A Literature Review of The Rise and Fall of Alexandria
Book Review of The Rise and Fall of Alexandria How the modern world was actually established is often overlooked and attributed to the powers and domination of Athens and Rome. What authors Justin Pollard and Howard Reid urge readers to understand, however, is the significance that the city of Alexandria had on Western Civilization. Both authors have worked in British and American television, and are accomplished in the film/documentary industry. Reid has also previously written five other books. In their narrative book, The Rise and Fall of Alexandria, they seek to emphasize just how important this little city was to the foundation of the modern world through accounts of
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7). He wanted Egypt as part of his growing empire. Not long after in 323 BC, however, Alexander died and left this newly established city to his half brother and baby son. Alexander’s childhood friend, Ptolemy, soon came to rule over the city and Alexandria began rising. Ptolemy had plans for the city and began building innovative roads and two sea harbors. With these new developments, authors note, the “fundamental plan of the greatest city in the ancient world was complete.” Houses, slaves, cattle, and taxpayers were being taken from surrounding villages and given to the capital city of Alexandria. When Ptolemy’s son and successor (Ptolemy II) began his rule on the city, he, too, threw himself into developing Alexandria and created a currency that could be used to sell and trade. Structures were built, such as temples and the lighthouse, and Alexandria was becoming known as “the light of the world” (p. 92).
Along with the furthering of physical growth to the city of Alexandria, there was also growth politically and religiously. Ptolemy wished to fuse ancient thinking with the modern thinking of the Greeks, so he devised a plan and created a cult through a fusion of two gods: the god of the dead and the living bull. And this Greco-Egyptian cult was created and called Serapis. Through this newly founded religion and the constant furthering of the city’s buildings and technology, Alexandria began to rise.
One of the main and most
River Valley civilizations were the first to occur throughout time. Two of the most advanced were Egypt and Mesopotamia. Although both had a male dominant government that was supported by a patriarchal king or leader, Egypt had a strong, centralized government whereas Mesopotamia was decentralized and was based upon small city-states operating independently. To add, Egypt was also classified as self sufficient rather than Mesopotamia who relied on trade because of unstable agriculture. Due to Egypt surpassing Mesopotamia in areas such as governmental structure, self sufficiency, and cultural traditions, Egypt proves to be the more advanced society.
This quote is from an excerpt on the conquest of Alexandria written by Serverus, a clerk. Serverus, a monk then later a bishop, was born around 915 and seemed to grow up in old Cairo. The text was written in the tenth century, however the text occurred in the seventh through tenth centuries.
The city was founded by Alexander the Great in the year 331 BC with an objective to link the land of the Pharaohs with the Greek world both materially and culturally. The planning and building
Having conquered millions of square miles shows how determined at courageous Alexander was. 11 of Alexander’s cities were named Alexandria but in total, Alexander founded 70 city in the times that he inherited the empire to the time of his death (Doc E)
Alexander’s empire stretched to be about 2,000,000 sq. miles. Comparing to the Roman Empire’s being 2,200,000 sq. miles (Doc E). Alexander had 70 cities founded by himself and 11 of them were named Alexandria (Doc A, E). In the BGE we know that he conquered his empire at the age of 20. Also, in document F they talk about Alexander being brave and dauntless and generous to his followers (Doc F). “He conquered the world, and was a very good man, brave and dauntless and generous to his followers” (Doc F). The evidence above helps support that Alexander was abundant, due to his accomplishments he
• Alexandria (made by Alexander) had a royal compound, palace, administrative buildings, mausoleum, library, research institutions, doctors, and scientists
Meta Description: Alexandria is a very old American city with a rich history, robust economy, and pleasant seasonal climate.
Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt are both cradles of civilization. Both contributed greatly to human development through their achievements, failures, peoples, scientific accomplishments, philosophies, religions, and contributions.
Ancient Egypt was one of the earliest, longest-lasting and significant civilizations in world history. Egypt was located in the Nile River Valley. Egyptian history divided into three separate periods, such as, the old kingdom, the middle Kingdom, and the new Kingdom. Each Kingdom has different things that make it unique, and there are some facts and certain characteristics of life that they all shared. This paper will shows how each kingdom civilized how it changed the Egyptians.
Known for the motto, “Easy to get to, hard to leave,” Alexandria is a welcoming city full of great people and many things to do. Threw-out this paper I’m going to go threw the physiography, culture, economy, and urban hierarchical position of Alexandria, Minnesota, and hopefully give you a good taste of what the city is all about.
The Generals of Alexander who supported Perdiccas were given parts of the Empire in the partition of Babylon. This sparked later wars between them which are known as the wars of the Diadochi (which means “successors”). Ten years earlier in 333 BC Alexander conquered Egypt and was regarded by the people as a liberator or a deliverer. At this time he also established Alexandria which became the capital of Egypt for many years. Alexander left Clemonenes of Naucratis as nomarch of the Arabian district of Egypt. Clemones was a dishonest man who did anything for money. He cheated his own soldiers out of a month’s pay. He made money by taking advantage of the people and even used their superstitions to earn money at their expense. He held his position until Ptolemy arrived in Egypt.
Ptolemy 1 Soter proclaimed himself king of the Ptolemy kingdom of Egypt in 305 BC. He was a man of great culture and learning and under his leadership his capital Alexandria became and "important cultural center and its museum was the first known and its library was the largest in the ancient world" (Arcadia, 2004). He was also the author of a lost history of Alexander's campaign. The dynastic history is confusing because all the male rulers took the name Ptolemy and many married their sisters who were often called Cleopatra.
Within the society of ancient Egypt, having a good Pharaoh was considered to be absolutely vital for the functioning of the country; and it was for this reason that Egypt had been ruled by these supposedly half gods half humans for over three thousand years. The position of the Pharaoh was auspiciously passed down through the royal family and traditionally to the eldest son when his father died. Hatshepsut was a significant individual who thwarted this convention by depicting herself as a male so that after her husband/brother Thutmosis II died suddenly she could become Pharaoh instead of the rightful successor, who was Thutmosis III. Because of the male-governed society of which she had lived in, Hatshepsut had to indeed subvert the
Alexander III of Macedon, widely known as Alexander the Great, is opinioned by some people to have been a ruthless man who only had a thirst for conquest , but according to others he was a man of intellect and “statesmanlike vision” (Hammond Preface). In N.G.L. Hammond’s book The Genius of Alexander the Great, as stated in the preface, he tries to refrain from writing based on his own opinion of Alexander, and instead analyzes the few surviving narratives on Alexander’s achievements in an unbiased manner. He portrays the conquests, struggles, and greatest achievements of Alexander’s career, such as the building of his empire that stretched from the eastern Mediterranean coast through Asia Minor and the
The Egyptians were experts at trading, importing and exporting goods with various countries. Due to its geographical location, Ancient Egypt was able to obtain great success through trading and commerce. The Nile River provided many inlets into the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea, these passages allowed for greater opportunities for trading and communication with neighboring countries. The use of vessels proved to be a great resource in securing the Egyptian economy with its vast amount of riches, providing the main mode of transportation for trade and travel. This paper will examine Ancient Egypt’s relation with the Nile River and the trade and commerce that secured it as one of the greatest nations in history (Baines, 2002).