Justin Pollard

Howard Reid

A history of the ancient city documents its period superiority as an archaeological and technological super power, revealing how atomic theory, geometry, the steam engine, and other developments were initiated there while tracing the city's downfall and ultimate legacy to the modern world.

Birthplace of the Modern Mind

The Rise and Fall of Alexandria

A short history of nearly everything classical. The foundations of the modern world were laid in Alexandria of Egypt at the turn of the first millennium. In this compulsively readable narrative, Justin Pollard and Howard Reid bring one of history's most fascinating and prolific cities to life, creating a treasure trove of our intellectual and cultural origins. Famous for its lighthouse, its library-the greatest in antiquity-and its fertile intellectual and spiritual life--it was here that Christianity and Islam came to prominence as world religions--Alexandria now takes its rightful place alongside Greece and Rome as a titan of the ancient world. Sparkling with fresh insights on science, philosophy, culture, and invention, this is an irresistible, eye- opening delight.

The Rise and Fall of Alexandria Birthplace of the Modern Mind