The Reconstruction of Cleopatra VII’s Alexandria, Egypt
Over the last three years, I have committed over 700 days working on a project about Alexandria, Egypt, the history of Alexandria, the works of the intellectuals, and of course Hypatia, who was an absolute academic STEM hero in every possible way.
Working through this project, I found myself immersed in this idea about what it would be like to completely abandon disbelief and walk through the streets of Alexandria in 400 CE. Better yet, I wondered what it would be like to walk through the evolving streets of Alexandria from 300 BCE to 400 CE.
I have watched numerous Assassin’s Creed videos over the last year, watched travel videos, delved into research sites, and have purchased and read possibly every single book on the subject of Alexandria. One of my favorite books about the structure and evolution of Alexandria is Judith McKenzie’s The Architecture of Alexandria and Egypt 300 B.C. — A.D. 700, which provides probably one of the most in-depth and thorough analyses of Alexandria.
Then there is Franck Goddio’s underwater excavation in the eastern harbor of Alexandria. The numerous videos and articles written about his underwater excavations are beyond fascinating. He and his underwater excavation team found ruins that date back to Cleopatra VII’s time as well as ruins that date even further back when Alexandria was known as Rhakotis. So many ancient historians refer to Alexandria as just a small fishing town until Alexander the Great came along. However, the ruins that Goddio has found also imply that Rhakotis could have been a rather large, progressive city. I highly recommend both of these resources for anybody doing any research on Ancient Alexandria.
For the last two years, I have spent numerous hours going through anything written about Alexandria and Hypatia and vetting the sources. One of the most impressive pieces that I found, which made this whole research process an immersive one, is a reconstruction of the world of Cleopatra VII by Michael Bengtsson.
Bengtsson has a paper that shows his reconstruction of the Ptolemaic Palaces and the Eastern harbor, and it is superbly impressive, to say the least. Using the outline of the ancient coastline discovered by Goddio, Bengtsson reconstructed an aerial view of the structures on the Promontory of Lochias, the inner palaces in the Bruchion, the museum, the library, the port of Poseidon, and the third port called Herodotus, which held the Temple of Isis.
His reconstruction of Alexandria is marvelous because he includes historical notes about the sites, as well as quotes by Strabo, Polybius, Plutarch, and other ancient historians. Providing accurate measurements and details provided by Goddio and his team, Bengtsson references other constructions that date back to that time to create one of the most accurate representations of what the constructions of Cleopatra’s world would have looked like. For me, it removes the ancient rubble in my imagination and makes ancient Alexandria a beautiful, tangible experience. You can find the reconstruction here: https://www.academia.edu/4662183/Reconstruction_of_the_palace_area_in_Alexandria
In addition to this layout of Alexandria, Bengtsson created phenomenal reconstructions of other shrines, the Serapeum, the four phases of Domus Augustana in Italy, as well as the Hellenistic palaces of Alexandria, Macedonia, Pergamon, the Seleucid Kingdom, Judaea, and Herodian Palestine. If you are interested in Bengtsson’s work on Academia.edu, you can find him at https://independent.academia.edu/MichaelBengtsson.
If you are interested in learning more about Bengtsson, you can also find him at http://michaelbengtsson.com/. There, you will find that he has worked with talented greats such as Ellen DeGeneres, Sofia Vergara, Lady Gaga, Pharrell Williams, Beyonce, and Katy Perry. Now I understand why his reconstructions are so impressive and immersive. It’s because his commercial work is equally phenomenal!