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| Alexander the Great at the Battle of Issos [Credit: Web[ |
Now research shows that on Alexander's birthday the main east-west thoroughfare of the ancient city is 'in almost perfect alignment' with the rising sun of the fourth century.
Giulio Magli, an archaeoastronomer at the Politecnico of Milan, hopes his results could help researchers in the hunt for Alexander's tomb, the location of which has been lost for over 2,000 years.
These days a modern city home to 4million people, Alexandria was in ancient times hugely prosperous and home to the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Wonders of the Ancient World, as well as the Library of Alexandria.
However a study of the ancient city's main thoroughfare, called the Canopic Road, shows it was not laid out according to topography - sitting, as it does, slightly off parallel with the Mediterranean coast.
Professor Magli and his colleague Luisa Ferro used a computer to plot the sun's position in the fourth century B.C. Because the earth's orbit varies, the path of the sun through the sky changes changes over time.
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| Above: A photograph of the early 19th century showing the Canopic road, looking west [Credit: C. Pallini]; Below: Alexandria, the original town plan superimposed on the reconstruction by Mahmoud-Bey (1866) [Credit: CEAlex Archives J-Y. Empereur] |
Alexander the Great was born on July 20, 356BC, by the Julian calendar - which differs from our modern calendar because it omits leap years, which keep our calendar synchronised with the astronomical year.
The researchers found that on that day in the fourth century BC the sun rose in near perfect alignment with the Canopic Road, at a spot less than half a degree off the road's route.
A second star would have reinforced the effect. Regulus - the so-called 'King's star' which is the brightest in the constellation of Leo, found near the lion's head - also rose in near perfect alignment with the road.
Professor Magli told LiveScience that basing architecture on astronomy was common in the ancient world. The Great Pyramid of Giza is in near-perfect alignment with the points of the compass, for example.
The Egyptians, who Alexander conquered and who were admired in the ancient world for their science and maths, had long associated the sun god Ra with their own rulers, the pharaohs.
The researchers say Alexandria was the prototype of a series of Hellenistic towns designed as ‘king's towns’ that aimed to make explicit the divine power of their founder.
'Aligning the city to the sun in the day of birth of Alexander was a way to embody in the architectural project an explicit reference to his power,' Professor Magli told LiveScience, adding that the King's Star would have only added to the mystique.
Professor Magli and Ms Ferro are now examining other cities founded by Alexander and his successors to see if they maintain the link to the sun's route across the sky.
Their research was reported online in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology.
Author: Damien Gayle | Source: Daily Mail [October 17, 2012]