ALEXANDRIA

Arabic AL-ISKANDARIYAH, city in Egypt the country's chief seaport and the

Center of a major industrial region. It was the capital of Egypt after its

Founding by Alexander the Great IN 332 BC and in antiquity was a center of

Hellenic scholarship and science.

Alexandria is located on the Mediterranean Sea at the western edge of the

Nile Delta, 129 mi (208 km) northwest of Cairo. It is built on a strip of land

Separating a low salt lake (Maryut or Mareotis) from the sea and on a

T-shaped promontory extending into the Mediterranean. The stem of the T was

Originally a mole leading to the island of Pharos, but over time it was

Widened by silt to become an isthmus forming two harbors-the old harbor on

The east and the modern harbor on the west. Alexandria has a Mediterranean

Climate with occasional heavy storms in the winter. The city, together with

Its agricultural hinterland constitutes a muhafazah or governorate.

The inhabitants of Alexandria are mostly occupied in the trade of

Merchandise, harbourwork, industries, shipping, and fishing. Industries produce

Cotton textiles, paper, chocolate, processed foods, asphalt and oil. Cotton is

The most valuable export followed by cereals and vegitables, imports include

Tea, coffee, timber, raw wool and machinery.

(Egyptian),Region Judaeorum (Jewish),and Pharos.on the eastern tip of Pharos

once stood the great lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Midan

et-Tahrir (Liberation Square, formerly Muhammad Aly Square) serves as the

Focal point of the modern city. Though little of the early city

remains, Pompey's Pillar and the Hadrianic catacombs of Kawm ash-Shuqafah are

two of the surviving structures. The famed Alexandrian libraries have long

been destroyed. Educational institutions include the University of

Alexandria(1942) and Muassah Hospital and College of Nursing. Other

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PHOTOS OF OLD ALEXANDRIA

institutions in the city include the Library of the Greek Orthodox

Patriarchate of Alexandria and the Greco-Roman Museum.

A beach-lined road ,al-Jaysh(Army)street runs for about 15mi along the

coast. Alexandria is headquarters for the development of the Nile Delta and

has extensive rail, road and air service. The port is well developed, with vast

networks of breakwaters, quays and wharves.

LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA

The most famous library of classical antiquity. The great research

institute of the Alexandrian museum and library was founded and maintained by

the long succession of the Ptolemies in Egypt from the beginning of the 3rd

century BC. The initial organization was the work of Demetrius Phalereus who

was familiar with the achievements of the library at Athens. Both museum and

library were organized in faculties with a president-priest at the head, and

the salaries of the staff paid by the King. A subsidiary” daughter library” was

established,235 BC, by Ptolemy III in the temple of sarapis the main museum

and library being in the palace precincts, in the district known as the

Brucheium. It is not known how far the idea of an international

library-incorporating not only all Greek literature but also translations

into Greek from the other languages of the Mediterranian, the Middle

East, and India was realized.

The library's editorial program included the establishment of the

Alexandrian canon of Greek poets, the division of works into "books" as they

are now known (probably to suit the standard length of rolls),and the

gradual introduction of systems of punctuation and accentuation. The

compilation of a national bibliography was entrusted to Callimachus. Though

now lost, it survived into the Byzantine period as a standard reference work

of Greek literature. The museum and library survived for many centuries but

were destroyed in the civil war that occurred under Aurelian in the late 3rd

century AD; the"daughter library” was destroyed by the Christians in AD 391.

SYNOD OF ALEXANDRIA (AD362)

A meeting of Christian bishops held in Alexandria, summoned by the bishop of

Alexandria, Athanaius.It allowed clergy that were readmitted to communion

after making common cause with Arians to return to their former

ecclesiastical status, provided they had not themselves subscribed to

Aryanism. The synod stated explicitly that Holy Spirit, not a created being, is

of the same substance as the Father and the Son, and it clearly defined the

Christological terms Person and substance.

ALEXANDRIA MUNICIPAL MUSEUM

Museum of Greek and Roman antiquities founded in 1892 and housed in

Alexandria, Egypt in a Greek revival building opened in 1895.The museum

contains material found in Alexandria itself as well as Ptolemaic and Roman

objects from the Nile Delta, the Fayyum of Upper Egypt, and Middle Egypt, and

antiquities from the Pharaonic period from the Alexandria area and the

delta. Among the objects in the collection is a cast of the Rosetta stone

(the original was removed to the British Museum) and fine pieces of

Hellenistic sculpture, including a large attic funerary stele of the late 4th

century BC. There is a colossal porphyry statue representing an emperor or

Jesus Christ, found outside the Attarin Mosque, Alexandria and believed to be

the largest example known in that material. Among many other objects in the

collection are terracottas ,Tanagra figurines, capitals, pottery and silver

objects, and coins.

ALEXANDRIA RITE

The system of liturgical practices discipline found among Egyptians and

Ethiopians of both the Eastern rite Catholic and independent Christian

churches.

The Alexandrian rite is historically associated with St Mark the

Evangelist, who traveled to Alexandria, the Greek-speaking capital of the

diocese of Egypt and the cultural center of the Eastern

Roman Empire.

The liturgy of the modern Coptic Catholic Church developed from the

Byzantine liturgy attributed to St John chrysostom,as modified by Syrian and

other influences. The service book is written in Coptic, with the Arabic

running unparallel columns, though readings from the Apostles and the Gospels

are in Arabic

The Ethiopian Catholic liturgy was derived from the Coptic and is in the

classical Ethiopic Ge'ez language. The liturgy and Scriptures have been

Translated into Amharic, the modern official Ethiopia language.