Alexandria Books
-
W. W. Norton & Company (01 April 1999)Price: $12.21 -
Penguin (Non-Classics) (28 January 2003)Price: $10.40 -
Berkley Trade (01 January 1999)Price: $10.20 -
Little, Brown and Company (28 September 2009)Price: $17.81 -
Three Rivers Press (02 April 1996)Price: $13.57
Definition
It is said that Alexander personally created the plan for the city. After Alexander's death, Alexandria became the seat of power of Ptolemy I, one of Alexander's successors. The city developed to become one of the most important intellectual centers of the ancient world, famous for its library that was reputed to be the largest in the world.
The Ptolemaic dynasty ended in 30 BC, when Cleopatra VII died and the city was fully in the hands of the Roman Empire. The city's importance declined in the following centuries.
Articles
-
The Pharos at Alexandria was the last structure to be named on Antipater of Sidon's list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was constructed at the beginning of the 3rd century BC, begun by Ptolemy Soter, the ruler of the Egyptian region after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. It was impressive in its construction and scale, and legends claim that its light (a reflective mirror) was visible in the harbor from 35 miles away.
[Continue Reading...] -
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, as first recorded by Philo of Byzantium in 225 BCE in his work, `On The Seven Wonders’, were The Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt; The Hanging Gardens of Babylon; The Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Greece; The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus; The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus; The Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse at Alexandria, Egypt. Of these seven, only the Great Pyramid still stands today.
[Continue Reading...] -
Hypatia, the much loved pagan philosopher of Alexandria, Egypt, has long been acknowledged as the symbol of the passing of the old ways and the triumph of the new. Hypatia (370-415 CE, pronounced 'ip-uh-TEE-ya') was the daughter of Theon, the last professor of the Alexandrian University (associated closely with the famous Library of Alexandria). Theon was a brilliant mathematician who closely copied Euclid's Elements and the works of Ptolemy and, in the language of our day, home-schooled his daughter in mathematics and philosophy (Deakin). Hypatia helped her father in writing commentaries on these works and, in time, wrote her own works and lectured extensively, becoming a woman of note in a culture dominated by male writers and thinkers.
[Continue Reading...]
Illustrations
