Describe the Role of Alexandria in the Hellenistic Age

Question

Examlex · Accepted Answer

The Answer is Alexandria was a city on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. Founded by Alexander the Great himself, it became the capital of the Ptolemies, a Macedonian dynasty descended from one of Alexander's officers that ruled Egypt from 323 to 30 BCE. Alexandria was placed at the intersection of the Nile and the Mediterranean, far from the upriver capitals of ancient Egypt, Memphis and Thebes. Alexandria was the head of an efficient administrative state and was referred to bureaucratically as "beside Egypt" rather than in it, to emphasize the divide between the Ptolemies and their subjects. Alexandria also contained a famous Library and the Museum, a center for scientific and literary figures. Greeks were encouraged to immigrate to Alexandria and given land and a privileged social position there. But only one of the Ptolemies, Queen Cleopatra, even bothered to learn the Egyptian language.

Describe the Role of Alexandria in the Hellenistic Age

Definitions: