-Alexander
the Great
-founded 331
The City of Alexandria
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Good anchorage
Healthy climate
Fresh water
Nearby limestone
quarries
Alexandria was intended to be a center
of trade and learning!
Ptolemy- his dynasty
ruled Alexandria for
300 years
Importance as a
Center of Trade
-as big as Rome (1,000,000)
meeting place of trade routes
Offered:
-safe harbors
-dockworkers to
handle cargo
-warehouses to
store goods
-busy market to
sell goods
Imports and Exports
Imports
• Luxury Goods
(bronze statues,
fine wine)
• Raw materials
(wood, marble)
Exports
• Wheat
• Papyrus
• Glassware
-Pharus- both island and lighthouse
-440 feet tall
-3 tiers, faced with marble
-light could be seen 70 miles away
Great Harborin front of
city
Western
Harbor- in
front of city
Lake Harborbehind the
city
Lake Harborconnected by canals
to Nile River, Red
Sea, and eastern
trade routes
-Alexandria- built on a
grid system
Canopus Street- more
than 100 feet wide
Royal Quarterarea with palaces,
temples,
gov’t buildings
Cleopatra
Caesareumshrine/
temple
Marc Antony
Augustus
Cleopatra’s Needles
-obelisks erected in 1500 BC by Pharoah Thutmosis III
-brought to Alexandria from Heliopolis by Cleopatra
-one given to Britain in 1819- banks of Thames in London
-one given to America in 1881- Central Park, NY
Alexandria- center of education and study
Museum- University with largest library
Located in the Royal
Quarter
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Mathematics
Astronomy
Anatomy
Geography
Literature
Languages
• Mapping techniques
improved
• Euclid wrote famous
geometry textbook The
Elements
• Aristarchus- theorized
that the Earth revolved
around the sun
Problems in Alexandria
• Many ethnic groups
(Egyptians, Jews,
Romans, Africans,
Indians, Greeks)
• Greeks- most powerful
– Planned and built city
– Greek was official
language
– Greeks had great wealth
and special privileges
• RESULTS
– Frequent riots, jealously
between ethnic groups
– the Romans kept close
watch on the provincemanaged directly by the
emperor
– Rome needed to ensure
a steady supply of grain
travelled from Egypt to
Italy