Author Description

Originally published in two volumes in 1957, this is the first volume devoted to the rich history of the ancient Egyptian city of Alexandria and focuses on the time of the Ptolemies. "This book is dedicated to the story of Alexandria, called by Athenaeus "the golden city." The story of Athens has been told by many writers; the rise and fall of Home has been the favorite theme of the historians; but the city of Alexandria has never had an extensive biography. This is a curious fact, indeed, since Alexandria, founded in 332 B.C. by Alexander the Great, developed into regal magnificence under the Macedonian Ptolemies, and for nearly a thousand years was one of the most remarkable cities in the world. The infirmities of old age came upon it near the close of the Roman Empire and the weary city finally passed into oblivion about 646 A.D. when the Saracen invaders destroyed at last the monuments of its old-world glory. Thus stretches the biography of Alexandria across ten of the most interesting centuries in human history!" Richly illustrated throughout with maps, pictures and figures.