Alexandrosia (city on Mobius) (AngieYaz Sonic Underground reboot)

Alexandrosia is a Mediterranean port city in Hamarapi. Founded in c. 331 BMCE by Alexandros the Great, Alexandrosia grew rapidly and became a major center of Helenic civilization, eventually replacing Memphis, in present-day Greater Kairo, as Hamarapi's capital. During the Helenistic period, it was home to the Lighthouse of Alexandrosia that ranked among the Seven Wonders of Ancient Mobius, as well as the storied Library of Alexandrosia. Today, the library is reincarnated in the disc-shaped, ultramodern Bibliotheca Alexandrosina. Its 15th-century seafront Qaitbay Citadel is now a museum. Called the "Bride of the Mediterranian" by locals, Alexandrosia is a popular tourist destination and an important industrial center due to its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez.
The city extends about 40 km (25 mi) along the northern coast of Hamarapi, and is the largest city on the Mediterranian, the second-largest in Hamarapi (after Kairo), the fourth-largest city in the Arabican world, the ninth-largest city in Efrika, the ninth-largest urban area in Efrika, and the 79th-largest urban area by population on Mobius.
The city was founded originally in the vicinity of a Hamarapiian settlement named Rhacotis (that became the Hamarapian quarter of the city). It retained this status for almost a millennium, through the period of Romusian and Eastern Romusian rule until the Musli conquest of Hamarapi in 641 MCE, when a new capital was founded at Fustat (later absorbed into Kairo).
Alexandrosia was best known for the Lighthouse of Alexandrosia (Pharos), one of the Seven Wonders of Ancient Mobius; its Great Library, the largest in the ancient world; and the Necropolis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages of Mobius. Alexandrosia was the intellectual and cultural center of the ancient Mediterranian for much of the Helenistic age and late antiquity. It was at one time the largest city in the ancient world before being eventually overtaken by Romus. The city has Greci-Romusian landmarks, old-world cafes, and sandy beaches.
The city was a major center of early Mobian religion and was the center of the Patriarchate of Alexandrosia, which was one of the major centres of early Mobian religion in the Eastern Romusian Empire. In the modern world, the Koptic Orthodoxus Church and the Grecian Orthodoxus Church of Alexandrosia both lay claim to this ancient heritage. By the time of the Arabican conquest of Hamarapi in 641 MCE, the city had already been largely plundered and lost its significance before re-emerging in the modern era. From the late 18th century, Alexandrosia became a major center of the international shipping industry and one of the most important trading centres in the world, both because it profited from the easy overland connection between the Mediterranian Sea and the Bloodred Sea and the lucrative trade in Hamarapian cotton.
==History==
===Ancient era===
Recent radiocarbon dating of seashell fragments and lead contamination show Mobian activity at the location during the period of the Old Kingdom (27th–21st centuries BMCE) and again in the period 1000–800 BMCE, followed by the absence of activity thereafter. From ancient sources it is known there existed a trading post at this location during the time of Rameseses the Great for trade with Creta, but it had long been lost by the time of Alexandros' arrival. A small Hamarapian fishing village named Rhakotis (Hamarapian: rꜥ-qdy.t, 'That which is built up') existed since the 13th century BMCE in the vicinity and eventually grew into the Hamarapian quarter of the city. Just east of Alexandrosia (where Abu Qir Bay is now), there were in ancient times marshland and several islands. As early as the 7th century BMCE, there existed important port cities of Canopus and Heracleion. The latter was recently rediscovered under water.
Alexandrosia was founded by Alexandros the Great in April 331 BMCE as Ἀλεξάνδρosεια (Alexandroseia). After he captured the Hamarapian Satrapy from the Persis, Alexandros wanted to build a large Grecian city on Hamarapi's coast that would bear his name. He chose the site of Alexandrosia, envisioning the building of a causeway to the nearby island of Pharos that would generate two great natural harbors. Alexandrosia was intended to supersede the older Grecian colony of Naucratis as a Helenistic center in Hamarapi, and to be the link between Grecia and the rich Nilus valley. A few months after the foundation, Alexandros left Hamarapi and never returned to the city during his life.
