Status Updates From الإسكندرية: تاريخ ودليل

DNF because I didn't need it, but it's a friendly guide to the ancient history of Alexandria and helped me when reading Cavafy.

In this mood they encountered Hypatia who was driving from a lecture (probably along the course of the present Rue Nebi Daniel), dragged her from the carriage to the Caesareum, and there tore her to pieces with tiles. She is not a great figure. But with her the Greece that is a spirit expired—the Greece that tried to discover truth and create beauty and that had created Alexandria.

In about A.D. 250 [Alexandria], with the rest of the Empire, reentered trouble. The human race, as if not designed to enjoy happiness, had slipped into a mood of envy and discontent.

...out of the wreck of traditional hopes three good things remained—namely the decorative surface of the universe, the delights of study, and the delights of love, and that of these three the best was love.

Reading this as a companion to Cavafy. What an odd little book.