Written evidence has suggested modifications and previous uses for the harbour complex. Strabo reveals ‘the Pharaohs had utilized it as a guard-post… (and) there are indeed signs that site (the harbour)…was not virgin when Alexander looked upon it.’ It seems likely that the purpose of the harbour was more military than economic. However, archaeology ‘neither confirms nor refutes this notion as a whole.’ Strabo attests the Great Harbour was divided into numerous quays. He further describes the vast dynamics of the harbour complex:
In the Great Harbour at the entrance, on the right hand, are the island and the tower Pharos, and on the other hand are the reefs…on sailing into the harbour one comes, on the left, to the inner royal palaces…below lies the artificially closed harbour that was dug by the hand of man and is hidden from view, the private property of the kings.
Despite the magnificence and structural splendour of the harbour, natural (23 earthquakes since 320-1303 AD) and artificial (pollution) intrusions including piracy, were problematic. The Alexandrians ‘were hostiles towards all who sailed to their shores, and particularly the Greeks, for they were pirates and desirous of foreign land through their own lack of it.’ While, naturally, ‘the built-up pseudo-coastal belt of the harbour area also (created) insoluble stratigraphical problems.’
The harbour was also the home of the great Pharos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the Heptastadion. To the north of the Great Harbour the limestone Pharos (135m) was situated, ‘it was a utilitarian structure… (and) a propaganda tool, demonstrating the power and strength of the new Greek authority.’ The Pharos’s underlying purpose was to provide the base of the sea-god Proteus’s worship. The Heptastadion served the purpose as a dike connecting the island of the Pharos to the mainland, and thus opening two distinct harbours. Strabo describes the Heptastadion ‘as a bridge dividing the two harbours.’
French archaeologist Frank Goddio and a French-Egyptian team have discovered a small paved area they believe to be the island of Antirrhodos. According to the description of Alexandria by the Greek geographer Strabo, who was in Egypt ca. 25-19 BC, the island was the site of Cleopatra's palace. Due to the shallow water in the Harbor (12-21 feet), Goddio and his team were able to map the harbour’s archaeological features by tracing their outlines with a suspended plumb bob. The line of the bob was attached to a buoy rigged with two global positioning system (GPS) receivers in waterproof housings. This allowed the team to accurately map the floor of the harbor and obtain detailed pictures of the artifacts resting there. Goddio's team made several underwater molds for many of the finds and a few of the larger items were brought to the surface temporarily to facilitate production of a complete mold. Among the items the divers surfaced include dramatic stone statues, including sphinxes that portray significant Ptolemic rulers (including the likely Cleopatra's father), fragments of the Lighthouse, and earthen vessels.
Archaeological excavations and written sources have indeed provided a significant contribution to the understanding of the harbour’s role within Alexandrian society. Archaeological excavations lead by Goddio and the works of Strabo reveal, the vast harbour works of Alexandria were indeed ‘the chief medium for international trade and communication.... (and) centres for the importation of goods, ideas and people as well as for the accumulation of wealth through exports.’ Mirroring contemporaries Caesarea Maritima, Cosa and Pireaus, Alexandria’s ‘harbour was a port of importance and foundation of the city’s wealth.’
Bibliography
Ball, W. (2000) Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire. London: Routledge
Fraser, P.M. (1972) Ptolemaic Alexandria. Oxford: Clarendon Press, vol.1
Empereur, J.Y. Alexandria Rediscovered.
Empereur, J.Y. (1999) Diving On A Sunken City. Archaeology. March/April, pp.38-46
McCann. A.M. (1988) The Roman Port of Cosa. Scientific American: Ancient Cities. 1994, pp. 92-93
Tzalas, H.E, The Two Ports of Alexandria, http://www.greece.org/alexandria/ports/index.htm
Ball, W., Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire, (2000), London, pp. 171
Ball, W., Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire, (2000), London, pp. 171
Fraser, P.M, Ptolemaic Alexandria, (1972), Oxford, pp. 5
Empereur, J.Y, Alexandria: Past, Present and Future, London, pp.36
Fraser, P.M, Ptolemaic Alexandria, (1972), Oxford, pp. 21
McCann, A.M., Ancient Cities, New York, pp. 92
