.Chap. 11.] ' ACCOUNT OF COrNTRIES, 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 Ehacotes. 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 have 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 century an area nearly three 
miles in extent. Phny speaks of the great obehsk there, which is still 
standing. (See B. xxxvi. c. 9.) The village of Matarieh occupies a part 
of its site, and besides the obehsk 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 HoUand seems to think that the word "laxitate" apphes to 
chlamys. 
The chlamys was a scarf or cloak worn over the shoulders, and espe- 
cially used by mihtary persons of high rank. It did not reach lower 
than the knees, and was open in front, covering only the neck, back, and 
shoulders. 
2 E 2 
