亚历山大港(Alexandria)是埃及第二大城市和最大港口，是埃及最重要的海港，历史上曾被马可波罗称为与中国泉州刺桐港齐名的世界第一大港。亚历山大港始建于公元前332年，是按其奠基人亚历山大大帝命名的，作为当时马其顿帝国埃及行省的总督所在地。亚历山大大帝死后，埃及总督托勒密在这里建立了托勒密王朝，加冕为托勒密一世（救星）。亚历山大成为埃及王国的首都，并很快就成为古希腊文化中最大的城市。在西方古代史中其规模和财富仅次于罗马。它是古代欧洲与东方贸易的中心和文化交流的枢纽。亚历山大港不仅是一个古希腊文化的中心，它也是当时世界上最大的犹太人城市。七十士译本就是在那里完成的。古代亚历山大港著名的还有亚历山大灯塔（世界七大奇迹之一）和亚历山大图书馆。但埃及的伊斯兰教统治者在奠定了开罗为埃及的新首都后亚历山大港的地位不断下降。在奥斯曼帝国末期它几乎已沦为一个小渔村。
Founded in 331 BC by 25-year-old Alexander the Great, Alexandria (Al Iskendariyya) is the stuff of legend. Its towering Pharos lighthouse, marking the ancient harbour's entrance, was one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and its Great Library was considered the archive of ancient knowledge. Alas, fate dealt the city a spate of cruel blows. The Pharos collapsed and the Great Library was torched. Part of the ancient city disappeared under the sea and part under the modern city, so there are few visible remains of the glorious past.
The 19th century kick-started a cosmopolitan makeover and renaissance when Alexandria became one of the Mediterranean's key commercial hubs. This revival was cut short in the 1950s by President Nasser's nationalism. Today the imposing modern library of Alexandria sits amid faded remnants of the once-grand seafront Corniche, as a symbol of the city's latest incarnation as Egypt's cultural capital. Today's Alexandria is a dusty seaside Egyptian town with an over-inflated population of 5 million while much of the city is badly in need of a lick of paint.
Alexandria is Egypt's second largest city, its largest seaport and the country's window onto the Mediterranean Sea. It's a faded shade of its former glorious cosmopolitan self, but still worth a visit for its many cultural attractions and still-palpable glimpses of its past.
Few cities of the world have a history as rich as that of Alexandria; few cities have witnessed so many historic events and legends. Founded by Alexander the Great (Iskander al-Akbar) in 331 BC, Alexandria became the capital of Greco-Roman Egypt; its status as a beacon of culture is symbolized by Pharos, the legendry lighthouse that was one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
In all, Alexandria was one of the greatest cities in the Hellenic world, second only to Rome in size and wealth, and while it changed hands from Rome to Byzantine and finally Persia, the city stayed the capital of Egypt for a millennium.
Alas, the city's reign came to an end when the Arabs conquered Egypt in 641 and decided to found a new capital to the south in Cairo.
Alexandria survived as a trading port; Marco Polo described it around 1300 as one of the world's two busiest ports, along with Quanzhou. However, its strategic location meant that every army on its way to Egypt passed through: Napoleon's troops stormed the city in 1798, but the British conquered it in the Siege of Alexandria in 1801. The Egyptians under Mohammed Ali took control of the city and rebuilt it, but the Orabi Rebellion in 1881 and massacres of Europeans in the city led the British to strike back and hammer the rebels with the three-day Bombardment of Alexandria, reducing much of the city center to rubble. Once again, Alexandria rose from the ashes. Its cosmopolitan and decadent lifestyle before and during World War II gave birth to its greatest poet, Constantine P. Cavafy, and was chronicled in Laurence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet and a series of works by E. M. Forster including Alexandria: A History and Guide (1922), described by some as the best travel guide ever written.
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