-ig-zan-dree-uh, -zahn-]

Alexandria (Egyptian Arabic: اسكندريه Eskendereyya; Standard Arabic: الإسكندرية Al-Iskandariyya; Ἀλεξάνδρεια), with a population of 4.1 million, is the second-largest city in Egypt, and is the country's largest seaport, serving about 80% of Egypt's imports and exports. Alexandria is also an important tourist resort.

Alexandria extends about 32 km (20 miles) along the coast of the Mediterranean sea in north-central Egypt. It is home to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (the new Library of Alexandria), and is an important industrial center because of its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez. Alexandria was also an important trading post between Europe and Asia, because it profited from the easy overland connection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.

In ancient times, Alexandria was one of the most famous cities in the world. It was founded around a small pharaonic town c. 331 BC by Greek Macedonian king Alexander the Great. It remained Egypt's capital for nearly a thousand years, until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641 AD when a new capital was founded at Fustat (Fustat was later absorbed into Cairo).

Alexandria was known for the Lighthouse of Alexandria (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World), the Library of Alexandria (the largest library in the ancient world) and the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa (one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages). Ongoing maritime archaeology in the harbor of Alexandria, which began in 1994, is revealing details of Alexandria both before the arrival of Alexander, when a city named Rhakotis existed there, and during the Ptolemaic dynasty.


Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in 332 BC as Ἀλεξάνδρεια (Alexándreia). Alexander's chief architect for the project was Dinocrates. Alexandria was intended to supersede Naucratis as a Hellenistic center in Egypt, and to be the link between Greece and the rich Nile Valley. An Egyptian townlet, Rhakotis, already existed on the shore and was a resort filled with fishermen and pirates. A few months after the foundation, Alexander left Egypt for the East and never returned to his city. After Alexander departed, his viceroy, Cleomenes, continued the expansion. Following a struggle with the other successors of Alexander, his general Ptolemy succeeded in bringing Alexander's body to Alexandria.

Though Cleomenes was mainly in charge of seeing to Alexandria's continuous development, the Heptastadion and the mainland quarters seem to have been primarily Ptolemaic work. 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.

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. The early Ptolemies kept it in order and fostered the development of its museum into the leading Hellenistic center of learning (Library of Alexandria) but were careful to maintain the distinction of its population's three largest ethnicities: Greek, Jewish, and Egyptian. From this division arose much of the later turbulence, which began to manifest itself under Ptolemy Philopater who reigned from 221–204 BC. The reign of Ptolemy VIII Physcon from 144–116 BC was marked by purges and civil warfare.

The city passed formally under Roman jurisdiction in [[80 BC], according to the will of Ptolemy Alexander but only after it had been under Roman influence for more than a hundred years. It was captured by Julius Caesar in 47 BC during a roman intervention in the domestic civil war between king Ptolemy XIII and his advisors, and usurper queen Cleopatra VII. It was finally captured by Octavian, future emperor Augustus on August 1, 30 BC, with the name of the month later being changed to august to commemorate his victory.
In 115 AD, vast parts of Alexandria were destroyed during the Jewish-Greek civil wars which gave Hadrian and his architect, Decriannus, an opportunity to rebuild it. In 215 AD the emperor Caracalla visited the city and, because of some insulting satires that the inhabitants had directed at him, abruptly commanded his troops to put to death all youths capable of bearing arms. On 21 July 365, Alexandria was devastated by a tsunami (365 Crete earthquake), an event two hundred years later still annually commemorated as "day of horror". In the late 4th century, persecution of pagans by newly Christian Romans had reached new levels of intensity. In 391, the Patriarch Theophilus destroyed all pagan temples in Alexandria under orders from Emperor Theodosius I. The Brucheum and Jewish quarters were desolate in the 5th century. On the mainland, life seemed to have centered in the vicinity of the Serapeum and Caesareum, both which became Christian churches. The Pharos and Heptastadium quarters, however, remained populous and were left intact.

In 619, Alexandria fell to the Sassanid Persians. Although the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius recovered it in 629, in 641 the Arabs under the general Amr ibn al-As, captured it after a siege that lasted fourteen months. Alexandria figured prominently in the military operations of Napoleon's expedition to Egypt in 1798. French troops stormed the city on July 2, 1798 and it remained in their hands until the arrival of the British expedition in 1801. The British won a considerable victory over the French at the Battle of Alexandria on March 21, 1801, following which they besieged the city which fell to them on 2 September 1801. Mohammed Ali, the Ottoman Governor of Egypt, began rebuilding the city around 1810, and by 1850, Alexandria had returned to something akin to its former glory. In July 1882 the city came under bombardment from British naval forces and was occupied. In July 1954, the city was a target of an Israeli bombing campaign that later became known as the Lavon Affair. Only a few months later, Alexandria's Mansheyya Square was the site of a failed assassination attempt on Gamal Abdel Nasser.



