BOOK V. XI. 60-63 



the palace of Memnon and the temple of Osiris, in 

 the interior of Libya 7| miles from the river, Then 

 Ptolemais and PanopoUs and another Town of Venus, 

 and on the Libyan side Lycon, where the Province 

 of Thebes is bounded by a mountain range. Beyond 

 this are the Towns of Mercury, and of the Alabastri, 

 the Town of Dogs, and the Town of Hercules men- 

 tioned above. Then Arsinoe's Town and Memphis 

 already mentioned, between which and the Arsinoite 

 district on the Libyan side are the towers called 

 pyramids, and on Lake Moeris the Labyrinth, in 

 the construction of which no timber was used with 

 the masonry, and the town of the Criah. There is 

 one place besides in the interior and bordering on 

 the Arabian frontier which is of great renown, 

 Heliopolis. 



But justice requires that praise shall be bestowed Aiexandria. 

 on Alexandria, built by Alexander the Great on the 

 coast of the Egyptian Sea on the side of Africa, 

 12 miles from the Canopic mouth and adjoining Lake 

 Mariout ; the site was pre\aously named Rhacotes. 

 It was laid out by the architect Dinochares, who is 

 famous for his talent in a variety of ways ; it covered 

 an area spreading 15 miles in the shape of a Mace- 

 donian soldier's cape, with indentations in its cir- 

 cumference and projecting corners on the right and 

 left side ; while at the same time a fifth of the site 

 was devoted to the King's palace. Lake Mariout, 

 which lies on the south side of the city, carries 

 traffic from the interior by means of a canal from 

 the Canopic mouth of the Nile ; also it includes a 

 considcrable number of islands, being 30 miles across 

 and 250 miles in circumference, according to Claudius 

 Caesar. Others make it 40 schoeni " long and reckon 



267 



