Alexandria, city, Egypt
Alexandria, Arabic Al Iskandariyah, city (1996 pop. 3,328,196), N Egypt, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is at the western extremity of the Nile River delta, situated on a narrow isthmus between the sea and Lake Mareotis (Maryut). The city is Egypt's leading port, a commercial and transportation center, and the heart of a major industrial area where refined petroleum, asphalt, cotton textiles, processed food, paper, and plastics are produced. The Univ. of Alexandria; the Institute of Alexandria, an affiliate of Al Azhar Univ. in Cairo; a college of nursing; and medical and textile research centers are in the city, which is also the Middle East headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO). The Greco-Roman Museum in Alexandria houses a vast collection of Coptic, Roman, and Greek art. The striking Bibliotheca Alexandrina contains library, museum, planetarium, and conference facilities.Much of ancient Alexandria is covered by modern buildings or is underwater; only a few landmarks are readily accessible, including ruins of the emporium and the Serapeum and a granite shaft (88 ft/27 m high) called Pompey's Pillar. Nothing remains of the lighthouse on the Pharos Pharos , peninsula, extending into the Mediterranean Sea, N Egypt, NE Africa, forming two harbors at Alexandria. Originally an island, it was joined to the mainland by a mole, constructed by order of Alexander the Great.
..... Click the link for more information. (3d cent. B.C.), which was one of the Seven Wonders of the World Seven Wonders of the World, in ancient classifications, were the Great Pyramid of Khufu (see pyramid) or all the pyramids with or without the sphinx; the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, with or without the walls; the mausoleum at Halicarnassus; the Artemision at Ephesus;
..... Click the link for more information. , and the site of the royal palace lies under the older (east) harbor.
History
Alexandria, founded in 332 B.C. by Alexander the Great, was (304–30 B.C.) the capital of the Ptolemies. The city took over the trade of Tyre Tyre , ancient city of Phoenicia, S of Sidon. It is the present-day Sur in Lebanon, a small town on a peninsula jutting into the Mediterranean from the mainland of Syria S of Beirut.
..... Click the link for more information. (sacked by Alexander the Great), outgrew Carthage Carthage , ancient city, on the northern shore of Africa, on a peninsula in the Bay of Tunis and near modern Tunis. The Latin name, Carthago or Cartago, was derived from the Phoenician name, which meant "new city.
..... Click the link for more information. by c.250 B.C., and became the largest city in the Mediterranean basin. It was the greatest center of Hellenistic civilization Hellenistic civilization. The conquests of Alexander the Great spread Hellenism immediately over the Middle East and far into Asia. After his death in 323 B.C., the influence of Greek civilization continued to expand over the Mediterranean world and W Asia.
..... Click the link for more information. and Jewish culture. The Septuagint Septuagint [Lat.,=70], oldest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible made by Hellenistic Jews, possibly from Alexandria, c.250 B.C. Legend, according to the fictional letter of Aristeas, records that it was done in 72 days by 72 translators for Ptolemy
..... Click the link for more information. , a translation of the Old Testament into Greek, was prepared there. Alexandria had two celebrated royal libraries, one in a temple of Zeus and the other in a museum. The collections were said to contain c.700,000 rolls. A great university grew around the museum and attracted many scholars, including Aristarchus of Samothrace Aristarchus of Samothrace , c.217–c.145 B.C., Greek scholar, successor to his teacher, Aristophanes of Byzantium, as librarian at Alexandria. He was an innovator of scientific scholarship, and his critical revision of Homer is responsible for the excellent
..... Click the link for more information. , the collator of the Homeric texts; Euclid Euclid , fl. 300 B.C., Greek mathematician. Little is known of his life other than the fact that he taught at Alexandria, being associated with the school that grew up there in the late 4th cent. B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. , the mathematician; and Herophilus Herophilus , fl. 300 B.C., Greek anatomist, called by some the father of scientific anatomy. A contemporary of Erasistratus at Alexandria, he made public dissections, comparing human and animal morphology.