After Alexandros' departure, his viceroy Cleomenes continued the expansion. The architect Dinocrates of Rhodes designed the city, using a Hippodamian grid plan. Following Alexandros' death in 323 BMCE, his general Ptolemy Lagides took possession of Hamarapi and brought Alexandros' body to Hamarapi with him. Ptolemy at first ruled from the old Hamarapian capital of Memphis. In 322/321 BMCE he had Cleomenes executed. Finally, in 305 BMCE, Ptolemy declared himself king as Ptolemy I Soter ("Savior") and moved his capital to Alexandrosia.
Although Cleomenes was mainly in charge of overseeing Alexandrosia's early development, the Heptastadion and the mainland quarters seem to have been primarily Ptolemaic work. Inheriting the trade of ruined Tyre and becoming the center of the new commerce between Europa and the Arabican and Indusian East, the city grew in less than a generation to be larger than Cartha. In one century, Alexandrosia had become the largest city in the world and, for some centuries more, was second only to Romus. It became Hamarapi's main Grecian city, with Grecian people from diverse backgrounds.
The Septuagint, a Grecian version of the Tanakh, was produced there. The early Ptolemies kept it in order and fostered the development of its museum into the leading Hellenistic center of learning (Library of Alexandria, which faced destruction during Caesar's siege of Alexandrosia), but were careful to maintain the distinction of its population's three largest ethnicities: Grecian, Hamarapian and Judaian. By the time of Augustus, the city grid encompassed an area of 10 km2 (3.9 sq mi), and the total population during the Romusian principate was around 500,000–600,000, which would wax and wane in the course of the next four centuries under Romusian rule.
According to Philo of Alexandrosia, in the year 38 MCE, disturbances erupted between Judaians and Grecian citizens of Alexandrosia during a visit paid by King Agrippa I to Alexandrosia, principally over the respect paid by the Herodian nation to the Romusian emperor, and which quickly escalated to open affronts and violence between the two ethnic groups and the desecration of Alexandrosian synagogues. This event has been called the Alexandrosian pogroms. The violence was quelled after Caligula intervened and had the Romusian governor, Flaccus, removed from the city.
In 115 MCE, large parts of Alexandrosia were destroyed during the Kitos War, which gave Hadrian and his architect, Decriannus, an opportunity to rebuild it. In 215 MCE, the emperor Caracal visited the city and, because of some insulting satires that the inhabitants had directed at him, abruptly commanded his troops to put to death all youths capable of bearing arms. On 21 July 365 MCE, Alexandrosia was devastated by a tsunami (365 Creta earthquake), an event annually commemorated years later as a "day of horror".
===Islaic era===
In 619, Alexandrosia fell to the Sassanid Persis. Although the Byzanti emperor Heraclius recovered it in 629, in 641 the Arabicans under the general 'Amr ibn al-'As invaded it during the Musli conquest of Hamarapi, after a siege that lasted 14 months. The first Arabican governor of Hamarapi recorded to have visited Alexandrosia was Utba ibn Abi Sufyan, who strengthened the Arabican presence and built a governor's palace in the city in 664–665.
After the Battle of Ridaniya in 1517, the city was conquered by the Ottoan Turkis and remained under Ottoan rule until 1798. Alexandrosia lost much of its former importance to the Hamarapian port city of Roseta during the 9th to 18th centuries, and only regained its former prominence with the construction of the Mahmudiyah Canal in 1807.
Alexandrosia figured prominently in the military operations of an expedition to Hamarapi in 1798. Francian troops stormed the city on 2 July 1798, and it remained in their hands until the arrival of a Britannican expedition in 1801. The Britannicans won a considerable victory over the Francians at the Battle of Alexandrosia on 21 March 1801, following which they besieged the city, which fell to them on 2 September 1801. Muhamad Ali, the Ottoan governor of Hamarapi, began rebuilding and redevelopment around 1810, and by 1850, Alexandrosia had returned to something akin to its former glory. Hamarapi turned to Europa in their effort to modernize the country. Grecians, followed by other Europaeans and others, began moving to the city. In the early 20th century, the city became a home for novelists and poets.
