History. ALEXANDRIA. 2. Route. 11
the synagogues and expelled the Jews from the city; and in 415
the learned and beautiful pagan Hypatia, daughter ofthe mathe¬
matician Theon, was cruelly murdered by an infuriated crowd.
Under Justinian (527-565) all the still existing heathen schools
were finally closed.
In 619 Alexandria was captured by Chosroes, King of Persia,
but the Christians were left unmolested. Ten years later Heraclius
succeeded in recovering possession of Egypt, but the troops of the
Khalif 'Omar soon afterwards invaded the country and took Alexan¬
dria after a prolonged siege. In December, 641, 'Amr Ibn el-'As,
'Omar's general, entered the city; but by order of his master, he
treated the inhabitants with moderation. The decline of Alexan¬
dria now became rapid in the same proportion as the growing
prosperity of the newly-founded capital on the Nile, the modern
Cairo, and its commerce received a death-blow by the discovery
of America and of the sea-route to India round the Cape of Good
Hope.
The decay of the once powerful seaport, which contained only
5000 inhab. in 1800, was at length effectually arrested by the
vigorous hand of Mohammed 'Ali (p. xcix), who improved the har¬
bours and constructed several canals. The chief benefit he con¬
ferred on Alexandria was the construction of the Mahmudlyeh
Canal (begun in 1819), which was so named after the reigning
Sultan Mahmud. By means of this channel the adjoining fields
were irrigated anew, and Alexandria was again connected with the
Nile and the rest of Egypt, the products of which had long found
their only outlets through the Rosetta and Damietta mouths of the
river. The subsequent viceroys also made great efforts to improve
the position of the toivn. The town suffered severely during Arabi's
rising in 1882 (p. cii), and a great part of the European quarter
was laid in ashes; but the traces of this misfortune have disap¬
peared, and the town is distinctly prosperous in spite ofthe recent
rivalry of Port Sa'id (comp. p. 168).
2. Modern Alexandria.
The great centre of European life is the Place Mehemet Ali
(PL F, 4), about 575 paces long and 100 paces broad, which is
embellished with trees. In the centre rises the Equestrian Statue of
Mohammed 'Ali (PI. 3; see above), the founder of the reigning dynasty
of Egypt, designed by Jaquemart, and cast in Paris. The statue is
16 ft. in height, and stands on a pedestal of Tuscan marble 20 ft.
in height. This square was the principal scene of destruction in
1882. It is once more surrounded by handsome new buildings. On
the N.E. side stands the English Church, adjoined by St. Mark's
Building, belonging to the British community and used as a school
and for official purposes; on the E. side is the Exchange, on the
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