Alexandria

The Mediterranean port city founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC after his conquest of Egypt. It became the largest Greek city of the ancient world and a center of Jewish learning — home to roughly a third of its million-plus residents in NT times. The Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures used by NT authors) was produced here. Apollos, the eloquent teacher who later served the Corinthian church, came from Alexandria (Acts 18:24). Paul boarded an Alexandrian grain ship on his journey to Rome (Acts 27:6, 28:11). The city's great library and Pharos lighthouse were two of the seven wonders of the ancient world.