Editing Alexandria (section)

==Ancient layout==
[[File:Macedonian Army Alexander.jpg|thumb|[[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonian]] Army, shown on the [[Alexander Sarcophagus]]]]{{More citations needed section|date=July 2023}}
Greek Alexandria was divided into three regions:
;Rhakotis
:[[Rhacotis|Rhakotis]] (from [[Coptic language|Coptic]] {{transliteration|cop|Rakotə}},{{Contradictory inline|date=August 2021|reason=In the introductory sentence, the Coptic name is given as 'Rakodī', with ref. There's no explanation of the discrepancy. A different dialect?}} "Alexandria") was the old city that was absorbed into Alexandria. It was occupied chiefly by Egyptians.
:
;Brucheum
:Brucheum was the Royal or Greek quarter and formed the most magnificent portion of the city. In [[Outline of ancient Rome|Roman times]], Brucheum was enlarged by the addition of an official quarter, making four regions in all. The city was laid out as a grid of parallel streets, each of which had an attendant subterranean canal.
;
;Jewish quarter
:The Jewish quarter was the northeast portion of the city.
[[File:Canopic Street Alexandria 1784 by LF Cassa.png|thumb|[[Engraving]] by L. F. Cassas of the [[Canopic Street]] in Alexandria, [[Egypt]], made in 1784]]

Two main streets, lined with [[colonnade]]s and said to have been each about {{cvt|sp=us|60|m|ft}} wide, intersected in the centre of the city, close to the point where the Sema (or Soma) of Alexander (his [[Mausoleum]]) rose. This point is very near the present [[mosque]] of [[Nebi Daniel]]; the line of the great East–West "Canopic" street is also present in modern-day Alexandria, having only slightly diverged from the line of the modern Boulevard de Rosette (now Sharae Fouad). Traces of its pavement and canal have been found near the Rosetta Gate, but remnants of streets and canals were exposed in 1899 by German excavators outside the east fortifications, which lie well within the area of the ancient city.[[File:S03 06 01 018 image 2380.jpg|thumb|One of the pair of [[Cleopatra's Needles]] in Alexandria, which were relocated to London and New York in the late 19th century]]Alexandria consisted originally of little more than the island of Pharos, which was joined to the mainland by a {{cvt|1260|m|ft|adj=mid|-long}} [[mole (architecture)|mole]] and called the {{transliteration|grc|Heptastadion}} ("seven stadia"—a ''[[stadium]]'' was a Greek [[unit of length]] measuring approximately {{cvt|180|m|ft|abbr=off|disp=or}}). The end of this abutted on the land at the head of the present Grand Square, where the "Moon Gate" rose. All that now lies between that point and the modern "Ras al-Tin" quarter is built on the silt which gradually widened and obliterated this mole. The Ras al-Tin quarter represents all that is left of the island of Pharos, the site of the actual lighthouse having been weathered away by the sea. On the east of the mole was the Great Harbour, now an open bay; on the west lay the port of Eunostos, with its inner basin Kibotos, now vastly enlarged to form the modern harbour.

In [[Strabo]]'s time (latter half of the 1st century BC), the principal buildings were as follows, enumerated as they were to be seen from a ship entering the Great Harbour.

#The [[Palace|Royal Palaces]], filling the northeast angle of the town and occupying the promontory of Lochias, which shut in the Great Harbour on the east. Lochias (the modern Pharillon) has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, together with the palaces, the "Private Port", and the island of Antirrhodus. There has been a land [[subsidence]] here, as throughout the northeast coast of Africa.
#The Great Theater, on the modern Hospital Hill near the Ramleh station. This was used by [[Julius Caesar]] as a fortress, where he withstood a siege from the city mob after he took Egypt after the [[battle of Pharsalus]].{{citation needed|date=July 2014}}{{clarify|reason=Caesar retreated from a mob??|date=July 2014}}
#The [[Poseidon]], or [[Greek temple|Temple]] of the Sea God, close to the theater
#The Timonium built by [[Mark Antony|Marc Antony]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.franckgoddio.org/projects/sunken-civilizations/alexandria/|title=The sunken ancient port of Alexandria|first=Franck Goddio-Underwater|last=Archaeologist|website=Franck Goddio - Underwater Archaeologist}}</ref>
#The Emporium (Exchange)
#The Apostases (Magazines)
#The Navalia (Docks), lying west of the Timonium, along the seafront as far as the mole
#Behind the Emporium rose the [[Caesareum of Alexandria|Great Caesareum]], by which stood the two great [[obelisk]]s which became known as "[[Cleopatra's Needle]]s" and were transported to New York City and London. This temple became, in time, the Patriarchal Church, though some ancient remains of the temple have been discovered. The actual Caesareum, the parts not eroded by the waves, lies under the houses lining the new seawall.
#The [[Gymnasium (ancient Greece)|Gymnasium]] and the [[Palaestra]] are both inland, near the Boulevard de Rosette in the eastern half of the town; sites unknown.
#The Temple of [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]]; site unknown.
#The Mausolea of Alexander (Soma) and the Ptolemies in one ring-fence, near the point of intersection of the two main streets.
#The [[Musaeum]] with its famous [[Library of Alexandria|Library]] and theater in the same region; site unknown.
#The [[Serapeum of Alexandria]], the most famous of all Alexandrian temples. Strabo tells that this stood in the west of the city; and recent discoveries go far as to place it near "Pompey's Pillar", which was an independent monument erected to commemorate [[Diocletian]]'s siege of the city.

The names of a few other public buildings on the mainland are known, but there is little information as to their actual position. None, however, are as famous as the building that stood on the eastern point of Pharos island. There, [[Lighthouse of Alexandria|The Great Lighthouse]], one of the [[Wonders of the World|Seven Wonders of the World]], reputed to be {{cvt|138|m|ft}} high, was situated. The first Ptolemy began the project, and the second Ptolemy ([[Ptolemy II Philadelphus]]) completed it, at a total cost of 800&nbsp;[[Talent (measurement)|talent]]s. It took 12&nbsp;years to complete and served as a [[prototype]] for all later [[lighthouse]]s in the world. The light was produced by a furnace at the top and the tower was built mostly with solid blocks of limestone. The Pharos lighthouse was destroyed by an earthquake in the 14th century, making it the second longest surviving ancient wonder, after the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]]. A temple of [[Hephaestus]] also stood on Pharos at the head of the mole.

In the 1st century, the population of Alexandria contained over 180,000 adult male citizens,<ref>Rostovtzeff 1941: (1138–39)</ref> according to a census dated from 32 AD, in addition to a large number of freedmen, women, children and slaves. Estimates of the total population range from 216,000<ref>Josiah Russell, 1958, "Late Ancient and Medieval Population", pp. 67 and 79.</ref> to 500,000,<ref>[[Elio Lo Cascio]], 2009, "Urbanization as a Proxy of Growth", p. 97, citing Bagnall and Frier.</ref> making it one of the largest cities ever built before the [[Industrial Revolution]] and the largest pre-industrial city that was not an imperial capital.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}