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148-572: Cattigara was the name given by the 2nd-century Alexandrian geographer Claudius Ptolemy to the land on the easternmost shore of the Indian Sea at (due to a scribal error) 8½° south of the Equator . The name "Cattigara" was probably derived from the Sanskrit Kirti-nagara कीर्ति- नगर "Renowned City" or Kotti-nagara कोटि-नगर "Strong City". Scholarship has determined that Ptolemy's Cattigara

296-422: A Hippodamian grid plan . Following Alexander's death in 323 BC, his general Ptolemy Lagides took possession of Egypt and brought Alexander's body to Egypt with him. Ptolemy at first ruled from the old Egyptian capital of Memphis . In 322/321 BC he had Cleomenes executed. Finally, in 305 BC, Ptolemy declared himself Pharaoh as Ptolemy I Soter ("Savior") and moved his capital to Alexandria. Although Cleomenes

444-458: A Roman triumphal column , is one of the best-known ancient monuments still standing in Alexandria today. It is located on Alexandria's ancient acropolis —a modest hill located adjacent to the city's Arab cemetery —and was originally part of a temple colonnade. Including its pedestal , it is 30 m (99 ft) high; the shaft is of polished red granite, 2.7 m (8.9 ft) in diameter at

592-575: A hot steppe climate (Köppen climate classification: BSh ), virtually hot desert climate ( Köppen climate classification : BWh ). Like the rest of Egypt's northern coast , the prevailing north wind, blowing across the Mediterranean, gives the city a less severe climate than the desert hinterland. Rafah and Alexandria are the wettest places in Egypt; the other wettest places are Rosetta , Baltim , Kafr el-Dawwar , and Mersa Matruh . The city's climate

740-474: A 15-year-old son named Marco. In contrast to the general consensus, there are theories suggesting that Marco Polo's birthplace was the island of Korčula or Constantinople but such hypotheses failed to gain acceptance among most scholars and have been countered by other studies. He was nicknamed Milione during his lifetime (which in Italian literally means 'Million'). The Italian title of his book

888-402: A Greek unit of length measuring approximately 180 m or 590 ft). The end of this abutted on the land at the head of the present Grand Square, where the "Moon Gate" rose. All that now lies between that point and the modern "Ras al-Tin" quarter is built on the silt which gradually widened and obliterated this mole. The Ras al-Tin quarter represents all that is left of the island of Pharos,

1036-541: A Nile river delta, Alexandria is one of the most vulnerable cities to sea level rise in the entire world. According to some estimates, hundreds of thousands of people in its low-lying areas may already have to be relocated before 2030. The 2022 IPCC Sixth Assessment Report estimates that by 2050, Alexandria and 11 other major African cities ( Abidjan , Algiers , Cape Town , Casablanca , Dakar , Dar es Salaam , Durban , Lagos , Lomé , Luanda and Maputo ) would collectively sustain cumulative damages of US$ 65 billion for

1184-645: A Ptolemaic colonnade and streets in the north-east of the city, but little else. Hogarth explored part of an immense brick structure under the mound of Kom El Deka , which may have been part of the Paneum, the Mausolea, or a Roman fortress. The making of the new foreshore led to the dredging up of remains of the Patriarchal Church; and the foundations of modern buildings are seldom laid without some objects of antiquity being discovered. The most famous mosque in Alexandria

1332-522: A bishop decreed that Paganism must be eradicated. Beneath the acropolis itself are the subterranean remains of the Serapeum, where the mysteries of the god Serapis were enacted and whose carved wall niches are believed to have provided overflow storage space for the ancient Library. In more recent years, many ancient artifacts have been discovered from the surrounding sea, mostly pieces of old pottery. Alexandria's catacombs , known as Kom El Shoqafa , are

1480-609: A certain Marco Polo, who in 1300 was mentioned with riots against the aristocratic government, and escaped the death penalty, as well as riots from 1310 led by Bajamonte Tiepolo and Marco Querini, among whose rebels were Jacobello and Francesco Polo from another family branch, is unclear. Polo is clearly mentioned again after 1305 in Maffeo's testament from 1309 to 1310, in a 1319 document according to which he became owner of some estates of his deceased father, and in 1321, when he bought part of

1628-530: A detailed account of his travels to a fellow inmate, Rustichello da Pisa , who incorporated tales of his own as well as other collected anecdotes and current affairs from China. The book soon spread throughout Europe in manuscript form, and became known as The Travels of Marco Polo ( Italian title: Il Milione , lit. "The Million", deriving from Polo's nickname "Milione". Original title in Franco-Italian  : Livres des Merveilles du Monde ). It depicts

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1776-526: A direct Chinese transliteration of the name "Marco" ignores the possibility of his taking on a Chinese or even Mongol name with no similarity to his Latin name . Also in reply to Wood, Jørgen Jensen recalled the meeting of Marco Polo and Pietro d'Abano in the late 13th century. During this meeting, Marco gave to Pietro details of the astronomical observations he had made on his journey. These observations are compatible with Marco's stay in China, Sumatra and

1924-477: A perilous one—of the six hundred people (not including the crew) in the convoy only eighteen had survived (including all three Polos). The Polos left the wedding party after reaching Hormuz and travelled overland to the port of Trebizond on the Black Sea , the present-day Trabzon . The British scholar Ronald Latham has pointed out that The Book of Marvels was a collaboration written in 1298–1299 between Polo and

2072-574: A portion of his estate; he approved of this and ordered that a further sum be paid to the convent of San Lorenzo , the place where he wished to be buried. He also set free Peter, a Tartar servant , who may have accompanied him from Asia, and to whom Polo bequeathed 100 lire of Venetian denari. He divided up the rest of his assets, including several properties, among individuals, religious institutions, and every guild and fraternity to which he belonged. He also wrote off multiple debts including 300 lire that his sister-in-law owed him, and others for

2220-503: A potential wife, and they asked the Polos to accompany them, so they were permitted to return to Persia with the wedding party—which left that same year from Zaitun in southern China on a fleet of 14 junks . The party sailed to the port of Singapore , travelled north to Sumatra , and around the southern tip of India, eventually crossing the Arabian Sea to Hormuz . The two-year voyage was

2368-648: A professional writer of romances, Rustichello of Pisa. It is believed that Polo related his memoirs orally to Rustichello da Pisa while both were prisoners of the Genova Republic . Rustichello wrote Devisement du Monde in Franco-Venetian language , which was a literary-only language widespread in northern Italy between the subalpine belt and the lower Po between the 13th and 15th centuries. Latham also argued that Rustichello may have glamorised Polo's accounts, and added fantastic and romantic elements that made

2516-461: A seawall, quays and a bridge. Near the beach side of the area, there are the remains of a tower built by Ptolemy II Philadelphus. The tower was an exact scale replica of the destroyed Alexandrine Pharos Lighthouse . Citadel of Qaitbay is a defensive fortress located on the Mediterranean sea coast. It was established in 1477 AD (882 AH ) by the mamluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Qa'it Bay . The Citadel

2664-429: A short distance southwest of the pillar, consist of a multi-level labyrinth, reached via a large spiral staircase and featuring dozens of chambers adorned with sculpted pillars, statues, and other syncretic Romano-Egyptian religious symbols , burial niches, and sarcophagi , as well as a large Roman-style banquet room, where memorial meals were conducted by relatives of the deceased. The catacombs were long forgotten by

