Alexandria (270 A.D.A.) is a Mediterranean city, a melting pot of peoples in Late Antiquity, a personal property of the emperor rather than a senatorial province, with a prefect as local ruler.
Geography
- Double port: the Great Harbor (government, grain exports to Rome) and the port of Eunostos (Happy Return).
- The island of Pharos has a lighthouse of about 160 m. The Heptastadion (about 840 m, 7 stadia) divides the two ports.
- Districts: Rakotis (Egyptians, southwest, with the Serapeum), Delta Quarter (Greeks), the Roman and Jewish quarters, and Kibotos (taverns and ports).
- The Canal of Theonas links the Nile with Kibotos.
Population
- Egyptians: native, weakened.
- Greeks: Ptolemaic heritage, culturally dominant.
- Romans: military and administrative elite.
- Jews: a resilient community.
Festivals
- 1 Thoth: Egyptian New Year; the epagomenal days before it are dedicated to the gods.
- 20 Thoth: feast of drunkenness, when humanity was saved from being drowned in blood.
- Festivals of purification and tabula rasa.