alexandria Summary and Overview

the ancient metropolis of Lower Egypt, so called from its founder, Alexander the Great (about B.C. 333). It was for a long period the greatest of existing cities, for both Nineveh and Babylon had been destroyed, and Rome had not yet risen to greatness. It was the residence of the kings of Egypt for 200 years. It is not mentioned in the Old Testament, and only incidentally in the New. Apollos, eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures, was a native of this city (Acts 18:24). Many Jews from Alexandria were in Jerusalem, where they had a synagogue (Acts 6:9), at the time of Stephen's martyrdom. At one time it is said that as many as 10,000 Jews resided in this city. It possessed a famous library of 700,000 volumes, which was burned by the Saracens (A.D. 642). It was here that the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek. This is called the Septuagint version, from the tradition that seventy learned men were engaged in executing it. It was, however, not all translated at one time. It was begun B.C. 280, and finished about B.C. 200 or 150. (See VERSION T0003768.)

(from Alexander), 3 Ma 3:1; #Ac 18:24; 6:9| the Hellenic, Roman and Christian capital of Egypt. Situation.-- (Alexandria was situated on the Mediterranean Sea directly opposite the island of Pharos, 12 miles west of the Canopic branch of the Nile and 120 miles from the present city of Cairo.) It was founded by Alexander the Great, B.C. 332, who himself traced the ground plan of the city. The work thus begun was continued after the death of Alexander by the Ptolemies. Description.-- Under the despotism of the later Ptolemies the trade of Alexandria declined, but its population and wealth were enormous. Its importance as one of the chief corn-ports of Rome secured for it the general favor of the first emperors. Its population was mixed from the first. According to Josephus Alexander himself assigned to the Jews a place in his new city. Philo estimated the number of the Alexandrine Jews in his time at a little less than 1,000,000 and adds that two of the five districts of Alexandria were called "Jewish districts," and that many Jews lived scattered in the remaining three. "For a long period Alexandria was the greatest of known cities." After Rome became the chief city of the world, Alexandria ranked second to Rome in wealth and importance, and second to Athens only in literature and science. Its collection of books grew to be the greatest library of ancient times, and contained at one time 700,000 rolls or volumes. Here was made the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament into Greek, begun about B.C. 285, especially in grain, was very great. According to the common legend, St. Mark first "preached the gospel in Egypt, and founded the first church in Alexandria." At the beginning of the second century the number of Christians at Alexandria must have been very large, and the great leaders of Gnosticism who arose there (Basilides, Valentinus) exhibit an exaggeration of the tendency of the Church. PRESENT CONDITION. The city still bears the same name and is a thriving metropolis, with inhabitants from nearly every European and Oriental nation. Cleopatra's needle, set up by Thotmes in 1500 B.C., was found in Alexandria.