2812-415: A successful attempt to erect a 25-ton obelisk in 1999. This followed two experiments to erect smaller obelisks and two failed attempts to erect a 25-ton obelisk. "Pompey's Pillar" is a misnomer , as it has nothing to do with Pompey , having been erected in 293 for Diocletian , possibly in memory of the rebellion of Domitius Domitianus . The structure was plundered and demolished in the 4th century when

2960-560: A trading voyage before Marco's birth. In 1260, Niccolò and Maffeo, while residing in Constantinople, then the capital of the Latin Empire , foresaw a political change; they liquidated their assets into jewels and moved away. According to The Travels of Marco Polo , they passed through much of Asia, and met with Kublai Khan , a Mongol ruler and founder of the Yuan dynasty . Almost nothing

3108-566: A venture, the Polo family probably invested profits from trading, and even many gemstones they brought from the East. The company continued its activities and Marco soon became a wealthy merchant. Marco and his uncle Maffeo financed other expeditions, but likely never left Venetian provinces, nor returned to the Silk Road and Asia. Sometime before 1300, his father Niccolò died. In 1300, he married Donata Badoèr,

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3256-1357: Is Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque in Bahary . Other notable mosques in the city include Ali ibn Abi Talib mosque in Somouha, Bilal mosque, al-Gamaa al-Bahari in Mandara, Hatem mosque in Somouha, Hoda el-Islam mosque in Sidi Bishr, al-Mowasah mosque in Hadara, Sharq al-Madina mosque in Miami, al-Shohadaa mosque in Mostafa Kamel, Al Qa'ed Ibrahim Mosque, Yehia mosque in Zizinia, Sidi Gaber mosque in Sidi Gaber, Sidi B esher mosque, Rokay el-Islam mosque in Elessway, Elsadaka Mosque in Sidibesher Qebly, Elshatbi mosque and Sultan mosque. Marco Polo Marco Polo ( / ˈ m ɑːr k oʊ ˈ p oʊ l oʊ / ; Venetian: [ˈmaɾko ˈpolo] ; Italian: [ˈmarko ˈpɔːlo] ; c.  1254  – 8 January 1324)

3404-542: Is a popular tourist destination and an important industrial centre due to its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez . The city extends about 40 km (25 mi) along the northern coast of Egypt and is the largest city on the Mediterranean, the second-largest in Egypt (after Cairo ), the fourth-largest city in the Arab world , the ninth-largest city in Africa , and the ninth-largest urban area in Africa . The city

3552-665: Is also largely free of the gross errors found in other accounts such as those given by the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta who had confused the Yellow River with the Grand Canal and other waterways, and believed that porcelain was made from coal. Modern studies have further shown that details given in Marco Polo's book, such as the currencies used, salt productions and revenues, are accurate and unique. Such detailed descriptions are not found in other non-Chinese sources, and their accuracy

3700-561: Is based on a Latin manuscript found in the library of the Cathedral of Toledo in 1932, and is 50% longer than other versions. The popular translation published by Penguin Books in 1958 by R. E. Latham works several texts together to make a readable whole. Sharon Kinoshita 's 2016 version takes as its source the Franco-Italian 'F' manuscript, and invites readers to "focus on the text as

3848-475: Is built up') existed since the 13th century BC in the vicinity and eventually grew into the Egyptian quarter of the city. Just east of Alexandria (where Abu Qir Bay is now), there were in ancient times marshland and several islands. As early as the 7th century BC, there existed important port cities of Canopus and Heracleion . The latter was recently rediscovered underwater. Alexandria was founded by Alexander

3996-589: Is in the Far West Nile delta area. It is a densely populated city; its core areas belie its large administrative area. Notes: 2020 CAPMAS projection based on 2017 revised census figures, may differ significantly from 2017 census preliminary tabulations. The 14 kisms were reported simply as Alexandria city by CAPMAS in 2006 but given explosive growth definitions, likely informal, may have changed or may be set to change. Same area with 12 kisms existed in 1996. Kisms are considered 'fully urbanised' Alexandria has

4144-564: Is inaccurate), no other foreign visitors to Yuan China mentioned the practice, perhaps an indication that the footbinding was not widespread or was not practised in an extreme form at that time. Marco Polo himself noted (in the Toledo manuscript) the dainty walk of Chinese women who took very short steps. It has also been noted by other scholars that many of the things not mentioned by Marco Polo such as tea and chopsticks were not mentioned by other travellers either. Haw also pointed out that despite

4292-537: Is influenced by the Mediterranean Sea , moderating its temperatures, causing variable rainy winters and moderately hot and slightly prolonged summers that, at times, can be very humid; January and February are the coolest months, with daily maximum temperatures typically ranging from 12 to 18 °C (54 to 64 °F) and minimum temperatures that could reach 5 °C (41  °F ). Alexandria experiences violent storms , rain and sometimes sleet and hail during

4440-577: Is known about the childhood of Marco Polo until he was fifteen years old, except that he probably spent part of his childhood in Venice. Meanwhile, Marco Polo's mother died, and an aunt and uncle raised him. He received a good education, learning mercantile subjects including foreign currency, appraising, and the handling of cargo ships; he learned little or no Latin . His father later married Floradise Polo (née Trevisan). In 1269, Niccolò and Maffeo returned to their families in Venice, meeting young Marco for

4588-579: Is located on the eastern side of the northern tip of Pharos Island at the mouth of the Eastern Harbour . It was erected on the exact site of the famous Lighthouse of Alexandria , which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World . It was built on an area of 17,550 square metres . Persistent efforts have been made to explore the antiquities of Alexandria. Encouragement and help have been given by

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4736-549: Is nothing in The Book of Marvels about China that could not have been obtained by reading Persian books. Wood maintains that it is more probable that Polo went only to Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey) and some of the Italian merchant colonies around the Black Sea, picking hearsay from those travellers who had been farther east. Supporters of Polo's basic accuracy countered on the points raised by sceptics such as footbinding and

4884-450: Is supported by archaeological evidence as well as Chinese records compiled after Polo had left China. His accounts are therefore unlikely to have been obtained second hand. Other accounts have also been verified; for example, when visiting Zhenjiang in Jiangsu , China, Marco Polo noted that a large number of Christian churches had been built there. His claim is confirmed by a Chinese text of

5032-584: Is the second largest city in Egypt and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast . It lies at the western edge of the Nile River delta . Founded in c.  331 BC by Alexander the Great , Alexandria grew rapidly and became a major centre of Hellenic civilisation , eventually replacing Memphis , in present-day Greater Cairo , as Egypt's capital. Called the "Bride of the Mediterranean" internationally, Alexandria

5180-564: Is the Elizabethan version by John Frampton published in 1579, The most noble and famous travels of Marco Polo , based on Santaella's Castilian translation of 1503 (the first version in that language). The published editions of Polo's book rely on single manuscripts, blend multiple versions together, or add notes to clarify, for example in the English translation by Henry Yule . The 1938 English translation by A. C. Moule and Paul Pelliot

