Alexandria, Egypt, the Eternal City of Alexander the Great

The Lighthouse of Pharos, Alexandria

Alexander the Great was a Macedonian King who at a young age, conquered the Persian Empire and lands that included Asia Minor, the Levant, Persia and parts of India. In his conquest in military campaigns he named several places after him- Alexandria. Over time, through changes in rulers, demography, cultures and religions some of these places vanished off the maps or changed its names such as Kandahar in present day Afghanistan while others retained the name of the legendary king. One that stands out from the rest is Alexandria in Egypt which Alexander founded in 331 BC. He envisioned the place to be the finest seaport in the ancient world.                                                                                                                                                                       

statue of Alexander the Great

Cleomenes, Alexander’s viceroy in Egypt, continued the development and expansion of the city when Alexander pursued further military expeditions to the southwest. In 322 BC, in India, after a lengthy campaign, Alexander’s battle weary troops mutinied and refused to march further. Alexander acceded to his troops’ desire and returned to Babylonia where he was afflicted with a fever and died after a few days. He was just 32 years old. Alexander’s generals then fought among themselves for the division and rule of the vast empire that he had left. Ptolemy or Ptolemy I Soter, one of the generals took hold of Egypt and made himself as king or pharaoh with Alexandria as his capital.   

                    

During the funerary procession of Alexander to Macedonia, Ptolemy hijacked the remains in Damascus, Syria and brought it to Memphis in Egypt. He believed that whoever had the remains of the legendary king would become powerful. Ptolemy Philadelphus, a successor of Ptolemy I later transferred the remains from Memphis to Alexandria where later a communal mausoleum for Alexander and the members of the Ptolemaic dynasty was built. In Egypt, Ptolemy I and his descendants succeeded in firmly establishing the Greek Ptolemaic dynasty and made themselves the heirs of the original Egyptian pharaohs.                                                                                                                                                  

Because of its strategic location in the Mediterranean coast, Alexandria in ancient times was a major city of Egypt. It is situated north in the Nile River Delta. During the reign of the Ptolemies some of the significant structures and places of interest were the Brucheium or the royal Greek quarter in the east, the Jewish quarter in the northeast. There was also the Lighthouse on the island of Pharos which was considered as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. There were also the Soma or mausoleum; the emporium or the exchange; the poseidonium or the temple of Poseidon, the god of the sea; the museum; the Greek theater and the Serapheion or the temple of the Egyptian diety Serapis. The population of the city during the Ptolemaic era was about 300,000 composed of native Egyptians, Greeks and Jews as free citizens exclusive of slaves and strangers.

Alexander’s conquest of the Persian Empire and its vast territory paved the way for the introduction of Hellenism or Greek culture to the people of the lands that were east of Europe and south of Greece. The Greco-Macedonian rule and the settlement of the Greeks to the empire made Greek became the lingua franca of the ancient world. During the rule of the Ptolemies Alexandria was the center of Hellenism and the literary center of the ancient world. It was also the center of commerce and science. There was the famous library of Alexandria and influential schools of philosophy, rhetoric and other branch of learning were established. In its heyday, Alexandria rivaled or even surpassed Athens as the ancient world’s center of culture and learning.  Overtime, the Greeks’ contact with the Jews influenced their religious thought which would then eventually replace their polytheistic belief into a monotheistic one. There was a translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek before AD 100.

During the rise of Rome, Cleopatra the queen of Egypt and a descendant of Ptolemy I allied herself with the Roman Mark Anthony, her lover, who was an adversary of Octavian, a legal heir of Julius Caesar. Octavian defeated the forces of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony in the battle of Actium in 31 BC. She and Mark Anthony then committed suicide and Octavian who later became Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar made Egypt as a Roman province and assigned a prefect under him.

