LiTERATrRB.— Art. 'Alexandria' in HDB, SDB, EBi, and in Pauly-Wissowa ; H. Kiepert, Zur Topog. des alten Alex- andria, Berlin, 1872; J. P. Mahafify, AUxandefs Empire, London, ISSS, and The Silver Age of the Greek World, do. 1006 ; T. Mommsen, Prov. of Rom. Emp.^, 2 vols., do. 1909 ; J. Drummond, Philo-Judceus, 2 vols., do. 1S88 ; cf. also W. M. Ramsay's art. 'Roads and Travel (in XT)' in HDB, \. 375ff. jAilES STRAHAN.
ALEXANDRIANS. — Among the active opponents of St. Stephen were ' certain of them that were of the synagogue called the synagogue ... of the Alexandrians ' (' AXe^avdpiuv, Ac 6^).
Grammatically the sentence is not in good form, and admits of a variety of interpretations. Some exearetes (Calvin, Bengel, O. Holtzmann, Rendall) assume that the Libertines, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, Cilicians, and Asiatics residing in Jerusalem all worshipped in one sj-nagoane. Others (Wendt, Zockler, Sanday, Knowhng, Winer-Moulton) think that the first three classes of Jews had one synagogue and the last two another — an idea favoured by the tuc . . . tuiv after rives. T. E. Page groups the Libertines in one place of worship, the men of Alexandria and Cyrene in a second, and those of Cilicia and Asia in a third. Hnally, some scholars (Schiirer, Meyer, Weiss, Hackett) be- lieve that each of the five classes had its own distinctive syna- gogue in the holy city. A sj-nagogue of the Alexandrians in Jerusalem is mentioned in Jems. Me.gilla, 73d, where it is also said that there were in all no fewer than 425 synagogues in the VOL. I. — 4
city— a statement which Schiirer {HJP ii. ii. 73) dismisses as an insipid Talniudic legend, but which Renan (The Apostles, Eng. tr., 113) is disposed to accept as 'by no means improbable.'
The Jews of Alexandria {q.v.) were in a very ditterent position from the people of any modern Ghetto. They were amongst the most opulent and influential citizens. They formed a distinct muni- cipal community, and possessed extensive political privileges. At the foundation of the city Alexander gave them equal rights with the Greeks (e'5w/ce to fj.€TotKeiv Kara ttjv ttoXlv e| laoTifxlas wpbs "'E\\7}va's), and the Diadochoi permitted them to style themselves Macedonians (Jos. BJ II. xviii. 7). Of the five quarters (iioipai.) of the city, named after the first five letters of the alphabet, two were called 'Jewish' (lovoaiKal Xiyoi'Tai [Philo, in Flac. §8]). While one quarter, known as Delta, was entirely peopled by Jews [BJ ii. xviii. 8), many more of the race were scattered over all the other parts (^j* raZs dWais ovK 6\lyoi (nropddes [Philo, loc. cit.}}, and none of them were without their house of prayer (Philo, Leg. ad Gaitcm, § 20). The special Eegio Judceorum lay in the N.E. of the city, beyond the promontory of Lochias, in the neighbourhood of the royal palace. Till the time of Augustus the Jews were presided over by an ethnarch, who, according to Strabo (quoted by Josephus, Ant. XIV. vii. 2), ' governs the people and administers justice among them, and sees that they fulfil their obligations and obey orders, just like the archon of an independent city.' Augustus instituted a council or senate {yepovala), which was entrusted with the management of Jewish aflairs, and over which a certain number of dpxovTes presided. The reign of Caligula was marked by the first rude interruption of the policy of toleration. The governor Flaccus issued an edict in which he termed the Jews of Alexandria ' strangers,' thus depriving them of the rights of citizenship which they had enjoyed for centuries. He ordered 38 archons to be scourged in the theatre, and turned the Jewish quarters into scenes of daily carnage (Philo, in Flac. §§ 6-10). But one of the first acts of Claudius was to re-afSrm the earlier edicts, and Josephus states that in his owTQ day (c. A.D. 90) one could still see standing in Alexandria 'the pillar containing the privileges which the great Csesar (Julius) bestowed upon the Jews ' {ttjv cTT-ljkriv . . . TO. 8iKaLiifj.aTa irepiixovaav & 'Kalaap 6 fidya^ Toh 'louSat'ots ^dwKev [c. Apio7i. ii. 4 ; cf. Ant. xrv. X. 1]). Some Alexandrian Jews held responsible positions as ministers of the Ptolemys, and others were in the service of the Roman Emperors (c. Apion. ii. 5). PhUo's brother Alex- ander and others filled the oflBce of ' alabarch' (see Schurer, HJP ll. ii. 280).
For a time the 'Alexandrians' were doubtless bilingual, but ultimately thej^ forgot their Hebrew or Aramaic, and adopted Greek as the language of the home and the synagogue as well as of the market. Living in a gieat university town, many of them became highly educated ; the school of Philo in particular assimilated many elements of Greek philosophy ; and the Judaism of Egypt was gradually difl'erentiated from that of Palestine. Even before becoming a Christian, the Alexandrian Apollos had doubtless a breadth of sympathy, as well as a richness of culture, which could not have been attained among the Rabbis of Jerusalem. Yet in the great mass of the 'Alexandrians,' as throughout the Dispersion generally, the Jewish element predominated, and it need occasion no surprise that those of them who chose to reside in the Holy City were as zealous for the Mosaic traditions, and as strenuously opposed to innova- tions, as any Hebrew of the Hebrews.