Alexandria History & Heritage Guide 2026

Historical timeline

Key moments that shaped Alexandria.

1. 1

   Alexander the Great founds Alexandria

   332 BCE

   Alexander the Great lays out the city on a narrow strip of land between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mareotis, choosing the site for its natural harbours and the offshore island of Pharos, intending it as the Mediterranean hub of his empire.

2. 2

   Ptolemaic dynasty and the Great Library

   305-30 BCE

   The Ptolemies, Alexander's Macedonian-Greek successors, rule Egypt from Alexandria and build the Library of Alexandria and the Mouseion, drawing scholars such as Euclid and Eratosthenes and making the city the intellectual capital of the ancient Mediterranean.

3. 3

   The Lighthouse of Pharos completed

   c. 280 BCE

   The Pharos Lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is completed on the island of Pharos to guide ships into the Eastern Harbour; it stands for over 1,500 years before its final collapse.

4. 4

   Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, and the end of the Ptolemies

   48-30 BCE

   Julius Caesar intervenes in the Alexandrian civil war between Cleopatra VII and her brother Ptolemy XIII; a fire during the fighting damages part of the library's holdings. Cleopatra later allies with Mark Antony, and her defeat at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE ends Ptolemaic rule in 30 BCE.

5. 5

   Roman and Byzantine Alexandria

   30 BCE-641 CE

   Alexandria becomes the second city of the Roman Empire and a major early center of Christianity, home to theologians such as Origen and Athanasius; the catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa are carved during this period as a multi-level Roman-era necropolis.

6. 6

   Arab conquest of Alexandria

   642 CE

   General Amr ibn al-As leads the Arab Muslim conquest of Egypt, capturing Alexandria after a prolonged siege; the political capital soon shifts inland to Fustat (near modern Cairo), and Alexandria's regional importance gradually declines.

7. 7

   Earthquake destroys the Pharos Lighthouse

   1303 CE

   A powerful earthquake centered in the eastern Mediterranean topples the already-weakened Pharos Lighthouse; its remaining stones are later reused in nearby fortifications, and the site sits largely abandoned for over a century.

8. 8

   Sultan Qaitbay builds his citadel

   1477 CE

   Mamluk Sultan Qaitbay constructs a coastal defensive fort directly on the ruined foundations of the Pharos Lighthouse to guard the harbour against Ottoman naval threats; the citadel still stands today as one of Alexandria's most visited landmarks.

9. 9

   Napoleon's Egyptian campaign and the Battle of the Nile

   1798-1801

   Napoleon Bonaparte's fleet lands near Alexandria in 1798; Admiral Nelson destroys the French fleet at Abu Qir Bay days later. French scholars accompanying the campaign later publish the Description de l'Egypte, and the Rosetta Stone is discovered nearby in 1799.

10. 10

    Muhammad Ali Pasha modernizes the city

    1805-1848

    Muhammad Ali Pasha, the Ottoman-appointed governor who founds modern Egypt's ruling dynasty, revives Alexandria as a commercial and naval port, digging the Mahmoudiyah Canal to reconnect the city to the Nile and rebuilding its harbours.

11. 11

    British bombardment and occupation

    1882 CE

    The Royal Navy bombards Alexandria's coastal forts during the Anglo-Egyptian War, beginning a British occupation of Egypt that lasts, in various forms, until the 1950s.

12. 12

    Cosmopolitan Alexandria

    1870s-1950s

    Greek, Italian, Jewish, Armenian, and Levantine communities flourish alongside Egyptians in a multilingual, multicultural Alexandria celebrated by writers such as the poet Constantine Cavafy and novelist Lawrence Durrell; the era's cafes and patisseries, including Trianon and the Cecil Hotel, date to this period.

13. 13

    Revolution and the end of cosmopolitan Alexandria

    1952-1960s

    The 1952 Egyptian revolution and subsequent nationalizations under Gamal Abdel Nasser lead most of Alexandria's foreign-born communities to leave over the following two decades, reshaping the city's demographics and character.

14. 14

    Bibliotheca Alexandrina opens

    2002 CE

    A modern library and cultural complex opens near the ancient library's original site, built with UNESCO support as a symbolic revival of Alexandria's role as a center of learning and scholarship.

Historical sites

Places where Alexandria's past comes alive.