Alexandria in the Red Moon Colours

Volatile and unpredictable, the Moon had risen over the nocturnal firmament of Alexandria before the eclipse started.

After midnight, the few wanderers in the Corniche had the opportunity to contemplate the variations of the Alexandrian Red Moon. It was a pilgrimage to all the red moons the Cosmopolitan City had encounterd in its millennia long past.

The Red Moon has barely a warlike aspect in this city - cosmos that seldom felt the need for defensive walls. There were certainly fortresses and acropoles, but they mostly concerned the rulers, not the multitude of the inhabitants.

Red in Alexandria is not a Martial threat, but an Imperial scenery.

Red is certainly the colour that fits best Alexandria; you may think that blue is its main competitor, but this thought is the result of false readings and superficial considerations. It is true that with so long coastal line, from Abuqir in the east to Agami and beyond in the west, the oblong city offers inhabitants and travelers the possibility of urban life alongside no less than 60 km of coasts!
Some may hastily assume the Mediterranean sea attributes its blue colour to the city, and that blue is Alexandria's sublime colour.

One should first remind them that Alexandria is not ... the Mediterranean sea, but a city - cosmos on the Mediterranean shore. It has its own identity, and although inextricably connected with the sea, Alexandria hinges on a lake, Mareotis, and expands over plains until the edge of the desert. In the Antiquity, Alexandria had also its fluvial dimension, as in its western confines was situated the Nile's fourth estuary. That is why when exploring the archeological area of Amud el Sawari, you have to visit the Nilometer as well!

Furthermore, the Mediterranean Sea is not .........blue! If you did not know this, that's too bad! Pondering on the Mediterranean sea's colour, I would rather suggest you to accept that it is green. You may finally agree with this statement of mine, if you seek originality in your inquiry, you will be right. If not, forget the blue colour again!

If you stick to more recent periods of cultural and artistic appreciations of the Mediterranean and its colour, I hope that you will be finally able to envision this sea as White! You will be right again!

Just forget blue! Time to explain!

The 'Upper Sea' of the Assyrians and the Babylonians (compared to the 'Lower Sea' - what we call 'Persian Gulf') was the immense Wadj Wr of the Ancient Egyptians. The two words by which for more than three (3) millennia the subjects of the Pharaohs called the Mediterranean sea stand for 'Great Green'; they saw the sea as green indeed, and they were right.

Suffice it that you observe the sea colour nearby the coast, you will admit that its colour oscillates from turqoise to green. Only when you see faraway in the open sea, you think that its colour is dark blue. The Egyptians did not fall in the trap; if you sail, you still realize that around your boat the prevailing sea colour variations are green. In addition, for the Ancient Egyptians, 'blue' was truly the light blue colour of the sky, whereas the very dark blue was a variation of the Sublime Green.

End the Green ideology; enter the White theory!

Quite reasonably too! Stand on the Corniche at 3:00 p.m. Select a place you like: the Rushdi bridge, the cemented coast at Camp Caesar (pronounced in Arabic as Kamp Shezaar), the Abu Heif beach (that offers a wonderful view over Anfushi and Qaytbey) or the Asafra and Mandara beaches (nearby Montaza), and turn to the west; watch out, take a breath, and tell me what is the prevailing colour of the mixed celectial - maritime scenery.

You will agree that you do see great white waves break over the coast, and at times leave the passing Alexandrians wet through! You will admit that the wind takes the multitude of the waves' drops and tranfers them as far as the other side of the Corniche.

A kind of whitish fog comes therefore into existence, it moves continually caressing the Corniche buildings, and it is through this fog that you can see far, under the Alexandrian Sun, Manshiya, Anfushi, the minarets of Abu 'l Abbas, and the Qaytbey castle.

At these grandiose moments of contemplative mirage, when you clean yourself from earlier sins, persistent thoughts, and repentful memories, lacing yourself with the whitish sea wind, the Sun takes platinum colour, and its reflexions on the sea bring forth a vast silver coloured surface. The western part of the sky vault takes also a good dose of whitish aspects. For a fleeing moment, the green colour of the vicinity is forgotten, the light blue colour of other celestial parts goes into oblivion, and the Mediterranean becomes Bahr al Abiad in Arabic, and Akdeniz in Turkish, theWhite Sea.

Accordingly, Alexandria is for the modern Egyptians Arost al Bahr al Abiad, the nymph of the White Sea!

Beyond Green and White, Alexandria has always been imperially vested in red.

What colour did the courtiers choose for the curtains of Ptolemaic anaktora (palace)? Certainly red! What colour comes to your mind when you visit Amud el Sawari, the remains of a temple built at the times of Diocletian? You see the temple's great pillar, mistakenly thought to be related with Pompey, you admire the enigmatic Sphinx, and you see all in a red coloured background.

