Abstract

Alexandria, the capital of Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt was a foundation of Alexander the Great. The city, founded in 331 BC, was considered ‘adjacent to Egypt’ and not a part of the country on the Nile. The author recommends to restore the words ‘your Egypt’ in the editions of the speech of Dio Chrysostom to the Alexandrians. Plutarch and Curtius Rufus seem to suggest, that Alexander’s original idea was to found a city on the island of Pharos. Homer’s mention of the island of Pharos in the Odyssey is discussed in the paper. Valerius Maximus tells us about the omen which was a presage of the role of Alexandria as a metropolis nourishing numerous foreigners. The first population of Alexandria, however, was recruited by Alexander from the dwellers of the neighbouring Egyptian villages. On his departure from Egypt Alexander left Cleomenes as the satrap of the country. Cleomenes and his successor Ptolemy were in fact the first builders of Alexandria. From that earliest period of the city almost nothing survives, and it is even difficult to ascertain who was the true builder of such structures as the famous lighthouse of Pharos? In the paper the importance of the Cleomenes’ building activity is enhanced. Also the problem of the meson pedion, together with the question of the location of the tomb of Alexander, are discussed.