The Place That Alexander Founded

“…[I]t attempts to collect and summarize all human knowledge…”
Wikipedia’s entry on Wikipedia


It felt a little funny to be in Alexandria (the name of the town where I live in Virginia), yet be so far from home. But Alexandria is where the ship docked and where we started our day. As it was Friday, the Islamic Sabbath, the streets were quiet with only a handful of shops open or people out and about. There we visited the catacombs, tiers of burial chambers carved into the rocks some 2200 years ago. Not as creepy as I’d have expected, they seemed now to be more an experience in archaeology than a place of burial.

Next were the ruins of an ancient Roman theater, small by the standards of the time (2d century AD) but in pretty good shape and a reminder of that old Roman presence.

Another reminder was Pompey’s Pillar—one of those obelisks that has a way of turning up in ancient cities. Of course, this pillar has nothing to do with Pompey. It was originally thought to be a memorial to Pompey, a rival to Julius Caesar who Caesar had killed in Egypt in 48 BC. Turns out there’s an inscription on the pillar that makes it clear that it’s in honor of Emperor Diocletion. It was erected in 300 AD.

Alexandria itself is some 2340 years old, founded by Alexander the Great as Egypt’s new capital. One of modern Alexandria’s more interesting sights is its library. However, it is unknown if the new Star Wars-looking library is on the site of the famous ancient one, since no one knows for sure where that was located. The ancient one was, in a way, the first Wikipedia . The Library at Alexandria was part of Mouseion, or House of the Muses, a forerunner of the world’s universities. It was founded by Ptolemy I, a general of Alexander the Great, who seized Egypt after Alexander’s death and founded a dynasty that ruled for 300 years. He and his son after him established the Library and decreed that copies be made of all the world’s books and writings. Said to contain the sum total of knowledge available to the ancient world, it was known as “the most learned place on earth” and was said to hold ½ million texts (we’re talking circa 300 BC here—well before the printing press’ invention).

It is unknown how the library was destroyed, or even exactly when. Many stories abound, ranging from in battle with Julius Caesar’s troops to having its contents used over the years for heating fuel after interest in learning declined, to destruction by fanatical Christians. But no one knows.

From there we made the three-hour drive to Cairo, accompanied by our guide Magdi, an Egyptology lecturer at a local university. I cannot do justice here to all the information he imparted, as my brain couldn’t hold it all. But I’ll try to give the highlights in my next entry, on Cairo and Giza.