Gallery 65--of Alexandria, Egypt, Spring 2008

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In ancient times, Alexandria was one of the most famous cities in the world. It was founded around a small pharaonic town c. 331 BC by Alexander the Great.

It remained Egypt's capital for nearly a thousand years, until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in AD 641

The early Ptolemies kept it in order and fostered the development of its museum into the leading Hellenistic centre of learning (Library of Alexandria)

In 391, the Patriarch Theophilus destroyed all pagan temples in Alexandria under orders from Emperor Theodosius.

Alexandria extends about 32 km (20 mi) along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in north-central Egypt.

Very little of the ancient city has survived into the present day. Much of the royal and civic quarters sank beneath the harbour due to earthquake subsidence, and the rest has been built over in modern times.

Two writers loom large over the modern literature of Alexandria: C.P. Cavafy, the Alexandria-born Greek poet, and the Indian-born Englishman Lawrence Durrell, author of The Alexandria Quartet. Cavafy incorporated Greek history and mythology and his homosexuality into his poetry. Durrell used the cosmopolitan city as a landscape to explore human desires.

Burning fire helps to deal with the aggressive mosquitos of the Delta.

Sallum is a village in Egypt, near the Mediterranean Sea, 2km east of the border with Libya, and around 145km (91 miles) from Tobruk. Sallum is mainly a Bedouin community.

Winter temperatures in some of Sinai's cities and towns reach −16°C (3.2°F).

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