It started as a dream. Alexander the Great, a famous explorer and conqueror at the time, had a dream that he should found a great city on the island of Pharos, calling the city Alexandria. Everyone has one of those dreams telling them to build a great city right? Yeah...no. However, Alexander did. He received help from Ptolomey I (pronounced tall-o-me) the pharaoh at that time. Ptolomey respected learning, so he decided that at this site, a research center would be built. (A research center? Sounds like a school! Why not a swimming pool, Ptolomey?) Anyway, as the city progressed, observatories, zoological gardens, coloumns, and places for medicine study were built. Zenodotus of Ephesus remained librarian from the year the library was bulit (290 BC) to 245 BC. The library remained until 48 BC. (Whoa...that's 242 years! That's older than our country!!)
I think it would be knida weird if I had a dream telling me to build a city. I didn't even know who Alexander the great was. An explorer you say he was? Now all he needs is a monkey and he'll be all set. (Dora the Explorer reference)
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