..... Click the link for more information. , the anatomist, who founded a medical school there.
Julius Caesar Caesar, Julius (Caius Julius Caesar), 100? B.C.–44 B.C., Roman statesman and general.
Rise to Power
Although he was born into the Julian gens, one of the oldest patrician families in Rome, Caesar was always a member of the democratic or
..... Click the link for more information. temporarily occupied (47 B.C.) the city while pursuing Pompey, and Octavian (later Augustus) entered it (30 B.C.) after the suicide of Antony and Cleopatra. Alexandria formally became part of the Roman Empire in 30 B.C. It was the greatest of the Roman provincial capitals, with a population of about 300,000 free persons and numerous slaves. In the later centuries of Roman rule and under the Byzantine Empire, Alexandria rivaled Rome and Constantinople as a center of Christian learning. It was (and remains today) the seat of a patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
The libraries, however, were gradually destroyed from the time of Caesar's invasion, and suffered especially in A.D. 391, when Theodosius I Theodosius I or Theodosius the Great, 346?–395, Roman emperor of the East (379–95) and emperor of the West (394–95), son of Theodosius, the general of Valentinian I.
..... Click the link for more information. had pagan temples and other structures razed. When the Muslim Arabs took Alexandria in 642, its prosperity had withered, largely because of a decline in shipping, but the city still had about 300,000 inhabitants. The Arabs moved the capital of Egypt to Cairo Cairo , Arab. Al Qahirah, city (1996 pop. 6,789,479), capital of Egypt and the Cairo governorate, NE Egypt, a port on the Nile River near the head of its delta, at the boundary of ancient Upper and Lower Egypt.
..... Click the link for more information. in 969 and Alexandria's decline continued, accelerating in the 14th cent., when the canal to the Nile silted up.
During his Egyptian campaign, Napoleon I Napoleon I , 1769–1821, emperor of the French, b. Ajaccio, Corsica, known as "the Little Corporal."
Early Life
The son of Carlo and Letizia Bonaparte (or Buonaparte; see under Bonaparte, family), young Napoleon was sent (1779) to French
..... Click the link for more information. took the city in 1798, but it fell to the British in 1801. At that time Alexandria's population was only about 4,000. The city gradually regained importance after 1819, when the Mahmudiyah Canal to the Nile was completed by Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali, 1769?–1849, pasha of Egypt after 1805. He was a common soldier who rose to leadership by his military skill and political acumen. In 1799 he commanded a Turkish army in an unsuccessful attempt to drive Napoleon from Egypt.
..... Click the link for more information. , who developed Alexandria as a deepwater port and a naval station.
During the 19th cent. many foreigners settled in Alexandria, and in 1907 they made up about 25% of the population. In 1882, during a nationalist uprising in Egypt spearheaded by Arabi Pasha, there were antiforeign riots in Alexandria, which was subsequently bombarded by the British. During World War II, as the chief Allied naval base in the E Mediterranean, Alexandria was bombed by the Germans. In a 1944 meeting in Alexandria, plans for the Arab League Arab League, popular name for the League of Arab States, formed in 1945 in an attempt to give political expression to the Arab nations.
..... Click the link for more information. were drawn up. The city's foreign population declined during the 20th cent., particularly after the 1952 Egyptian revolution.
Alexandria, cities, United States
Alexandria.1 City (1990 pop. 49,188), seat of Rapides parish, central La., on the Red River; inc. 1818. It is a trade, rail, and medical center for a rich agricultural and timber area. Among its many manufactures are fabricated metals, wood panels, adhesives, and fishing lures. During the Civil War the city was burned (May, 1864) by federal troops. Alexandria is the headquarters for Kisatchie National Forest and the seat of a branch of Louisiana State Univ. Louisiana College is in the neighboring twin city of Pineville.