The Romans quelled a Jewish revolt and annihilated the Jewish population and destroyed a large portion of Alexandria in 116 AD. In 215 AD, the Roman emperor Caracalla ordered his troops to massacre male inhabitants of the city with age that was already capable of bearing arms over an insulting satire directed at him. On the other side of those brutalities, the reign of the Romans made Alexandria the second most powerful city after Rome. The position of the city made it a center of trade and commerce between east and west and fleets of grain ships sailed from Alexandria to Italy year after year.

The rise and fall of empires and military and economic fortunes of other nations affected the significance of Alexandria as a city that resulted to its decline. Constantinople was founded and became the seat of the Byzantine Empire thus diminishing the importance of Alexandria as a major city in the Roman Empire. In 638 AD Muslims under Amr Ibn-al-as sacked the city after a siege lasting 14 months. The rule of the Arabs and the making of Cairo as the capital of Egypt contributed more to Alexandria’s decline. The rise of the Ottoman Empire was not any better. In 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte held and captured the city and remained there until the arrival of the British expedition in 1801. Europeans began leaving the city following the Suez Canal Crisis in 1956 that led to the outburst of Arab nationalism.

Modern Alexandria is a major and second largest city of Egypt with a 2013 population of 4,546,231 of diverse ethnicity and religion such as Judaism, Islam and Christianity. As the country’s main port city, Alexandria handles about 80% of the imports and exports of Egypt such as cottons, grains, sugar and other goods. The city also boasts of modern amenities in airports, highways, railways, buses, taxis, ports, theaters and museums to cater to its local residents and visitors. Those infrastructures and facilities benefit the city being an important tourist resort of the country.

The rise and fall of world empires, the wars, the change of culture and the change in demographic composition of Alexandria have had little effect to its splendor as one of the world’s most historic and greatest cities of all time. The name of the city is a fitting tribute to its founder, Alexander the Great, who in life and in death, was admired by people around the world for his strong leadership, military genius and exceptional exploits that made him establish the largest empire the ancient world had ever known.

The Glory and the Death of Alexander the Great

Funeral procession of Alexander the Great

In his return to Babylon after his military campaigns in India Alexander the Great was suddenly afflicted with a fever after drinking sprees with an officer and a friend. His condition deteriorated as days passed and he later became speechless and in the throes of death. His officers and soldiers anxious to see their king and commander for the last time were granted of their request to file past him at his deathbed. With what remained of his last strength Alexander acknowledged them with nods of his head or movements of his eyes as they passed by him. The king died on the 10^th or 11^th of June 323 BC after about 10 days of sickness at age 32. 

Egyptians and Chaldean embalmers were brought to the royal palace to treat and preserve the remains of the great king and conqueror. They had to use their skill to make the body sweet smelling and incorruptible. Alexander’s remains was placed in a golden sarcophagus and submerged in vat of honey. 

Alexander the Great had not given clear instruction as to who should succeed him. He only gave a vague statement that after him his throne should go to the strongest. Just before he died, he however, gave his signet ring to Perdiccas, a commander of the cavalry and one of his most trusted generals. That was a gesture that Perdiccas would play a significant role on matters regarding succession and the running of the affairs of the empire after Alexander’s death. 

When Alexander died, his Bactrian wife, Roxanne, was pregnant, and a royal custom had it that Alexander’s male offspring would be his successor. And Roxanne indeed bore a son who was named Alexander IV. Perdiccas, and Antipater acted as guardians and co-regents of the child. However, some of the troops led by Meleager, mutinied since they were not included in the agreement. The conflict was settled when it was agreed upon that Philip III the mentally handicapped half brother of Alexander  the Great and Alexander IV would be joint kings. 

It was decided that the remains of Alexander the Great had to be brought back to Macedonia, the place of his birth. A funeral cart that was adorned with gold and jewelries to carry the body took about two years to complete. When it was ready a funeral procession all the way to Macedonia was started. The well built and beautifully designed funeral cart was drawn by a team of mules and was escorted by an army of honor guards who were commanded by an officer. Road builders smoothed the road ahead of time for the cortege to move along. As it passed by, thousands of people lined up along the roads to witness the greatest funeral procession in all of history.

