Alexandria

City and seaport of Egypt, founded by Alexander the Great 332 B. C. It soon became the capital of the Ptolemies, and one of the most magnificent cities in the world, famous for its commerce, its schools of philosophy, its library (the largest in the world), its museum. the temple of Serapis, and the lighthouse near by on the island of Pharos, with a population of probably 600,000, mainly Greeks and Jews. From A. D. 300 till its conquest by Omar 640 it was an influential center of Christian theology. From this time the city de dinal 1456; a man of singularly evil life, notorious for his vices; father of Cæsar and Lucretia Borgia.