Alexandria (population of 3.5 to 5 million), is the second-largest city in Egypt, and its largest sea port. Alexandria extends about 20 miles (32 km) along the coast of the Mediterranean sea in north-central Egypt. It is home to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the New Library of Alexandria, and is an important industrial centre because of its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez. The city of Alexandria was named after its founder, Alexander the Great, and as the seat of the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt, quickly became one of the greatest cities of the Hellenistic world - second only to Rome in size and wealth.