Alexandria and the Sea II
Continuity and Change from Ptolemaic to Roman Alexandria
Alexandria and the Sea II:
Continuity and Change from Ptolemaic to Roman Alexandria
25th-27th September 2025
Day 0. Keynote lecture
Franck Goddio. The temple to Poseidon in the Portus Magnus of Alexandria
Day 1. Alexandria and its Portus Magnus
Session 1: From Ptolemaic to Roman Alexandria the redevelopment of the portscape
09:15 Opening remarks
09:30 Jean-Philippe Goiran — Geoarchaeological insights into the redevelopment of Alexandria’s ancient harbours
10:00 Isabelle Hairy — Linking Alexandria to the Nile: Geoarcheological investigations on the ancient Kibotos and its western canals
10:30 Susan Walker — From Royal Palace to Alexandria’s Palazzo Imperiale
11:00 Refreshments
11:30 Alexander Belov — Assemblage of the rigging material from the Roman shipwreck J2 from the Portus Magnus of Alexandria
12:00 Irene Soto Marin — Humanizing Alexandria’s Economy
Lunch
Session 2: Material culture and the developing Roman economy of Alexandria and the Portus Magnus
14:00 Grzegorz Majcherek — Alexandria and long-distance trade in the early Roman period: the ceramic evidence
14:30 Catherine Grataloup — The pottery from the Iseum
15:00 Sabine Laemmel — Lamps
15:30 Refreshments
16:00 Héloïse Aumaître and Thomas Faucher — Capital coins: Alexandria’s numismatic legacy from land to sea
16:30 Leonie Hoff, Tim Penn, Damian Robinson and Franck Goddio — Lead tokens from the Portus Magnus
Day 2. Social and Economic change in the hinterland of Alexandria
Session 3: Religious change around the Portus Magnus
09:30 Jean-Yves Carez-Maratray — The Sacred Island (temp. title)
10:00 Anne-Sophie von Bomhard — Alexandria and her two ports
10:30 Laurent Bricault — Isis and Faustina Phariae
11:00 Refreshments
11:30 Wahid Omran — Alexandria in Akhmim: The transmission of funerary art
12:00 Bob Bianchi — The death of Cleopatra VII: where?
12:30 Lunch
Session 4: Beyond Alexandria
14:00 Emad Khalil — Anchoring the past: maritime networks and ancient harbours on Egypt’s northwest coast
14:30 Rosanna Volpe — Navigation, Trade and Culture between Alexandria and Syracuse in the Ptolemaic Period
15:00 Refreshments
15:30 Gil Gambash & Emmanuel Nantet — Caesarea-Sebastos to Caesaria Maritima (developments compared to Alexandria)
16:00 Catherine Bouras — Rhodes (developments compared to Alexandria)
16:30 Closing remarks
The Portus Magnus of Alexandria witnessed profound changes following the incorporation of Egypt into the Roman Empire, from shifts in the use and identification of temples, palaces, and public buildings to the enlargement of the infrastructure of maritime trade. The Portus Magnus highlights the centrality of the economy to the life of the port and its city.
