
Welcome to Egypt...welcome to Alexandria, one of the greatest and most dazzling cities in the Roman Empire. Through the next four Stages we experience the sights and sounds of this vibrant city in flash-back through the vivid memories of Quintus who stayed here with Barbillus, a family-friend, before travelling to Britain.
Digital Activities
These sections have been moved to the Cambridge Elevate platform. Please click below to go to Elevate. Elevate
WebBooks
The Stories
Practising the Language
Cultural Background
Can you help? If you've found a link we could add please email us.
CSCP is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Alexandria
ALEXANDRIA
Satellite image from NASA showing the modern city with location of the Pharos.
Comprehensive Wikipedia article about Alexandria in Egypt, which was the greatest city after Rome in the 1st century AD.
However, note that the so-called amphitheater is, in fact, either an odeon used for musical or poetry recitals, or a lecture hall.
Short, often illustrated descriptions of the surviving ancient monuments in Alexandria.
Be a tourist like Quintus! Take this interesting photographic tour of the modern city of Alexandria accompanied by good descriptions. Some ancient sites are covered as well.
A section of mosaic now in the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria possibly depicting the city of Alexandria represented as a woman wearing a head-dress in the shape of a ship, symbolising the important role of Alexandria as a Mediterranean port.
Detailed, informative Wikipedia article about the largest and most famous library in the ancient world.
Reports of its discovery in 2004 were exaggerated, however. Archaeologists uncovered late Roman lecture halls - not the still-lost Hellenistic library itself.
Terrific photos of the ultra-modern library at Alexandria, designed to represent the sun and the moon.
The underwater explorations of the sunken Royal Palace at Alexandria; links to maps and photos.
Video clips from the PBS documentary about the underwater excavations.
The Pharos
THE PHAROS (LIGHTHOUSE)
Super site with informative text on history and design of this famous lighthouse which was one of the 7 Wonders of the World. Great new computer reconstruction of the lighthouse with links to 3D images.
Virtual-reality fly-by of the Pharos lighthouse. Scroll to the bottom of the page to access the clip. Real Player required.
Roman coin showing a ship next to the Pharos lighthouse as illustrated on p.75 of CLC BkII.
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
SEVEN WONDERS of the ANCIENT WORLD
Many of the above links to the Pharos are part of websites detailing the Seven Wonders. However, the following sites are also worth checking out:
Excellent site for younger surfers, framed as a quiz asking you to place the 7 Wonders in chronological order, providing clues and then information about each, including a locator map.
An excellent site with detailed historical information.
Computer-enhanced images from a TV series of some of the Seven Wonders; see which you can recognise...
Obelisks
OBELISKS
Originally erected by the pharaoh Tuthmosis III (1504-1450 BC) at the religious centre of Heliopolis in Egypt, it was then moved by the Romans to in front of the Caesarium Temple at Alexandria. Moved to London in 1877, and now known as "Cleopatras's Needle" - although she is in no way connected with it!
Incidentally, the Greeks humourously termed these tall Egyptian markers obeliskoi or "small roasting-spits"! Don't you just love the Greeks!
A companion obelisk to the one above - i.e. from Heliopolis and then Alexandria - was moved to New York in 1880.
Likewise, this obelisk has nothing to do with Cleopatra...!
21 ancient Egyptian obelisks are still standing... only 4 of which are still in Egypt! So, where have all the others gone?
Serapis
SERAPIS
Brief explanation of the Graeco-Egyptian god Serapis, who was a hybrid of the Egyptian gods Osiris and Apis, and the Greek gods Zeus, Helios, Dionysos, Hades and Asklepios. His main roles were that of the the afterlife and fertility.
Marble bust of the Romano-Egyptian god Serapis, found in the Walbrook Mithraeum. 2nd to early 3rd century AD, now in Museum of London.
Mouldmade lamp with a bust of Serapis, flanked by a crescent moon and star. Roman, made in Ephesus AD 100-150.
Said to be from Egypt, now in the British Museum.
Painted wooden panel depicting Serapis wearing his characteristic modius or kalathos crown in the form of a grain measure.
From Egypt, dating AD 180-200, now in the Getty Museum, Malibu.
Bust of Serapis depicted not with a human head but with that of a bull, referring more directly to his Apis origins.
From Hadrian's villa in Tivloi, now in the Vatican Museum.
The temple, once regarded as a wonder and a place of pilgrimage throughout the Mediterranean, was destroyed in AD 389 or 391 on the orders of the Christian Emperor Theodosius. A sphinx and column mark the spot.
Quotations from ancient authors about this Greek-Egyptian god.
This detail of the centre of a mosaic floor comes from the dining-room floor of a Roman-period house at the site of the ancient theater in Alexandria, Egypt. The whole view.
As featured on p.90 of CLC BkII.
Wall-painting from the Temple of Isis in Pompeii depicting Roman warships; as shown on p.92 of CLC BkII.
Now in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples.
Click for more info and links on:
Ancient Egypt; Greek & Roman Egypt; Cleopatra
and:
Painted Portraits; Isis
Alexander the Great
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Brief biography from the BBC.
Detailed, large-scale map of his empire, detailing the route he took in his conquests.
If, after clicking animated-desktop, you click "Downloads" and then "Xtreme Desktop" you can download a splendid interactive map of Alexander's journey.
After clicking this link, click "Life of Alexander" and then "Timeline" to view a gorgeously illustrated interactive timeline showing the main events of Alexander's short life.
Young, handsome, charismatic and energetic - and that's before he conquered half the world!
This youthful, handsome bust of Alexander (c.300 BC?) was found near Pella the capital of ancient Macedon, and now in the Pella Museum.
This is one of the most famous images of Alexander - some experts believe it an original Greek work of Leochares, other scholars think it a Roman copy.
Known as the "Erbach Alexander", it's in the New Acropolis Museum, Athens.
This lovely image of Alexander is a Roman copy in Istanbul Archaeological Museum.
Colin Farrell as a handsome, youthful Alexander. Great hair - Alexander's thick mane of upswept hair was indeed one of his defining features.
Interesting article in which Professor Paul Cartledge puts Alexander in his proper historical context.
What If... Alexander the Great had gone West not East and given Western Europe a Greek not a Roman legacy?
Listen to Professor Christopher Andrew of Cambridge University asking what if...
Rather dense and not particularly attractive by 2016 standards, but this website does contain lots of information and maps.
"Alexander Revisited: The Final Cut" is the best of the three versions available. Oliver Stone's film captures Alexander's spirit and grinding determination to keep going to the ends of the Earth. Epic scenes, realistic costumes and props, gorgeous cinematography and sweeping music...
Just remember that the Irish accents of Alexander and the Macedonians represent in the English language the "rusticity" and "garbledness" of the Greek that, in the view of the Athenians at least, the Macedonians were said to speak.