274 ALEXANDRI A. 
their ancient privileges, but heaping new favours upon 
them ; for which they returned him their folemn thanks, 
and conferred upon him what honours-they could while he 
was prefent ; but, as focn as he was gone, they publifhed 
the moff bitter and virulent lampoons againft him. 
The fickle and fatirical humour of the Alexandrians 
was highly dilliked by Adrian, though he inflicted no 
punifhment upon them for it; hut, when they lampooned 
Caracal!;!, he did not let themefcape fo eafily. That ty¬ 
rant, in the year 215, when lie vifited their city, having 
become the 1'ubject of their foolifh fatires, ordered a ge¬ 
neral maffacre by his numerous troops, w ho were difperf- 
ed ail over the city. The inhuman orders being given, all 
were murdered, without diftinbtion of age or fex ; fo that 
in one night’s time the whole city floated in blood, and eve¬ 
ry houfe was filled with carcafes. The monfler who oc\- 
cafioned this had retired during the night to the temple of 
Serapis, to implore the protebfion of that deity ; and, not 
yet fatiated with daughter, commanded the mafTacre to be 
continued all the next day; fo that very few of the inha¬ 
bitants remained. As if even this had not been fufficient, 
he dripped tire city of all its ancient privileges ; fupprefled 
he academy; ordered all flrangers who lived there to de¬ 
part ; and, that the few who remained might not have the 
fatisfadlion of feeing one another, he cut off all communi¬ 
cation of one ffreet with another, by walls built for that 
purpofe, and guarded by troops left there. 
Notwithftanding this terrible dif'aller, Alexandria foon 
recovered its former fplendour, as Caracalia was murdered 
a fliort time after. It was long e(teemed the firft city in 
the world, next to Rome ; and we may judge of its mag¬ 
nificence, and the multitude of people contained in it, from 
the account of Diodorus Siculus, who relates, that in his 
time (forty-four years before Chrift) Alexandria had on 
its rolls 300,000 freemen. Towards the middle of the 
fixth century, Amrou Ebn el Aas, Omar’s general, took it 
by florin, after a fiege of fourteen months, and with the 
lofs of 23,000 men. Heraclius, then emperor of Con- 
ftantinopie, did not fend a Angle fliip to its aftiftance. This 
prince affords an example very rare in hiflory; he had 
difplayed fome vigour in the firft year of his reign, and 
then fuffered himfelf to be lulled into idlenefs and effemi¬ 
nacy. Awakened fuddenly from Iris lethargy by the noife 
of the conquefts of Cofroes, that fcourge of the eaft, he 
put himfelf at the head of his armies, diftinguifhed him¬ 
felf as a great captain frrm his very firft campaign, laid 
wafie Perfia for feven years, and returned to his capital 
covered with laurels: he then became a theologian on the 
throne, loft all his energy, andamufed himfelf the reft of 
his life with difputing upon monotheifm, whilft the Arabs 
were robbing him of the fineft provinces of his empire. 
Deaf to the cries of the unfortunate inhabitants of Alex¬ 
andria, as he had been to thofe of the people of Jerufalem, 
who defended themfelves for two years, he left them a fa- 
crifice to the fortunate afcendant of the indefatigable Am¬ 
rou. All their intrepid youth perifhed with their arms 
in their hands. The vibtor, aftonifned at his conqueft, 
wrote to the'caliph, “ 1 have taken the city of the weft. 
It is of an immenfe extent. I cannot defcribe to you how 
many w’onders it contains. There are 4000 palaces, 4000 
baths, 12,000 dealers in frefh oil, 12,000 gardeners, 40,000 
Jews who pay tribute, 400 comedians,” &c. At this 
timb, according to the Arabian hiftorians, Alexandria 
confided of three cities, viz. Menna, or the port, which 
included Pharos, and the neighbouring parts; Alexan¬ 
dria, properly fo called, where the modern Scanderia now 
Hands; and Nekita, probably the Necropolis of Jofeplnis 
and Strabo. 