5328-492: Is unknown, but scholars estimate it to be between 1271 and 1275. On reaching the Yuan court, the Polos presented the sacred oil from Jerusalem and the papal letters to their patron. Marco knew four languages, and the family had accumulated a great deal of knowledge and experience that was useful to Kublai. It is possible that he became a government official; he wrote about many imperial visits to China's southern and eastern provinces,

5476-637: The Battle of Ridaniya in 1517, the city was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and remained under Ottoman rule until 1798. Alexandria lost much of its former importance to the Egyptian port city of Rosetta during the 9th to 18th centuries, and it only regained its former prominence with the construction of the Mahmoudiyah Canal in 1820. Alexandria figured prominently in the military operations of Napoleon 's expedition to Egypt in 1798. French troops stormed

5624-669: The Catalan Atlas and the Fra Mauro map . Marco Polo was born around 1254 in Venice , but the exact date and place of birth are archivally unknown. The Travels of Marco Polo contains some basic information concerning Marco Polo's Venetian family and his birth in Venice; the book states that Marco's father, the travelling merchant Niccolò Polo , returned to visit his family in his hometown of Venice around 1269 and there found out that his wife, whom he had left pregnant, had died and left

5772-553: The Coptic Orthodox Church and the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria both lay claim to this ancient heritage. By 641, the city had already been largely plundered and lost its significance before re-emerging in the modern era. From the late 18th century, Alexandria became a major centre of the international shipping industry and one of the most important trading centres in the world, both because it profited from

5920-481: The Genova Republic . Rustichello wrote Devisement du Monde in Franco-Venetian . The idea probably was to create a handbook for merchants , essentially a text on weights, measures and distances. The oldest surviving manuscript is in Old French heavily flavoured with Italian; According to the Italian scholar Luigi Foscolo Benedetto, this "F" text is the basic original text, which he corrected by comparing it with

6068-528: The Mongol Empire and China under the Yuan dynasty , giving Europeans their first comprehensive look into China, Persia, India, Japan, and other Asian societies. Born in Venice , Marco learned the mercantile trade from his father and his uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo , who travelled through Asia and met Kublai Khan . In 1269, they returned to Venice to meet Marco for the first time. The three of them embarked on an epic journey to Asia, exploring many places along

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6216-640: The Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641 AD, when a new capital was founded at Fustat (later absorbed into Cairo ). Alexandria was best known for the Lighthouse of Alexandria ( Pharos ), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World ; its Great Library , the largest in the ancient world; and the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa , one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages . Alexandria was the intellectual and cultural centre of

6364-679: The South China Sea and are recorded in Pietro's book Conciliator Differentiarum , but not in Marco's Book of Travels . Reviewing Haw's book, Peter Jackson (author of The Mongols and the West ) has said that Haw "must surely now have settled the controversy surrounding the historicity of Polo's visit to China". Igor de Rachewiltz's review, which refutes Wood's points, concludes with a strongly-worded condemnation: "I regret to say that F. W.'s book falls short of

6512-464: The "moderate" climate change scenario RCP 4.5 and US$ 86.5 billion for the high-emission scenario RCP 8.5, while RCP 8.5 combined with the hypothetical impact from marine ice sheet instability at high levels of warming would involve up to US$ 137.5 billion in damages. Additional accounting for the "low-probability, high-damage events" may increase aggregate risks to US$ 187 billion for the "moderate" RCP4.5, US$ 206 billion for RCP8.5 and US$ 397 billion under

6660-448: The 'marvellous' fables and legends given in other European accounts, and despite some exaggerations and errors, Polo's accounts have relatively few of the descriptions of irrational marvels. In many cases of descriptions of events where he was not present (mostly given in the first part before he reached China, such as mentions of Christian miracles), he made a clear distinction that they are what he had heard rather than what he had seen. It

6808-582: The 14th century explaining how a Sogdian named Mar-Sargis from Samarkand founded six Nestorian Christian churches there in addition to one in Hangzhou during the second half of the 13th century. His story of the princess Kököchin sent from China to Persia to marry the Īl-khān is also confirmed by independent sources in both Persia and China. Sceptics have long wondered whether Marco Polo wrote his book based on hearsay, with some pointing to omissions about noteworthy practices and structures of China as well as

6956-524: The 4th century AD. This underwater section, containing many of the most interesting sections of the Hellenistic city, including the palace quarter, was explored in 1992 and is still being extensively investigated by the French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio and his team . It raised a noted head of Caesarion . These are being opened up to tourists, to some controversy. The spaces that are most open are

7104-574: The Antonines". Guided by Ptolemy, the discoverers of the New World were initially trying to find their way to Cattigara. On the 1489 map of the world made by Henricus Martellus Germanus , revising Ptolemy's work, Asia terminated in its southeastern point in a cape, the Cape of Cattigara. Writing of his 1499 voyage, Amerigo Vespucci said he had hoped to reach Malacca (Melaka) by sailing westward from Spain across

7252-515: The Arabs under the general 'Amr ibn al-'As invaded it during the Muslim conquest of Egypt , after a siege that lasted 14 months. The first Arab governor of Egypt recorded to have visited Alexandria was Utba ibn Abi Sufyan , who strengthened the Arab presence and built a governor's palace in the city in 664–665. In reference to Alexandria, Ibn Battuta speaks of a number of Muslim saints that resided in

7400-599: The Cape of Cattigara and sail through the strait separating Cattigara from the New World, into the Sinus Magnus to Malacca. This was the route he thought Marco Polo had gone from China to India in 1292. Columbus planned to meet up with the expedition sent at the same time from Portugal around the Cape of Good Hope under Vasco da Gama , and carried letters of credence from the Spanish monarchs to present to da Gama. On reaching Cariay on

7548-459: The Europeans with a clear picture of the East's geography and ethnic customs, and it included the first Western record of porcelain, gunpowder, paper money, and some Asian plants and exotic animals. His narrative inspired Christopher Columbus and many other travellers. There is substantial literature based on Polo's writings; he also influenced European cartography , leading to the introduction of

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7696-576: The Great in April 331 BC as Ἀλεξάνδρεια ( Alexandreia ), as one of his many city foundations . After he captured the Egyptian Satrapy from the Persians , Alexander wanted to build a large Greek city on Egypt's coast that would bear his name. He chose the site of Alexandria, envisioning the building of a causeway to the nearby island of Pharos that would generate two great natural harbours. Alexandria

7844-504: The Great Harbour. The names of a few other public buildings on the mainland are known, but there is little information as to their actual position. None, however, are as famous as the building that stood on the eastern point of Pharos island. There, The Great Lighthouse , one of the Seven Wonders of the World , reputed to be 138 m (453 ft) high, was situated. The first Ptolemy began

7992-694: The Great Wall of China. Historian Stephen G. Haw argued that the Great Walls were built to keep out northern invaders, whereas the ruling dynasty during Marco Polo's visit were those very northern invaders. They note that the Great Wall familiar to us today is a Ming structure built some two centuries after Marco Polo's travels; and that the Mongol rulers whom Polo served controlled territories both north and south of today's wall, and would have had no reasons to maintain any fortifications that might have remained there from

8140-417: The Indies ), it is reasonable to think that they considered Marco's book as a trustworthy piece of information for missions in the East. The diplomatic communications between Pope Innocent IV and Pope Gregory X with the Mongols were probably another reason for this endorsement. At the time, there was open discussion of a possible Christian-Mongol alliance with an anti-Islamic function. A Mongol delegate

