Chap. 11.] ACCOUNT OF COUNTRIES, ETC. 419 



(10.) "With the greatest justice, however, we may lavish 

 our praises upon Alexandria, built by Alexander the Great 

 on the shores of the Egyptian Sea, upon the soil of Africa, 

 at twelve miles' distance from the Canopic Mouth and near 

 Lake Mareotis^ ; the spot having previously borne the name 

 of B-hacotes. The plan of this city was designed by the 

 architect Dinochares^, who is memorable for the genius which 

 he displayed in many ways. Building the city upon a wide 

 space' of ground fifteen miles in circumference, he formed 

 it in the circular shape of a Macedonian chlamys^, uneven 

 at the edge, giving it an angular projection on the right and 

 left ; while at the same time he devoted one-fifth part of the 

 site to the royal palace. 



Lake Mareotis, which lies on the south side of the city, 

 is connected by a canal which joins it to the Canopic mouth, 

 and serves for the purposes of communication with the in- 

 terior. It has also a great number of islands, and is thirty 



Joseph exercised the office of high-priest, and here the prophet Jeremiah 

 is supposed to have written his Book of Lamentations. Its priests were 

 the great depositaries of the theological and historical learning of Egypt. 

 Solon, Thales, and Plato were reputed each to hivve visited its schools. 

 According to Macrobius, Baalbec, the Syrian City of the Sun, was a 

 colony from this place. It was the capital of the nome Hehopolites, 

 and paid worship to the sun and the bull Mnevis, the rival of Apis. 

 From Josephus we learn that after the dispersion and fall of the tribes 

 of Judah and Israel, great numbers of the Jews took refuge at this place, 

 forming almost one-half of its population. The ruins, which were ex- 

 tremely magnificent, occupied in the twelfth centm*y an area nearly three 

 miles m extent. Pliny speaks of the great obelisk there, which is still 

 standing. (See B. xxxvi. c. 9.) The village of Matarieh occupies a part 

 of its site, and besides the obelisk of red granite, there are a few remains 

 of the Temple of the Sun. 



^ Now called Birk-el-Mariout. 



2 Or Dinocrates. He was the architect of the new temple of Diana at 

 Ephesus, which was built after the destruction of the former one by He- 

 rostratus. It was this architect who formed a design for cutting Mount 

 Athos into a statue of Alexander, with a city in the right hand and a re- 

 servoir of the mountain streams in the left. 



3 Holland seems to think that the word "laxitate" appUes to 

 chlamys. 



* The chlamys was a scarf or cloak worn over the shoulders, and espe- 

 cially used by military persons of high rank. It did not reach Iowot 

 than the knees, and was open in front, covering only the neck, back, and 

 ehoulders. 



2e2 



