Region: Egypt & North Africa · Coordinates: 31.201, 29.910 · 46 events
| Year | Source | Account |
|---|---|---|
| 331 BC | Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander | He sailed down the river past Canopus and, beside Lake Mareia, laid out the site of Alexandria, marking the agora, temples, and walls himself. |
| 331 BC | Plutarch's Parallel Lives | The island off the Egyptian coast is called Pharos by the people (the passage on the founding of Alexandria) |
| 222 BC | Plutarch's Parallel Lives | Passing through Libya he reaches Alexandria and meets Ptolemy |
| 150 BC | Josephus, Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews | Onias builds a temple in Egypt resembling the Jerusalem Temple |
| 48 BC | Plutarch's Parallel Lives | Arriving in Alexandria, Caesar turns away at the sight of Pompey's head offered by Theodotus, and weeps on receiving the signet ring |
| 48 BC | Plutarch's Parallel Lives | Cleopatra, with only Apollodorus, lands at the palace in a small boat toward dusk |
| 48 BC | Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars | Pursuing the fleeing Pompey as far as Alexandria, he learned of his murder and became entangled in a dangerous war with King Ptolemy, at an unfavorable time and place. |
| 48 BC | Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars | He feasted with Cleopatra until dawn and tried to sail up Egypt by yacht as far as Ethiopia, but the army did not follow. |
| 47 BC | Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars | During an attack on the Alexandria bridge, an enemy ambush drove him onto a ship; he escaped by jumping into the sea and swimming. |
| 41 BC | Plutarch's Parallel Lives | Fulvia wages war at Rome while Antony becomes Cleopatra's captive |
| 34 BC | Plutarch's Parallel Lives | Antony proclaims his sons by Cleopatra kings of kings and distributes lands to them |
| 31 BC | Plutarch's Parallel Lives | Cleopatra pursues the risky plan of hauling the fleet overland to the Arabian Gulf |
| 30 BC | Plutarch's Parallel Lives | The cavalry goes over to the enemy, and Antony, defeated and falling back to the city, cries that he has been betrayed |
| 30 BC | Plutarch's Parallel Lives | Caesar mounts the platform in the gymnasium and raises up the citizens prostrate in fear, and pardons them |
| 30 BC | Plutarch's Parallel Lives | Cleopatra holds out her arm and is bitten by an asp |
| 30 BC | Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars | He took out the sarcophagus and body of Alexander the Great and looked at them, saying 'I wanted to see the king, not the dead'; he made Egypt a province and mobilized the army to maintain the canals. |
| AD 19 | Tacitus, Annals and Histories | In the year of the consulship, Germanicus sets out for Egypt to see the ancient monuments |
| AD 40 | Josephus, Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews | At Alexandria Jews and Greeks clash and both sides send embassies to Gaius |
| AD 41 | Josephus, Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews | After Gaius's death, when the Jews of Alexandria take up arms again, Claudius confirms their rights by edict |
| AD 66 | Josephus, Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews | When the Jewish-Greek conflict in Alexandria turns into a riot, the governor looses the legions to suppress it |
| AD 69 | Josephus, Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews | The prefect of Egypt, Tiberius Alexander, has oaths of loyalty to Vespasian sworn at Alexandria |
| AD 69 | Josephus, Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews | News of the victory in Rome and congratulations from envoys reach Vespasian, then staying at Alexandria |
| AD 69 | Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars | He plunged into civil war, sent his generals and army to Italy, and crossed himself to Alexandria, the key to Egypt. |
| AD 69 | Tacitus, Annals and Histories | Vespasian in Alexandria hears of Vitellius' fall through several channels |
| AD 70 | Tacitus, Annals and Histories | While waiting for summer winds at Alexandria, Vespasian performs a miracle |
| AD 70 | Tacitus, Annals and Histories | Wishing to worship at the Serapeum, he consults the oracle |
| AD 71 | Josephus, Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews | Titus crosses the desert quickly to Alexandria and decides to go to Rome by ship |
| AD 172 | Cassius Dio, Roman History | The Boukoloi defeated the Roman army and nearly took Alexandria; Cassius, coming from Syria, split them apart and pacified them |
| AD 176 | Historia Augusta | In Egypt he behaves like a private citizen and philosopher, pardons the Alexandrians who had backed Cassius, and leaves his daughter there |
| AD 199 | Cassius Dio, Roman History | Severus sailed up the Nile to inspect Egypt, collected the secret books in the temples and sealed Alexander's tomb |
| AD 199 | Historia Augusta | He permits the Alexandrians a local senate |
| AD 215 | Cassius Dio, Roman History | Antoninus came to Alexandria, pretended to welcome the leading citizens who received him outside the city with a banquet, killed them, and then loosed the whole army on the city to massacre |
| AD 215 | Cassius Dio, Roman History | The massacre continued day and night across the city, and he hid the death toll from the Senate; foreigners and their attendants also fell and temples were plundered |
| AD 215 | Cassius Dio, Roman History | Antoninus directed the massacre from the Temple of Serapis and dedicated to the god the sword used to kill his brother; he abolished Alexandria's spectacles and common meals and divided the city with a cross wall |
| AD 215 | Herodian, History of the Empire | The people of Alexandria greet him lavishly with flowers and incense. The emperor sacrifices at the temples and dedicates clothing and rings at Alexander's tomb. |
| AD 215 | Herodian, History of the Empire | Caracalla gathers the young men on the pretext of a review, surrounds them with soldiers and massacres them. They are buried in heaps in pits, and blood stains the mouths of the Nile. |
| AD 215 | Historia Augusta | He orders soldiers to kill their hosts, causing a great massacre in Alexandria |
| AD 261 | Historia Augusta | In Egypt, Aemilianus seizes imperial power and holds the granaries, forcing cities into submission by famine, but is captured by Gallienus's general Theodotus and strangled in prison |
| AD 261 | Historia Augusta | In Alexandria, a soldier kills the governor's slave, and a mob rushes out and attacks the general Aemilianus with stones and swords tradition |
| AD 273 | Historia Augusta | He soon returns and crushes Firmus, who sought to make Egypt a self-proclaimed free state, and retakes Egypt; going west, he recovers Gaul when Tetricus hands over his army tradition |
| AD 280 | Historia Augusta | The Egyptians cry out 'Augustus' for Saturninus, but, being prudent, he soon flees from Alexandria to Palestine tradition |
| AD 296 | Aurelius Victor, De Caesaribus | In Alexandria in Egypt, Achilleus rises, taking the imperial insignia. |
| AD 297 | Eutropius, Breviarium | Diocletian forces Achilleus, besieged in Alexandria, to surrender after about eight months and kills him, then carries out harsh executions and confiscations in Egypt. |
| AD 1167 | William of Tyre, A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea | Shirkuh withdraws to Alexandria, and the king pursues him and besieges the city. |
| AD 1167 | William of Tyre, A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea | The city passes to the king and peace is proclaimed. |
| AD 1174 | William of Tyre, A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea | A Sicilian royal fleet suffers heavy losses at Alexandria; the count of Tripoli takes over the regency. |