8288-431: The Mongols as ' barbarians ' who appeared to belong to 'some other world'. Doubts have also been raised in later centuries about Marco Polo's narrative of his travels in China, for example for his failure to mention the Great Wall of China , and in particular the difficulties in identifying many of the place names he used (the great majority, however, have since been identified). Many have questioned whether he had visited

8436-470: The Polos joined a caravan of travelling merchants whom they crossed paths with. Unfortunately, the party was soon attacked by bandits , who used the cover of a sandstorm to ambush them. The Polos managed to fight and escape through a nearby town, but many members of the caravan were killed or enslaved. Three and a half years after leaving Venice, when Marco was about 21 years old, the Polos were welcomed by Kublai into his palace. The exact date of their arrival

8584-630: The Polos with his last duty: accompany the Mongol princess Kököchin , who was to become the consort of Arghun Khan , in Persia. When the Polos arrived to Persia, they learned that Arghun Khan died, and Kököchin eventually became a wife of his son Ghazan . After leaving the princess, the Polos travelled overland to Constantinople. They later decided to return to their home. They returned to Venice in 1295, after 24 years, with many riches and treasures. They had travelled almost 15,000 miles (24,000 km). Marco Polo returned to Venice in 1295 with his fortune converted into gemstones . At this time, Venice

8732-412: The Polos' journeys throughout Asia, giving Europeans their first comprehensive look into the inner workings of the Far East , including China, India, and Japan . Polo was finally released from captivity in August 1299, and returned home to Venice, where his father and uncle in the meantime had purchased a large palazzo in the zone named contrada San Giovanni Crisostomo (Corte del Milion). For such

8880-400: The Rosetta Gate, but remnants of streets and canals were exposed in 1899 by German excavators outside the east fortifications, which lie well within the area of the ancient city. Alexandria consisted originally of little more than the island of Pharos, which was joined to the mainland by a 1,260 m-long (4,130 ft) mole and called the Heptastadion ("seven stadia"—a stadium was

9028-529: The Serapeum. Nearby, immense catacombs and columbaria have been opened which may have been appendages of the temple. These contain one very remarkable vault with curious painted reliefs, now artificially lit and open to visitors. The objects found in these researches are in the museum, the most notable being a great basalt bull, probably once an object of cult in the Serapeum. Other catacombs and tombs have been opened in Kom El Shoqafa (Roman) and Ras El Tin (painted). The German excavation team found remains of

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9176-459: The Silk Road until they reached " Cathay ". They were received by the royal court of Kublai Khan, who was impressed by Marco's intelligence and humility. Marco was appointed to serve as Kublai's foreign emissary, and he was sent on many diplomatic missions throughout the empire and Southeast Asia, visiting present-day Burma, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. As part of this appointment, Marco also travelled extensively inside China, living in

9324-555: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies in 1895; and a German expedition worked for two years (1898–1899). But two difficulties face the would-be excavator in Alexandria: lack of space for excavation and the underwater location of some areas of interest. Since the great and growing modern city stands immediately over the ancient one, it is almost impossible to find any considerable space in which to dig, except at enormous cost. Cleopatra VII 's royal quarters were inundated by earthquakes and tsunami, leading to gradual subsidence in

9472-434: The Sultan of Egypt at the time, al-Nasir Muhammad . Ibn Battuta also visited the Pharos lighthouse on two occasions: in 1326 he found it to be partly in ruins and in 1349 it had deteriorated to the point that it was no longer possible to enter. During the Middle Ages , the Mamluk Sultanate provided amenities for European merchants to stay in the port cities of Alexandria and Damietta , so hotels were built and placed at

9620-410: The Western Ocean (the Atlantic ) around the Cape of Cattigara into the Sinus Magnus ("Great Gulf") that lay to the east of the Golden Chersonese ( Malay Peninsula ), of which the Cape of Cattigara formed the southeastern point. The Sinus Magnus was the actual Gulf of Thailand . Christopher Columbus , on his fourth and last voyage of 1502–1503, planned to follow the coast of Ciamba southward around

9768-399: The ancient Mediterranean for much of the Hellenistic age and late antiquity . It was at one time the largest city in the ancient world before being eventually overtaken by Rome . The city was a major centre of early Christianity and was the centre of the Patriarchate of Alexandria , which was one of the major centres of Christianity in the Eastern Roman Empire . In the modern world,

9916-513: The base, tapering to 2.4 m (7.9 ft) at the top. The shaft is 88 ft (27 m) high and made out of a single piece of granite. Its volume is 132 m (4,662 cu ft) and weight approximately 396 tons. Pompey's Pillar may have been erected using the same methods that were used to erect the ancient obelisks . The Romans had cranes but they were not strong enough to lift something this heavy. Roger Hopkins and Mark Lehrner conducted several obelisk erecting experiments including

10064-442: The book a bestseller. The Italian scholar Luigi Foscolo Benedetto had previously demonstrated that the book was written in the same "leisurely, conversational style" that characterised Rustichello's other works, and that some passages in the book were taken verbatim or with minimal modifications from other writings by Rustichello. For example, the opening introduction in The Book of Marvels to "emperors and kings, dukes and marquises"

10212-502: The book that would convince him that Marco Polo did not go to China. Haw also argues in his book Marco Polo's China that Marco's account is much more correct and accurate than has often been supposed and that it is extremely unlikely that he could have obtained all the information in his book from secondhand sources. Haw also criticizes Wood's approach to finding mention of Marco Polo in Chinese texts by contending that contemporaneous Europeans had little regard for using surnames and that

10360-411: The centre of the city, close to the point where the Sema (or Soma) of Alexander (his Mausoleum ) rose. This point is very near the present mosque of Nebi Daniel ; the line of the great East–West "Canopic" street is also present in modern-day Alexandria, having only slightly diverged from the line of the modern Boulevard de Rosette (now Sharae Fouad). Traces of its pavement and canal have been found near

10508-420: The circumnavigation of the world by the expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan that the Pacific Ocean was the Sinus Magnus and located Cattigara on the west coast of South America. In this he was followed by Oronce Fine and the makers of the Dieppe Maps but eventually geographers and cartographers had to admit that Cattigara could not be found. The mathematician and cosmographer Gemma Frisius said in 1531: "in

10656-507: The citizens until they were discovered by accident in 1900. The most extensive ancient excavation currently being conducted in Alexandria is known as Kom El Deka . It has revealed the ancient city's well-preserved theater, and the remains of its Roman-era baths . The temple was built in the Ptolemy era and dedicated to Osiris, which finished the construction of Alexandria. It is located in Abusir,

10804-565: The city on 2 July 1798, and it remained in their hands until the arrival of a British expedition in 1801. The British won a considerable victory over the French at the Battle of Alexandria on 21 March 1801, following which they besieged the city , which fell to them on 2 September 1801. Muhammad Ali , the Ottoman governor of Egypt, began rebuilding and redevelopment around 1810 and, by 1850, Alexandria had returned to something akin to its former glory. Egypt turned to Europe in their effort to modernise

