Most of the houses in ancient Alexandria had spaces under them. In these were built vaulted underground cisterns, which were capable of holding water enough to supply the wants of the whole city for an entire year.
From its earliest history Alexandria was the "Greek capital of Egypt." We are told that at the time of its greatest prosperity it contained about three hundred thousand free citizens. This did not include the slaves and strangers, who must have doubled the number of the people.
The population, for the most part, consisted of Greeks, Jews, and Egyptians, with settlers, probably, from all nations of the then known world.
On the death of Alexander the Great the city became the residence of the Ptolemies. Under their reign it became the most magnificent city of antiquity except Rome and Antioch. In addition it became the center of learning and Greek literature, while its influence spread over a large portion of the Old World.
The situation of the city was most favorable for its prosperity. The connecting link, as it were, between the East and the West, it soon became the great commercial center of the world.
About 30 b.c., when the Romans took possession of it, it had reached the pinnacle of its glory. From the time of this conquest its prosperity was on the wane. Little by little the influence of the invader was felt. The removal of all works of art to Rome was the death-blow to the prosperity of which Alexandria had been so proud.
Then followed frightful massacres, the laying in waste of the most beautiful portion of the city, the siege and pillage of the now doomed capital, and finally the increasing prosperity of its rival, the city of Constantinople.
Thus did circumstances rapidly combine to destroy Alexandria. In the fourteenth century, all that remained of its former splendor of buildings was the temple of Serapis.
Soon the strife between Christianity and heathenism arose. The final victory was gained in 389 a.d., when the only remaining seat of heathen theology was stormed by a body of Christians and speedily turned into a place of worship.
Thus ended heathenism in Alexandria. It became the great center of Christian faith and theology, and nothing marred its prosperity till it was taken by the Arabs 638 a.d.. The conquest by the Turks completed the destruction of the city 868 a.d.