Alexandria puts Alexander on a pedestal

When Alexander ordered the construction of Alexandria in Egypt, he may have had visionary plans, but I wonder if, in his most daring dreams, he could have envisaged the role the Mouseion, the famous Library would play. Better known as the Great Library of Alexandria, this center of knowledge dedicated to the Muses, the goddesses of art, was founded by the Ptolemies and attracted scholars from all over the world.

[Picture of Alexander from the BAAM] 

Ptolemy I Soter, definitely was schooled and shaped by the years he served under Alexander, and it was he who, as pharaoh of Egypt, pushed Alexandria to the foreground. The idea for the Mouseion may have come from the exiled Athenian, Demetrius of Phaleron, but the building was not completed until the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. In any case, the Mouseion remained the capital of learning for three hundred years and eventually disappeared, probably during the 3rd century AD.

The modern Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum (BAAM) was opened in 2002, not far from the place occupied by the original Library. The BAAM was designed to contain eight million volumes, and the Archaeological Museum (the world’s first such museum to be set inside a library) was meant to showcase the vast diversity of Egyptian cultural heritage throughout the centuries.

Most of the museum’s collection dates from the Graeco-Roman era, which is not surprising since Alexandria boomed in Hellenistic times under the Ptolemies, and as part of the Roman Empire for another 600 years afterward.

One of the unique highlights in that vast collection is the marble head of Alexander the Great. It was found in Alexandria’s neighborhood of Kom El Dekka, and although it was sculpted in Roman times, it clearly is a copy of an original attributed to the school of Lesbos. His features, including his hair, are very distinctive for Alexander. The head also carries an inscription with his name followed by his title as king of Egypt.

Among other noteworthy statues are, for instance, a limestone head of Berenice II (wife of Ptolemy III Euergetes), a limestone head of Ptolemy III (ruled 246-222 BC), and a marble bust of Socrates made in Roman times.

Apparently, the area of Kom El Dekka was a residential neighborhood for the well-to-do in Graeco-Roman times since excavations have exposed large villas, bathhouses, as well as a theater and even an amphitheater (the only one ever found in Egypt).

The entrance wall of the BAAM is another exciting feature for it depicts the history of writing. The grey Aswan granite displays letters from 120 different languages. In front of this wall, stands – very appropriately - a 13-meter-high statue of Ptolemy II (ruled 285-245 BC) recovered from the harbor of Alexandria in the mid-1990s. Although the construction of the ancient Library of Alexandria may have been conceived by Ptolemy I if not by Alexander himself, it is generally accepted that it was his son, Ptolemy II who realized the project.