Al Iskandarīyah
Details
- Names
Al Iskandarīyah
Al-Iskandariyah
El Iskandariya
اسكندريه
Alexandrie
Alejandría
Αλεξάνδρεια
Alexándria
Ἀλεξάνδρεια ἡ κατ' Αἴγυπτον
Alexandreia e kat Aigypton
Alexandria
Alexandrea
Alessandria
Alessandria d'Egitto
Al-Iskandarīyah
El Iskandarīya
Iskindirîya
الإسكندرية
Alexandria Ad Aegyptum
Alexandria Aegypti
Rhakotis
- Place Type
- inhabited place
- Description
- The city is located on a narrow strip of land between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mariut; it is now partially submerged. It was the center of Hellenic scholarship and science in antiquity. It was built by the Greek architect Dinocrates for Alexander the Great. It was the renowned capital of the Ptolemies when they ruled Egypt. It was noted for its library and a great lighthouse on the island of Pharos. It was captured by Caesar in 48 BCE, taken by Arabs in 640 and by Turks in 1517. The city was famed for being the site of convergence of Greek, Arab and Jewish ideas. It was occupied by the French 1798-1801, by the British in 1892; evacuated by the British in 1946.
- Authority
- Thesaurus of Geographic Names
- Source
- ARLIS/NA: Ancient Site Names (1995); Cassell's Italian Dictionary (1983); Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer (1961); Encyclopaedia Britannica (1985); Encyclopaedia Britannica Online (1994-2002); NGA/NIMA database (2003-); NIMA, GEOnet Names Server (2000-2003); Pharos Sculpture, Archaeology (1996); Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites (1979); Rand McNally Atlas (1989); Schuster, Alexandria, Archaeology (1999); Times Atlas of World History (1993); Webster's Geographical Dictionary (1984);
- Born
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