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Alexandria

Alexandria, EgyptEgypt

City founded by Alexander on the coast of Egypt in 332–331 BC and capital of the Ptolemies. It had a large Jewish community, was the traditional home of the Septuagint, and became a leading centre of Christian teaching.

Alexander the Great marked out the city himself, beside Lake Mareotis on the coast west of the Nile delta (Arrian, Anabasis 3.1). It became the seat of the Ptolemies, the Greek kings of Egypt. Josephus says that the first Ptolemy settled Jews there with the same civic rights as the Macedonians (Josephus, Antiquities 12.7–9), and the Letter of Aristeas sets the translation of the law of Moses into Greek on the island of Pharos in its harbour (Letter of Aristeas 301–307). Apollos, “an Alexandrian by race”, came from its Jewish community (Acts 18:24).

What happened here

  1. 332 BC, firm date
    Alexander the Great Conquers the Near East

    Alexander of Macedon defeats the Persian king, takes Tyre and Gaza by siege and founds Alexandria in Egypt. Judea passes from Persian to Greek rule. Josephus, centuries later, tells of a visit to Jerusalem.

  2. about 250 BC, estimated date
    The Hebrew Scriptures Are Translated into Greek

    Jews in Egypt translate the law of Moses into Greek, by tradition at Alexandria under Ptolemy II, and the other books follow. This version, the Septuagint, is the form in which most early Christians read the Old Testament.

  3. about AD 203 to AD 254, estimated date
    Origen and the School of Alexandria

    Origen takes charge of Christian teaching at Alexandria as a young man and spends fifty years on the text and meaning of Scripture, first there and then at Caesarea. He compiles the Hexapla, writes a systematic account of Christian teaching, and dies after torture under Decius.

  4. AD 250, firm date
    The Decian Persecution

    The emperor Decius orders the inhabitants of the empire to sacrifice to the gods and obtain a certificate. Bishops are executed or driven into hiding, many Christians comply, and the churches are left divided over how to receive them back.

  5. c. AD 330–356, estimated date
    King Ezana of Aksum Becomes Christian

    Ezana, king of Aksum in the Ethiopian highlands, sets up an inscription that opens in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A letter of the emperor Constantius II names Frumentius, ordained by Athanasius of Alexandria, as bishop of Aksum.

  6. AD 367, firm date
    Athanasius Lists the Twenty-seven Books of the New Testament

    In his Easter letter for 367 the bishop of Alexandria sets out which books are Scripture. His New Testament names twenty-seven books, the same that the Council of Trent later listed. He adds a second group of books that are read but are not in the canon.

  7. AD 482 to AD 519, firm date
    The Henotikon and the Acacian Schism

    The emperor Zeno tries to reunite the supporters and opponents of Chalcedon with a statement of faith that neither adopts nor expressly condemns the council. Rome answers by declaring Acacius of Constantinople deposed, and the two sees stay out of communion for thirty-five years.

Primary sources

Scripture

Links open the passage in the NRSVUE at BibleGateway.

The Anabasis of Alexander

Arrian · 2nd century AD · Greek

Jewish Antiquities

Flavius Josephus · AD 93–94 · Greek

The Letter of Aristeas

2nd century BC · Greek

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