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Learnt: there’s more than one Alexandria

I just learnt: there’s more than one Alexandria, as Alexander the Great would name the cities he conquered after himself. Plutarch claims seventy in total.

Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World by Irene Vallejo 📚:

There is no single Alexandria. A series of cities by that name traces the route of Alexander the Great from Turkey to the Indus River. Different languages have distorted the original sound, though sometimes the distant melody can still be discerned. Alexandretta, Iskenderun in Turkish. Alexandria Carmania, currently Kerman, in Iran. Alexandria Margiana, now Merv, in Turkmenistan. Alexandria Eschate, which could be translated as “Alexandria at the End of the Earth,” today Khujand in Tajikistan. Alexandria Bucephalos, the city founded in memory of the horse that accompanied Alexander from childhood, afterward called Jalalpur, in Pakistan. The war in Afghanistan has made us familiar with other ancient Alexandrias: Bagram, Herat, Kandahar.

Plutarch tells that Alexander founded seventy cities. He wanted to mark the fact that he had been there, the way children paint their names on walls or on the doors of public restrooms. (“I was here.” “I won a battle here.") The atlas of his campaigns forms an enormous wall where the conqueror left a record of himself again and again.


In 1700’s London, if you received charity from your local parish you were supposed to wear a badge on your right sleeve with the initial of the parish. This was bitterly resented, as you might expect. #DrJohnsonsLondon #BookNotes


In one of his sermons from the 900s, Ælfric of Eynsham warns against over-eating and excess drinking at Christmas. Nothing changes, does it? #BookNotes #WintersInTheWorld