Alexandria

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"Alexandria is where the whole world meets, where every language under the sun is spoken on its streets, where Greeks and Egyptians walk together, where the Jews have their own temples even—and scholars from around the world come to study at the great Museum and Library."

―Aya, c. 70 BCE.^[src]

Alexandria is the second largest city of Egypt, located along the northern coastline of Egypt along the Mediterranean Sea. It is named after the Macedonian king Alexander the Great, who founded the city around 331 BCE.

A Hellenistic city, Alexandria served as the capital of Egypt throughout the Ptolemaic dynasty. It had so much commercial and intellectual development that it became the most flourished city of the Ptolemaic era.

History[edit | edit source]

Ptolemaic era[edit | edit source]

Founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE, the polis of Alexandria was incorporated into the fledgling kingdom of Ptolemy I Soter in 323 BCE. During that year, Ptolemy hijacked Alexander's sarcophagus, which was being transported to Makedonia at the time, and later buried the king in a tomb in the city.^[1]

At some point after its founding, Alexandria was visited by the Spartan misthios Kassandra. Heading to the city's library under the cover of night, Kassandra placed a scroll given to her by her friend Herodotos on a shelf, thus preserving his writings among the other works in the library.^[2]

In the early 1st century BCE, Kassandra's descendant^[3] Aya was born and raised in Alexandria until eventually moving to the Siwa oasis. Around 56 BCE, Raia, a member of the Order of the Ancients living in Alexandria, was assassinated in his own home by the Medjay Bayek of Siwa, in retaliation for sending the mercenary Bion to kill Bayek's father Sabu and wipe out the Medjay bloodline.^[4]

Sometime during the reign of Ptolemy XII Auletes, an earthquake struck the city, causing considerable damage to Alexander the Great's tomb.^[1] In 49 BCE, the pharaoh Cleopatra was exiled by her brother and co-ruler Ptolemy XIII with the help of the Order of the Ancients. Apollodorus, one of Cleopatra's loyal followers, helped her to escape the city through the canals.^[5]

A year later, Aya, seeking revenge for the death of her son Khemu, returned to her hometown and killed the Order members Actaeon and Ktesos, who were operating in Alexandria.^[6] Following this, her husband Bayek killed another Ancient, the Royal Scribe Eudoros, in the bathhouse of Alexandria,^[7] as well as the city's Phylakitai Gennadios, who was hunting Aya in retaliation for the murders of Actaeon and Ktesos.^[8]

In September 48 BCE, the Roman general Gaius Julius Caesar travelled to Alexandria with his fleet in pursuit of his rival Pompey, who had fled to Egypt. There, Caesar was received by Ptolemy XIII, who presented the head of the deceased Pompey to the general. Their meeting was interrupted by the arrival of Cleopatra, who infiltrated the city with the help of Aya, Bayek, and Apollodorus and managed to impress and secure an alliance with Caesar.^[1]

In early 47 BCE, Ptolemy besieged Alexandria with his army in an attempt to trap Cleopatra and the Romans. Bayek and Aya helped Caesar to defend the city.^[9] Following the Romans' victory and Ptolemy's death, Cleopatra was crowned as the sole pharaoh of Egypt in Alexandria and, under the Ancients' influence, cut ties with Bayek and Aya, leading them to establish the Hidden Ones as a means to continue protecting Egypt and its people from the shadows.^[10]

In 46 BCE, the Order of the Ancients member and Gabiniani commander Lucius Septimius travelled to Alexandria with Alexander the Great's Staff of Eden after accompanying Flavius Metellus to Siwa. He was pursued by Aya but managed to set sail to Rome. In response, Aya decided to expand the Hidden Ones' influence to Rome, and recruited the senators Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus. Before her departure, Aya met with Bayek one last time on the beach near Alexandria, where they officially laid the foundations of their brotherhood's Creed.^[11]

