Context: The City of Alexandria

I'm so glad that I read Susan Wise Bauer's History of the Ancient World last year. That and ancient history studies with S. are standing me in good stead in terms of context for early church readings.

First early Christian we're profiling (and sampling writing from) is Clement of Alexandria.

A few notes on Alexandria here:

It was one of the most important cities in the ancient world.

It was founded around 331 BC by Alexander the Great.

Its Pharos lighthouse (destroyed a few hundred years ago) was one of the seven ancient wonders of the world.

It housed the world's oldest library (probably built during the Ptolemaic dynasty, sometime during the 3rd century BC)

That ancient library was destroyed by fire (scholars not entire sure how many fires or which one most responsible for its destruction...Bauer speculates in a footnote that it might have been during one of Julius Caesar's invasions...remember he went to Alexandria and ended up falling in love with Cleopatra there)

It was the capital of Egypt for almost a thousand years, till Muslim conquest in 641 AD

It was a particularly important center of Jewish learning. The Septuagint (Koine Greek version of the Hebrew Bible) was translated there sometime between 3rd-2nd century BC (by 132 BC)

It was also a highly important city and center of learning for early Christians, second only to Rome in authority (once the see of Rome was elevated, it was considered "second among equals")

It was also the location of the first catechetical school in the Christian church, probably founded around 190 AD (some traditions take it back even farther, to St. Mark, but most likely a later date)

Clement of Alexandria was probably the second head of the school, following its likely founder Pantaenus. Origen is another prominent church father associated with this school.