2 City (1990 pop. 111,183), independent and in no county, N Va., a port of entry on the Potomac; patented 1657, permanently settled 1730s, inc. 1779. Primarily a residential suburb of Washington, D.C., it also has extensive railroad yards and repair shops, a deepwater port, and varied industry (printing and publishing, fiber optics research, and machinery and computer-hardware manufacturing). A number of U.S. government buildings and scientific and engineering research firms are there; Crystal City and Pentagon City are vast office developments. George Washington helped lay out the streets in 1749. The city was part of the District of Columbia from 1789 to 1846. In May, 1861, it was occupied by federal troops; it was cut off from the rest of the South throughout the Civil War. Its many historic buildings include Gadsby's Tavern (1752), frequented by Washington; Carlyle House (1752), where Washington received his commission as major; Christ Church (1767–73), where Washington, and later Robert E. Lee, worshiped; and Ramsey House (1749–51). The George Washington Masonic National Memorial Temple (1923–32), modeled after the ancient lighthouse at Alexandria, Egypt, houses Washington mementos. The Alexandria Gazette, among the nation's oldest daily newspapers, was first printed in 1784. Nearby are Mount Vernon Mount Vernon, NE Va., overlooking the Potomac River near Alexandria, S of Washington, D.C.; home of George Washington from 1747 until his death in 1799. The land was patented in 1674, and the house was built in 1743 by Lawrence Washington, George Washington's half
..... Click the link for more information. ; Woodlawn, one of the Washington family estates; an Episcopal seminary (1823); Fort Belvoir; and the U.S. Army Engineer Center, with an engineering school and research and development laboratories.
Alexandria
Arabic Al-IskandariyahCity (metro. area pop., 2004 est.: 3,755,900) and chief seaport, northern Egypt. It lies on a strip of land between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mareotis. The ancient island of Pharos, whose lighthouse was one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is now a peninsula connected to the mainland. Alexandria's modern harbour is west of the peninsula. The city was founded in 332 BC by Alexander the Great and was noted as a centre of Hellenistic culture. Its library (destroyed early centuries AD) was the greatest in ancient times; a new library was opened in 2002. The city was captured by the Arabs in AD 642 and by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. After a long period of decline, caused by the rise of Cairo, Alexandria was revived commercially when Muhammad 'Ali joined it by a canal to the Nile River in the early 19th century. Modern Alexandria is a thriving commercial community; cotton is its chief export, and important oil fields lie nearby. Other cultural institutions include the Museum of Alexandria.
Alexandria
City (pop., 2000: 128,283), northern Virginia, U.S., on the Potomac River. The site was settled in the late 17th century, and in 1749 it was named for John Alexander, the land's original grantee. It was part of Washington, D.C., from 1801 to 1847, after which it was ceded back to Virginia. Many colonial buildings survive in Alexandria's Old Town; George Washington's estate, Mount Vernon, is nearby.
Alexandria
Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone: (703) 838-4500
Fax: (703) 838-6433
ci.alexandria.va.us
On the Potomac River, immediately south of Washington, D.C. Established 1749; incorporated as a town in 1779; as a city in 1852. Name Origin: For colonial settler John Alexander, who came to the area in 1669. Formerly known as Hunting Creek Warehouse and Belhaven.
Area (sq mi): 15.41 (land 15.18; water 0.23). Pop per sq mi: 8915.50.
Pop 2005: 135,337. State rank: 13. Pop change: 2000-20005 5.50%; 1990-2000 15.40%. Pop 2000: 128,283 (White 53.70%; Black or African American 22.50%; Hispanic or Latino 14.70%; Asian 5.70%; Other 12.10%). Foreign born: 25.40%. Median age: 34.40.
Income 2000: per capita $37,645; median household $56,054; Pop below poverty level: 8.90%. *Personal per capita income 2000-2003: $48,106-$55,690.
Unemployment 2004: 2.90%. Change from 2000: 0.10%. Median travel time to work: 29.70 minutes. Working outside county of residence: 74.80%.
Cities with population over 10,000:
 (128,206) |
See other counties in Virginia.