Ptolemy I Soter, one of Alexander’s general who was satrap and future king of Egypt brought with him a sizable army and forcibly diverted the remains of Alexander in Syria. He then brought it to Egypt and built a mausoleum in Memphis. Ptolemy’s action was motivated by his desire to be the king of Egypt and its surrounding areas. It was also in reaction to Alexander’s soothsayer named Aristander prophecy that the land where Alexander would be buried would be happy and unconquerable forever. Ptolemy thought that his possession of the remains of Alexander the Great would legitimize his rule of Egypt. 

Perdiccas the regent of joint kings Philip III and Alexander IV was assassinated in 321 BC, and soon thereafter Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great, his son Alexander IV, Roxanne, his wife and his half brother Philipp III were murdered during the course of the wars of succession by the generals of Alexander the Great. The empire left by Alexander was partitioned by his generals into four:  Ptolomy- Egypt, Seleucus- Mesopotamia and Syria, Lysimachus- Asia Minor and Thrace, Cassander- Macedonia and Greece.  

The remains of Alexander the Great was transferred to Alexandria, Egypt by Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the son and successor of Ptolemy I Soter and it stayed there until late antiquity. Another king of the dynasty, Ptolemy IX Lathyrus removed the golden sarcophagus to be minted into coinage and replaced it with a glass one. Alexander’s mausoleum was visited and viewed by some notable personalities of antiquity who included Roman Emperors such as Pompey, Julius Caesar and Augustus. It was said that Julius Caesar accidentally knocked the nose off Alexander’s face during that Roman Emperor’s visit. Caligula took away Alexander’s breastplate for his own use.  At around 200 AD Roman Emperor Septimus Severos closed Alexander’s tomb to the public. During the role of the Romans the resting place of Alexander was no longer known.

The Ptolemaic dynasty buried its kings and members of the royal family beside the tomb of Alexander which was a shrine that was visited by many people who some of them even considered Alexander as a god. During his lifetime Alexander believed that he was the son of Zeus and even proclaimed himself as god. The power of the Greek/Macedonian kings eventually declined and the mighty Roman Empire took over most of their territories. During the Roman era Jesus Christ founded a religion which spread like wildfire in the Roman Empire after His death. The Egyptians converted to the religion and pagan practices and rituals were gradually discarded. It was probably for that reason why the visit to Alexander’s shrine later lost its importance and the upkeep of his tomb was neglected. A myth had it that the tomb of Alexander lay under an early Christian church dedicated to Saint Athanasius, an early Christian bishop. This church was in turn converted into the mosque of Prophet Daniel during the Arab conquest.                                                                       

In 640 AD the Arabs conquered Egypt, Persia and other neighboring countries. The rise of Islam saw the conversion of Christians, Zoroastrians and pagans to the Islamic faith, and Arabic culture and language were introduced to conquered lands. The Muslim conquest after the fall of the Greek and Roman empires has a profound influence on the culture, religion and demographics of their former possessions which are now Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Turkey, among other places today. 

Alexander the Great is one of history’s most famous personalities. He was a legendary king and a military commander par excellence. His daring and recklessness in battles on which he sustained life threatening wounds awed his soldiers. Personally leading his men in his campaigns, he shared with them their pains and hardships in battles and also cherished with them the joys of their victories. As a commander his mere presence was enough inspiration for his men to readily give up their lives in battles. However, like all mortals there were negative sides of him. He was said to be moody and was an excessive drinker. There were even insinuations that he was a homosexual. But undoubtedly Alexander was a very courageous warrior, a charismatic leader and an astute politician. He won all the battles that he engaged in and created the biggest empire known to the ancient world, and united the different peoples in it under his leadership. None of his generals could match his exploits or his ability to hold the empire together as one. When Alexander died his empire quickly fell apart and its territories fought over and divided by his generals.

