Ancient era Radiocarbon dating of seashell fragments and lead contamination show human activity at the location during the period of the
Old Kingdom (27th–21st centuries BC) and again in the period 1000–800 BC, followed by the absence of activity after that. From ancient sources it is known there existed a trading post at this location during the time of
Rameses the Great for trade with
Crete, but it had long been lost by the time of Alexander's arrival. Ptolemy at first ruled from the old Egyptian capital of
Memphis. In 322/321 BC he had Cleomenes executed. Finally, in 305 BC, Ptolemy declared himself
Pharaoh as Ptolemy I Soter ("Savior") and moved his capital to Alexandria. Although Cleomenes was mainly in charge of overseeing Alexandria's early development, the and the mainland quarters seem to have been primarily
Ptolemaic work. Inheriting the trade of ruined
Tyre and becoming the centre of the new commerce between Europe and the
Arabian and Indian East, the city grew in less than a generation to be larger than
Carthage. In one century, Alexandria had become the largest city in the world and, for some centuries more, was second only to Rome. It became Egypt's main Greek city, with
Greek people from diverse backgrounds. The
Septuagint, a Greek version of the
Tanakh, was produced there. The early Ptolemies kept the city in order and fostered the development of its museum into the leading Hellenistic centre of learning (
Library of Alexandria, which faced destruction during
Caesar's
siege of Alexandria in 47 BC), but were careful to maintain the distinction of its population's three largest ethnicities: Greek,
Egyptian and Jewish. By the time of
Augustus, the city grid encompassed an area of , and the total population during the Roman
principate was around 500,000–600,000, which would wax and wane in the course of the next four centuries under Roman rule. According to
Philo of Alexandria, in the year 38 AD, disturbances erupted between Jews and Greek citizens of Alexandria during a visit paid by King
Agrippa I to Alexandria, principally over the respect paid by the Herodian nation to the
Roman emperor, which quickly escalated to open affronts and violence between the two ethnic groups and the desecration of Alexandrian synagogues. This event has been called the
Alexandrian pogroms. The violence was quelled after
Caligula intervened and had the Roman governor, Flaccus, removed from the city. on coins minted in Alexandria in the second century (1: reverse of a coin of
Antoninus Pius, and 2: reverse of a coin of
Commodus)In 115 AD, large parts of Alexandria were destroyed during the
Diaspora revolt, which gave
Hadrian and his architect,
Decriannus, an opportunity to rebuild it. In 215 AD, the emperor
Caracalla visited the city and, because of some insulting
satires that the inhabitants had directed at him, abruptly commanded his troops to put to death all youths capable of bearing arms. On 21 July 365 AD, Alexandria was devastated by a
tsunami (
365 Crete earthquake), an event annually commemorated years later as a "day of horror". Alexandria was an important city in the
early history of Christianity, and played a key role in the development of Christian theology.
Islamic era In 619, Alexandria
fell to the
Sassanid Persians. The city was mostly uninjured by the conquest and a new palace called
Tarawus was erected in the eastern part of the city, later known as Qasr Faris, "fort of the Persians". Although the
Byzantine emperor Heraclius recovered it in 629, in 641 the Arabs under the general
'Amr ibn al-'As invaded it during the
Muslim conquest of Egypt, after a
siege that lasted 14 months. The first Arab governor of Egypt recorded to have visited Alexandria was
Utba ibn Abi Sufyan, who strengthened the Arab presence and built a governor's palace in the city in 664–665. In reference to Alexandria,
Ibn Battuta speaks of a number of
Muslim saints that resided in the city. One such saint was Imam Borhan Oddin El Aaraj, who was said to perform miracles. Another notable figure was Yaqut al-'Arshi, a disciple of
Abu Abbas El Mursi. Ibn Battuta also writes about Abu 'Abdallah al-Murshidi, a saint that lived in the Minyat of Ibn Murshed. Although al-Murshidi lived in seclusion, Ibn Battuta writes that he was regularly visited by crowds, high state officials, and even by the Sultan of Egypt at the time,
al-Nasir Muhammad. Throughout the late medieval period, Alexandria re-emerged as a major metropolis and the most important commercial port in Egypt and one of the most important in the Mediterranean. The Jewish traveller
Benjamin of Tudela even described it as "a trading market for all nations". Indeed, Alexandria was the outlet for all goods coming from Arabia, such as
