In the game Civilisation VI, Ra-kedet (Rhacotis in Greek) is said to be the name of Alexandria before Alexander's conquest of Egypt and is the capital of the Egyptian 'civ'. Yet upon further search I could only find a reference to such a place in the highly fictitious Alexander Romance (I.31 of the Greek and Armenian version). Arrian does not mention it in his account of the foundation of Alexandria (III.1) nor does Curtius (IV.8).
I got linked a Wikipedia page that has no particularly useful citations and there are scattered references to the place among other articles but only one suggest a historical source, the Alexander Romance.
I was wondering if any of the people of AH who know the sources better could help me out here.
Thank you! :)
I haven't played Civ VI (yet), but if the game really calls the city "Ra-Kemet" - well, then that's just plain wrong. Rhakotis is Greek for Ancient Egyptian rA-a-qdy.t, which in Demotic deteriorated to ra-qd, so, transliterated, it should be something like Ra-Qed or Ra-Qedet.
Rhakotis was the name of the Egyptian quarter of Alexandria that once included the great Serapeion, dedicated to the Hellenistic god Serapis. As the name for the Egyptian quarter it was used by the Egyptians as the name for Alexandria - even in Christian times the Copts didn't call the city "Alexandria" but instead "Rakote" or "Rakoti" (the Coptic form of ra-qd/Rhakotis).
As you said it's generally believed that Rhakotis as an independent settlement existed before the founding of Hellenistic Alexandria and that its Egyptian name lingered on for the Egyptian quarter of Alexandria. This isn't all that unheard of, because the same is said for Ptolemais Hermeiou. Ptolemais Hermeiou is another Hellenistic founding, not by Alexander but by Ptolemy I., in Upper Egypt. Its Egyptian name was pr-swy (Demotic pA-sj, Coptic Psoi) and in the new Hellenistic city that replaced the older Egyptian settlement, it was still used as the name for the Egyptian quarter and as the general city name in Egyptian sources.
As for sources, Strabo mentions Rhakotis as the origin of Alexandria in his "Geographica".
Now the earlier kings of the Egyptians, being content with what they had and not wanting foreign imports at all, and being prejudiced against all who sailed the seas, and particularly against the Greeks (for owing to scarcity of land of their own the Greeks were ravagers and coveters of that of others), set a guard over this region and ordered it to keep away any who should approach; and they gave them as a place of abode Rhacotis, as it is called, which is now that part of the city of the Alexandrians which lies above the ship-houses, but was at that time a village; and they gave over the parts round about the village to herdsmen, who likewise were able to prevent the approach of outsiders.
Strabo, Geographica, 17.1.6.
Now Strabo writes centuries after the founding of Alexandria and his account of the "earlier kings of the Egyptians" may be doubted, but we have genuine Egyptian sources, too, namely a stela from Ptolemy I. - the so-called "Satrap Stela", dating to 311 BC.
He (Ptolemy I.) brought back the images of the gods found in Asia; all the furniture and the books of all the temples of North and South Egypt, he had them restored to their place. He had made his residence the fortress of King Alexander, chosen of the Sun, the son of the Sun: Alexandria it is called, on the shore of the Great Sea of the Ionians (that is the Mediterranean), Rhakotis was its former name.