Alexandria has a Mediterranean climate mild rainy winter, hot humid summers. January and February are the coldest months with high temperatures ranging from 12°C (53°F) to 18°C (64°F). Alexandria experience violent storms, rain and sometimes hail. July and August are the hottest months of the year with a monthly average high temperature of 31°C (87°F). While autumn and spring are the ideal time to visit Alexandria with temperatures averaging 22°C (71°F).

Layout of the ancient city

Greek Alexandria was divided into three regions: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 official quarter, making four regions in all. The city was laid out as a grid of parallel streets, each of which had an attendant subterranean canal;The Jewish quarter
forming the northeast portion of the city;Rhakotis
occupied chiefly by Egyptians (from Coptic Rakotə "Alexandria").

Two main streets, lined with colonnades and said to have been each about 60 metres (200 feet) wide, intersected in the center of the city, close to the point where the Sema (or Soma) of Alexander (his Mausoleum) rose. This point is very near the present mosque of Nebi Daniel; and the line of the great East–West "Canopic" street, only slightly diverged from that of the modern Boulevard de Rosette (now Sharia Fouad). Traces of its pavement and canal have been found near the Rosetta Gate, but remnants of streets and canals were exposed in 1899 by German excavators outside the east fortifications, which lie well within the area of the ancient city.

Alexandria consisted originally of little more than the island of Pharos, which was joined to the mainland by a mole nearly a mile long (1260 m) and called the Heptastadion ("seven stadia" — a stadium was a Greek unit of length measuring approximately 180 m). The end of this abutted on the land at the head of the present Grand Square, where the "Moon Gate" rose. All that now lies between that point and the modern "Ras al-Tiin" quarter is built on the silt which gradually widened and obliterated this mole. The "Ras al-Tiin" quarter represents all that is left of the island of Pharos, the site of the actual lighthouse having been weathered away by the sea. On the east of the mole was the Great Harbor, now an open bay; on the west lay the port of Eunostos, with its inner basin Kibotos, now vastly enlarged to form the modern harbor.

In Strabo's time, (latter half of 1st century BC) the principal buildings were as follows, enumerated as they were to be seen from a ship entering the Great Harbor.

  1. The Royal Palaces, filling the northeast angle of the town and occupying the promontory of Lochias, which shut in the Great Harbor 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 northeast coast of Africa.
  2. The Great Theater, on the modern Hospital Hill near the Ramleh station. This was used by Caesar as a fortress, where he withstood a siege from the city mob after the battle of Pharsalus
  3. The Poseidon, or Temple of the Sea God, close to the Theatre
  4. The Timonium built by Mark Antony
  5. The Emporium (Exchange)
  6. The Apostases (Magazines)
  7. The Navalia (Docks), lying west of the Timonium, along the seafront as far as the mole
  8. Behind the Emporium rose the Great Caesareum, by which stood the two great obelisks, which become known as “Cleopatra's Needles”, and were transported to New York City and London. This temple became, in time, the Patriarchal Church, though some ancient remains of the temple have been discovered. The actual Caesareum, the parts not eroded by the waves, lies under the houses lining the new seawall.
  9. The Gymnasium and the Palaestra are both inland, near the Boulevard de Rosette in the eastern half of the town; sites unknown.
  10. The Temple of Saturn; site unknown.
  11. The Mausolea of Alexander (Soma) and the Ptolemies in one ring-fence, near the point of intersection of the two main streets.
  12. The Musaeum with its famous Library and theater in the same region; site unknown.
  13. The Serapeum, the most famous of all Alexandrian temples. Strabo tells us that this stood in the west of the city; and recent discoveries go far as to place it near “Pompey's Pillar” which was an independent monument erected to commemorate Diocletian's siege of the city.

