Storying early Alexandria: occluded histories, colonial fantasies

Abstract

There is something very affective, and also formulaic, about the story of the foundation of Alexandria. What makes it so enduring? What is it really about? And whose story is this? This paper explores the European historiographical tradition regarding the landscape and occupation of the site of Alexandria prior to and at the time of the city’s foundation. The number of publications on ancient Alexandria from its foundation in 331 bce to the Arab conquest of 642 ce is immense. Yet what interests me here is neither ancient Alexandria nor its early occupation per se, but rather the story European(ized) scholars have been telling about it, and how this story relates to land, people, and power. As such, it is a study in intellectual history.