Born of a wealthy family in modern Turkey, Strabo (c.63 B.C.E.-c.24 C.E.) was an influential Greek philosopher and geographer. His Geographica gives us excellent descriptions of Egypt and Nubia.
When Alexander [the Great] arrived in Egypt, and perceived the location [of Alexandria] and its advantages, he resolved to build the city on the natural harbor. The prosperity of the place which ensued, it is said was presaged by something that occurred while the plan of the city was being traced. The architects were busy marking out the line of the walls with chalk, and had consumed it all, when the king arrived; upon which the dispensers of flour supplied the workmen with a part of the flour which was provided for their own use; and this substance was used in tracing the greater part of the divisions of the streets. This— they said — was a good omen for the city.
The advantages of the city are of various kinds. The site is washed by two seas, on the north by what is called the Egyptian Sea, and on the south, by the sea of the lake Mareia, which is also called Mareotis. This lake is filled by many canals from the Nile, both by those above and those at the sides, through which a greater quantity of merchandise is imported than by those communicating with the sea. Hence the harbor on the lake is richer than the seaside harbor. The exports of Alexandria exceed the imports. This any person can ascertain by watching the arrival and departure of the merchant ships, and observing how much heavier or lighter their cargoes are than when they depart or return.
The Healthfulness of Alexandria
But besides the wealth won from the merchandise landed at the two harbors, the fine air of the city is worthy of note. This results from the city being on two sides surrounded by water, and from the favorable effects of the rise of the Nile. Other cities, indeed, situated near the lakes, have a heavy, suffocating atmosphere during the summer heats, and the lakes at their margins become swampy by the evaporation occasioned by the sun’s heat. When a large quantity of moisture is exhaled from the swamps, a noxious vapor arises, and is the cause of malignant disorders. But at Alexandria, at the beginning of summer, the Nile, being full, fills the lake also, and thus leaves no marshy matter which is likely to cause noxious exhalations. At the same time, too, the Etesian winds blow from the north, across a broad reach of the sea, and the Alexandrians as a result pass the summer right pleasantly.
Form and Aspect of Alexandria
The shape of the city is that of a chlamys or military cloak. The sides, which give the length, are surrounded by water and are about 30 stadia in extent; but the isthmuses, which determine the breadth of the sides, are each of seven or eight stadia, bounded on one side by the sea, on the other by the lake. The whole city is intersected with streets for the passage of horsemen and chariots. Two of these are exceeding broad, over a plethrum in breadth, and cut one another at right angles. The city contains also very beautiful public parks and royal palaces, which occupy a fourth or even a third of its whole extent. For as each of the kings was desirous of adding some embellishment to the places dedicated to the public use, so besides the buildings already existing each of them erected a building at his own expense. Hence the expression of the poet [Homer] may be applied.
“One after another springs.” [Odyssey, XVII, 266.]
All the buildings are connected one with another, and these also with what are beyond it.
The Royal Palaces
The Museum is a part of the palaces. It has a public walk, and a place furnished with seats, and a large hall, in which men of learning, who belong to the Museum, take their common meal. This community possesses also property in common; and a priest, formerly appointed by the kings, but at present [Augustus’s day] by Caesar, presides over the Museum.
A part of the palace compound is called the Sema, an inclosure containing the tombs of the kings and also of Alexander the Great. Ptolemy [the First] took the body of Alexander and deposited it in Alexandria in the place where it now lies; though not indeed in the same coffin, for the present one is of hyalus (alabaster?), while Ptolemy placed it in one of gold; [but subsequently it was plundered].
The Harbors
In the great harbor at the entrance, on the right hand, are the island and the Pharos [lighthouse] tower; on the left are the reef of rocks and the promontory Lochias, with a palace upon it; at the entrance on the other hand are the inner palaces which are continuous with those on the Lochias, and contain many painted apartments and groves. [Near by] is the theater, then the Poseidonium, a kind of elbow projecting out from the merchant harbor [Emporium] with a temple of Poseidon upon it. [There follow along the water front a vast succession of docks, military and mercantile harbors, magazines, also canals reaching the lake Mareôtis, and many magnificent temples, an amphitheater, stadium, etc.]
Some Notable Buildings and Streets
In short, the city of Alexandria abounds with public and sacred buildings. The most beautiful of the former is the Gymnasium, with porticoes exceeding a stadium in extent. In the middle of it are the court of justice and groves. Here, too, is a “Paneium,” an artificial mound of the shape of a fir cone, resembling a pile of rock, to the top of which there is an ascent by a spiral path. From the summit may be seen the wide city lying all around and beneath it. The ” Wide Street” extends in length along the Gymnasium to the Canopic gate. Next is the “Hippodrome” (race course), as it is called, and other buildings. After passing through the Hippodrome is the Nicopolis [a suburb] which contains buildings fronting on the sea, not less numerous than a regular city.
The greatest advantage which the city [of Alexandria] possesses arises from its being the only place in all Egypt well situated by nature for communication with the sea by its fine harbor, and with the land, by the river by means of which everything is easily transported … to the city, which is the greatest mart in the habitable world.