Founded in 332 BC by Alexander the Great, Alexandria became the capitol of Egypt for nearly 1,000 years. Due to wars and earthquakes, very little of the ancient city survives. The even more ancient city of Heracleion, a predecessor of Alexandria, has recently been found under the water of the Mediterranean not far from Alexandria (to the northeast). Just off the coast of Alexandria, the palace of Cleopatra has been discovered. Plans are underway to create an underwater museum. Both Alexander and Cleopatra were reportedly interred somewhere in Alexandria. But neither one has been found as of yet.
Cleopatra was thought to have been born in early 69 BC and reigned from 51 BC to 30 BC. The legends about Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, as well as Cleopatra and Marc Antony, and even her death appear to have been based in truth. She did have a son by Caesar in 47 BC whom she named Caesarian. Cleopatra met Marc Antony in 41 BC and had three children with him – fraternal twins Alexander Helios & Cleopatra Selene II, and Ptolemy Philadelphus. Caesarian was the last Pharaoh of Egypt. He was executed by Octavian (who became Emperor Augustus of Rome) shortly after his mother died. It is said that Cleopatra took her own life (either in her palace or her tomb) either by the bite of a venomous snake or via an injection of snake venom with a needle. No snake was found near her body when it was discovered, but she had puncture wounds on her arm that could have been caused by a needle.
Our hotel overlooked the Mediterranean and was across the street from the Royal Palace. The heat was rising. In addition to cold bottled water, I also drank as many lemon-flavored drinks as I could. Lemon is helpful in the heat. The hotel had fresh squeezed lemon squash at dinner. By this time, the temperature was roughly 104° F (40° C).
The day we arrived in Alexandria, several Italians and Germans, one Romanian, and eight Egyptians were kidnapped while camping on safari near the Sudan border west of Aswan. We were going to be flying to Aswan in a few days and then drive to Abu Simbel, which is about 12 miles from the Sudan border.
The Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt (of which Cleopatra was one) were Greek instead of Egyptian. The dynasty was begun with Alexander the Great and ended with the death of Cleopatra’s son, Caesarian. The Greeks honored Egyptian ways and Egyptian gods. But the Romans insisted on the Egyptians converting to Roman ways and treated them poorly. Cleopatra’s three children by Marc Antony were taken to Rome. Nobody’s certain what happened to the two boys. But the daughter was married off and became the Queen of Mauretania. Her son would be executed by Roman Emperor Caligula in 40 AD.
Our first expedition the following morning was to the Alexandria Catacombs, which date from 331 BC to 31 AD. These catacombs (Kom El Shoqafa) are considered to likely be the oldest in the world. We entered the catacombs by going down a circular stairway around what appeared to be a large airshaft. The “airshaft” had openings to the stairs. Turns out that the shaft was for lowering the bodies down. At the bottom, was a chamber with some really interesting carvings, incorporating a mixture of Egyptian, Greek and Roman styles. It isn’t large, but it is very unique.
The next stop was Pompey’s Pillar. According to the Egyptologist we had with us, the pillar was actually erected by Ptolemy II to honor his father, Ptolemy I, who followed Alexander the Great as the second Greek ruler of Egypt. The column is flanked by two sphinxes – one dedicated to Alexander the Great, and the other to Ramses II (Ramses the Great). We hung around long enough to be able to walk up the hill to the monument.
Normally on my travels, I wear a baseball cap. It usually works well to keep the sun off of my face and the top of my head. It also works well when it is raining, to keep the rain off of my face and allow me to continue to take photos. For Egypt, I used a Tilley hat (from Canada). It has a rim all the way around, is vented, and is the type of hat that the archeologists wear. I also upped my 35 spf sunblock to 85 spf. It all worked fine as I did not burn at any point, despite all of the time I spent in direct sunlight. Of course I hid in the shade whenever I had the option. With my fair, freckled, Celtic and English skin, I don’t take chances.
The original Alexandria library was created by Ptolemy I and was burned down several hundred years later, losing thousands of ancient documents. The current library is located not far from where the original was and has room for roughly eight million books. The books it contains are in three languages – English, French and Arabic, which are the main languages spoken in Egypt. The library also contains four museums, four art galleries and a planetarium in addition to a conference center and specialty libraries of maps and multimedia. At the time of our visit, it had about 600,000 volumes.
One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was the Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria. Destroyed by earthquakes in the 11th and 14th centuries, the lighthouse was replaced by the Qait Bey Citadel (on the same spot and built from the stones used for the lighthouse) in the 15th century. After taking a photo from a distance, I walked to it so I could touch the stone walls. The Great Pyramid at Giza is the only one of the Seven Wonders that still exists intact. But touching the stones from the lighthouse meant two of the seven I could touch. I have since visited the locations of three others.
That evening, the five of us (me, Janet, Phiroza, Sue Ling and Irene) went out to dinner. Before we ate, we went fora walk in the part of Alexandria near the hotel. We wanted to just explore on our own and see a little of the town and the people.
The next day, before leaving Alexandria for Marsa Matruh and parts of Egypt further west along the Mediterranean, we went across the street to see the Montazah Palace complex. It is a very large complex with gardens, various palace buildings, and hotels. It was the summer palace of the kings of Egypt from the 1800s to King Farouk, who died in 1952. The main palace building was not open to the public at that time (I understand it is now), so we just looked at it through the gates. It has its own harbor, including its own lighthouse.
I saw a television program not too long ago in which an amateur archeologist is searching for the tomb of Cleopatra in the temple complex of Taposiris Magna, roughly 25 miles west of Alexandria. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if she found it?
