March 3, 2010 General Meeting

Post date: Mar 12, 2010 8:04:30 PM

On March the third, the president of our chapter, Ms Katherine Graham, provided us with a presentation on the lost city of Alexandria. Alexandria is a city in Egypt on the shore of the Mediteranian Sea that has a long history. While not the first city to have existed there, it is the most famous and it is still called that today. So why is it the lost city? That is because much of the city that was so powerful in the times of the Greeks and Romans sank into the sea after a series of earthquakes and a tsunami. Alexandria got its name from its famous founder, Alexander the Great even though he did not servive long enough to see the wonder that was to become of Alexandria. Ms. Graham showed how rushed and important archaeology is needed in Alexandria today because of its massive boom in regrowth since the 1990s. She showed how there is much of the archaeological finds that are being threatened by the infastructure that is being built for this modern city. There are some bonuses in that the great palaces and the remains of the lighthouse on the island of Pharos (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world) is all underwater and is safer from the distruction of modernization. But not fully. There is still the potential of distruction but steps are being taken to preseve what they can including having the area name a UNESCO world heritage site.

Hopefully all who attended this lecture enjoyed the information that was presented by our chapter president and will continue to join us for future meetings.