At the conclusion of Alexandria Heritage Days A Ptolemaic Newsletter and the Sailors Band Plays Mediterranean Tunes

Photographer: Abdul Qader Hussein

Alexandria lies between two eternal summer clouds, as if it predates history itself. To belong to this city is a choice and an honor; and the passport to its dreamlike land is imagination. The memory of the city is inspiring, like a blue apparition that refreshes awareness and fills the soul with love and peace. Alexandria has often been featured in legendary writings, where it is identified as the Egyptian city "Thonis/Tanis," located on the Canopic branch of the Nile. Tanis disappeared around 800 BCE due to seismic activity and was rediscovered in 2000 by a French expedition led by Professor Franck Goddio and his research team. It was an important hub for cultural and trade exchange between ancient Egypt and the Mediterranean world. It was also known as the Greek "Heracleion," where ancient Greeks believed Hercules himself visited and built a temple for his followers. This very city served as a capital of leisure, filled with pagan temples and entertainment venues that attracted wealthy traders and brought joy to sailors, just as it was a capital of ancient Egyptian and Greek religions.

However, Tanis was not the only city at the present site of Alexandria. When Alexander arrived, he found sixteen thriving villages, the most famous of which was "Pharos," mentioned by Homer in his Iliad, a copy of which Alexander the Great carried wherever he went. Pharos was described as "a port where sailors could find refuge from storms and gather provisions," and its naturally fortified position was an attractive feature that led the astute Macedonian leader to establish his enduring capital for his vast empire.

Thus, around a thousand years before Christ, Alexandria emerged as human settlements, villages, and neighboring cities scattered like pearls along the eastern Mediterranean shore, west of modern Egypt’s Delta. Remarkably, from its earliest days, Alexandria's inhabitants were a mix of Egyptians, Greeks, Cretans, Syrians, as well as North Africans and people from across the ancient world. This made Alexandria inherently cosmopolitan from the very beginning. Newly discovered artifacts have left no doubt that the Ramesseum (or "the Ramesside") of the 19th dynasty collaborated with the Minoan civilization of Crete and other "Sea Peoples" to build several harbors along the Egyptian coast.

Among the large cities that Alexander the Great encountered were vibrant settlements that produced ships, fishing tools, baskets, ropes, and everything sailors and fishermen needed. They were abundant with vegetables, fruits, and grains, notably the Egyptian city "Ra-Kedet," meaning "protected by the god." This name reflects its position between two bodies of water—the Mediterranean to the north and the vast Lake Mariout to the south, which originally covered more than 165,000 acres and connected with several branches of the ancient Nile and the sea as well. The Egyptians, therefore, placed it "under the god's protection." The name evolved into "Rakotis" during the Ptolemaic era and "Raqoda" in Arabic.

This historical connection was revived as part of the fifteenth annual Alexandria Heritage Days, in the form of a "Ptolemaic Newsletter" imagined by a creative team led by film director and critic Islam Kamal, with implementation overseen by Alexandria intellectual Idris Hefny and a team of journalists, writers, researchers, and illustrators. Their work crowned the festival’s conclusion with an art exhibition of images and highlights of historical events featured in the imagined Ptolemaic-era magazine Rakotis. The festival closed with a musical performance by the "Sailors" band at the German Sailors' Club in Alexandria.

Rakotis Magazine staff

Starting with Sebastian:

The German Sailors' Club was founded in the early 20th century as a haven for German sailors passing through, as well as for the city’s German residents, in a location that continues to serve as a Mediterranean crossroads. Its current director, Sebastian Drabonski, a friendly and welcoming figure well-versed in the club’s history, shares with us: “The club was established in 1860 in the Al-Gomrok district near the commercial port by a group of German sailors. It served as a place for their accommodation and provided health and social services to them and to the German community residing in Alexandria at that time. Over the years, the club became a meeting point for numerous sailors, foreigners, and Egyptians, enriching the cultural and social exchanges among these diverse groups. About sixty years ago, the club moved to a historic villa in the Wabour El-Maya district in Moharram Bey, where it added new activities to its traditional ones, including hosting a variety of events and cultural activities related to city life and special German occasions.”

