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During the Siege of Alexandria, Julius Ceasar and a few thousand troops were stuck in the royal quarter of Alexandria for several months, with a local army surrounding them.

Did the royal quarter have a massive stockpile of grain (enough to feed thousands of soldiers for several months), or did they somehow get supplies past the besieging army (perhaps through the port?)

Edit: Thanks, @Evargalo for the quote on the reinforcements from his Thirty-seventh legion. How did that shipment make it through the siege? Was there only one shipment, or several? If one, was that enough to last for all the months?

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    FWIW, the wiki page says: "Caesar's water supplies were contaminated, forcing him to dig wells. Reinforcements from his Thirty-seventh legion, a former Pompeian formation, also then arrived by sea bringing supplies and artillery.", citing "Goldsworthy, Adrian (2006). Caesar: Life of a Colossus. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-13919-8." as a source.
    – Evargalo
    Commented Oct 19, 2022 at 8:24
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    Note that the 37th legion delivery was made by sea, which means that the Roman fleet kept communications opened. Which is not a surprise since Caesar made a raid to the Alexandrian fleet and burnt it down (again, the wikipedia article in the link), and destroyed in a fight the survivors. So overall the answer is: sea power helped Caesar to handle the siege
    – totalMongot
    Commented Oct 19, 2022 at 10:57

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