ancient city of Alexandria

Join us on a Quest for ancient Alexandria

For seven hundred years the greatest center of learning and culture in the ancient world. The city was a brilliant crucible in which the civilizations of ancient Greece and Egypt intermingled and absorbed streams of wisdom from throughout the known world. Its legendary Library and Museum made it possible for many of history’s greatest philosophers, scholars, and scientists to flourish and for the city to become the cradle of Hermeticism, Gnosticism and Neoplatonism. Alexandria is a city filled with compelling personalities, from its founder, Alexander the Great, to Cleopatra, the last of the Ptolemaic Pharaohs. Its long list of influential thinkers includes the great Jewish philosopher Philo, the Gnostic Christian Clement, the Neo-Platonist Ammonius Saccas and Plotinus, and finally the noble and tragic Hypatia, last of the pagan lovers of wisdom.

The allure and fascination of Alexandria charmed countless generations of philosophers and writers drawn through the centuries to this supreme meeting place of ideas and peoples. Alexandria was the archetypal cosmopolis and it was here that philosophers gave shape to a more brilliant and complete understanding of the world, filled with both science and mystery, to which we today are all indebted.

Our goal will be to bring vividly to life the profound and beautiful ancient worldview that emerged in antiquity’s most influential center of culture and esoteric wisdom, the authentic birthplace of the Western mind.

The conference also includes expeditions to sacred sites in and around Alexandria and evenings featuring music and poetry of the city. We meet each day along the Corniche at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the contemporary successor to the ancient library, close to the site of its illustrious predecessor and the perfect starting point from which to contemplate the genius and enduring influence