In
its
times
of
greatest
prosperity,
Alexandria
tiad
a
population
of
between
800,000
and
1,000,000.
Trade,
amusement,
and
learning
attracted
to
it
inhabitants
from
every
quarter.
It
was
an
amalgam
of
East
and
West.
The
alertness
and
versatility
of
the
Greek
were
here
united
with
the
gravity,
conservativeness,
and
dreaminess
of
the
Oriental.
Alexandria
became,
next
to
Rome,
the
largest
and
most
splendid
city
in
the
world.
Amongst
its
polyglot
community,
the
Jews
formed
no
inconsiderable
portion.
Jewish
colonists
had
settled
in
Egypt
in
large
numbers
after
the
destruc-tion
of
Jerusalem
(Jer
42'"),
and
during
the
Persian
period
their
numbers
greatly
increased.
The
Ptolemys,
with
one
exception,
favoured
them,
and
assigned
a
special
quarter
of
the
city
to
them.
More
than
an
eighth
of
the
population
of
Egypt
was
Jewish.
Their
business
instincts
brought
to
them
the
bulk
of
the
trade
of
the
country.
They
practically
controlled
the
vast
export
of
wheat.
Some
had
great
ships
with
which
they
traded
over
all
the
Mediterranean.
St.
Paul
twice
sailed
in
a
ship
of
Alexandria
(Ac
27'
28").
The
Jews
were
under
their
own
governor
or
'Alabarch,'
and
observed
their
own
domestic
and
religious
customs.
Their
great
central
synagogue
was
an
immense
and
most
imposing
structure,
where
all
the
trade
guilds
sat
together,
and
the
70
elders
were
accommodated
in
70
splendidly
bejewelled
chairs
of
state.
It
was
in
Alexandria
that
one
of
the
most
important
events
in
the
history
of
religion
took
place,
when.
the
Hebrew
Scriptures
were
translated
into
the
Greek
tongue.
The
legendary
tales
narrated
by
Josephus
re-garding
the
accomplishment
of
this
task
may
be
dis-missed
as
baseless.
But
it
is
undisputed
that
during
the
reigns
of
the
earlier
LagidEe
(somewhere
between
B.C.
250
and
132)
the
'
Septuagint
'
made
its
appearance.
It
is
certainly
not
the
product
of
a
syndicate
of
trans-lators
working
harmoniously,
as
Jewish
tradition
asserted.
The
work
is
of
very
unequal
merit,
the
Penta-teuch
being
the
best
done,
while
some
of
the
later
books
are
wretchedly
translated.
The
translation
was
re-garded
by
the
Jews
with
mingled
feelings,
—
execrated
by
one
section
as
the
grossest
desecration
of
the
holy
oracles,
extolled
by
another
section
as
the
means
by
which
the
beauties
of
the
Law
and
the
Prophets
could
be
appreciated
for
the
first
time
by
the
Greek-speaking
Gentile
world.
The
LXX
became,
under
God's
provi-dence,
a
most
valuable
preparation
for
the
truths
of
Christianity.
It
familiarized
the
heathen
nations
with
the
God
of
righteousness
as
He
had
been
revealed
to
the
Jewish
race.
It
paved
the
way
for
the
gospel.
It
formed
the
Bible
of
the
early
Church.
In
the
Eastern
Church
to-day
it
is
the
only
orthodox
text
of
the
OT.
The
wars
of
the
Ptolemys
with
the
Seieucidae
at
Antioch
are
described
in
Dn
11.
Ptolemyii.
Philaddphus
left
his
mark
on
Palestine
in
the
cities
of
Philadelphia
(
=
Rabbath-ammon,
Dt
3"),
Ptolemais
(Ac
21'
=
Aceo,
Jg
1''),
Philoteria,
etc.
Under
Ptolemy
iii.
Euergetes
i.
(B.C.
247-222)
the
famous
'stele
of
Canopus'
was
in-scribed.
With
Ptolemy
iv.
Philopatar
the
dynasty
began
to
decline,
and
his
oppressions
of
the
Jews
(largely
mythical)
are
narrated
in
3
Maccabees.
Under
Ptolemy
V.
Epiphanes
the
Alexandrian
supremacy
over
Palestine
was
exchanged
for
that
of
Antiochus
in.
the
Great
(Dn
11"-").
In
his
reign
the
celebrated
'
Rosetta
stone'
was
erected.
The
ten
succeeding
Ptolemys
were
dis-tinguished
for
almost
nothing
but
their
effeminacy,
folly,
luxury,
and
cruelty.
The
city
increased
in
wealth,
but
sank
more
and
more
in
political
power.
Julius
Caesar
stormed
Alexandria
in
B.C.
47,
and
after
a
brief
spell
of
false
splendour
under
Cleopatra,
it
fell
after
the
battle
of
Actium
into
the
hands
of
the
Romans,
and
its
fortunes
were
henceforth
merged
with
those
of
the
Empire.
But
while
its
political
power
was
thus
passing
away.
It
was
developing
an
intellectual
greatness
destined
to
exercise
a
profound
influence
through
succeeding
centuries.
