Alexandria: The City that Changed the World
Islam Issa
Sceptre, £30, 496 pages
In 331 BC, on the north coast of Egypt, an extraordinarily talented and hubristic young man ordered the construction of a new city. The location was well chosen: between the open sea of the Mediterranean and the freshwater lake Mereotis; a coastal island providing shelter for a future harbour; close to the fertile Nile Delta, but a sufficient distance to avoid its regular flooding.
The location was also mythical, associated with a legendary visit by Helen of Troy. No doubt this was appreciated by the Greek colonists who would settle there, augmenting and soon outstripping the extant native Egyptian fishing village. The young man was Alexander III of Macedon, known to us as Alexander the Great. And, displaying the characteristic modesty of an all-conquering hero, the new city was to be Alexandria.
