Alexandria: Roman Theatre

Cleopatra's city. The Roman amphitheatre (Kom el-Dikka) is the only Roman theatre in Egypt. Nearby, the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa blend Egyptian and Roman styles. This was the intellectual capital of the ancient world.

What to do there

5 things to do

1. 1 Sit in the Marble Seats Where Alexandria's Senate Met Adventure · Price: moderate

   The only Roman theatre in all of Egypt — and the first row was carved from red Aswan granite so it would never break.

   This theatre was built between 193–235 CE and wasn't for plays — it was a bouleuterion, Alexandria's municipal council chamber. The city's senators sat in these 700–800 marble seats to debate. The first row is red Aswan granite, deliberately chosen because granite never chips. All the rest — 12 rows — are white and grey marble, many still bearing carved Roman numerals that assigned each seat to a specific senator. The theatre is located at Kom el-Dikka archaeological park, central Alexandria (walk in from Nabi Daniel Street, ticket ~200 EGP). Walk straight to the orchestra floor and look up at the 13 tiers of marble. Then find the red granite front row and run your hand along it. That's Aswan stone — the same quarry that supplied Pharaonic Egypt for 3,000 years.

   Backup: If the site is temporarily closed (rare but possible for events — this theatre still hosts live concerts), the Graeco-Roman Museum on Museum Street holds many finds from Kom el-Dikka and is 10 minutes by taxi.

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2. 2 Walk Into the Oldest University Ever Found on Earth History · Free

   In 2004, Polish archaeologists digging beneath a Cairo suburb found 20 lecture halls. They are the only remains of an ancient university discovered anywhere in the Mediterranean.

   These 20 rooms — discovered in 2004 by a Polish-Egyptian archaeological mission — were lecture halls where students studied from the 5th to 7th centuries AD. Each hall held 20–30 students on stone benches arranged in horseshoe shapes or along the walls. Total capacity: 500–600 students simultaneously. These are the ONLY physical remains of an ancient university found anywhere in the Mediterranean. The stone seats are still there. The rooms still smell of old rock. The auditoria cluster is inside the Kom el-Dikka park, beyond the theatre (included with your theatre entrance ticket). Follow the path past the bath complex ruins, pick one of the small stone-benched rooms, and sit on the stone bench. You're sitting where someone learned rhetoric 1,500 years ago.

   Backup: If the auditoria area is roped off for restoration work, the Villa of the Birds alone justifies entry — ask the site guard to point you to it directly.

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3. 3 Track Down the Wine Cleopatra Approved With Her Own Hand Wine · Price: low

   In 33 BC, Cleopatra signed a papyrus authorising 5,000 amphorae of wine from the island of Cos to enter Egypt tax-free. The papyrus survives. The word she wrote — γινέσθωι ('make it happen') — is the only verified example of her handwriting. This city ran on wine.

   Alexandria's signature wine was Maroitic — a white wine from vines grown along Lake Mareotis, just south of the city. Athenaeus, writing around 200 AD, described it as 'white, its quality excellent, and it is sweet and light with a fragrant bouquet; it is by no means astringent, nor does it affect the head.' Horace called it Cleopatra's favourite. The archaeological evidence for this wine's scale is staggering: amphora dump mounds near Lake Mareotis stand 10 METERS HIGH by 30 meters long. You can order wine anywhere on the Corniche or at restaurants near Kom el-Dikka. At the Hilton Alexandria Corniche (NEO bar/restaurant) or Four Seasons San Stefano (Byblos), order a glass of Egyptian wine and explain you're tracing Alexandria's wine history. For a local non-alcoholic version of the Marootic legacy, order fresh-squeezed grape juice at any juice stand on the Corniche.

   Backup: If alcohol isn't available where you're eating, Kadoura restaurant on the Corniche (open since 1950) serves exceptional fresh fish. Order it with the backstory: Cleopatra's kitchen was a half-mile from here.

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4. 4 Find the Only Surviving Fragment of the Greatest Library Ever Destroyed History · Price: low

   The Bibliotheca Alexandrina holds a fragment of the only surviving papyrus scroll from the original ancient library. The original held 400,000 scrolls. Everything else burned, rotted, or was politically defunded into oblivion.

   The 2002 library was built as a deliberate act of cultural grief and hope — a $220 million response to one of history's greatest losses. The building is a tilted discus emerging from the Mediterranean, its granite walls carved with 120 different alphabets and writing systems. Inside, the Manuscript Museum holds a copy of the only surviving papyrus scroll fragment from the original Library of Alexandria — everything else from its estimated 400,000 scrolls is gone. The library is located at Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Corniche El Nil, Shatby district (open Sunday–Thursday 10 AM–7 PM, Saturday 10 AM–2 PM, ticket ~70–80 EGP). Get tickets at the main entrance, head first to the Manuscript Museum for the ancient scroll fragment, then the Antiquities Museum for the underwater Alexandria finds from Cleopatra's sunken palace.

   Backup: The exterior of the building is free to walk around and the wall carvings are extraordinary — every alphabet humanity ever invented, carved in granite around the circumference.

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5. 5 Dive (or Look Out to Sea) Where Cleopatra's Palace Lies 5 Meters Down Adventure · Price: very high · Optional

   In 1996, Franck Goddio found Cleopatra's royal palace in the eastern harbour. It sank in 365 AD after an earthquake and tsunami. The marble floors, columns, sphinxes and a colossal head of her son Caesarion are still there — five meters below where you're standing.

   The palace was modest for its legendary occupant — 90 metres by 30 metres of marble flooring, built in the 3rd century BC for the Ptolemaic dynasty. Cleopatra grew up here. Julius Caesar visited. Mark Antony sailed into this harbour. It all ended in 365 AD when a massive earthquake near Crete generated a tsunami that swallowed the eastern harbour and pulled Antirhodos Island beneath the sea — along with the palace, temple complex, and 20,000+ objects. At 5 metres depth, certified divers can float over the actual marble palace floor. The ancient island of Antirhodos is now submerged approximately 6–8 metres offshore from the Corniche near Fort Qaitbay. Book in advance through ToursbyLocals.com ('Diving over The Cleopatra Palace') — certified dive operators run private half-day tours from approximately €60–100. If you're not certified, take the Corniche waterfront walk from Fort Qaitbay toward Silsila Point and look east across the harbour at dawn.

   Backup: Fort Qaitbay (60 EGP, open 9 AM–5 PM) is the non-diving alternative — standing on the ramparts and looking at the Eastern Harbour, you're looking at the exact spot where the lighthouse stood.

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