Among
its
Jewish
population
there
had
arisen
a
new
school
which
sought
to
amalgamate
Hebrew
tradition
and
Greek
philosophy,
and
to
make
the
OT
yield
up
Platonic
and
Stoic
doctrines.
This
attempted
fusion
of
Hebraism
and
Hellenism
was
begun
by
Aristobulus,
and
reached
its
climax
in
Philo,
a
contem-porary
of
Jesus
Christ.
The
Jews
found
in
the
Gentile
writings
many
beautiful
and
excellent
thoughts.
They
could
logically
defend
their
own
proud
claim
to
be
the
sole
depositaries
and
custodians
of
Divine
truth
only
by
asserting
that
every
rich
and
luminous
Greek
expres-sion
was
borrowed
from
their
Scriptures.
Plato
and
Pythagoras,
they
declared,
were
deeply
in
debt
to
Moses.
The
Greeks
were
merely
reproducers
of
Hebrew
ethics,
and
Hebrew
religious
and
moral
conceptions.
The
next
step
was
to
re-write
their
own
Scriptures
in
terms
of
Greek
philosophy,
and
the
most
simple
way
of
doing
this
was
by
an
elaborate
system
of
allegory.
Philo
carried
the
allegorizing
of
the
OT
to
such
an
extent
that
he
was
able
to
deduce
all
the
spurious
philosophy
he
required
from
the
most
matter-of-fact
narratives
of
the
patriarchs
and
their
wives.
But
it
was
a
false
issue.
It
was
based
on
a
logical
figment,
and
Philo's
voluminous
works,
gifted
and
learned
though
he
was,
merely
reveal
that
there
was
no
hope
either
for
Greek
philosophy
or
for
Hebrew
religious
development
along
these
lines.
The
results
of
the
allegorical
method
of
interpretation,
however,
were
seen
in
Christian
Church
history.
We
read
of
a
'
synagogue
of
the
Alexandrians
'
in
Jerusalem,
furiously
hostile
to
St.
Stephen
with
his
plain
declara-tion
of
facts
(Ac
6').
Apollos
of
Alexandria
(Ac
IS''-^^)
needed
to
be
'
more
accurately
instructed
'
in
Christian
doctrine,
though
we
have
no
direct
evidence
that
he
was
a
disciple
of
Philo.
The
Ep.
to
the
Hebrews
shows
traces
of
Alexandrian
influence,
and
there
are
evidences
that
St.
Paul
was
not
unfamiliar
with
Alexandrian
hermeneutics
and
terminology
(cf.
Gal
4w-'i).
But
there
is
no
proof
that
St.
Paul
ever
visited
Alex-
andria.
He
seems
to
have
refrained
from
going
thither
because
the
gospel
had
already
reached
the
city
(cf.
Ro
15^°).
Eusebius
credits
St.
Mark
with
the
intro-duction
of
Christianity
into
Egypt.
In
the
2nd
and
3rd
cents.
Alexandria
was
the
intellectual
capital
of
Christendom.
The
Alexandrian
school
of
theology
was
made
lustrous
by
the
names
of
Pantaenus,
Clement,
and
especially
Origen,
who,
while
continuing
the
allegorical
tradition,
strove
to
show
that
Christian
doctrine
en-shrined
and
realized
the
dreams
and
yearnings
of
Greek
philosophy.
The
evil
tendencies
of
the
method
found
expression
in
the
teachings
of
the
Alexandrian
heretics,
Basilides
and
Valentinian.
Alexandria
became
more
and
more
the
stronghold
of
the
Christian
faith.
Here
Athanasius
defended
contra
mundum
the
true
Divinity
of
Christ
in
the
Nieene
controversy,
and
the
city's
influence
on
Christian
theology
has
been
profound.
In
A.D.
641,
Alexandria
fell
before
Amrou;
in
the
7th
cent,
it
began
to
decline.
The
creation
of
Cairo
was
another
blow,
and
the
discovery
in
1497
of
the
new
route
to
the
East
via
the
Cape
of
Good
Hope
almost
destroyed
its
trade.
At
the
beginning
of
the
19th
cent.
Alexandria
was
a
mere
village.
To-day
it
is
again
a
large
and
flourishing
city,
with
a
rapidly
increasing
population
of
over
200,000,
and
its
port
is
one
of
the
busiest
on
the
Mediterranean
shore.
G.
A.
Frank
Knight.
ALGUM.—
See
Almug.
ALIAH.—
A
'duke'
of
Edom
(1
Ch
1");
called
in
Gn
36"
Alvah.
ALIAN.—
A
descendant
of
Esau
(1
Ch
1");
called
in
Gn
3623
Alvan.
ALIEN.
—
See
Nations,
Stbangek.
ALLAMMELECH.—
A
town
of
Asher,
probably
near
Acco
(Jos
1926).
Site
unidentifled.
ALLAB
(1
Es
6^).—
One
of
the
leaders
of
those
Jews
who
could
not
show
their
pedigree
as
Israelites
at
the
return
from
captivity
under
Zerubbabel.
The
name
