ABSTRACT
Alexandria ad Ægyptum, as it was known by the Romans, is situated in the north-west corner of the Nile Delta, bordering the desert. Inhabited over the centuries by nomadic tribes, the entire region is a zone of transition, where routes from the Nile and Sahara oases meet the Maghreb-Syria route, dissecting others linking Europe with the Red Sea and on to Arabia, India, and the Far East.