Alexandria
(Arabic Al-Iskandariyah), a city in the north of the Arab Republic of Egypt, the administrative center of the Alexandria governorate. Located on the Mediterranean Sea in the western part of the Nile Delta, Alexandria is second only to Cairo in population—1.8 million in 1966—and economic importance. The city, an important transportation and trade center, is Egypt’s chief seaport; it is open to ocean navigation and is linked with the Nile by the Mahmudiya Canal. The port’s navigation turnover is one of the biggest, and its equipment is among the best on the Mediterranean: it handles approximately 80 percent of the UAR’s foreign trade shipments, chiefly cotton. Alexandria is also a railroad and highway center. Its enterprises include shipbuilding, ship repair, machine building, metalworking, petroleum, chemical, cement, and textile industries, and a variety of artisan crafts.
Alexandria, founded between 332 and 331 B.C. by Alexander the Great, was the capital of Egypt and the center of Hellenic civilization under the Ptolemies from 305 to 30 B.C. The Alexandria Mouseion and the Alexandria Library were located in the city. It remained an important cultural and economic center under the Roman Empire, from 30 B.C., and under the Byzantine Empire, beginning with the fourth century A.D. In the first century it was the second largest city in the ancient world after Rome, with a population of about 1 million. Alexandria was one of the major centers of early Christianity. Conquered by the Arabs in the seventh century, it began to decline after the founding of Cairo in 969. The city underwent large-scale destruction at the time of the Turkish conquest of Egypt in 1517 but began to revive in the 19th century. A shipyard and the Mahmudiya Canal were built under Mehemet Ali. In 1856 a railroad linked Alexandria with Cairo. The city was brutally bombarded by British ships during the Anglo-Egyptian war of 1882, and after the British occupation of Egypt that year, it became a colonial port from which Britain exported Egyptian cotton. Foreign banks, companies, and agencies were built in Alexandria, and the port was used by British ships for moorings. The city later became a center of the national liberation movement in Egypt; there were demonstrations in 1919–21, 1923–24, 1927, 1930, 1945–48, and 1950–51.
Ancient Alexandria had been built according to a plan drawn up by the Greek architect Dinocrates in the fourth century B.C. Pompey’s Pillar, also called Diocletian’s Pillar, necropolises, and catacombs have been preserved. The island of Pharos, which is linked by a mole to Alexandria, was the site of the famous lighthouse that was considered one of the seven wonders of the world. The Qait Bey fortress, which forms part of the Arab fortifications, now stands there.
Modern Alexandria is composed of the old section with narrow streets and squalid housing and the new section with broad paved avenues, a beautiful embankment, well-appointed private homes, and modern high-rise buildings, including the port terminal, decorated with mosaics and reliefs. There are many mosques in the city. The major palaces, now museums, are the Ras al-Tin, early 19th century; the Montaza, with a large park, early 20th century; and Mehemet Ali’s palace, 20th century. An equestrian statue of Mehemet Ali, done by the French sculptor A. Jacquemart in the second half of the 19th century, stands in al-Tahrir, the central square of the city. Alexandria has a university, five museums exhibiting Greco-Roman antiquities and fine arts, and a national library.
REFERENCE
Forster, E. M. Alexandria: A History and a Guide, 3rd ed. New York, 1961.Alexandria
a city in southern Rumania on the Vedea River. It is the administrative center of Teleorman Province. Population in 1966, 22,000. A transportation center, Alexandria is also the site of flour milling, metalworking, and woodworking industries. Initial processing of flax and hemp is done there.
Alexandria
a story about Alexander the Great that appeared between the second and third centuries A. D. in Greek and was groundlessly attributed to Callisthenes, a contemporary of Alexander the Great. It served as a source for medieval poems and knightly romances about Alexander the Great. It came to Russia not later than the 12th century and spread in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries as the Serbian Alexandria.
REFERENCES
Aleksandria, roman ob Aleksandre Makedonskom po russkoi rukopisi XV v. [Text and translation.] Moscow-Leningrad, 1965.Bertel’s, E. E. Roman ob Aleksandre i ego glavnye versii na Vostoke. Moscow-Leningrad, 1948.
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