Islam Kamal as Art Director for Rakotis:

Islam Kamal, one of Alexandria’s prominent filmmakers, works as both a director and a critic and is also the head of the Jesuit Cultural Center's Film Club. Having founded Alexandria’s leading film studio years ago, Kamal has been active across numerous cultural ventures, overseeing and managing film-related events and workshops. Many regard him as a mentor in the art of cinema. Discussing this project, he says, “We had the concept for creating a narrative on Alexandria, from the descendants back to the ancestors, aimed at simplifying the city’s vast and rich history in a way that sparks curiosity in the current generation to seek out their roots. We thought about combining contemporary details with historical facts to engage a broader audience.”

He adds, “The starting point was to create a historical atlas framing the city’s founding, which would give us more room for knowledge that spans from ancient times to the present. Through the Alexandria Heritage Days project, organized by the Alexandria and Mediterranean Research Center for the fifteenth consecutive year, we were able to connect artists, writers, and researchers with archaeologists and architects. Together, we created a platform that allows us to share the city’s story with its residents, reminding everyone that Alexandria has been continuously active since its establishment.”

On Rakotis as a magazine, Kamal notes, “Rakotis is the product of brainstorming among the participants; it’s like a roadmap to envision daily life in the Ptolemaic city and convey its news using modern techniques. This magazine, whose first issue we are celebrating, is the result of coordination and collaboration among everyone involved.”

Generation Z and the City’s History:

Kamal continues, “We hope Rakotis will expand, and that each edition will reach a broader audience, especially the younger generation, or Generation Z, those born between 1998 and 2012. We designed the content and format of the publication to resonate with their preferences for uniqueness, modernity, and the intriguing aspects that draw them to historical figures. The magazine is characterized by a conceptual design that reminds readers that history is very much a part of our present experience.”

Impact Assessment:

When asked about the publication’s impact and how its effectiveness might be measured, Kamal responded, “The core of this experience is to observe how the general audience receives it. The team posed questions related to the magazine and the city’s history as a symbolic ‘test balloon’ or an informal survey, sketching broad outlines that connect Alexandria’s early ancestors with their present-day descendants.”

He added, “The Rakotis experience also serves as a gauge of responses from potential future partners regarding content creation, including illustrations, writing, support, and the provision of resources for printing and distribution. We are reaching out to grant-giving bodies to secure funding and workspace.”

Kamal continued, “We begin by noting the Alexandrian identity. Historically, there was something akin to Alexandrian citizenship—distinct from mere sentimentality, negative bias, or partisan attitudes. We aim to preserve and revive architectural aesthetics within homes, along with elements of taste and fashion, particularly because there exists a common ground that can foster a more refined dialogue about Alexandria’s uniqueness, which distinguishes it from other cities.”

Strength and Momentum:

Islam Kamal, with a calm yet determined gleam in his eyes, expanded on the project’s future plans: “Today, we have stronger momentum than before. We’ve established a precedent by assembling a team of writers and artists with a shared vision, a variety of ideas, events, and more widely accessible media. We might create a digital version of Rakotis in addition to the print edition, and we intend to go even further through exchanges with other cultural initiatives and institutions. We envision reintroducing historical frameworks into specific corners of the city, motivated by what I like to call the ‘visible and invisible.’ Our aim is to chart a new map of contemporary Alexandria, focusing on places that warrant attention, such as iconic streets like the Canopic Way—one of the oldest continuously used roads in the world—as well as Alexandria’s walls and the rich stories they tell. Even the islands and bays are themselves archaeological sites. In our time, locations like the Chamber of Commerce Street are filled with Mediterranean architectural designs that blend European creativity in a way that’s found nowhere else, likely because Alexandria, unlike capitals such as Athens and Paris, was not ravaged in World War II. Alexandria is thus well-suited to become an open-air Mediterranean museum—one we currently walk through without recognizing the grandeur and intricate fusion of its architectural styles.

A Commemorative Issue of a Ptolemaic Magazine:

Sometimes, unusual ideas shine with a certain brilliance, and this seems to be what sparked the creation of Rakotis’s inaugural issue. Film critic and translator Rola Adel explains: “Rakotis is a part of the ancient city itself. Our idea began with the notion of producing a commemorative issue of a magazine named after this historic district, marking the publication of its first issue as if it had been published thirty years prior. We imagined the presence of news publications during the Ptolemaic era. The magazine’s writers and artists envisioned themselves living in that time, taking verified historical accounts and news and reworking them into a contemporary journalistic style.”