And the Oracle at taria el Horreya (Horreya, 'Liberty', road) reminds us the red colour of the local prophetesses' ceremonial dress.

This is the most nice boulevard of Alexandria! Let a taxi drop you in front of Gamal Abd el Nasser hospital that was built by the Greek community two decades before Naguib and Nasser rose to power. You are at the heights of el Horreya road, that is also called sharaa (street) Abuqir (as it leads to the eatsernmost suburb of Alexandria), and you can admire the majestic buildings of the Alexandria university, built of course before Naguib and Nasser rose to power. On both sides of the road, gardens and trees reconstitute a reminiscence of the Ptolemaic Alexandria; enjoy it walking down until the Police station of the Eastern Gate, Shorta Bab el Sharq, and then enter the splendid Shelalat ('cataracts') gardens. You will be walking around the remains of the Ottoman fortress, finding yourself in the most classy and 19th century bourgeois district of Alexandria. Take Champollion street to reach back to the Corniche. You will feel as surrounded by imperial porphyra - purple colour dress!

There are plenty of architectural marvels of the 19th century, and you must hurry to see them and enjoy the decorative details as skillfully executed on walls and balconies of private houses. When you see buildings without decorative details, you are sure you raech 1940 - 1950! A simple way to admire many private houses with extravagant decorative motives is to take the tramway from Mahatat Raml (Station) until Sidi Gaber in two directions. Crossing Ibrahimiya and Shatby, you will be delighted by the beauty of the at times monumental buildings. Among them you will notice the Greek Consulate, and the adjacent schools, buildings of the Alexandria University, and a multitude of private houses. The tombs of Shatby will be within reach, and in your way back to Raml, you will notice Gamaa (Mosque) Ibrahim on your right and the Nadi Zubat (Military Club) with its wooden framed windows on your left.

Red will be the colour of your feelings, as you will be walking the passionate, affectionate, overwhelming Corniche, and you will notice that the colour is shared by young Alexandrians flirting each other in this erotic coast. Walking past the modern library, you will notice a small cafeteria - pizza on the shore; you can spend much time there, either in the morning, admiring the Corniche until Sidi Beshr, or in the evening, enjoying music, little lights, water pipe (called shisha in Egypt), some snack food, and the interminable sea breeze. The coastal line sparkles thousands of lights, and you will discover al Hob, 'Love', as shared through the glances of young couples in the vicinity. Other groups talk politics, whereas some come to discuss business.

Red is the colour you will enjoy in Athineos, the classy restaurant of the bourgeois Alexandrians of the 30s and the 40s. Superb relief decoration in the walls allows you to make a time journey at the times of Cavafy, while keeping a close eye on the Corniche.

The Greek restaurant (it means 'the Athenian') features mariage parties that offer a fleeing spectacle to the Western intruder, and in the afternoon it becomes the focal point of tourist groups serviced by Nasco tours, an Egyptian company belonging to Greek Alexandrians. So, the best time to come is late in the evening. As Athineos is just next to Kallithea, you are offered two Greek choices of entertainment, the ritzy and the profane. All in red!

Red is by definition the colour of Alexandria - Capital of the Ptolemies, after the capital transfer from Memphis to the city of Alexander; and it is only normal. As Egypt was in the Antiquity the federation of Lower and Upper Egypt, the Egyptian flag had the respective colours, red and white! Extending allover Delta and up to the Fayum region in the south of today's Cairo, Lower Egypt was identified with the red colour that was also that of the Lower Egyptian Crown. Lower (Northern) Egypt encompassed Alexandria, whereby the Pharaoh wore regularly the Desheret, the Red Crown.

Only on rare occasions, a Prolemy or Cleopatra XII would wear the two crowns in Alexandria, and of course never the White Crown alone. When wearing the two crowns, a Pharaoh would wear the Red Crown first, as it was larger and lower, and then the higher white Upper Egyptian crown within the read. The Red Crown had a distinctive high crest at its back, and a long rigid line that angled towards the front, at times curled at its end. Open in the middle, it looked rather like a diadem on the middle of which the high White Crown was to be placed.

I looked at the Red Alexandrian Moon around midnight; it gave me a reflexion of all the loves shared in Alexandria, the seal of all the imperial decisions taken here, the ultimate secret ciphered within the Holy Book of the Hermetic Gnosticists which was written by God Himself, Poimandres.

It was a sign that the flames of love are never extinguished. Even at the brink of abyss, humans can remember with some nostalgia that red does not mean fight, but love!

And what greater fight exists in our world, except Love?