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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1998
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Epic Interactive Encyclopedia, The - 1998 Edition (1998)(Epic Marketing).iso
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Alexandria
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1992-09-02
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Alexandria, or El Iskandariya
City, chief port, and second largest city of
Egypt, situated between the Mediterranean and
Lake Maryut; population (1986) 5,000,000. It
is linked by canal with the Nile and is an
industrial city (oil refining, gas
processing, and cotton and grain trading).
Founded 331 BC by Alexander the Great,
Alexandria was for over 1,000 years the
capital of Egypt. history The principal
centre of Hellenistic culture, Alexandria has
since the 4th century AD been the seat of a
Christian patriarch. In 641 it was captured
by the Muslim Arabs, and after the opening of
the Cape route its trade rapidly declined.
Early in the 19th century it began to recover
its prosperity, and its growth was encouraged
by its use as the main British naval base in
the Mediterranean during both world wars. Of
the large European community, most were
expelled after the Suez Crisis 1956 and their
property confiscated. Few relics of antiquity
remain. The Pharos, the first lighthouse and
one of the seven wonders of the ancient
world, has long since disappeared. The
library, said to have contained 700,000
volumes, was destroyed by the caliph Omar in
640. Pompey's Pillar is a column erected, as
a landmark from the sea, by the emperor
Diocletian. Two obelisks that once stood
before the Caesarum temple are now in London
(Cleopatra's Needle) and New York
respectively.