Abousir 191 Burg el Arab 194 St. Menas 195 Wady Natrun 200 Natrun Monasteries 204
APPENDIX I: The Modern Religious Communities 211
APPENDIX III: The Uncanonical Gospels of Egypt 217 (extracts)
De Moncony’s View (1665): _Frontispiece._ Alexandria: Historical Map: 98 Genealogical Tree of Ptolemies: 12 The World according to Eratosthenes: 37 The World according to Claudius Ptolemy: 39 Belon’s View (1554) 83 Plan of Greco-Roman Museum: 108 Anfouchi Tombs: 127 Prehistoric Harbour 131 Kait Bey, Plan I 134 " " Plan II 135 “Pompey’s Pillar” and Temple of Serapis 144 Kom es Chogafa 148 Country round Alexandria 174 Aboukir 178 Abousir 191 St. Menas. Plan I 196 " Plan II 197 Natrun Monasteries. Plan I 202 " " Plan II 203 Map of Alexandria in cover
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The situation of Alexandria is most curious. To understand it we must go back many thousand years.
Ages ago, before there was civilization in Egypt, or the delta of the Nile had been formed, the whole of the country as far south as Cairo lay under the sea. The shores of this sea were a limestone desert. The coastline was smooth as a rule, but at the north-west corner an extraordinary spur jutted out from the main mass. It was not more than a mile wide, but many miles long. Its base is not far from the modern Bahig. Alexandria is built half-way down it, and its tip is the headland of Aboukir. On each side of it there used to be deep salt water.
Centuries passed, and the Nile, issuing out of his crack above Cairo, kept carrying down the muds of Upper Egypt, and dropping them as soon as his current slackened. In the north-west corner they were arrested by this spur, and began to silt up against it. It was a shelter not only from the outer sea, but from the prevalent wind. Alluvial land appeared; the huge shallow lake of Mariout was formed; and the current of the Nile, unable to escape through the limestone barrier, rounded the headland of Aboukir, and entered the outer sea by what was known in historical times as the “Canopic” Mouth.