10952-513: The city. One such saint was Imam Borhan Oddin El Aaraj, who was said to perform miracles. Another notable figure was Yaqut al-'Arshi, a disciple of Abu Abbas El Mursi . Ibn Battuta also writes about Abu 'Abdallah al-Murshidi, a saint that lived in the Minyat of Ibn Murshed. Although al-Murshidi lived in seclusion, Ibn Battuta writes that he was regularly visited by crowds, high state officials, and even by

11100-471: The climate of Alexandria in the year 2050 would most closely resemble the current climate of Gaza City . The annual temperature would increase by 2.8 °C (5.0 °F), and the temperature of the warmest and the coldest month by 2.9 °C (5.2 °F) and 3.1 °C (5.6 °F). According to Climate Action Tracker , the current warming trajectory appears consistent with 2.7 °C (4.9 °F), which closely matches RCP 4.5. Due to its location on

11248-452: The coast of Costa Rica , Columbus thought he was close to the gold mines of Ciamba. On 7 July 1503, he wrote from Jamaica : "I reached the land of Cariay...Here I received news of the gold mines of Ciamba which I was seeking". It was eventually realized that Columbus had not reached Ciamba or any part of the Cape of Cattigara. The search for Cattigara continued during the early years of the sixteenth century. Johannes Schöner concluded after

11396-519: The coast toward the south east, and so came to Kattigara. We hear nothing of any further change of course. In addition, at Óc Eo, an emporium excavated in the western Mekong delta, in the ancient kingdom of Fu-nan, Roman finds from the 2nd century after Christ have come to light. Adhir Chakravarti concluded: "The archaeological remains unearthed at Oc-Eo to the south of Phnom Bà Thên in the Trans-Bassac region of Cochin-China have proved beyond doubt that it

11544-564: The conjecture that Óc Eo was the Ptolemaic Cattigara. The distinguished German classical scholar, Albrecht Dihle, supported this view, saying: From the account of the voyage of Alexander referred to by Ptolemy, Kattigara can actually be located only in the Mekong delta, because Alexander went first along the east coast of the Malacca peninsula, northward to Bangkok, from thence likewise only along

11692-525: The convent of San Giovanni , San Paolo of the Order of Preachers , and a cleric named Friar Benvenuto. He ordered 220  soldi be paid to Giovanni Giustiniani for his work as a notary and his prayers. The will was not signed by Polo, but was validated by the then-relevant " signum manus " rule, by which the testator had only to touch the document to make it legally valid. Due to the Venetian law stating that

11840-493: The cooler months; these events, combined with a poor drainage system, have been responsible for occasional flooding in the city in the past though they rarely occur anymore. July and August are the hottest and driest months of the year, with an average daily maximum temperature of 30 °C (86  °F ). The average annual rainfall is around 211 mm (8.3 in) but has been as high as 417 mm (16.4 in) Port Said , Kosseir , Baltim , Damietta and Alexandria have

11988-475: The country. Greeks, followed by other Europeans and others, began moving to the city. In the early 20th century, the city became a home for novelists and poets. In July 1882, the city came under bombardment from British naval forces and was occupied. In July 1954, the city was a target of an Israeli bombing campaign that later became known as the Lavon Affair . On 26 October 1954, Alexandria's Mansheya Square

12136-587: The course of Roman rule in Egypt , the city's name was Latinised as Alexandrēa ad Aegyptum . After the capture of Alexandria by the Rashiduns in AD 641, the name was Arabicised : initial Al- was re-analysed into the definite article ; metathesis occurred on x , from [ks] to [sk] ; and the suffix -eia was assimilated into the feminine adjectival suffix -iyya ( ـِيَّة ). Radiocarbon dating of seashell fragments and lead contamination show human activity at

12284-494: The daughter of Vitale Badoèr, a merchant. They had three daughters, Fantina (married Marco Bragadin), Bellela (married Bertuccio Querini), and Moreta. In 2022, it was found that Polo first had a daughter named Agnese (b. 1295/1299 - d. 1319) from a partnership or marriage which ended before 1300. Pietro d'Abano , a philosopher, doctor and astrologer based in Padua , reports having spoken with Marco Polo about what he had observed in

12432-462: The day ends at sunset, the exact date of Marco Polo's death cannot be determined, but according to some scholars it was between the sunsets of 8 and 9 January 1324. Biblioteca Marciana , which holds the original copy of his testament, dates the testament on 9 January 1323, and gives the date of his death at some time in June 1324. An authoritative version of Marco Polo's book does not and cannot exist, for

12580-450: The distinction of its population's three largest ethnicities: Greek, Egyptian and Jewish. By the time of Augustus , the city grid encompassed an area of 10 km (3.9 sq mi), and the total population during the Roman principate was around 500,000–600,000, which would wax and wane in the course of the next four centuries under Roman rule. According to Philo of Alexandria , in

12728-577: The drawing in his volume Conciliator Differentiarum, quæ inter Philosophos et Medicos Versantur . Marco Polo gave Pietro other astronomical observations he made in the Southern Hemisphere , and also a description of the Sumatran rhinoceros , which are collected in the Conciliator . In 1305 he is mentioned in a Venetian document among local sea captains regarding the payment of taxes. His relation with

12876-405: The earlier dynasties. Other Europeans who travelled to Khanbaliq during the Yuan dynasty, such as Giovanni de' Marignolli and Odoric of Pordenone , said nothing about the wall either. The Muslim traveller Ibn Battuta , who asked about the wall when he visited China during the Yuan dynasty, could find no one who either had seen it or knew of anyone who had seen it, suggesting that while ruins of

13024-445: The early manuscripts differ significantly, and the reconstruction of the original text is a matter of textual criticism . A total of about 150 copies in various languages are known to exist. Before the availability of printing press , errors were frequently made during copying and translating, so there are many differences between the various copies. Polo related his memoirs orally to Rustichello da Pisa while both were prisoners of

13172-513: The easy overland connection between the Mediterranean and Red Seas and the lucrative trade in Egyptian cotton . Alexandria was located on the earlier Egyptian settlement, which was called Rhacotis ( Ancient Greek : Ῥακῶτις , romanized :  Rhakôtis ), the Hellenised form of Egyptian r-ꜥ-qd(y)t . As one of many settlements founded by Alexander the Great, the city he founded on Rhacotis

13320-478: The emperor's lands for 17 years and seeing many things previously unknown to Europeans. Around 1291, the Polos offered to accompany the Mongol princess Kököchin to Persia; they arrived there around 1293. After leaving the princess, they travelled overland to Constantinople and then to Venice, returning home after 24 years. At this time, Venice was at war with Genoa . Marco joined the war effort on behalf of Venice and

13468-640: The established view that Polo was in China, in response to Wood's book. The book has been criticized by figures including Igor de Rachewiltz (translator and annotator of The Secret History of the Mongols ) and Morris Rossabi (author of Kublai Khan: his life and times ). The historian David Morgan points out basic errors made in Wood's book such as confusing the Liao dynasty with the Jin dynasty , and he found no compelling evidence in

13616-471: The evidence supporting Marco Polo's credibility." Some scholars believe that Marco Polo exaggerated his importance in China. The British historian David Morgan thought that Polo had likely exaggerated and lied about his status in China, while Ronald Latham believed that such exaggerations were embellishments by his ghostwriter Rustichello da Pisa . Et meser Marc Pol meisme, celui de cui trate ceste livre, seingneurie ceste cité por trois anz. And

