|
Alexander
in Egypt
In
the two months he resided as 'living god' in the royal
palace at Memphis, studying Egyptian laws and customs
at first hand, he gave orders for the restoration of the
Egyptians' religious centres, including the great southern
temples of Luxor and Karnak, where he appears in the company
of the Egyptian gods wearing traditional Egyptian regalia
including the rams horns of Amun as worn by his pharaonic
predecessors including Amenhotep III. Alexander's image
was replicated all over Egypt in both monumental statuary
and delicate relief, together with his Greek name translated
into hieroglyphs enclosed by the royal cartouche:
"Horus,
the strong ruler, he who seizes the lands of the foreigners,
beloved of Amun and the chosen one of Ra - Meryamun Setepenra
Aleksandros".
He then left Memphis in January 331 BC and sailed down
the western branch of the Nile to inspect the Greek trading
colony of Naucratis. Its land-bound position offered no
scope for development, so Alexander pressed on toward
the coast to reach the Egyptian fort of Rhakotis referred
to by both Herodotus and Thucydides, close to Lake Mareotis
where a narrow ridge divides its waters from the sea.
Consulting Homer he had arrived on the coast at a site
mentioned in the Odyssey: "Out of the sea where it
breaks on the shores of Egypt rises an island from the
waters: the name men give it is Pharos" (Odyssey
IV.354-355).
Noting that Homer was a clever city planner as well as
a great poet, Alexander observed the deep waters of its
well-sheltered, natural harbour and an uncanny similarity
to the impressive location of Tyre. As Arrian says "he
was immediately struck by the excellence of the site,
and convinced that if a city were built upon it, it would
certainly prosper. Such was his enthusiasm that he could
not wait to begin the work and he himself designed the
general layout of the town, indicating the position of
the market place and the temples and which gods they should
serve, the gods of Greece and Egypt, and the exact limits
of the defences". Working with the architect Deinocrates
of Rhodes, the stonemason Numenios and a technical adviser
named Hyponomos, Alexander also planned the site of the
royal palace and even worked out a complex system of underground
drains and sewers.
In Alexander's haste there were no immediate means of
marking out the ground until it was suggested they use
barley flour from the soldiers' rations. This they sprinkled
on the ground as the king led the way along his imagined
roads and avenues, laid out in the form of a Macedonian
military cloak (chlamys) as his architects trailed along
behind. When a great flock of birds descended and ate
all traces of his new city, Alexander's initial fears
were allayed by his soothsayer Aristander who pronounced
that the city would flourish, producing abundant resources
which would nourish its people.
|
|
Whilst
planning his gateway into the Mediterranean, Alexander also
received the welcome news that Cyprus, Rhodes, Phoenicia and
the Aegean islands of Tenedos, Lesbos, Kos and Chios had all
come over to his side. As their former pro-Persian leaders
were delivered to him for judgement, Alexander despatched
them south to the Greek garrison at Aswan, accompanied by
Callisthenes whom Alexander sent southward to investigate
Aristotle's theory that the annual Nile flood was a result
of rains to the south.
Having selected the optimum location for Alexandria, the king
then set out west along the coastal road to Paraetonium (Mersa
Matruh) in late January 331 BC. Leaving the main body of the
army in Egypt, his military escort included his friends and
Companions together with local guides, and as they advanced
200 miles along the coast toward Libya they received envoys
from the Greek colony of Cyrene offering their allegiance,
together with lavish gifts including 300 horses and a golden
crown.
Alexander then turned south to follow the ancient caravan
route through the Northern Sahara, which connected the Mediterranean
coastline to central Africa via the all-important network
of the oases. The major oasis at Siwa was also home to the
world renowned Oracle of the god Amun (the Libyan form of
Ammon) described in Herodotus' Histories (II.31-32) which
Alexander, like many other famous men before him, intended
to consult.
After only a few days crossing the sands, the party ran out
of water and were only saved by a sudden violent rainstorm,
interpreted by the expedition historian Callisthenes as divine
intervention. Their sojourn was then interrupted by one of
the regular terrifying sandstorms sweeping up from the south
to obliterate any recognisable landmarks. The track was indistinguishable
from the desert and the landscape featureless as far as the
eye could see, the guides employed for the journey were soon
lost. Mindful that hostile Persian forces of Cambyses had
been obliterated in exactly the same circumstances in their
attempts to reach Siwa two centuries before, his companions
had been unable to disuade Alexander from undertaking the
perilous journey. "Fortune, by giving in to him on every
occasion, had made his resolve unshakable and so he was able
to overcome not only his enemies, but even places and seasons
of the year" says Plutarch. And indeed, disaster was
once again averted when two black ravens miraculously appeared,
Alexander exhorting his colleagues to follow them as they
must have been sent by the gods to guide them. Callisthenes
records that the ravens limited their flight to accommodate
the party, even cawing loudly if their charges deviated from
the correct path. Ptolemy says that their guides took the
form of two snakes, and whilst unsure which, Arrian confesses
that "I have no doubt whatever that he had divine assistance
of some kind".
|
|
Alexander in Egypt
