Alexandria owed much of its glory to the Ptolemies. Ptolemy Soter, the first of that line of kings, and one of the captains of Alexander, who, on the death of his mas ter, seized on his Egyptian dominions, fixed the royal residence in this city, about 304 years before Christ. This prince instituted the academy called the Musuem. in which a society of learned men devoted themselves to the study of the sciences. He likewise founded for their use the Alexandrian library, which was afterwards so prodigiously increased, and one of the greatest orna ments of tms celebrated city. It is said to have amoun ted to no less than 700,000 volumes before its destruc tion. With these advantages, and under the continued patronage of its sovereigns, Alexandria soon became one of the most distinguished seats of learning and phi losophy, and preserved its celebrity till it was plunder ed of all its literary treasures by the barbarous hands of the Saracens. Ptolemy Philadelphus, the son of Soter, completed the tower of Pharos, which his father had al ready begun. This was the famous light-house which was built on the island of that name, for the direction of the innumerable vessels which entered the harbour, and was reckoned amongst the wonders of the world.
Alexandria continued for nearly 300 years in the pos session of the Ptolemies ; but at the death of Cleopatra, it passed into the power of the Romans, and was the theatre of several memorable events in the history of that people. It sometimes might receive a favour at the hands of its masters ; but it as frequently obtained its full share of all the calamities which the tyranny, the cruelty, or weakness of the Roman emperors in flicted on the rest of the empire.
In 638, the Saracens invaded Egypt, and the follow ing year Amrou their general commenced the siege of Alexandria, which was perhaps the most arduous en terprise in the annals of his conquests. After a vigorous resistance of about fourteen months, the Saracens, how ever, prevailed, and the standard of Mahomet was plan ted on the walls of the capital of Egypt. It was at this time that the Alexandrian library met with its memor able fate. Abulfaragins, an Arabian historian, gives the following account of this catastrophe. John Philoponus, surnamed the Grammarian, a famous Peripatetic philo sopher, being at Alexandria when the city was taken by the Saracens, was admitted to familiar intercourse with Amrou, and presumed to solicit a gift, inestimable in his opinion, but contemptible in that of the barbarians,— and that was the royal library. Amrou was inclined to gratify his wish ; but his rigid integrity scrupled to alienate the least object without the consent of the Ca liph. He accordingly wrote to Omar, whose well-known answer was dictated by the ignorance of a fanatic. "If these writings of the Greeks agree with the Koran, or book of God, they are useless, and need not be preserv ed ; if they disagree, they are pernicious, and ought to be destroyed." The sentence of destruction was ex ecuted with blind obedience; the volumes of paper or parchment were distributed to the 4000 baths of the city ; and such was their number, that six weeks was barely sufficient for the consumption of this precious fuel.
Under the Roman and Greek emperors, as well as under the Ptolemies, for nearly a space of 1000 years, Alexandria continued to maintain its reputation for power and and likewise for literature and enee ; but from the period when it came under the do minion of the Saracens, all its glories have declined, till it has gradually arrived at its present degradation. When commerce revived in the 1 3 th century, it natu rally looked out for its former well known channel ; and the condition of Alexandria began again For a short time to brighten ; but the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, which was made about that time, soon crushed its returning prosperity, and for ever diverted the sources of its wealth into a different channel.
The present state of this city presents a scene of magnificent ruin and desolation. For the space of two leagues, nothing is to be seen but the remains of pilas ters, of capitals, and of obelisks, and whole mountains of shattered monuments of ancient art, heaped upon one another to a greater height than that of the houses. The famous tower of Pharos has been long since demo lished, and a square castle, without taste, ornament, or strength, erected in its stead. The lake Afareotis, through the carelessness of the Turks in preserving the canals which conveyed the waters of the Nile, no lon ger exists ; but its place is now occupied by the sands of Libya.
The modern city is built near the brink of the sea, on a kind of peninsula situated between the two harbours above mentioned, called now the New and Old harbours. The New port, which is allotted for Europeans, is clogged up with sand, which renders its entrance diffi cult and dangerous. The Old port, or, as it is some times called, the Port of Africa, into which Christian vessels are not allowed to enter, is much larger than the former, and has much deeper water; hut as the vessels are continually throwing their ballast into it, this har bour likewise is in danger of being at last filled up. The houses of Alexandria, like those of the Levant, have flat terrace roofs ; they have no windows ; the apertures which supply their place are so entirely ob structed by wooden lattices, that the light can scarcely force a passage. The streets are narrow, and awkwardly disposed, and are without pavement. No public edifice, no private building, arrests the eye of the stranger. The number of inhabitants, consisting of a collection from various nations, may be estimated at 5000, as far as an estimation can be made in a country where no re gister of any thing is kept. The British and French nations carry on a considerable trade with Alexandria, and have each a consul residing there. The subjects of those kingdoms who have no consul arc subjected to a tax by the Grand Signior. The language of this place is Arabic ; but most of the inhabitants speak likewise Italian. The government of Alexandria is like that of other places of Egypt, and is conducted by an Aga, who has under him a kadi and sub-basha. It has a small gar rison, who are haughty and insolent, not only to stran gers, but to the mercantile and industrious part of the inhabitants. By established regulations, the castle of Pharos ought to be garrisoned with 500 troops ; but it never has half that number, nor more than four cannons. The whole of the fortifications of Alexandria might easily be beaten down by a single frigate ; but from the want of water, it would be difficult to keep possession of the town, without being masters of the surrounding coun try. In the year 1798, when the French government sent out an expedition under Bonaparte, for the purpose of taking possession of Egypt, Alexandria was carried by assault on the 4th July ; the Arabs and liamclukes r: ho defended it were put to flight, and about 900 of them killed. It remained in possession of the French till 1801. when it was retaken by the English army under the com maid of general I tutchinson. At. the conclusion of the war, it was restored to the Turks, tinder whose domi nion it has since continued. See ./.1mmian. Mareellm. lib. xxii. cap. 16. ; ?ncient Universal History, vol. viii. p. 166. ; Gibbon, vol. ix. p. 392., 12mo. chap. 51. ; .Egyptiaca ; Menzoires .cur l'Egypte,Paris,1802; Walsh's Journal of the Campaign in Egypt, p. `229; 1{cgnior's State of Egypt after the Battle el Heliopolis, p. 36, (0)