HOGARTH D. G., Report on prospects of Research in Alex. in Egypt. Expl. Fund, 1891-95, pag. 1-33; VAUJANY, Alex. et la Basse Egypte, Caire, 1881; A. DE ZOGHEB, Etudes sur l'ancienne Alex., Paris, 1910. The studies of Admiral Blomfield have been published in the Bull. de la Soc. Arch. d'Alex.

Geological Formation of the Alexandrian Coast. Although we, in historical times, know of only one island (Pharos) opposite and in close proximity to the Alexandrian coast, this same coast, according to the latest geological conclusions, did not form in prehistoric ages a compact band of land united to the mainland. In its place there were numerous small islands very little above sea-level, lying like a bar at the entrance of the gulf, the Lake Mareotis of later days, opening on the Mediterranean. Through the gradual rising of the soil, as well as the incessant accumulation of the sand from the dunes, little by little these islands become united, forming an uninterrupted tongue of land between the sea and the gulf, which in consequence was transformed into a lake. On this tongue of land Alexander (B. C. 332-31) founded the new capital of Egypt. During the course of centuries the soil of Alexandria has undergone other modifications. In fact, its level is not the same as it was at the time of the Ptolemies and Romans. As the result of violent shocks of earthquake (1), or of some geological phenomenon acting in an almost insensible but constant manner, a subsidence has taken place in the area of the town (2). It is easy for instance to see a proof of this at Kom-el-Shugafa, where, today, the third layer of the necropolis is under water. It is the same in the necropolis at Chatby, where the remains of the corpses often float in their graves, transformed into tiny lakes. It is worthy of note, also, that the island called Antirrhodos, which used to be in the large harbour, has altogether disappeared under the water.

Audebeau Bey has proved a subsidence of the soil of Alexandria of at least 2m. 30, which represents the height of the

(1) The geologist YANKO (Das Delta des Nil) was the first to draw attention to the subsidence of the soil of Alexandria. The earthquakes of the XIX century were historic. It is not necessary to remind the reader that the observations of modern seismologists have disclosed considerable subsidences of soil in Japan and in Europe caused by earthquake shocks. The last shock at Messina brought about a subsidence which reached a maximum of 66 cm, on the sea-shore and a minimum of 10 cm. inside the town. After the earthquake of Agram, in Austria, in 1880, a movement of the soil in a horizontal direction was ascertained to have taken place. In Japan, after the earthquake of 1891, a subsidence of 40 cm. was noticed around a triangular piece of land, measuring 25 kilometres at each side. In other parts the soil adjoining was raised from 60 to 80 cm. Probably this same phenomenon occurred at Alexandria. (2) It varies between a metre and a metre and a half, or even more. Some geologists are of opinion that this may be the result not so much of a subsidence of the land as of a raising of the level of the sea.

water above the floor of the lower galleries of the hypogea (Kom-el-Shugafa) at the time of the rise of the Nile, above the natural subterranean level. In this case, the height of the rise of the river and the differences of the natural subterranean level can have augmented, as a matter of fact, in an extremely small proportion for some 16 or 17 centuries, considering the immediate neighbourhood of the sea, into which any natural underground water would flow. Also the quays of an ancient harbour discovered by the engineer Jondet, to the North-West of the Pharos island, are now under water, and there is no reason to suppose they were undermined by the sea.

Besides this attested subsidence of the soil, we must draw attention to the fact that the level of the ancient city is several metres below that of the modern town. To reach the

ruins of the Roman epoch it is very often necessary to dig down through and clear away six or seven metres of accumulation. Therefore the ruins of the Ptolemaic city must repose at an even greater depth, and I think they are nearly all in the layers of ground which are now under water.

The outline of the coast has also changed since the days of antiquity. The dyke or mole (Heptastadium) that the Ptolemies caused to be built to unite the Pharos island to the mainland

no longer exists. It has disappeared under accretions of soil, alluvium deposits and accumulations of débris and rubbish. These deposits have formed a broad zone of ground, comprising the whole of Mohamed Ali Square down to the old palace of the Governorate, as well as the district of the Marina (approx. imately Kom-el-Nadoura and the Arsenal Dock).

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

- JANKO J., Das Delta des Nil, Buda-Pest, 1890; AuDEBEAU BEY, Rapport sur l'Adm. des Domaines de l'Etat, p. 1911, cp. Bull. Inst. Egypt., 1912, 2 fasc., p. 210; BLANKENHORN MAX., Geologie Aegyptens, Berlin, 1911.

General View. At the time of Alexander the Great and his successors, architecture had a great and very important task to accomplish the construction of hundreds of new cities. This task was achieved in an admirable manner, according to the rules already fixed in the Vth century by Hippodamus of Miletus which had been followed in the transformation of Rhodes and of Halicarnassus. The plan of Alexandria was drawn up by Dinocrates, and its principal characteristic was the predominance of straight lines.

Modern architecture, at any rate the most recent, is inclined

the other way, and it may be right, but at the Hellenistic epoch the principle of the straight line was considered excellent. Alexandria become a model for most of the large new cities. As a rule, the streets cut one another at right angles, in such a manner that the groups of houses resembled a chess-board. The two principal streets, which intersected almost in the centre of the city, were more that 100 feet wide. Many canals and aqueducts passed under the streets. The five districts comprising the town were indicated by the first five letters of the alphabet, which stand also for the first five numbers.

A quarter or nearly a third of the area of the city was occupied by royal edifices, an immense collection of palaces and gardens. In that part of Alexandria lay the tombs of Alexander and of the Ptolemies, the Museum, the celebrated Library, the Theatre, the Arsenal, and the barracks for the royal body-guard. Along the broad principal street which extends from the extreme east to the extreme west of the city numerous temples were erected, also the Gymnasium and Court of Justice. On the hillock now called Kom-el-Dik there was a magnificent park like enclosure for monuments, called the Paneion. The Serapeum was on a small hill to the south-west of the town (the ground surrounding the so-called Pompey's Pillar). The Stadium was at the foot of this, on the south side. The amphitheatre of which Josephus the historian speaks was probably also inside the city. A dyke, the Heptastadium, connected the town with Pharos island, which lay in front of it. In this manner two harbours were formed, the large harbour to the East (deserted nowadays) and the Eunostos (the present harbour). The celebrated lighthouse, the Pharos, was erected on the island, the work of Sostratus of Cnidus. Vast burial grounds stretched to the eastward (Chatby-Hadra) and to the westward of the city (Gabbari-Wardian). Rich suburbs (Eleusis-Nicopolis) prospered in the plain of Hadra and on the hills of Ramleh. The Hippodrome lay to the south of the eastern necropolis, not far from Eleusis.

<quae nec confirmare nec repellere in animo est >.

TACITUS.

The Enclosing Walls. ment and embellish the history of the foundation of the walls of the ancient city. It is said that Alexander himself had set about the tracing of these walls, and as there was not a suf

Fable has not failed to orna