It was perhaps the most magnificent and biggest city they've encountered so far

Alexandria was founded by the Greek general Alexander the Great and is named after him

In Arabic it is called Al-Iskandariyah

Alexander meant for it to be a great center of Hellenistic culture

However Alexander left the city under the command of one of his generals soon after founding it. Then he went back on the warpath and never came back

At one point, it was the second most important city in the world after Rome; if Rome was like NYC then Alexandria was like London

Alexandria linked the Greek and Roman parts of Europe with and Arabia and Asia