Regarding her own contribution, she shares, “I wrote about the coronation of Ptolemy I, covering the ceremonies and customary rituals of the time.” She adds, “I also contributed another piece from the perspective of an Alexandrian citizen of Egyptian descent who aspired to join the Ptolemaic army, only to be disappointed by a royal decree that limited military service to Greeks alone. He wrote an anonymous letter of grievance, lamenting the decision, as he had dreamt from a young age of achieving the heroic feats recounted about the state’s warriors in their conquests.”

Artistic Challenges and Archaeological Visits:

Among the Rakotis team members, artist and art therapist Shorouk Raafat describes her involvement in the publication: “The experience was entirely new, as the magazine covers historical events as if we’re living them in the present. It’s an attempt to document something we neither saw nor directly experienced, which presented a unique challenge for both the form and the content.” She continues, “We visited the Graeco-Roman Museum to immerse ourselves in the past and refresh our understanding, allowing us to create something inspiring and distinct, drawing on the styles of statues, clothing, hairstyles, and predominant colors. We examined similarities and contrasts between that era and our own.”

With the enthusiasm of a true artist, she elaborates, “I placed myself in the imagined characters’ shoes. For example, I created advertisements for perfumes but in clay containers, giving a historical feel to the viewer—even though exquisite glassware was also crafted in that era.”

Fine artist Shorouk Raafat

Unique and Authentic Perspectives:

The blending of talents in Rakotis includes not only directors, intellectuals, translators, artists, and journalists, but also brings in figures like Menna Allah El-Mesherfy—a PhD holder in agricultural sciences and a researcher at the National Institute of Oceanography. Additionally, she is a storyteller and literary critic who contributes creatively to the project. Sharing her experience, she says, “I met Idris Hefny, the project’s executive director, through various cultural events. He invited me to write, so I expressed my vision in multiple styles, including storytelling. I chose to write about ‘Echo,’ the lover of the Greek god Zeus, who betrayed his wife Hera; Hera transformed the mistress into nothing more than an echo or ‘Echo’ herself.” She adds, “I crafted some advertisements, particularly promoting women’s perfumes, and chose to present them in small, spherical containers called aryballos, an ancient Greek vessel characterized by its rounded shape, narrow neck, and wide mouth. These vessels were commonly used in ancient Greece and other parts of the ancient world to store aromatic oils and cosmetics.” Menna Allah also wrote about the founding of the Library of Alexandria, which was originally called the Royal Library and even included a zoo for research purposes. She contributed a piece on fashion trends in the Ptolemaic era as well.

Naturally, the project generated more journalistic content and artwork than could fit into a single publication. This brings us back to Islam Kamal’s suggestion that Rakotis might benefit from additional issues or even an online platform.

The Turkish player Serap, and John Imad, the zither player

A Sailors’ Band at the German Sailors’ Club: Enjoy the song here

The Alexandria and Mediterranean Research Center, with its fifteen-season experience in working with Alexandrian heritage, creates unique networks to spotlight lesser-known individuals, events, innovations, and locations. To close out the activities, a relatively new musical ensemble, Bahara (Sailors), with less than a year’s history, was invited to perform. The band began during what was perhaps meant to be a passing visit by Turkish singer Serap Gigden Sahen, who shares: “I came from Izmir, a city very much like Alexandria, to learn Arabic and to hear Egyptian songs from the people here. I met two musician friends, and we decided to collaborate, singing Turkish and Egyptian folk songs with an eastern touch. Folk music has melodies that resonate similarly across regions. My visit extended beyond a year, during which we founded Bahara.”

Bishoy Youssef, a percussionist with experience in the Creativity Center Choir and the Library of Alexandria Choir, describes the band’s inception: “Serap performed two songs with us on her first visit, and then we decided to form Bahara, representing Mediterranean music from Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and other countries where similar or even identical instruments are used. Popular tunes in one country often find new life in another, with lyrics adapted to the local language.” Introducing the members, he says, “We have Moamen Zakaria on percussion, John Emad on the qanun, Andrew Nasser on violin, and Turkish musician and singer Murat Kucukarslan. One of our most popular songs is ‘Aziza,’ originally by the late Zakariya Al-Hijjawi, which we also perform in Turkish.”