A city on the Roman lake
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The Roman theatre, the only one found in Egypt, is one of the highlights of Alexandria
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The city of Alexandria is best known for its Graeco-Roman heritage.
After all this is the city that was established by Alexander the Great in 331BC before he marched off to conquer the Persian Empire. With the dissolution of his ephemeral empire, the Ptolemaic period followed from 323 to 30BC, with Cleopatra today the most famous symbol of the time. With her defeat, another foreign conquest initiated the Roman and Byzantine Periods from 30BC to 642AD.
The city built for Alexander, uniquely so among Egyptian cities, was Greek in plan. It completely transversed the limestone ridge and was surrounded by a fortified wall. It was quartered by two great roads: the Canopic Way ran from the west at the Gate of the Moon to the east, the Gate of the Sun. Crossing this at a right angle was the Street of the Soma, from the lake at the south to the sea front to the north. Branching off of the main streets was a methodical gridwork of streets, dividing the whole city into rectangular blocks. A causeway linked the city with the Island of the Pharos, thus creating two immense harbours, on the east the Great Harbour (the main anchorage), and on the west the Eunostos (Safe Return).
Upon his death, Alexander was buried at the junction of the two main roads and the city was completed under the direction of Ptolemy I. Besides containing its own harbour, the palace complex also included administrative buildings. To the south it is conjoined by the Mouseion, a complex of schools, laboratories, observatories and the Great Library, built in emulation of the one in Athens. Among the other public buildings were the theatre and various gymnasiums, covered markets and baths. A series of smaller lighthouses stretches along the coast in both directions from the Great Lighthouse, which towered about 120 metres into the air at the eastern tip of Pharos Island. With the change from Ptolemaic to Roman rule, Alexandria retained its position as the capital of Egypt, as the obvious base for protecting the interests of Rome and Byzantium.
To retrace this history begin with the Graeco- Roman Museum (Museum St., north of Horreya Ave. Admission LE16; open 9am-4pm). Established in 1892, the museum is a pleasant place to walk around, with a central garden. It contains 40,000 valuable relics dating from as early as the third century BC. There are figures of the cult of Serapis and that of Osiris, religions merging Egyptian and Greek elements as a way of uniting and controlling his subjects. There are also beautiful carvings in ivory and stone, textiles and a giant statue of the Apis bull erected at the time of the Roman Emperor Hadrian's visit to Egypt early in the second century AD.
In Room 12, examples of the fusion of the cultures of the Greek rulers and Egyptian subjects are plentiful -- such as pinkish granite statues depicting Egypt's Greek-Ptolemaic kings as wearing Pharaonic dress and crowns in an attempt to legitimise them as heirs to the Pharaohs. The garden is full of antiquities that the museum rooms cannot comfortably contain. In one corner are two reconstructed tombs and a handsome statue of King Ahmose II. On the north side is a reconstruction of a pylon and the chapel of the god Pnepheros from Theadelphia in the Fayoum.
Then head out to the Anfoushi Tombs (Ras El- Tin St. Admission LE12; open 9am-4pm) that date back to the early Ptolemaic period. These are the oldest graves in the city and were cut into the limestone ridge that what was then the Island of Pharos.
More popular is Pompey's Pillar and the Temple of Serapis (Amoud El-Sawari St. Admission LE6; open 9am-4pm). According to Michael Haag's Alexandria medieval travellers believed this pillar marked the site of the Roman general Pompey's burial. Pompey was murdered in Egypt in 48BC where he had fled following his defeat by Julius Caesar. Actually, though, the pillar was dedicated to the Roman Emperor Diocletan in about 300AD.
West of Pompey's Pillar are the Graeco- Roman Catacombs at Kom Al-Shoqafa (Al- Nasserieh St. Admission LE12; open 9am-4pm), the largest funerary complex of the Graeco- Roman period in Egypt and dating back to the second century AD. Discovered in 1900 when a donkey fell into one of the tombs, they were originally private tombs later enlarged to serve the whole community. They consist of three tiers of tombs and chambers cut out of the rock to a depth of about 35m. The bottom level is flooded and inaccessible, but the areas that can be visited are impressive. The tomb decorations show the fascinating blend of Egyptian and classical style that is distinctive of Alexandria. A spiral staircase winds around the shaft where bodies were lowered and leads to a vestibule on the first level. Beyond the vestibule is the rotunda and the Banquet Hall, where families came to feast in memory of the dead. Through a fissure in the rock to the right of the rotunda is the Hall of Caracalla, where four painted tombs contained the remains of young men and their horses, reputedly executed for insulting the emperor.
The Roman Theatre and Baths are a must-see (entrance on Mohafza St. Admission LE6; open 9am-4pm). The site is called Kom Al-Dikka (Mound of Rubble), an apt description of the debris covering the ancient Paneion. The theatre is the only one of its kind in Egypt and is thought to have been roofed for musical performances. The well-preserved 13 white marble terraces of the only Roman amphitheatre in Egypt were discovered in 1964, when the foundations for a new apartment building were being dug off Midan Gomhuriya.
If you are both interested in the Graeco- Roman history of Alexandria and have an adventurous spirit at the same time, you can have a plunge into the deeps of the Eastern Harbour where you can dive among a marvelous collection of Graeco-Roman artefacts. The powerful earthquake that rocked Egypt in the 17th century wiped out entire cities such as Fooh and Damanhour in the Delta, while Alexandria nearly disappeared into the sea.
About 7,000 Pharaonic and Graeco-Roman monuments and artefacts from 300BC are preserved under the waves, at depths of between eight and 15 metres. Such items include sphinxes, obelisks, columns, pottery and statues.
Alexandra Dive ((+203) 480 0363), a diving centre at the Eastern Harbour owned by Ashraf Sabri, a hyperbaric health care specialist and a professional diver, organises diving trips for those interested in the sunken treasures. The centre offers five diving spots in the Eastern Harbour. The first is called Qait Bey and is situated close to the Qait Bey fort at depths of between eight and 10 metres. It contains about 4,000 archaeological pieces that date from Pharaonic to Graeco-Roman times. To explore this site properly, two dives are recommended, each lasting 45 minutes. The second spot is called Qait Bey 2 and is 200 metres north of Qait Bey fort. In this area, a diver will see dozens of amphorae around an ancient wreck. The area can all be explored in a single dive. Qait Bey 3 is the third spot, 650 metres north-west of Qait Bey fort, at depths between 15 and 18 metres. Here divers can explore wrecks from the third century BC. A diver needs only one dive to explore the area. The fourth spot is called East Harbour, Site One, and is found in the eastern harbour at a depth of up to eight metres. The site includes relics of the royal zone from Ptolemaic and Roman times and several columns, sphinxes and royal statues. To see the area properly, two dives are recommended. The fifth and last dive is East Harbour, Site Two. Here the dramatic remains of an Italian fighter plane shot down in World War II loom out of the darkness, surreally surrounded by a forest of ancient columns and statuary. The site only needs a single dive. Alexandra-Dive's trips start early in the morning, preceded by a lecture on the site, its historical importance, and details of the objects there.
Suggested reading: Jean-Yves Empereur Alexandria Rediscovered (British Museum Press)