13764-400: The family property of his wife Donata. In 1323, Polo was confined to bed due to illness. On 8 January 1324, despite physicians' efforts to treat him, Polo was on his deathbed. To write and certify the will, his family requested Giovanni Giustiniani, a priest of San Procolo. His wife, Donata, and his three daughters were appointed by him as co-executrices . The church was entitled by law to

13912-487: The far south and Burma . They were highly respected and sought after in the Mongolian court, and so Kublai Khan decided to decline the Polos' requests to leave China. They became worried about returning home safely, believing that if Kublai died, his enemies might turn against them because of their close involvement with the ruler. In 1292, Kublai's great-nephew, then ruler of Persia , sent representatives to China in search of

14060-474: The few omissions, Marco Polo's account is more extensive, more accurate and more detailed than those of other foreign travellers to China in this period. Marco Polo even observed Chinese nautical inventions such as the watertight compartments of bulkhead partitions in Chinese ships , knowledge of which he was keen to share with his fellow Venetians. In addition to Haw, other scholars have argued in favour of

14208-581: The first time, at the age of fifteen or sixteen. In 1271, Niccolò, Maffeo and Marco Polo embarked on their voyage to fulfil Kublai's request. They sailed to Acre , and then rode on camels to the Persian port of Hormuz . The Polos wanted to sail straight into China, but the ships there were not seaworthy, so they continued overland through the Silk Road , until reaching Kublai's summer palace in Shangdu , near present-day Zhangjiakou . In one instance during their trip,

14356-568: The first time. In 1271, during the rule of Doge Lorenzo Tiepolo , Marco Polo (at seventeen years of age), his father, and his uncle set off for Asia on the series of adventures that Marco later documented in his book. They sailed to Acre and later rode on their camels to the Persian port Hormuz . During the first stages of the journey, they stayed for a few months in Acre and were able to speak with Archdeacon Tedaldo Visconti of Piacenza . The Polo family, on that occasion, had expressed their regret at

14504-488: The high-end ice sheet instability scenario. In every single estimate, Alexandria alone bears around half of these costs. Since sea level rise would continue for about 10,000 years under every scenario of climate change, future costs of sea level rise would only increase, especially without adaptation measures. Greek Alexandria was divided into three regions: Two main streets, lined with colonnades and said to have been each about 60 m (200 ft) wide, intersected in

14652-481: The lack of details in his description of southern Chinese cities compared to northern ones, while Herbert Franke also raised the possibility that Marco Polo had not been to China at all, and wondered if he had based his accounts on Persian sources, in view of his use of Persian expressions. This is taken further by Frances Wood who claimed in her 1995 book Did Marco Polo Go to China? that at best Polo never went farther east than Persia (modern Iran), and that there

14800-582: The lack of details on some places in his book. While Polo describes paper money and the burning of coal, he fails to mention the Great Wall of China , tea , Chinese characters , chopsticks , or footbinding . His failure to note the presence of the Great Wall of China was first raised in the middle of the 17th century, and in the middle of the 18th century, it was suggested that he had never reached China. Later scholars such as John W. Haeger argued that Marco Polo might not have visited Southern China, in view of

14948-452: The lamp in Jerusalem . The long sede vacante between the death of Pope Clement IV in 1268 and the election of his successor delayed the Polos in fulfilling Kublai's request. They followed the suggestion of Theobald Visconti, then papal legate for the realm of Egypt , and returned to Venice in 1269 or 1270 to await the nomination of the new Pope, which allowed Marco to see his father for

15096-470: The largest cities ever built before the Industrial Revolution and the largest pre-industrial city that was not an imperial capital. Due to the constant presence of war in Alexandria in ancient times, very little of the ancient city has survived into the present day. Much of the royal and civic quarters sank beneath the harbour and the rest has been built over in modern times. " Pompey's Pillar ",

15244-593: The largest city in the world and, for some centuries more, was second only to Rome. It became Egypt's main Greek city, with Greek people from diverse backgrounds. The Septuagint , a Greek version of the Tanakh , was produced there. The early Ptolemies kept it in order and fostered the development of its museum into the leading Hellenistic centre of learning ( Library of Alexandria , which faced destruction during Caesar 's siege of Alexandria in 47 BC), but were careful to maintain

15392-477: The least temperature variation in Egypt. The highest recorded temperature was 45 °C (113 °F) on 30 May 1961, and the coldest recorded temperature was 0 °C (32 °F) on 31 January 1994. A 2019 paper published in PLOS One estimated that under Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 , a "moderate" scenario of climate change where global warming reaches ~2.5–3 °C (4.5–5.4 °F) by 2100,

15540-468: The local Archaeological Society and by many individuals. Excavations were performed in the city by Greeks seeking the tomb of Alexander the Great without success. The past and present directors of the museum have been enabled from time to time to carry out systematic excavations whenever opportunity is offered; D. G. Hogarth made tentative researches on behalf of the Egypt Exploration Fund and

15688-510: The location during the period of the Old Kingdom (27th–21st centuries BC) and again in the period 1000–800 BC, followed by the absence of activity after that. From ancient sources it is known there existed a trading post at this location during the time of Rameses the Great for trade with Crete , but it had long been lost by the time of Alexander's arrival. A small Egyptian fishing village named Rhakotis ( Egyptian : rꜥ-qdy.t , 'That which

15836-556: The long lack of a pope, because on their previous trip to China they had received a letter from Kublai Khan to the Pope, and had thus had to leave for China disappointed. During the trip, however, they received news that after 33 months of vacation, finally, the Conclave had elected the new Pope and that he was exactly the archdeacon of Acre. The three of them hurried to return to the Holy Land, where

15984-399: The low grounds to northeast and southwest, where it is practically impossible to get below the Roman strata . The most important results were those achieved by Dr. G. Botti, late director of the museum, in the neighbourhood of "Pompey's Pillar", where there is a good deal of open ground. Here, substructures of a large building or group of buildings have been exposed, which are perhaps part of

16132-515: The merchants' disposal so that they could live according to the pattern they were accustomed to in their country. Alexandria lost much of its importance in international trade after Portuguese navigators discovered a new sea route to India in the late 15th century. This reduced the amount of goods that needed to be transported through the Alexandrian port, as well as the Mamluks' political power. After

16280-510: The middle of the 3rd century Fu-nan had already established relations with China and India, and it is doubtless on the west coast of the Gulf of Siam that the furthest point reached by Hellenistic navigators is to be found, that is the harbour of Kattigara mentioned by Ptolemy". A.H. Christie said in 1979 that "the presence of objects, however few in number, from the Roman Orient" added some weight to

16428-462: The mouth of the Mekong ( Cottiaris ) River, where it is shown on his map, Orbis Veteribus Notus (The World Known to the Ancients). The Swedish yachtsman and writer Björn Landström also concluded, from the sailing directions given by the ancient merchant and seafarer Alexander, that Cattigara lay at the mouth of the Mekong. The "father of Early Southeast Asian history", George Coedès , has said: "By

