Alexandria

Alexandria

 the city created by Alexander the Great in 333BCE and with a history very Alexandria different from any of the other cities in Egypt. When this famous Macedonian (the Greek state, not the former Yugoslav country) was en route to visit the Oracle Temple of Amun at the Siwa oasis he stopped overnight at the village of "Re-qdt” (its Greek name is “Racotis”) between the Mediterranean Sea and the Lake of Mariott (its location today is the area of Tel Bab Sadrah or Karmouz). Alexander decided that this was to be the spot where a great city would be built and charged one of his architects, Dinocratis, to build it.

 

He continued on to Siwa, to consult the oracle about his destiny and then left Egypt to fight the Persians in Asia. Sadly it is not known what the Oracle told Alexander, but it is generally believed that he was told he was to be a great leader. After his triumphal campaigns, Alexander the Great died in Babylon in 323 BC without ever seeing the city that bears his name: in fact it was not until the reigns of Ptolemy I, (Soter - the Saviour), and his successor Ptolemy II (Philadelphus) that the building of the city was completed and it became the main capital.

Dinocratis planned the city in squares, like a chessboard with two main streets interlaced vertically and horizontally extending from east to west as well as from north to south. Alexandria had 5 districts, each one named after a letter of the first five letters in the Greek Alphabet: A (Alpha); B (Beta); G (Gamma); D (Delta) and E (Epsilon). These 5 letters represent the initial letters of the text: "Alexander the king, the descendent of the gods, erected the city".