Rhacotis
Ῥακῶτις | |
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City | |
Country | Egypt |
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r-ꜥ-qd(y)t (Alexandria)[1] in hieroglyphs | ||||
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Rhacotis (Egyptian: r-ꜥ-qd(y)t, Greek Ῥακῶτις; also romanized as Rhakotis) was the name for a city on the northern coast of Egypt at the site of Alexandria. Classical sources from the Greco-Roman era in both Ancient Greek and the Egyptian language suggest Rhacotis as an older name for Alexandria before the arrival of Alexander the Great.
Rhacotis was located west of the now-silted Canopic branch of the Nile. Unlike ports within the Nile Delta, it was reliably accessible to large ships, and enough water for a city could be supplied by a canal. It is also described as the home of sentinels who protected the Egyptian kingdom from outsiders.