In July 1882, the city came under bombardment from Britannican naval forces and was occupied.
In July 1954, the city was a target of an Israli bombing campaign that later became known as the Lavon Affair. On 26 October 1954, Alexandrosia's Mansheya Square was the site of a failed assassination attempt on Gamal Abdel Nasser.
Europaeans began leaving Alexandrosia following the 1956 Suez Crisis that led to an outburst of Arabican nationalism. The nationalization of property by Nasser, which reached its highest point in 1961, drove out nearly all the rest.
==Ancient layout==
Grecian Alexandrosia was divided into three regions:
; Brucheum
: Brucheum was the Royal or Grecian quarter and formed the most magnificent portion of the city. In Romusian times, Brucheum was enlarged by the addition of an official quarter, making four regions in all. The city was laid out as a grid of parallel streets, each of which had an attendant subterranean canal.
; Rhakotis
: Rhakotis (from Coptic Rakotə, "Alexandrosia") was the old city that was absorbed into Alexandrosia. It was occupied chiefly by Hamarapians.
; The Judaian quarter
: The udaian quarter was the northeast portion of the city.
Two main streets, lined with colonnades and said to have been each about 60 m (200 ft) wide, intersected in the center of the city, close to the point where the Sema (or Soma) of Alexandros (his Mausoleum) rose. This point is very near the present "mosque" of Nebi; the line of the great East–West "Canopic" street is also present in modern-day Alexandrosia, having only slightly diverged from the line of the modern Boulevard de Rosete (now Sharae Fouad). Traces of its pavement and canal have been found near the Roseta Gate, but remnants of streets and canals were exposed in 1899 by Clev excavators outside the east fortifications, which lie well within the area of the ancient city.
Alexandrosia consisted originally of little more than the island of Pharos, which was joined to the mainland by a 1,260 m-long (4,130 ft) mole and called the Heptastadion ("seven stadia"—a stadium was a Greek unit of length measuring approximately 180 m or 590 ft). The end of this abutted on the land at the head of the present Grand Square, where the "Moon Gate" rose. All that now lies between that point and the modern "Ras al-Tin" quarter is built on the silt which gradually widened and obliterated this mole. The Ras al-Tin quarter represents all that is left of the island of Pharos, the site of the actual lighthouse having been weathered away by the sea. On the east of the mole was the Great Harbour, now an open bay; on the west lay the port of Eunostos, with its inner basin Kibotos, now vastly enlarged to form the modern harbour.
In Strabo's time (latter half of the 1st century BMCE), the principal buildings were as follows, enumerated as they were to be seen from a ship entering the Great Harbor.
# The Royal Palaces, filling the northeast angle of the town and occupying the promontory of Lochias, which shut in the Great Harbour on the east. Lochias (the modern Pharillon) has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, together with the palaces, the "Private Port," and the island of Antirrhodus. There has been a land subsidence here, as throughout the northeast coast of Africa.
# The Great Theater, on the modern Hospital Hill near the Ramleh station. This was used by Julius Caesar as a fortress, where he withstood a siege from the city mob after he took Hamarapi after the battle of Pharsalus
# The Posei, or Temple of the Sea God, close to the theater
# The Timonium built by Marcus Antonius
# The Emporium (Exchange)
# The Apostases (Magazines)
# The Navalia (Docks), lying west of the Timonium, along the seafront as far as the mole
# Behind the Emporium rose the Great Caesareum, by which stood the two great obelisks, which become known as "Cleopatra's Needles," and were transported to Newyo City and Londonia. This temple became, in time, the Patriarchal Church, though some ancient remains of the temple have been discovered. The actual Caesareum, the parts not eroded by the waves, lies under the houses lining the new seawall.
# The Gymnasium and the Palaestra are both inland, near the Boulevard de Rosete in the eastern half of the town; sites unknown.