incense, and from India and South-East Asia, such as spices (pepper,
cloves,
cinnamon, etc.), precious stones, pearls and exotic woods like
brazilwood. But it was also the outlet for goods from Africa, such as ivory and precious woods. These goods arrived in Alexandria after passing through
Aden on their way to the
Red Sea, then headed up the Red Sea to be unloaded in the port of
Aydhab. From Aydhab, a caravan took the goods to the Nile, probably to the town of
Qus. From there, the goods sailed to Alexandria. These goods then found their way to the Alexandria market alongside Egyptian products. This route was the cheapest and fastest in comparison with the land routes that reached the Mediterranean from Syria or Constantinople. Latin merchants (
Venetians,
Genoese,
Pisans,
Catalans,
Provençals, etc.) thus entered this market. As early as the 12th century, the major trading cities had
funduqs and consuls in Alexandria. A funduq, in this context is an area, often fortified, within the city dedicated to the community of a trading nation under the authority of a consul. The consul was responsible for adjudicating disputes between merchants of his nation, and also when a subject of the sultan lodged a complaint against a merchant of their nation.The terms of this installation were often set out in treaties between the sultans and the consuls. These treaties were part of a policy pursued by the early Mamluk sultans, who encouraged the arrival of merchants from Europe in Alexandria, since this trade not only brought the sultan considerable revenue, but also enabled him to obtain supplies of wood and iron from Europe. Later, in the 14th century, the Latin trade in Alexandria was also important for the sultans, as it enabled them to obtain supplies of
mameluks (slave-soldiers) often sold by Genoese merchants. As this trade was very important to the sultans, they were keen to control the city's institutions. Indeed, in Alexandria, in addition to an
Emir (governor), the sultan sent a customs inspector who answered directly to the
nazir al-khas (person in charge of managing the sultan's patrimony). Customs was not only responsible for collecting customs duties, but also for the security of the port and its warehouses. Alexandria customs also played a role in commercial arbitration and was the preferred circuit for the sale of products brought in by the merchants, which took place at auction. These sales were set up to encourage the merchants to sell their products to or through the sultan, rather than selling them freely on the city's markets. Latin merchants also had jurisdictional privileges : in addition to being judged by their consul if a subject of the sultan lodged a complaint against them, Latin merchants could not be judged by the
qadis (civil judges) but had to be judged by the
mazalim (the sultan's courts).Alexandria lost much of its importance in international trade after
Portuguese navigators discovered a new sea route to
India in the late 15th century. This reduced the amount of goods that needed to be transported through the Alexandrian port, as well as the Mamluks' political power. After the
Battle of Ridaniya in 1517, the city was conquered by the
Ottoman Turks and remained under
Ottoman rule until 1798. Alexandria lost much of its former importance to the Egyptian port city of
Rosetta during the 9th to 18th centuries, and it only regained its former prominence with the construction of the
Mahmoudiyah Canal in 1820. Alexandria figured prominently in the military operations of
Napoleon's
expedition to Egypt in 1798. French troops stormed the city on 2 July 1798, and it remained in their hands until the arrival of a British expedition in 1801. The British won a considerable victory over the French at the
Battle of Alexandria on 21 March 1801, following which they
besieged the city, which fell to them on 2 September 1801.
Muhammad Ali, the Ottoman governor of Egypt, began rebuilding and redevelopment around 1810 and, by 1850, Alexandria had returned to something akin to its former glory. Egypt turned to Europe in their effort to modernise the country. Greeks, followed by other Europeans and others, began moving to the city. In the early 20th century, the city became a home for novelists and poets. In July 1954, the city was a target of an Israeli bombing campaign that later became known as the
Lavon Affair. On 26 October 1954, Alexandria's Mansheya Square was the site of a failed assassination attempt on
Gamal Abdel Nasser. Europeans began leaving Alexandria following the 1956
Suez Crisis that led to an outburst of
Arab nationalism. The nationalisation of property by Nasser, which reached its highest point in 1961, drove out nearly all the rest. ==Geography==