Alexandria, the capital of Egypt during the Hellenistic and Roman
periods is often hailed as the ancient cosmopolitan center of Mediterranean par excellence.
Since the foundation of the city by Alexander the Great in 331 B.C., several traditions
– along with their representatives, mainly Greek and Egyptian – coexisted and interacted
with each other, resulting in the most advanced – by any definition – multicultural
society. Underground tombs, known also as Hypogea, constitute the most well preserved
archaeological discipline of material remains, which reflects such phenomenon. There are
several structures of extensive architecture and decoration, which can shed light on funerary
customs, religion, arts, and more importantly, the multicultural identity of their
«inhabitants», as developed during a period of more than six centuries. Within this context,
Greek-ness and Egypt-ness seem not represent absolute ethnic values, but rather
gradually become flexible characterizations dependent on the context in which coexist
and interact with each other.