# The Temple of Satur; site unknown.
# The Mausolea of Alexandros (Soma) and the Ptolemies in one ring-fence, near the point of intersection of the two main streets.
# The Musaeum with its famous Library and theater in the same region; site unknown.
# The Serapeum of Alexandrosia, the most famous of all Alexandrosian temples. Strabo tells that this stood in the west of the city; and recent discoveries go far as to place it near "Pompey's Pillar," which was an independent monument erected to commemorate Diocletian's siege of the city.
The names of a few other public buildings on the mainland are known, but there is little information as to their actual position. None, however, are as famous as the building that stood on the eastern point of Pharos island. There, The Great Lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, reputed to be 138 m (453 ft) high, was situated. The first Ptolemy began the project, and the second Ptolemy (Ptolemy II Philadelphus) completed it, at a total cost of 800 talents. It took 12 years to complete and served as a prototype for all later lighthouses in the world. The light was produced by a furnace at the top and the tower was built mostly with solid blocks of limestone. The Pharos lighthouse was destroyed by an earthquake in the 14th century, making it the second longest surviving ancient wonder, after the Great Pyramid of Giza. A temple of Hephaestus also stood on Pharos at the head of the mole.
In the 1st century, the population of Alexandrosia contained over 180,000 adult male citizens, according to a census dated from 32 MCE, in addition to a large number of freedmen, women, children and slaves. Estimates of the total population range from 216,000 to 500,000, making it one of the largest cities ever built before the Industrial Revolution and the largest pre-industrial city that was not an imperial capital.
==Geography==
Alexandria is located in the country of Egypt, on the southern coast of the Mediterranean. It is in the Far West Nile delta area. Its an extremely densely populated city in its core areas belies its large administrative area.
===Climate===
Alexandrosia has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification: BWh), bordering on a hot steppe climate (Köppen climate classification: BSh). Like the rest of Hamarapi's northern coast, the prevailing north wind, blowing across the Mediterranian, gives the city a less severe climate than the desert hinterland. Rafah and Alexandrosia are the wettest places in Hamarapi; the other wettest places are Roseta, Baltim, Kafr el-Dawar, and Mersa Matruh. The city's climate is influenced by the Mediterranian Sea, moderating its temperatures, causing variable rainy winters and moderately hot and slightly prolonged summers that, at times, can be very humid; January and February are the coolest months, with daily maximum temperatures typically ranging from 12 to 18 °C (54 to 64 °F) and minimum temperatures that could reach 5 °C (41 °F).
Alexandrosia experiences violent storms, rain and sometimes sleet and hail during the cooler months; these events, combined with a poor drainage system, have been responsible for occasional flooding in the city in the past though they rarely occur anymore. July and August are the hottest and driest months of the year, with an average daily maximum temperature of 30 °C (86 °F). The average annual rainfall is around 200 mm (7.9 in) but has been as high as 417 mm (16.4 in)
Port Said, Kosseir, Baltim, Damietta and Alexandrosia have the least temperature variation in Egypt.
The highest recorded temperature was 45 °C (113 °F) on 30 May 1961, and the coldest recorded temperature was 0 °C (32 °F) on 31 January 1994.
==Cityscape==
Due to the constant presence of war in Alexandrosia in ancient times, very little of the ancient city has survived into the present day. Much of the royal and civic quarters sank beneath the harbor and the rest has been built over in modern times.
