The dream of a god king: Alexandria

able to function appropriately, it should have a maximum population of approximately 10 000 inhabitants.

The dream of a God King: Alexandria

The city of Alexandria was also designed according to the orthogonal model. It was founded on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt in 331 B.C. between the Mareotide marsh (Μαρεῶτις) and the sea, in front of the small island of Pharos (Φάρος) on which the famous lighthouse was built49. This island was connected by the Heptastadion (Επτασταδιοn, meaning seven stadiums long)50, a breakwater protecting the port. The road infrastructure consisted of secondary roads parallel to the two main roads, one running north to south and one running east to west, intersecting more or less in the centre, but slightly more to the north, to form a wide square. Along the two main streets, which were about thirty metres wide, there were large columned porticoes (Fig. 11). The dam, about 1 200 m long, allowed the creation of two distinct ports, one eastern (Portus Magnus) and one western (Portus Eunusti)51. The first port was in turn divided into two parts: an eastern one overlooking the royal palaces for the exclusive use of the monarchs and a

49 Lighthouse, from the Greek Φάρος, the name of the islet of Faro on the Egyptian coast, on which in the 3rd century B.C. the lighthouse of Alexandria was built. (AA.VV. Vocabolario Treccani 2019). 50 Stadium, from the Greek Στάδιον. Unit of measurement of length in use by the ancient Greeks, equal to 600 feet; in the Attic system it was equal to about 177.60 m, and in the Alexandrian system to about 184.85 metres. The Stadium Race was the oldest foot race in the Panhellenic agonies (Olympic, Pythian, Isthmian, Nemean festivals), so called because it took place over the length of a stadium. (Treccani 2019). 51 Port of good return.

western one for the city’s maritime traffic: traffic and flows of goods from all over the Mediterranean, from Egypt, but also from the Red Sea, the Indies and Africa52 . The dam and the plan for the foundation of the city were commissioned by Alexander the Great, who had identified the possibility of development in that area, thanks to the potentially profitable maritime commercial activities. The work was entrusted to the architect Dinocrates of Rhodes, who divided the area into five large quarters, indicated by the first letters of the Greek alphabet, in turn divided into other smaller areas53 . Numerous temples were erected in honour of Greek gods and many public places were created; a third or a quarter of the city was occupied by the royal palace and other annexed buildings. In order to provide the city with the necessary supply of fresh water, given the desert conditions of that part of the Egyptian coast, a canal of some 25 kilometres branching off from the Canopic branch of the River Nile was specially designed and dug. The canal, which was also used as a waterway, reached the city and the fresh water, after being decanted into large tanks, was distributed to all the urban quarters by means of underground pipes, and then lifted by mechanical means to numerous large cisterns, which are still visible in the archaeological excavations. At a lower level the sewage system removed waste. This was a large technological infrastructure project developed in parallel with the road and palace project54 .

52 Pensabene P. 1993, Elementi architettonici di Alessandria e di altri siti egiziani, serie C, vol. 3, L’Erma di Bretschneider, Roma, pp. 43-44. 53 Guidetti M. 2004, Storia del Mediterraneo nell’antichità IX-I secolo a.C., Editoriale Jaca Book S.p.a., Milano. 54 Empereur, J. Y. 1998, Alexandria Rediscovered, British Museum Press,