tbt Bodera EtSkamderiMh), the Hellenic capital of EB^wMfiBondedby Akzander the Great in B.C. |
iii. 1, p. 166; Q. Curt. iv. 8. § 2.) On his voyage ^*^'^^ f ,7 . firom Memphis to Canobus he was struck by the/ ^^^ ' AtV" natural advantagea of the little town of Rhacdtis, on the north-eastern angle of the Lake Mareotis. The harbour of Rhacdtis, with the adjacent island of Pharos, had been fiom very remote ages (Horn. Od, iv. 355) the resort of Greek and Phoenician sea-rovers, uid in the former place the Pharaohs kept a permanent garrison, to prevent foreigners entering their dominions by any other approach than the city of Naucratis and the Canobic branch of the Nile. At Bhac6tiB Alesumdor determined to construct the future capital of his western conquests. His archi- tect Deinocrates was instructed to survey the harbour, and to draw out a plan of a military and commercial metropoliB of the first rank. (Vitruv. ii. j>rooem.; Solin.c.32; Amm.MarcxziL40; Va].Maz.i.4.§l.) The ground-plan was traced by Alexander himself; the building was commenced immediately, but the city was not completed until the reign of the second monarch of the Lagid line, Ptolemy Phiiadelphus. It continued to receive embellishment and extension from nearly every monarch of that dynasty. The plan of Deinocrates was carried out by another architect, named Cleomenes, of Naucratis. (Justin. xiiL 4. § 1 .) Ancient writers (Strab. p. 791, seq.; Pint. Akx^ 26; Plin. v. 10. s. 11) compare the general form of Alexandreia to the cloak (chhunys) worn by the Macedonian cavalry. It was of an (^long figure, rounded at the SE. and SW. extremities. Its length from R to W. was nearly 4 miks; its breadth from S. to N. nearly a mile, and its circumference, ac- cording to Plby (/L e.) was about 15 miles. The interior was laid out in parallelograms : the streets crossed one another at right angles, and were all wide enough to admit of both wheel carriages and foot-passengers. Two grand thoroughfares nearly bisected the 6!ij, They ran in straight lines to its four prindpel gates, and each was a plethrum, or about 200 fleet wide. The longest, 40 stadia in length, ran fiiom the CanoUo gate to that of the Necropolis (£. — ^W.): the shorter, 7 — 8 stadia in length, extended from the Gate of the Sun to the Gate of the Mo(m (S. — N.). On its northern side Alexandreia was bounded by the sea, sometimes de- nominated the Egyptian Soi: on the south by the Lake of Marea or Mareotis; to the west were the Necropolis and its numerous gardens; to the east the Eleusinian road and the Great Hippodrome. The tongue of land jipon which Alexandreia stood was singularly adapted to a commercial city. The island of Pharos broke the force of the north wind, and of the occasional high floods of the Mediterranean. The headland of Lochias sheltered its harbours to tiie east; the Lake Mareotis was both a wet-dock and the general havoti of the inland navigation of the Nile- valley, whether direct from Syene, or by the royal canal from ArsinoS on the Red Sea, whilo various other canals connected the lake with the Deltaic branches of the river. The springs of Rha- cotis were few and brackish; but an aqueduct con- veyed the Nile water into the southern section of the city, and tanks, many of which are still in use, dis- tributed fresh water to both public and private edi- fices. (Hirtins, B. Akx. c. 5.) The soil, partly sandy and partly calcareous, rendered drainaf:e nearly superfluous. The fogs which periodically linger on the shores of Cyrene and Egypt were dis- persed by the north winds which, in the summer season, ventilate the Delta; whilo the ralubrious |
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