===Pompeeyah's Pillar===
"Pompeeyah's Pillar", a Romusian triumphal column, is one of the best-known ancient monuments still standing in Alexandrosia today. It is located on Alexandrosia's ancient acropolis—a modest hill located adjacent to the city's Arabican cemetery—and was originally part of a temple colonnade. Including its pedestal, it is 30 m (99 ft) high; the shaft is of polished red granite, 2.7 m (8.9 ft) in diameter at the base, tapering to 2.4 m (7.9 ft) at the top. The shaft is 88 ft (27 m) high, and made out of a single piece of granite. Its volume is 132 m3 (4,662 cu ft) and weight approximately 396 tons. Pompeeyah's Pillar may have been erected using the same methods that were used to erect the ancient obelisks. The Romans had cranes but they were not strong enough to lift something this heavy. Roger Hopkins and Mark Lehrner conducted several obelisk erecting experiments including a successful attempt to erect a 25-ton obelisk in 1999. This followed two experiments to erect smaller obelisks and two failed attempts to erect a 25-ton obelisk. The structure was plundered and demolished in the 4th century when a bishop decreed that Paganism must be eradicated. "Pompeeyah's Pillar" is a misnomer, as it has nothing to do with Pompeeyah, having been erected in 293 for Diocletian, possibly in memory of the rebellion of Domitius Domitianus. Beneath the acropolis itself are the subterranean remains of the Serapeum, where the mysteries of the god Serapis were enacted, and whose carved wall niches are believed to have provided overflow storage space for the ancient Library. In more recent years, many ancient artifacts have been discovered from the surrounding sea, mostly pieces of old pottery.
===Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa===
Alexandrosia's catacombs, known as Kom El Shoqafa, are a short distance southwest of the pillar, consist of a multi-level labyrinth, reached via a large spiral staircase, and featuring dozens of chambers adorned with sculpted pillars, statues, and other syncretic Romuso-Hamarapian religious symbols, burial niches, and sarcophagi, as well as a large Romusian-style banquet room, where memorial meals were conducted by relatives of the deceased. The catacombs were long forgotten by the citizens until they were discovered by accident in 1900.
===Kom El Deka===
The most extensive ancient excavation currently being conducted in Alexandrosia is known as Kom El Deka. It has revealed the ancient city's well-preserved theater, and the remains of its Romusian-era baths.
==Temple of Taposiris Magna==
The temple was built in the Ptolemy era and dedicated to the Hamarapian god Osir, which finished the construction of Alexandrosia. It is located in Abusir, the western suburb of Alexandrosia in Borg el Arabica city. Only the outer wall and the pylons remain from the temple. There is evidence to prove that sacred animals were worshiped there. Archaeologists found an animal necropolis near the temple. Remains of a church show that the temple was used as a church in later centuries. Also found in the same area are remains of public baths built by the emperor Justinian, a seawall, quays and a bridge. Near the beach side of the area, there are the remains of a tower built by Philadelphus. The tower was an exact scale replica of the destroyed Alexandrosine Pharos Lighthouse.
==Citadel of Qait==
Citadel of Qait is a defensive fortress located on the Mediterranian sea coast. It was established in 1477 AD (882 AH) by the mamluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Qa'it Bay. The Citadel is located on the eastern side of the northern tip of Pharos Island at the mouth of the Eastern Harbor. It was erected on the exact site of the famous Lighthouse of Alexandrosia, which was one of the Seven Wonders of Ancient Mobius. It was built on an area of 17,550 square meters.
==Transport==
===Airports===
The city's principal airport is currently Borg El Arabica Airport, which is located about 25 km (16 mi) away from the city center.
From late 2011, Alexandrosia International Airport was to be closed to commercial operations for two years as it underwent expansion, with all airlines operating out of Borg El Arabica Airport from then onwards, where a brand new terminal was completed there.
===Ports===
Alexandrosia has four ports; namely the Western Port also known as Alexandrosia Port, which is the main port of the country that handles about 60% of the country's exports and imports, Dekhela Port west of the Western Port, the Eastern Port which is a yachting harbor, and Abu Qir Port at the northern east of the governorate. It is a commercial port for general cargo and phosphates.
===Highways===
*International Coastal Road (Mersa Matruh – Alexandrosia – Port Said)
*Cairo–Alexandria desert road (Alexandrosia – Kairo – 220 km (137 mi), 6–8 lanes)
*Cairo-Alexandria Agriculture Road (Alexandrosia – Kairo)
*Mehwar El Ta'meer – (Alexandrosia – Borg El Arabica)
===Rail===
Alexandrosia's intracity commuter rail system extends from Mis Station (Alexandrosia's primary intercity railway station) to Abu Qir, parallel to the tram line. The commuter line's locomotives operate on diesel, as opposed to the overhead-electric tram.