16576-539: The new Pope entrusted them with letters for the "Great Khan", inviting him to send his emissaries to Rome. To give more weight to this mission he sent with the Polos, as his legates, two Dominican fathers, Guglielmo of Tripoli and Nicola of Piacenza. They continued overland until they arrived at Kublai Khan 's palace in Shangdu , China (then known as Cathay ). By this time, Marco was 21 years old. Impressed by Marco's intelligence and humility, Kublai appointed him to serve as his foreign emissary to India and Burma . He

16724-615: The place where Ptolemy described Cattigara as projecting far beyond the Equator, and others by quite dubious reasoning as adjoining the kingdoms of Var, Moabar and other places now, following repeated voyages on both this side and the other of the Equator, no continental land was found but an almost infinite number of islands". Alexandria Alexandria ( / ˌ æ l ɪ ɡ ˈ z æ n d r i ə , - ˈ z ɑː n -/ AL -ig- ZA(H)N -dree-ə ; Arabic : الإسكندرية ; Ancient Greek : Ἀλεξάνδρεια , Coptic : Ⲣⲁⲕⲟϯ - Rakoti or ⲁⲗⲉⲝⲁⲛⲇⲣⲓⲁ)

16872-405: The places he mentioned in his itinerary, whether he had appropriated the accounts of his father and uncle or other travellers, and some doubted whether he even reached China, or that if he did, perhaps never went beyond Khanbaliq (Beijing). It has been pointed out that Polo's accounts of China are more accurate and detailed than other travellers' accounts of the period. Polo had at times refuted

17020-486: The product of a larger European (and Eurasian) literary and commercial culture", rather than questions of veracity of the account. The book opens with a preface describing his father and uncle travelling to Bolghar where Prince Berke Khan lived. A year later, they went to Ukek and continued to Bukhara . There, an envoy from the Levant invited them to meet Kublai Khan , who had never met Europeans. In 1266, they reached

17168-414: The project, and the second Ptolemy ( Ptolemy II Philadelphus ) completed it, at a total cost of 800  talents . It took 12 years to complete and served as a prototype for all later lighthouses in the world. The light was produced by a furnace at the top and the tower was built mostly with solid blocks of limestone. The Pharos lighthouse was destroyed by an earthquake in the 14th century, making it

17316-523: The same Marco Polo, of whom this book relates, ruled this city for three years. This sentence in The Book of Marvels was interpreted as Marco Polo was "the governor" of the city of "Yangiu" Yangzhou for three years, and later of Hangzhou . This claim has raised some controversy. According to David Morgan no Chinese source mentions him as either a friend of the Emperor or as the governor of Yangzhou – indeed no Chinese source mentions Marco Polo at all. In

17464-684: The seat of Kublai Khan at Dadu , present-day Beijing , China. Kublai received the brothers with hospitality and asked them many questions regarding the European legal and political system. He also inquired about the Pope and Church in Rome. After the brothers answered the questions he tasked them with delivering a letter to the Pope, requesting 100 Christians acquainted with the Seven Arts (grammar, rhetoric, logic, geometry, arithmetic, music and astronomy). Kublai Khan requested also that an envoy bring him back oil of

17612-496: The second longest surviving ancient wonder, after the Great Pyramid of Giza . A temple of Hephaestus also stood on Pharos at the head of the mole. In the 1st century, the population of Alexandria contained over 180,000 adult male citizens, according to a census dated from 32 AD, in addition to a large number of freedmen, women, children and slaves. Estimates of the total population range from 216,000 to 500,000, making it one of

17760-457: The site of the actual lighthouse having been weathered away by the sea. On the east of the mole was the Great Harbour, now an open bay; on the west lay the port of Eunostos, with its inner basin Kibotos, now vastly enlarged to form the modern harbour. In Strabo 's time (latter half of the 1st century BC), the principal buildings were as follows, enumerated as they were to be seen from a ship entering

17908-565: The somewhat more detailed Italian of Giovanni Battista Ramusio, together with a Latin manuscript in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana . Other early important sources are R (Ramusio's Italian translation first printed in 1559), and Z (a 15th-century Latin manuscript kept at Toledo, Spain). Another Old French Polo manuscript, dating to around 1350, is held by the National Library of Sweden. One of the early manuscripts Iter Marci Pauli Veneti

18056-522: The standard of scholarship that one would expect in a work of this kind. Her book can only be described as deceptive, both in relation to the author and to the public at large. Questions are posed that, in the majority of cases, have already been answered satisfactorily ... her attempt is unprofessional; she is poorly equipped in the basic tools of the trade, i.e., adequate linguistic competence and research methodology ... and her major arguments cannot withstand close scrutiny. Her conclusion fails to consider all

18204-469: The truthfulness of the book and defined Marco as a "prudent, honoured and faithful man". In his writings, the Dominican brother Jacopo d'Acqui explains why his contemporaries were sceptical about the content of the book. He also relates that before dying, Marco Polo insisted that "he had told only a half of the things he had seen". According to some recent research of the Italian scholar Antonio Montefusco,

18352-670: The vault of the sky during his travels. Marco told him that during his return trip to the South China Sea , he had spotted what he describes in a drawing as a star "shaped like a sack" (in Latin : ut sacco ) with a big tail ( magna habens caudam ); most likely a comet . Astronomers agree that there were no comets sighted in Europe at the end of the 13th century, but there are records about a comet sighted in China and Indonesia in 1293. This circumstance does not appear in Polo's book of travels . Peter D'Abano kept

18500-485: The very close relationship that Marco Polo cultivated with members of the Dominican Order in Venice suggests that local fathers collaborated with him for a Latin version of the book, which means that Rustichello's text was translated into Latin for a precise will of the Order. Since Dominican fathers had among their missions that of evangelizing foreign peoples (cf. the role of Dominican missionaries in China and in

18648-438: The wall constructed in the earlier periods might have existed, they were not significant or noteworthy at that time. Haw also argued that footbinding was not common even among Chinese during Polo's time and almost unknown among the Mongols. While the Italian missionary Odoric of Pordenone who visited Yuan China mentioned footbinding (it is however unclear whether he was merely relaying something he had heard as his description

18796-468: The western suburb of Alexandria in Borg el Arab city. Only the outer wall and the pylons remain from the temple. There is evidence to prove that sacred animals were worshiped there. Archaeologists found an animal necropolis near the temple. Remains of a Christian church show that the temple was used as a church in later centuries. Also found in the same area are remains of public baths built by the emperor Justinian,

18944-447: The work of Rustichello, who was giving what medieval European readers expected to find in a travel book. Apparently, from the very beginning, Marco's story aroused contrasting reactions, as it was received by some with a certain disbelief. The Dominican father Francesco Pipino was the author of a translation into Latin, Iter Marci Pauli Veneti in 1302, just a few years after Marco's return to Venice. Francesco Pipino solemnly affirmed

19092-567: The year 38 AD, disturbances erupted between Jews and Greek citizens of Alexandria during a visit paid by King Agrippa I to Alexandria, principally over the respect paid by the Herodian nation to the Roman emperor , which quickly escalated to open affronts and violence between the two ethnic groups and the desecration of Alexandrian synagogues. This event has been called the Alexandrian pogroms . The violence

