ALEXANDRIA

(Al·ex·anʹdri·a).

Chief city and famed metropolis of Egypt during the time of Jesus and his apostles. Modern Alexandria (called in Arabic al-Iskandariyah) stands on the ancient site and is a seaport but has little of the ancient splendor.

Only brief reference is made to Alexandria in the Bible. Among those disputing with Stephen before his trial were “Alexandrians,” or Jews from Alexandria. Alexandria was the native city of the eloquent Apollos. And two of the ships on which Paul traveled as a prisoner headed for Rome were out of Alexandria doubtless large grain ships of the great Alexandrian fleet that crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Puteoli, Italy, though at times doing coastwise sailing to the ports of Asia Minor.—Acts 6:9; 18:24; 27:6; 28:11

The city derived its name from Alexander the Great, who ordered it to be built in 332 B.C.E. In time it became the principal city of Egypt, and under the Ptolemies, the Hellenistic kings of Egypt, Alexandria was made Egypt’s capital. It remained such when Rome took control in 30 B.C.E. and served as the administrative center of Egypt on through the Roman and Byzantine epochs down to the Arabic conquest in the seventh century C.E.

LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION

Its site was well chosen. To the W of the fan-shaped Nile delta, Lake Mareotis lies close to the Mediterranean, with a narrow isthmus separating it from the sea. Alexandria was built on this stretch of land where previously the small village of Rakotis stood. Since Lake Mareotis was then connected with the Canopic branch of the Nile (the westernmost of the ancient Nile’s seven mouths), this meant that the city could serve as a port on both sides of the isthmus, with oceangoing vessels docking on the N and Egyptian Nile boats on the S. Just N of the city the small island of Pharos lay a short distance into the Mediterranean and a mole or causeway was constructed from the mainland to the middle of the island and was called the Heptastadion (meaning “Seven Stadia,” the length of the causeway [about seven-eighths of a Roman mile or 1.3 km.]). This causeway also served to divide the harbor into two spacious basins. At the E of the island of Pharos a four-hundred-foot-high (121.9 meters) lighthouse was built, considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

About fifteen miles (24 kilometers) long and only about one mile (1.6 kilometers) broad, Alexandria was well laid out in city-block form with regular broad streets, in places lined with colonnades. One-third of the area is said to have been occupied by palaces and public grounds. Its splendor and its magnificent buildings were acclaimed by ancient writers. Particularly famous was its great library associated with the Alexandrian “Museum,” a sort of state-sponsored university where all branches of arts and sciences were studied by scholars of many countries. The library had been founded and enlarged under the first two Ptolemies and sought to collect copies of all books written in Greek and Latin. Eventually it was said to possess some 900,000 volumes or papyrus rolls. However the library was heavily damaged by fire during Julius Caesar’s time and was finally destroyed by the Arabs in the seventh century C.E.

JEWISH CENTER

It was here in Alexandria that the first translation of the Hebrew Scriptures was made: the Greek Septuagint version produced by Alexandrian Jews, evidently beginning during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-246 B.C.E).

The Jews for long had formed a sizable portion of the population of Alexandria, which, at its height reached about 800,000 persons. Many of the Jews were descendants of the refugees who fled to Egypt after Jerusalem’s fall in 607 B.C.E. In Tiberius’ time they were said to compose about one-third of the city’s total population. With their own section or quarter called Regio Judæorum, the Jews were allowed to live according to their own laws and have their own governor or Alabarch. From the start they had been granted equal rights with the Greeks. Their commercial ability contributed to the economy of Alexandria, which, situated as it was at a strategic point or trade with three continents, came to rival Rome in its wealth. It was a great banking center and from its industries and ports flowed papyrus, glass, perfumes, woven fabrics, wheat and other commodities.

CHRISTIAN ACTIVITY

At what date or in what manner Christianity was introduced to Alexandria is not known. Tradition credits Mark the evangelizer with this, but proof is lacking. In the second century C.E. a center of Christian study was prominent there and two of its leaders, Clement and his disciple Origen, have provided valuable testimony as to the canonicity of the writings of the Christian Greek Scriptures. Similar evidence comes from the later bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius, in the fourth century C.E.

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ANCIENT ALEXANDRIA

Mediterranean

Canal

Pharos Is.

Lighthouse

Heptastadion

Museum and Library

Lake Mareotis

Canal