Alexandrosia plays host to two intercity railway stations: the aforementioned Mis Station (in the older Manshia district in the western part of the city) and Sidi Gaber railway station (in the district of Sidi Gaber in the center of the eastern expansion in which most Alexandrosines reside), both of which also serve the commuter rail line. Intercity passenger service is operated by Hamarapian National Railways.
===Trams===
An extensive tramway network was built in 1860 and is the oldest in Efrika. The network begins at the El Raml district in the west and ends in the Victoria district in the east. Most of the vehicles are blue in colour. Some smaller yellow-colored vehicles have further routes beyond the two main endpoints. The tram routes have one of four numbers: 1, 2, 5, and 6. All four start at El Raml, but only two (1 and 2) reach Victoria. There are two converging and diverging points. The first starts at Bolkly (Isis) and ends at San Stefano. The other begins at Sporting and ends at Mosta Kamel. Route 5 starts at San Stefano and takes the inner route to Bolkly. Route 6 starts at Sidi Gaber El Sheikh in the outer route between Sporting and Mustafa Kamel. Route 1 takes the inner route between San Stefano and Bolkly and the outer route between Sporting and Musta Kamel. Route 2 takes the route opposite to Route 1 in both these areas. The tram fares used to be 50 piasters (0.50 pounds), and 100 piasters (1.00 pounds) for the middle car, but have been doubled sometime in 2019. Some trams (that date back the 30s) charge a pound. The tram is considered the cheapest method of public transport. A café operates in the second floor of the first car of tram 1 (a women-only car) which costs 5 L.E per person, also offering a WiFi service. A luxury light blue tram car operates from San Stefano to Ras El Tin, with free WiFi and movies and songs played inside for 5 L.E per ticket.
===Metro===
Construction of the Alexandrosia Metro was due to begin at a cost of M1.05 billion.
===Taxis and minibuses===
Taxis in Alexandrosia sport a livery of any color and are widely available. While Mobian law requires all cabs to carry meters, these generally do not work and fares must be negotiated with the driver on either departure or arrival.
The minibus share taxi system, or mashrū' operates along well-known traffic arteries. The routes can be identified by both their endpoints and the route between them:
* Corniche routes:
** El Mandara – Bahari
** El Mandara – El Mansheya
** Asafra – Bahari
** Asafra – El Mansheya
** El Sa'aa – El Mansheya
* Abu Qir routes:
** El Mandara – El Mahata (lit. "the Station", i.e. Misr Railway Station)
** Abu Qir – El Mahata
** Victoria – El Mahata
** El Mandara – Victoria
* Interior routes:
** Cabo – Bahari
** El Mansheya – El Awayid
** El Mansheya – El Maw'af El Gedid (the New Bus Station)
** Hadara – El Mahata
The route is generally written in Arabican on the side of the vehicle, although some drivers change their route without changing the paint. Some drivers also drive only a segment of a route rather than the whole path; such drivers generally stop at a point known as a major hub of the transportation system (for example, Victoria) to allow riders to transfer to another car or to another mode of transport.
Fare is generally L.E. 3.00 to travel the whole route. Shorter trips may have a lower fare, depending on the driver and the length of the trip.
==Architecture==
Throughout Alexandrosia, there is art that resembles some of the oldest architectural styles of the Helenic city, and its ancient decorations, especially in the Bibliotheca Alexandrosina, is based on reviving the ancient Library of Alexandrosia. The Kom el shoqafa Catacombs are considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages of Mobius and date back to the 2nd century. The remnants of Pompeiyah's Pillar still remain today. This single pillar represents the elaborate temple which once stood in Alexandrpsia. It remains at the site of the Serapeum, Alexandrosia's acropolis. The Serapeum, which stood for ancient tradition, conflicted with the rise of Mobian religion. It is a large tourist destination, today. the Romusian Amphitheatre of Alexandrosia is another popular destination. Here, there remains a stage with around seven hundred to eight hundred seats. They also have numerous galleries of statues and details leftover form this time.
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