The Architecture of Alexandria and Egypt, C. 300 B.C. to A.D. 700

488 Pages·2011·71.302 MB·English

by  Judith McKenzie

PHILLIPS ACADEMY
YALE LNI\ ERSITY PRESS
867 00700 3929
PELICAN HIST
ALEXANDRIA AND EGYPT
JUDITH MCKENZIE
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The Architecture of Alexandria and
Egypt goo BC — AD 700
Judith McKenzie
This masterful history of the monumental
architecture of Alexandria, as well as the rest
of Egypt, encompasses an entire millennium
- from the city’s founding by Alexander the
Great in 331 bc to the years just after the
Islamic conquest of ad 642. Long considered
lost beyond recall, the architecture of ancient
Alexandria has until now remained mysteri¬
ous. But here Judith McKenzie shows that it
is indeed possible to reconstruct the city and
many of its buildings by means of meticulous
exploration of archaeological remains, written
sources, and an array of other fragmentary
evidence.
The book approaches its subject at the macro-
and the micro-level: from city-planning,
building types, and designs to architectural
style. It addresses the interaction between
the imported Greek and native Egyptian
traditions; the relations between the architec¬
ture of Alexandria and the other cities and
towns of Egypt as well as the wider
Mediterranean world; and Alexandria’s
previously unrecognized role as a major
source of architectural innovation and artistic
influence into the Late Antique and early
Islamic periods. Lavishly illustrated with new
plans of the city in the Ptolemaic, Roman,
and Byzantine periods; original reconstruc¬
tion drawings; and photographs, the book
brings to life the ancient city and uncovers
the true extent of its architectural legacy in
the Mediterranean world.
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Yale Universitv Press P^’ 11 Histo, r Art
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Oliver Wendell Holmes Library
Phillips Academy
ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS
FRO!£ THE FUND ESTABLISHED IN MEMORY OF
Fred Towsley Murphy, p.a. ’93, yale’97
TRUSTEE OF PHILLIPS ACADEMY, I908-I948
TRUSTEE OF YALE UNIVERSITY I9I9-I94°

YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
PELICAN HISTORY OF ART
FOUNDING EDITOR: NIKOLAUS PEVSNER
JUDITH MCKENZIE
THE ARCHITECTURE OF ALEXANDRIA AND EGYPT
C. 3OO BC TO AD 7OO

Judith McKenzie
The Architecture
of Alexandria
and Egypt
7
JOO BC to AD 00
C.
Yale University Press
New Haven and London
For Andy and John
and to the memory of Roger Moorey and Margaret McKenzie
Copyright © 2007 Judith Sheila McKenzie
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole
or in part, in any form (beyond that permitted by Sections 107
and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for
the public press), without written permission from the
publishers.
Set in Ehrhardt by Best-set Typesetter Ltd, Hong Kong
Printed in China through World Print
Designed by Emily Winter
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McKenzie, Judith.
The architecture of Alexandria and Egypt, c. 300 B.c. to
A.D. 700/ Judith McKenzie,
p. cm.
isbn 0-300-11555-5 (alk. paper)
1. Architecture, Ancient-Egypt-Alexandria.
2. Architecture, Ancient-Egypt. 3. Architecture—
Egypt-Alexandria. I. Title.
NA216.A5M45 2006
722'.2—DC22
2006004004
titlepage: Detail of‘Dionysos tapestry’, Late Antique
Egyptian wool and linen hanging, h. 2.20 m. Riggisberg, Abegg
Stiftung, inv. 3100a
Contents
Preface ix
Notes for the Reader xm
Chronological Tables xiv
Maps xvi
General Introduction i
PART ONE: The Setting 7
1. How Ancient Alexandria Was Lost 8
Destruction before 1800 9
Remains in c. 1800 12
Destruction in the Nineteenth Century 16
Excavations and the Twentieth Century 16
2. Reconstructing the Plan of Ancient Alexandria: the Archaeological Evidence
Street Grid 20
Water System 24
City Walls and Cemeteries 25
Harbours 29
PART TWO: Ptolemaic Period 31
Introductory Summary 32
3. Ptolemaic Alexandria: Buildings Erected from the Late Fourth Century
to the Mid-first Century BC 37
Alexander the Great and the Foundation of the City 37
Ptolemy I Soter (306—282 bc) 40
Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-246 bc) 41
Ptolemy III Euergetes I (246-221 bc) 52
Ptolemy IV Philopator (221-205 BC) 61
The Cityscape in the Late Third Century bc 66
The City from the Second Century to Mid-First Century bc 67
Archaeological Evidence in the Area of the Palaces 68
Archaeological Evidence for Cemeteries and Tombs 71
4. Cleopatra's Alexandria, and The Roman Conquest 75
Alexandria in the Time of Cleopatra VII (51-30 bc) 75
Roman Conquest of Egypt in 30 bc 78
VI - CONTENTS
5. Classical Architectural Style of Ptolemaic Alexandria and Its Depiction 80
Chronology of the Architectural Fragments in the Greco-Roman Museum, Alexandria 80
Doric and Ionic Orders 83
Corinthian Order 83
Baroque Architecture of Ptolemaic Alexandria 92
Alexandrian Style Architecture Built at Sites outside Egypt 95
Reflections of Alexandrian Architecture at Petra and in Second
Style Pompeian Wall-painting 96
Roman Baroque Architecture 113
Egyptianizing Classical Architecture in Alexandria 115
6. Traditional Egyptian Architecture 119
Classical Religious Structures in the Ptolemaic Period 119
Support of Ptolemaic Kings for the Egyptian Temples 120
Distinctive Design of Egyptian Temples of the Ptolemaic Period 125
Features in Common to Egyptian and Classical Ptolemaic Architecture 132
Egyptian Architecture in the Roman Period 136
PART THREE: Roman Period 147
Introductory Summary 148
7. Classical Architecture in the Cities and Towns of Roman Egypt 151
Ptolemaic Period 151
City Status 154
Nature of the Evidence 154
City Layout and Building Types 154
Some Other Buildings and Construction Techniques 166
Roman Military Camps 170
Changes in the Use of Resources for Building Programmes 170
8. Roman Alexandria 173
Strabo’s Topographical Description, c. 26-20 bc 173
The Caesareum and the Forum 177
Area of Occupation from the First Century bc to the Second Century ad 179
Public Buildings and Monumental Architecture in the First and Second Centuries ad 181
Archaeological Evidence for Cemeteries and Tombs from the Late First Century BC to the
Second Century ad 192
Roman Temple of Serapis 195
Lageion, Racecourse 203
The City in the Third Century ad 204
Buildings at Kom el-Dikka in the Fourth to the Seventh Centuries AD 209
Cisterns 220
9. Classical Architectural Style of Roman Alexandria and Egypt 221
Corinthian Order in the Late First Century bc and the First Century ad 221
Second and Third Centuries ad 223
Implications of the Archaeological Evidence 227
Papyrological Evidence for a Tradition of Classical Architecture 227