In 30 BCE, the Roman army led by Octavian invaded Alexandria during the War of Actium.^[12] While her son Caesarion trained with a guard, a powerless Cleopatra watched as the Romans approached the palace.^[13] With Octavian's men closing in, Cleopatra and Caesarion were attacked while taking a walk outside, but the latter killed their assailant, as well as a guard who had betrayed them.^[14]

Shortly after, Aya, now known as Amunet, infiltrated the palace and confronted Cleopatra. She handed her former friend and pharaoh a vial of asp extract and urged her to take her life in order to spare the city further violence. Cleopatra complied but made a final request that Amunet take Caesarion to Rome and train him as a Hidden One. As Octavian's army reached the palace, Cleopatra consumed the poison while Amunet escaped with an unconscious Caesarion.^[15]

Later that year, the Egyptian Hidden Ones held their final synod in Alexandria, which was presided over by Amunet. During the synod, Amunet was asked several questions about the Creed and its ironies by an acolyte, prompting an open discussion in front of all assembled. After Amunet concluded the synod by declaring that the Hidden Ones were to formally retreat into the shadows to continue their mission, the acolyte was informed of Amunet's identity by a fellow Hidden One, Magas. The acolyte would later write a document about his encounter with the legendary Mentor, which became known as The Magas Codex.^[16]

Roman era[edit | edit source]

In 295 CE, the Roman Emperor Diocletian attacked the city, which fell after eight months of relentless assault.^[17]

In 357, Constantius II had an obelisk built by Thutmose III in Karnak pilfered and transported to Alexandria. After remaining there for 40 years, Emperor Theodosius I transferred it to Constantinople.^[18]

Islamic era[edit | edit source]

By 870, the Egyptian Hidden Ones were still active in Alexandria. That year, four Hidden Ones – Jessamyn, Kalim, Rashid, and Sihem – answered a call for help from Basim Ibn Ishaq, the leader of the Hidden Ones in Constantinople, who had discovered the Order of the Ancients to be operating in Antioch. The group left Alexandria to help Basim and his apprentice Hytham investigate the Order's activities, and returned to the city once their mission was complete.^[19]

During the 1240s, the widow of the Levantine Assassin Sef Ibn-La'Ahad moved to the city with their children, after having spent some time in exile in Alamut.^[20] In 1257, Sef's brother Darim moved to Alexandria to be with his family, after the Mongols started besieging the Assassins' fortress of Masyaf.^[21]

Years later, a descendant of Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad named Iskender became the Mentor of the Egyptian Assassins and was headquartered in Alexandria.^[22] The Byzantine Templar Odai Dunqas also relocated to the city sometime around 1505, after being driven away from his home by his family.^[23]

In 1511, during an excavation of the destroyed Library of Alexandria, the Mamluk Sultanate's soldiers discovered two Memory Seals in a chest from 331 BCE. The Italian Assassins' Mentor Ezio Auditore sent several apprentices from Constantinople to Alexandria to retrieve the artifacts.^[24] After the seals were recovered, Templar soldiers launched an offensive on the Assassin headquarters. The Assassins fought hard to protect the initiate decoding the seals.^[25] However, the Templars eventually managed to take the seals. A search party was sent out, authorized to use maximum force.^[26] Sometime later, Iskender was captured by Templars and scheduled for execution, though a team of Assassins sent by Ezio managed to save him.^[22]

Victorian era[edit | edit source]

In June 1852, the British Army deserter Simeon Price, then going by the alias "Jack Straw", spent a few weeks in Alexandria performing odd jobs, gathering enough money to sail to Athens, Greece. Having saved enough to travel, he instead made for Vienna, Austria on the instructions of the mysterious stranger who had previously saved him from drowning aboard the HMS Birkenhead.^[27] In 1882, an English fleet was sent to bomb Alexandria.^[28]

Locations[edit | edit source]

Military locations

Papyrus locations

Treasure locations

Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]

In Assassin's Creed: Origins, the rich district houses have wall paintings that are actually characteristic of Roman wall painting.^[29] The in-game patterns resemble the ones found on the terrace houses of ancient Ephesus. The city has Roman style raised stone pedestrian crosswalks.