The names of a few other public buildings on the mainland are known, but there is little information as to their actual position. None, however, are as famous as the building that stood on the eastern point of Pharos island. There, the The Great Lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, reputed to be 138 meters (450 ft) high, was sited. The first Ptolemy began the project, and the second Ptolemy completed it, at a total cost of 800 talents. It took 12 years to complete and served as a prototype for all later lighthouses in the world. The light was produced by a furnace at the top and the tower was built mostly with solid blocks of limestone. The Pharos lighthouse was destroyed by an earthquake in the 14th century, making it the second longest surviving ancient wonder next to the Great Pyramid of Giza. A temple of Hephaestus also stood on Pharos at the head of the mole.

In the first century, the population of Alexandria contained over 180,000 adult male citizens (from a papyrus dated 32 CE), in addition to a large number of freedmen, women, children, and slaves. Estimates of the total population range from 500,000 to over 1,000,000, making it one of the largest cities ever built before the Industrial Revolution and the largest pre-industrial city that was not an imperial capital.

Ancient remains


"Pompey's Pillar" is the best-known ancient monument still standing today. It is located on Alexandria's ancient acropolis — a modest hill located adjacent to the city's Arab cemetery — and was originally part of a temple colonnade. Including its pedestal, it is 30 m (99 ft) high; the shaft is of polished red granite, 2.7 meters in diameter at the base, tapering to 2.4 meters at the top. The shaft is 88 feet high made out of a single pice of granite. This would be 132 cubic meters or approximately 396 tons. The structure was plundered and demolished in the 4th century when a bishop decreed that Paganism must be eradicated. "Pompey's Pillar" is a misnomer, as it has nothing to do with Pompey, having been erected in 293 for Diocletian, possibly in memory of the rebellion of Domitius Domitianus. Beneath the acropolis itself are the subterranean remains of the Serapeum, where the mysteries of the god Serapis were enacted, and whose carved wall niches are believed to have provided overflow storage space for the ancient Library.


The most extensive ancient excavation currently being conducted in Alexandria is known as Kom al-Dikka, and it has revealed the ancient city's well-preserved theater, and the remains of its Roman-era baths.


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 proud of a city which is one of the glories of their national history.

The past and present directors of the museum have been enabled from time to time to carry out systematic excavations whenever opportunity is offered; D. G. 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 face the would-be excavator in Alexandria: lack of space for excavation and the underwater location of some areas of interest.

Since the great and growing modern city stands immediately over the ancient one, it is almost impossible to find any considerable space in which to dig, except at enormous cost. Also, the general subsidence of the coast has submerged the lower-lying parts of the ancient town under water. This underwater section, containing many of the most interesting sections of the Hellenistic city, including the palace quarter, is still being extensively investigated by the French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio and his team and. It raised a noted head of Caesarion. These are being opened up to tourists, to some controversy.

The spaces that are most open are the low grounds to northeast and southwest, where it is practically impossible to get below the Roman strata.

The most important results were those achieved by Dr. G. Botti, late director of the museum, in the neighborhood of “Pompey's Pillar”, where there is a good deal of open ground. Here substructures of a large building or group of buildings have been exposed, which are perhaps part of the Serapeum. Nearby, immense catacombs and columbaria have been opened which may have been appendages of the temple. These contain one very remarkable vault with curious painted reliefs, now artificially lit and open to visitors.

The objects found in these researches are in the museum, the most notable being a great basalt bull, probably once an object of cult in the Serapeum. Other catacombs and tombs have been opened in Kom al-Shoqqafa (Roman) and Ras al-Tiin (painted).

The German excavation team found remains of a Ptolemaic colonnade and streets in the north-east of the city, but little else. Hogarth explored part of an immense brick structure under the mound of Kom al-Dikka, 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 wealth underground is doubtlessly immense; but despite all efforts, there is not much for antiquarians to see in Alexandria outside the museum and the neighborhood of “Pompey's Pillar”. The native tomb-robbers, well-sinkers, dredgers, and the like, however, come upon valuable objects from time to time, most of which find their way into private collections.

Modern city

Neighbourhoods (Hais) (urban districts)

Modern Alexandria is divided into 6 hais:

  • Montaza Neighbourhood (hai): population 943,100
  • Eastern Alexandria Neighbourhood (hai): population 933,600
  • Middle (or Downtown) Alexandria Neighbourhood (hai): population 566,500
  • Amreya Neighbourhood (hai): population 457,800
  • Western Alexandria Neighbourhood (hai): population 450,300
  • Gumrok Neighbourhood (hai) : population 186,900

There are also two cities under the jurisdiction of the Alexandria governorate Forming metropolitan Alexandria:


Neighborhoods of Alexandria include: Agami, Amreya, Anfoushi, Assafra, Attarine, Azarita (aka Mazarita; originally Lazarette), Bab Sidra, Bahari, Bachus, Bulkeley (aka Bokla), Burg el-Arab, Cleopatra, Dekheila, Downtown, Eastern Harbor, Fleming, Gabbari (aka: Qabbari, Qubbary, Kabbary), Janaklis, Glym (short for Glymenopoulos), Gumrok (aka al-Gomrok), Hadara, Ibrahimeya, King Mariout, Kafr Abdu, Karmous, also known as Karmouz, Kom el-Dik (aka Kom el-Dekka), Labban, Laurent, Louran, Maamoura Beach, Maamoura, Mafrouza, Mandara, Manshiyya, Mex, Miami, Montaza, Muharram Bey, Mustafa Kamel, Ramleh (aka el-Raml), Ras el-Tin, Rushdy, Saba Pasha , San Stefano, Shatby, Schutz, Sidi Bishr, Sidi Gaber, Smouha, Sporting, Stanley, Syouf, Tharwat, Victoria, Wardeyan, Western Harbor, and Zizinia.



Educational institutions

Educational institutions in Alexandria include:

Colleges and Universities:








Religious institutions include:
Ali ibn Abi Talib Mosque, in Somouha, Bilal Mosque, al-Gamee al-Bahari, in Mandara, Hatem Mosque, in Somouha, Hoda al-Islam Mosque, in Sidi Bishr, Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque, in Anfushi, al-Mowasah Mosque, in Hadara, Sharq al-Madina Mosque, in Miami, al-Shohadaa' Mosque, in Mostafa Kamel, Qaed Ibrahim Mosque, Yehia Mosque, in Janaklis, Sidi Beshr Mosque, in Sidi Beshr, Sidi Gaber Mosque, in Sidi Gaber, Qasr al-Islam Mosque, In Sidi Gaber, al-Qabany Mosque, In Fleming, Abo al-Nor Mosque, In Bakos, al-Manara Mosque, In Shatby, Ansar al-Haq Mosque, In Sidi Beshr, al-Sayda Amna Mosque, In Sidi Gaber, al-Sadaka Mosque, In Sidi Beshr, Tag al-Ser Mosque, Victoria, al-Fath Mosque, Semouha, and Nour al-Islam mosque in Camp Cesar.

Saint Alexander Nevsky Church (Russian Orthodox Rite), Saint Anargyri Church (Greek Orthodox Rite), Church of the Annunciation (Greek Orthodox Rite), Saint Anthony Church (Greek Orthodox Rite) Archangels Gabriel and Michael Church (Greek Orthodox Rite), Saint Catherine Church (Greek Orthodox Rite), Saint Catherine Church (Latin Catholic Rite), Pope Cyril I Church, in Cleopatra (Coptic Orthodox Rite), Cathedral of the Dormition, in Mansheya (Greek Catholic Rite), Church of the Dormition (Greek Orthodox Rite), Prophet Elijah Church (Greek Orthodox Rite), Saint Georges Church, in Sporting (Coptic Orthodox Rite), Saint Georges Church (Greek Orthodox Rite), Church of the Immaculate Conception, in Ibrahemeya (Greek Catholic Rite), Church of the Jesuits, in Cleopatra (Latin Catholic Rite), Saint Joseph Church, in Fleming (Greek Catholic Rite), Saint Joseph of Arimathea Church (Greek Orthodox Rite), Saint Mark Cathedral , in Ramleh (Coptic Orthodox Rite), Saint Mark Church, in Shatby (Latin Catholic, Coptic Catholic and Coptic Orthodox Rites), Saint Mark & Saint Nectarios Chapel, in Ramleh (Greek Orthodox Rite), Saint Mark & Pope Peter I Church (Coptic Orthodox Rite), Saint Mary Church, in Assafra (Coptic Orthodox Rite), Saint Mary Church, in Gianaclis (Coptic Orthodox Rite), Saint Menas Church, in Fleming (Coptic Orthodox Rite), Saint Mina Church, in Mandara (Coptic Orthodox Rite), Saint Nicholas Church (Greek Orthodox Rite), Saint Paraskevi Church (Greek Orthodox Rite), Saint Sava Cathedral, in Ramleh (Greek Orthodox Rite), Saint Tekle Haymanot Church (Coptic Orthodox Rite), Saint Theodore Chapel (Greek Orthodox Rite),


Demolished monuments

Existing monuments

  • '''The Roman Amphitheater
  • 'Pompey's Pillar'


Famous spots



- Alexandria is served by the nearby Al Nozha Airport, located 7 km to the southeast.