At that time John, furnamed the grammarian, a famous 
Peripatetic philofopher, being in the'city, and in high fa¬ 
vour with Amrou Ebnal Aas the Saracen general, beg¬ 
ged of him the royal library. Amrou replied, that it was 
not in his power to grant fitch a requeft ; but that he would 
write to the khalif on that head; fince, without knowing 
his pleafure, he dared not to difpofe of a ftngle book, He 
accordingly wrote to Omar, who was then khalif, acquaint¬ 
ing him with the requeft of his friend : to which the ig¬ 
norant tyrant replied, That if thefe books contained the 
fame doctrine with the koran, they could be of no ufe, 
fince the koran contained all necelTary truths; but, if they 
contained any thing contrary to that book, they ought not 
to be fuffered; and therefore, whatever their contents 
were, he ordered them to be deftroyed. Purfuant to this 
order, they were diftributed among the public bathsj 
where, for the fpace of fix months, they ferved to fupply 
the fires of thofe places, of which there was an incredible 
number in Alexandria. 
After the city was taken, Amrou thought proper to 
purfue the Greeks who had fled farther up the country ; 
and therefore marched out of Alexandria, leaving but a 
very (lender garrifon in the place. The Greeks, who had 
before fled on-board their (hips, being apprrfed of this, 
returned on a hidden, furprifed the town, and put all the 
Arabs they found therein to the fword : but Amrou, re¬ 
ceiving advice of what had happened, fuddenly returned, 
and drove them out of it with great (laughter; after which 
the Greeks were fo intimidated, that he had nothing far¬ 
ther to fear from them.—A few years after, however, 
Amrou being deprived of his government by the khalif 
Othman, the Egyptians were fo much difpleafed with his 
difmiftion that they inclined to a revolt; and Conftantine 
the Greek emperor, having received intelligence of their 
difaffebtion, began to meditate the reduction of Alexandria. 
For this purp'ofe, he Cent one Manuel, an eunuch, and 
his general, with a powerful army, to retake the place ; 
which, by the ailiftance of the Greeks in the city, who 
kept a fecret ccrrefpondence" with the imperial forces 
while at lea, and joined them as foon as they had made a 
defeent, he effebled without any confiderable effufion of 
blood. The khalif, now perceiving his miftake, imme¬ 
diately reftored Amrou to his’former dignity. This ftep 
was very agreeable to the natives ; who having had expe¬ 
rience of the military (kill and bravery of this renowned ge¬ 
neral, and apprehending that they fliould be called to an 
account by the Greeks for their former perfidious conduCt, 
had petitioned Othman to fend him again into Egypt.— 
Upon Amrou’s arrival, therefore, at Alexandria, the 
Copts or natives, with the traitor Al-Mokawkas (who 
had formerly betrayed to Amrou the fortrefs of Mefr) at 
their head, not only joined him, but fupplied him with 
all kinds of provifions, exciting him to attack the Greeks 
without delay. This he did ; and, after a mod obftinate 
difpute which lafted feveral days, drove them into the 
town, where, for fome time, they defended themfelve3 
with great bravery, and repelled the utmoft efforts of the 
befiegers. This To exafperated Amrou, that he fwore, 
“ If God enabled him to conquer the Greeks, he would 
throw down the walls of the city, and make it as eafy of 
accefs as a bawdy-houfe, which lies open to every body.” 
Nor did he fail to execute this menace; for, having taken 
the town by dorm, lie quite difinantled it, entirely demo- 
lifliingthe walls and fortifications. The lives of the citi¬ 
zens, however, were fpared, at lead as far as lay in the 
general’s power; butmany of them were put to the fword 
by the foldiers on their firft enterance. In one quarter 
particularly, Amrou found them butchering the Alexan¬ 
drians with unrelenting barbarity ; to which, however, by 
his feafonable interpofition, he put a flop, and on that fpot 
erebted a mofque, which he called the mofquc of mercy. 
From this time Alexandria never recovered its former 
fplendour. It continued under the dominion of the kha- 
iifs till the year 924, when it %vas taken by the Magrebi- 
ans, two years jifter its great church had been deftroyed 
by fire. This church was called by the Arabs Al Kaifa~ 
ria, or CceJ'arca ; and had formerly been a pagan temple, 
erebted in honour of Saturn by the famous queen Cleo¬ 
patra. 
The city was foon after abandoned by the Magrebians ; 
hut in 928 they again made themfelves mafters of it; their 
fleet being afterwards defeated by.-that belonging to the 
khalif 