Amazing Fulfillment of Biblical Prophecies on Alexander the Great

Christians turn to the Bible for moral and spiritual inspirations and guidance. They also refer to it for the study of Biblical histories and of prophecies and their fulfillment especially on Jesus who Christians believe is God’s promised Messiah. Moreover, there are also prophesies on famous persons in history and events that already happened or are expected to come. 

There are chapters and verses in the Bible in the Book of Daniel that some Biblical scholars believe to be prophecies on Alexander the Great, the King of Greece and Macedonia who was born in Pella in 356 BC. The prophet Daniel wrote his book about two centuries before the birth and the reign of Alexander of his empire. Following paragraphs are the Biblical verses (King James Version) and the recorded historical events that fulfilled the prophecies:

Daniel Chapter 8: 1-8

“In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar a vision appeared unto me, even unto me Daniel, after that which appeared unto me at first. And I saw a vision; and it came to pass, when I saw, that I was in Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in a vision, and I was by the river of Ulai. Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great. And as I was considering, behold, a he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close to the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake the two horns: and there was no power in the ram, to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and he stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.”

Daniel Chapter 8: 19-22 identified the vision’s meaning of the ram and the he goat

“And he said, behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be. The ram which thou saw having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.”

Above verses hinted that the ram with two horns was the Persian and the Medo-Persian Empire. And the he goat was the succession of Greek Kings that would rule empires in Asia and parts of Europe and Africa. The first horn which represented the first king was believed to be Alexander the Great. That the goat came from the west and came not touching the ground was a figurative interpretation of the geographical location of Greece and Macedonia relative to Persia the former being west from Persia and are separated by sea to Asia. At age 20 Alexander quelled rebellions in Greece and unified the forces of Greece and Macedonia under his control as king. He then launched his campaigns beyond Greece and against the Persian Empire which perennially threatened Greece with invasion. Alexander’s forces defeated King Darius III much numerically superior forces in every battle. The fall of the Persian Empire also went with it her dominions such as Persia, Babylonia, Syria, Israel, Egypt and Asia Minor among others. The Persian Empire, the ram, was completely crushed.  Alexander, considered a highly educated man in his time, he being a student of Aristotle, endeavored to introduce the Greek culture, knowledge and language to his subjects in conquered territories. Greek became the lingua franca of the known ancient world. Despite his success, Alexander would not rest on his laurel. He launched more military campaigns to conquer India. However, his troops were pushed to the limits of their endurance. At the river Hyphasis in northern India his battle-weary troops which comprised Greek, Macedonians and other nationalities from his empire mutinied and refused to go any further. Alexander was forced to capitulate, and together with his troops marched back to Babylon through sea and desert routes. The hostile and difficult terrains back to Babylon took a heavy physical and morale toll to the troops and their king. They suffered many casualties in their march because of disease, hunger and thirst. The troops’ oneness with the king, and their willingness to endure hardship with him showed their loyalty and admiration to him despite their previous misunderstandings. The wounds that Alexander had sustained in battles, his exposures to harsh environments in his campaigns, his years of excessive drinking and the death of Hephaestion, his close friend and confidante might have affected his psychological and physical well being. In Babylon, after a drunken spree, Alexander was suddenly afflicted with fever. And not the best physicians at that time could save him from death. He was just 32 years old. This fulfilled the prophecy that when the he goat waxed very great, and was strong its first horn was broken.   

                     

Daniel Chapter 11:3-4

“And the mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.”

Previous verses said of four notable horns to replace the first horn that was between the eyes of the he goat. When he died Alexander left no clear will as to who should replace him when he would be gone. With the power vacuum, his generals promptly fought among themselves to secure a territory from the still undivided empire left by Alexander for them to rule as king and establish their own dynasty. This fulfilled the prophecy that four horns would arise to replace the one that was broken. Alexander’s son, Alexander IV, his wife Roxana, and his mother Olympias fall victims to his generals’ ambitions to rise to power. Alexander’s family was murdered by Cassander who then became the king of Greece and Macedonia. This fulfilled the prophecy that none of Alexander’s heirs would inherit his throne or his empire.