19240-456: Was Il libro di Marco Polo detto il Milione , which means "The Book of Marco Polo, nicknamed ' Milione ' ". According to the 15th-century humanist Giovanni Battista Ramusio , his fellow citizens awarded him this nickname when he came back to Venice because he kept on saying that Kublai Khan's wealth was counted in millions. More precisely, he was nicknamed Messer Marco Milioni (Mr Marco Millions). However, since also his father Niccolò

19388-551: Was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in The Travels of Marco Polo (also known as Book of the Marvels of the World and Il Milione , c.  1300 ), a book that described the then-mysterious culture and inner workings of the Eastern world, including the wealth and great size of

19536-476: Was a great port of Fou-nan and, as suggested by Mallaret and Coedès may be identified with Ptolemy's Kattigara emporium (= Skt Kirtinagara or Kottanagara )". The eminent scholar of ancient Indian civilization, Luciano Petech, concluded: "Kattigara was situated on the Mekong delta… At Go Oc Eo in western Cochinchina, along with Indian jewelry and Chinese bronze mirrors, several Roman objects were excavated: beads, gems, cammei, and, last but not least, Roman coins of

19684-440: Was a translation into Latin made by the Dominican brother Francesco Pipino  [ it ] in 1302, just a few years after Marco's return to Venice. Since Latin was then the most widespread and authoritative language of culture, it is suggested that Rustichello's text was translated into Latin for a precise will of the Dominican Order , and this helped to promote the book on a European scale. The first English translation

19832-632: Was at 8½° north of the Equator and was the forerunner of Saigon as the main port and entrepot at the mouth of the Mekong . On some medieval maps, for example on the Martellus map of 1489 or the Waldseemüller map from 1507, published in the Ptolemy's Geography, Cattigara was located 8 and a half degrees below the equator and 178 degrees west of the Canary Islands. John Caverhill deduced in 1767 that Cattigara

19980-632: Was at war with the Republic of Genoa . Polo armed a galley equipped with a trebuchet to join the war. He was probably caught by Genoans in a skirmish in 1296, off the Anatolian coast between Adana and the Gulf of Alexandretta (and not during the battle of Curzola (September 1298), off the Dalmatian coast, a claim which is due to a later tradition (16th century) recorded by Giovanni Battista Ramusio ). He spent several months of his imprisonment dictating

20128-465: Was called Alexándreia hḗ kat' Aígypton ( Ἀλεξάνδρεια ἡ κατ' Αἴγυπτον ), which some sources translated as "Alexandria by Egypt", as the city was, at that time, in the periphery of Egypt proper (the area beside the Nile ). Some of the Alexandrian and Greek populaces, e.g., Hypsicles , also referred to the city as Alexándreia hḗ prós Aígypton ( Ἀλεξάνδρεια ἡ πρός Αἴγυπτον , "Alexandria near Egypt"). In

20276-479: Was captured by the Genoans. While imprisoned, he dictated stories of his travels to Rustichello da Pisa , a cellmate. He was released in 1299, became a wealthy merchant, married, and had three children. He died in 1324 and was buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Venice . Though he was not the first European to reach China , Marco Polo was the first to leave a detailed chronicle of his experience. His account provided

20424-589: Was devastated by a tsunami ( 365 Crete earthquake ), an event annually commemorated years later as a "day of horror". In 619, Alexandria fell to the Sassanid Persians . The city was mostly uninjured by the conquest and a new palace called Tarawus was erected in the eastern part of the city, later known as Qasr Faris, "fort of the Persians". Although the Byzantine emperor Heraclius recovered it in 629, in 641

20572-472: Was founded originally in the vicinity of an Egyptian settlement named Rhacotis (that became the Egyptian quarter of the city). Alexandria grew rapidly, becoming a major centre of Hellenic civilisation and replacing Memphis as Egypt's capital during the reign of the Ptolemaic pharaohs who succeeded Alexander. It retained this status for almost a millennium, through the period of Roman and Eastern Roman rule until

20720-409: Was intended to supersede the older Greek colony of Naucratis as a Hellenistic centre in Egypt and to be the link between Greece and the rich Nile valley. A few months after the foundation, Alexander left Egypt and never returned to the city during his life. After Alexander's departure, his viceroy Cleomenes continued the expansion. The architect Dinocrates of Rhodes designed the city, using

20868-488: Was lifted straight out of an Arthurian romance Rustichello had written several years earlier, and the account of the second meeting between Polo and Kublai Khan at the latter's court is almost the same as that of the arrival of Tristan at the court of King Arthur at Camelot in that same book. Latham believed that many elements of the book, such as legends of the Middle East and mentions of exotic marvels, might have been

21016-502: Was mainly in charge of overseeing Alexandria's early development, the Heptastadion and the mainland quarters seem to have been primarily Ptolemaic work. Inheriting the trade of ruined Tyre and becoming the centre of the new commerce between Europe and the Arabian and Indian East, the city grew in less than a generation to be larger than Carthage . In one century, Alexandria had become

21164-468: Was nicknamed Milione , 19th-century philologist Luigi Foscolo Benedetto was persuaded that Milione was a shortened version of Emilione , and that this nickname was used to distinguish Niccolò's and Marco's branch from other Polo families. His father, Niccolò Polo , a merchant, traded with the Near East , becoming wealthy and achieving great prestige. Niccolò and his brother Maffeo set off on

21312-565: Was quelled after Caligula intervened and had the Roman governor, Flaccus, removed from the city. In 115 AD, large parts of Alexandria were destroyed during the Diaspora revolt , which gave Hadrian and his architect, Decriannus , an opportunity to rebuild it. In 215 AD, the emperor Caracalla visited the city and, because of some insulting satires that the inhabitants had directed at him, abruptly commanded his troops to put to death all youths capable of bearing arms. On 21 July 365 AD, Alexandria

21460-656: Was sent on many diplomatic missions throughout his empire and in Southeast Asia, (such as in present-day Indonesia , Sri Lanka and Vietnam ), but also entertained the Khan with stories and observations about the lands he saw. As part of this appointment, Marco travelled extensively inside China, living in the emperor's lands for 17 years. Kublai initially refused several times to let the Polos return to Europe, as he appreciated their company and they became useful to him. However, around 1291, he finally granted permission, entrusting

21608-552: Was solemnly baptised at the Second Council of Lyon . At the council, Pope Gregory X promulgated a new Crusade to start in 1278 in liaison with the Mongols. Since its publication, some have viewed the book with skepticism. Some in the Middle Ages regarded the book simply as a romance or fable, due largely to the sharp difference of its descriptions of a sophisticated civilisation in China to other early accounts by Giovanni da Pian del Carpine and William of Rubruck , who portrayed

21756-461: Was the Mekong Delta port Banteaymeas (now Hà Tiên ), not far from Óc Eo. The plea in 1979 by Jeremy H.C.S. Davidson for "a thorough study of Hà-tiên in its historical context and in relation to Óc-eo" as indispensable for an accurate understanding and interpretation of the site, still remains unanswered. The 18th-century French geographer, Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville , located Cattigara at

21904-401: Was the site of a failed assassination attempt on Gamal Abdel Nasser . Europeans began leaving Alexandria following the 1956 Suez Crisis that led to an outburst of Arab nationalism . The nationalisation of property by Nasser, which reached its highest point in 1961, drove out nearly all the rest. Alexandria is located in the country of Egypt, on the southern coast of the Mediterranean. It

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