ALEXAN'DRIA ,the Grecian capital of Egypt, founded by and named after Alexander the Great, b.c. 332. Situation. -- It was a noted seaport of Lower Egypt, and was situated on a low, narrow tract of land which divides Lake Mareotis from the Mediterranean, and near the western mouth of the Nile, about 120 miles from the present city of Cairo. History. -- Soon after its foundation by Alexander it became the capital of the Ptolemies and the Grecian kings reigning in Egypt, and one of the most populous and prosperous cities of the East. Its harbor could accommodate vast navies, fitting it to become the commercial metropolis of the entire Eastern world. In front of the city, on the island of Pharos, stood a famous light-house, named after the island and noted as one of the Seven wonders of the world. Alexandria numbered, in the days of its ancient prosperity, 600,000 inhabitants (half of them slaves), and ranked next to Athens in literature. It had the greatest library of ancient times, which contained upward of 700,000 rolls or volumes. The portion in the museum, consisting of 400,000 volumes, was burnt in b.c. 47. The additional or "new library" in the Serapeum, afterward increased to about 500,000 volumes, including the original 300,000 volumes, was destroyed by the fanatical vandalism of the Saracens in a.d. 640. At Alexandria the O. T. was translated into the Greek by seventy learned Jews (hence called the "Septuagint"), in the third century before the Christian era. The Alexandrian Greek dialect, known as Hellenistic Greek, was the language used by the early Christian fathers, and is still the study of the biblical scholar in the pages of the N. T. Alexandria was the birthplace of Apollos, Acts 18:24, and in the apostle Paul's time, it carried on an extensive commerce with the countries on the Mediterranean. Acts 6:9; Acts 27:6; Acts 28:11. The city was the home of Philo, who there blended the Mosaic religion with the philosophy of Plato. Mark founded there a Christian church, which in later years became a patriarchal see, outranking Jerusalem and Antioch, being itself afterward outranked by Constantinople and Rome. In its catechetical school -- the theological seminary of those days -- Clement and Origen taught the Christian religion, in opposition to the false philosophy of the Gnostic sects. In Alexandria originated the Arian heresy denying that Jesus Christ was divine, and there Athanasius, the "father of orthodoxy," firmly opposed the false and defended the true doctrine of the deity of our Lord. From a.d. 300 to 600 the city was second only to Rome in size and importance, and was the chief seat of Christian theology. It was conquered by the Saracens under Caliph Omar about a.d. 610, when it began to decline. The rising importance of Constantinople, and the discovery of an ocean passage to India by way of Cape Good Hope, contributed to its further ruin, until it was reduced from a prosperous city of half a million to a poor village of only 5000 to 6000 inhabitants. The plan of Alexandria on the next page is taken from Fairbairn's Imperial Dictionary of the Bible. Present Condition. -- It is now an important city of 200,000 inhabitants (including 50,000 Franks), and is connected with Cairo by a railway, and also with Suez, on the Red Sea. The city has a new artificial harbor with a breakwater two miles long. Among the ancient monuments to be seen are the Catacombs, the Column of Diocletian, 94 feet high and named "Pompey's Pillar" -- not from the famous Pompey, but from a Roman prefect who erected the column in honor of the emperor Diocletian -- and one of the two obelisks or "Needles of Cleopatra," which, however, belong to the time of the Pharaohs and were brought from Heliopolis. One was transferred to London in 1878, and now adorns the embankment of the Thames; the other is to be removed to the city of New York (1880).

Founded by Alexander the Great, 332 B.C., successively the Greek, Roman, and Christian capital of Lower Egypt. Its harbors, formed by the island Pharos and the headland Lochias, were suitable alike for commerce and war. It was a chief grain port of Rome, and the grain vessels were large and handsome; usually sailing direct to Puteoli, but from severity of weather at times, as the vessel that carried Paul, sailing under the coast of Asia Minor (Acts 27). At Myra in Lycia (Acts 27:5) the centurion found this Alexandrian. ship bound for Italy; in Acts 27:10 Paul speaks of the "lading," without stating what it was; but in Acts 27:38 it comes out casually. The tackling had been thrown out long before, but the cargo was kept until it could be kept no longer, and then first we learn it was wheat, the very freight which an Alexandrian vessel usually (as we know from secular authors) carried to Rome: an undesigned propriety, and so a mark of truth. The population of Alexandria had three prominent elements, Jews, Greeks, Egyptians. The Jews enjoyed equal privileges with the Macedonians, so that they became fixed there, and while regarding Jerusalem as "the holy city," the metropolis of the Jews throughout the world, and having a synagogue there (Acts 6:9), they had their own Greek version of the Old Testament. the Septuagint, and their own temple at Leontopolis. At Alexandia the Hebrew divine Old Testament revelation was brought into contact with Grecian philosophy. Philo's doctrine of the word prepared men for receiving the teaching of John 1 as to the Word, the Son of God, distinct in one sense yet one with God; and his allegorizing prepared the way for appreciating similar teachings in the inspired writings (e.g. Galatians 4:22-31; Hebrew 7). Hence Apollos, born at Alexandia, eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures, being instructed in the way of the Lord and fervent in the spirit, taught diligently (Greek accurately) the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John (Acts 18:25); i.e., his Alexandrine education would familiarize him with Philo's idea of the word as the mediating instrument of creation and providence; and John the Baptist's inspired announcement of the personal Messiah would enable him to "teach accurately the things of the Lord" up to that point, when Aquila's and Priscilla's teaching more perfectly informed him of the whole accomplished Christian way of salvation. Mark is said to have been the first who preached and founded a Christian church in Alexandia. Various forms of Gnostic and Arian error subsequently arose there. (See ALLEGORY.)