- Another airport serves Alexandria named Borg al Arab Airport located about 25 km away from city center. This airport has been in use since about 2003. It was a military airport before that, and until now there is a military section there.


  • The International coastal road. (Alexandria - Port Said)
  • The Desert road. (Alexandria - Cairo /220 km 6-8 lanes, mostly lit)
  • The Agricultural road. (Alexandria - Cairo)
  • The Circular road. the turnpike
  • Ta'ameer Road "Mehwar El-Ta'ameer" - (Alexandria - North Coast)


Extends from "Misr Station"; the main train station in Alexandria, to Abu Qir.

Train stations include:


An extensive tramway network built in 1860 and is the oldest in Africa. A single ticket costs 25 Egyptian piastres (2008). The tram network is divided into two parts joined in the "Raml Station". Trams working east of the "Raml Station" are painted blue and usually known as "Tram al-Raml". The ones operating to the west of "Raml station" are painted yellow and are a little smaller, with a single tram working on both routes.

Trams are the slowest means of transport in Alexandria but are convenient for short trips, 2-3 stations. If you are a sightseer with time to spare it is the cheapest way to see most of Alexandria.


Taxis are a main means of public transportation in Alexandria. Taxis are painted black and yellow. Fare usually starts from 2 Egyptian pounds (2008). All taxis are required by law to have a meter but almost none is actually used since the fares have not changed in a very long time to keep up with inflation. Exactly what amount to charge a taxi is not exactly known and is left to the customers to estimate how much the trip is worth (like all other cities in Egypt, including Cairo) but most Alexandrians who use taxis usually know from experience what every trip costs. This creates a problem for travelers and tourists who are usually over-billed for their trips. Tourists are always advised to ask for how much they should pay for a taxi before hailing one.

Other means of public transportation

- Buses and Minibuses.


The port is divided into:

  • The Eastern Harbor
  • The Western Harbor



This is a list of all words related to the word "Alexandria" in Arabic:

  • al-Iskandareyya(h) (الإسكندرية) (noun) (formal): Refers to the city of "Alexandria", used in formal texts and speech. Its Egyptian Arabic equivalent is Eskenderreya or Iskindereyya(h). Iskandariyya(h) and Eskendereyya(h) are different in pronunciation, though they have the same spelling when written in Arabic. In Literary Arabic, Iskandariyya(h) always takes the definite article al-, whereas in Egyptian Arabic, Eskendereyya(h) never takes al-. The optional h at the end of both of them is called a ta' marbuta which is not usually pronounced, but is always written.
  • "Alex" (noun): Natives of both Alexandria and Cairo refer to Alexandria as "Alex", especially informally.
  • Eskandarany (اسكندراني) (adjective): Means 'native Alexandrian' or 'from Alexandria' in Egyptian Arabic.


The main sport that interests Alexandrians is football, as is the case in all Egypt and Northern Africa. Alexandria was one of three cities that participated in hosting the African Cup of Nations in January 2006, which Egypt won. Sea sports such as surfing, jet-skiing and water polo are practised on a lower scale.

Alexandria has four stadiums:

Other less popular sports like tennis and squash are usually played in private social and sports clubs, like:

  • Alexandria Sporting Club - in "Sporting"
  • Alexandria Country club
  • El Etehad Club
  • El Olympy Club
  • Lagoon Resort Courts
  • Smouha Club - in "Smouha"




  • Alexandria: A History and a Guide (1922; numerous reprints) by E.M. Forster.
  • Alexandria: City of Memory (Yale University Press, 2004) by Michael Haag.


  • Out of Egypt (1994; describes family history in Alexandria) by André Aciman.



Alexandria is a main summer resort in the Middle East, visited by people from all other cities to enjoy the sun and the sea. Beaches become full of umbrellas and families and the city is usually crowded in summer. There are both public beaches (which anyone can use for free, and are usually crowded) and private beaches (which can be used upon paying a small fee). There are also private beaches that are dedicated only to the guests of some hotels.

Notable People

See also


  • "Alexandria: City of Memory" by Michael Haag (London and New Haven, 2004). A social, political and literary portrait of cosmopolitan Alexandria during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
  • Victor W. Von Hagen. The Roads that led to Rome The World Publishing Company, Cleveland and New York. 1967.


External links

Maps of Alexandria

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