ALEXANDRIAPre-colonial city

PRESENTED BY

Rudo Nyatsanza

Blessing Mukome

Anesu Madavo

Kundai Chiraga

Bryan Faranando

Tatenda Chikadaya

1. Alexandria

• Aerial View of modern Alexandria (Egypt)

Presentation outline

• Historical, social, religious, economic and political

institutions of the ancient city of Alexandria.

• Community structures within Alexandria.

• Evidence and/or influence of various organizational

structures and institutions of society on Alexandria.

Location

Alexandria

History

• Alexandria is a city and major seaport in northern Egypt, in the Nile River delta, on a ridge that separates Lake Maryoţ from the Mediterranean Sea.

• The city was founded in 332 BC by Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia, who planned it as one of the finest ports of the ancient world.

• Alexandria was Egypt's capital for nearly a thousand years, until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in AD 641, when a new capital was founded at Fustat (Fustat was later absorbed into Cairo).

2. Map and layout

Layout

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 - The old city of Rhakotis that had been

absorbed into Alexandria. It was occupied chiefly by

Egyptians. (from Coptic Rakotə "Alexandria").

3. Alexandria

• The ancient city was about 6.4 km (about 4 mi) long, and

regularly built, with streets crossing at right angles and

colonnades adorning the principal streets.

• Alexander's chief architect for the project was Dinocrates

• The most magnificent quarter of the city, called the

Brucheium, was situated on the eastern harbor. Farther

west was the Serapeion, or temple of the Egyptian deity

Serapis; the Soma, or mausoleum of Alexander and the

Ptolemies; the Poseidonium, or temple of Poseidon, god

of the sea; the museum; the great theater; and the

emporium, or exchange.

Alexandria

• Soon after the city was founded, the population,

consisting chiefly of Greeks, Jews, and Egyptians,

numbered 300,000 free citizens, exclusive of slaves and

foreigners.

• Numerous palaces were built by the Ptolemies, the

Alexandrian Library and Museum were founded, and

influential schools of philosophy, rhetoric, and other

branches of ancient learning were established.

• The city grew in less than a generation to be larger than

Carthage, and in a century, Alexandria had become the

largest city in the world and, for some centuries more,

was second only to Rome.

4. Monuments

• Alexandria was known because of its Lighthouse of

Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient

World; its library (the largest library in the ancient world);

and the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, one of the Seven

Wonders of the Middle Ages.

Monuments: Alexandria library

Monuments<< An ancient Roman theater

in Alexandria

Roman Pompey's Pillar >>

Independent monument erected to commemorate Diocletian's siege of the city.

Note the sphinx adjacent to the pillar, alluding to Egyptian architecture.

Cultural System

• The culture of Alexandria is marked by the various

monumental buildings where the main activities were

carried out:

Libraries

Theaters

Museums

• There is evidence of more than one form of culture, as

implied by the mixed architecture shown in the previous

slides.

5. Political System

• The City was ruled by Ptolemies - Macedonian kings who

ruled Egypt.

• Ptolemies fostered the development of the Alexandria

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.

• However, as a result of the takeovers, the political system

of the city was changing from Ptolemies to Roman

emperors.

Economic System

• Alexandria inherited the trading system of Tyre and

became the centre of the new commerce between Europe

and the Arabian and Indian East.

• The city was designed to become a prominent sea port

within the Mediterranean region.

6. Religion

• The city of Alexandria has three main religions based on

its three largest ethnicities: Greek, Jewish, and Egyptian.

• Alexandria was not only a centre of Hellenism, but was

also home to the largest Jewish community in the world.

• After Rome, Alexandria was considered the major seat of

Christianity in the world. The Pope of Alexandria was the

second among equals, second only to the bishop of

Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire until 430. The

Church of Alexandria had jurisdiction over the entire

continent of Africa.

References

• Alexandria, Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008

Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

• Alexandria, http://www.ancientsites.com/aw/Places/