Alexandria: Of Pharaohs and Philosophers
If you are reading this, odds are you were bedeviled by those horrible deductions in the back of your high school geometry books. That’s the geometry introduced to the world by Euclid of Alexandria in his seminal work, The Elements, way back during the reign of Ptolemy I (323–283 BC).
With its famed Museum and Library, Alexandria was the centre of the world for learning and Euclid was just one of a host of distinguished alumni.
Ptolemy, with his Hellenic philosophical bent and Pharaonic aspirations, saw Alexandria as a nexus for commerce, knowledge and dynastic control. The city was a jewel in its conception, planning and construction. The lighthouse at Pharos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was just one of many architectural marvels. But it was the intellectual capital that made Alexandria so rich and its legacy so enduring.
The Library’s collection was vast, housing virtually all the written works of the age. Its only competition was the Library at Pergamum, said by Plutarch to house some 200,000 volumes. Until, that is, Mark Antony turned over the entire Pergamum collection to the Library at Alexandria as a wedding present to his beloved Cleopatra (last of the Ptolemys).
Among the early librarians was Apollonius, author of the poem Argonautica. That epic tells the story of Jason and the heroes who sailed on the Argo to capture the golden fleece from Colchis. Apollonius’ successor was a brilliant mathematician and scientist, Eratosthenes of Cyrene, credited with having calculated the Earth’s circumference. Eratosthenes was a close friend of Archimedes who came from Syracuse to Alexandria to study and was a frequent visitor of the Museum.
The first head of the Museum was Ctesibius of Alexandria. He wrote the first treatises on the science of compressed air and its uses in pumps, earning him the title of “The Father of Pneumatics.” His protégé, Hero of Alexandria, created the first steam engine, predating the industrial revolution by two millennia.
The Museum was also the centre of philosophical discourse. Platonists and neoplatonists, stoics and epicureans all passed through the hallowed halls. Neoplatonism was one of the most influential philosophies of late antiquity and Plotinus’ metaphysical writings in the Enneads inspired centuries of pagan, Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Gnostic and mystical thought.
The Septuagint, the first translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, was carried out in Alexandria in stages between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC by Jewish scholars, to whom Philo and Josephus ascribed divine inspiration.
Philo used allegory to fuse and harmonize Greek philosophy and Judaism. There are those who believe that his concept of the Logos as God’s “blueprint for the world” formed the basis of Christianity.
No Literarian post would be complete without at least a few quotes and Philo is good for it:
“Those who give hoping to be rewarded with honor are not giving; they are bargaining.”
“Grey hairs are signs of wisdom…if you hold your tongue.”
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.”
In short, Alexandria was the mainspring from which philosophical, mathematical, scientific, medical, cosmological and religious thought emanated for centuries. It was a coming together of genius, a place where ideas were exchanged and creative energy flowed freely.
In the end, Julius Caesar, possibly a tsunami, certainly the inevitable ravages of time, conspired to bring destruction to the Museum, the Library and much of the city itself. The record is not as certain as the result. The Library of Alexandria and all its invaluable contents are gone. The legacy, though, will last forever.
To learn more, get yourself a copy of The Rise and Fall of Alexandria, Birthplace of the Modern Mind. The authors, Justin Pollard and Howard Reid are noted producers of PBS documentaries. Their intellectual rigor, flare for the dramatic, and accessibility to all audiences are well-honed and shine through in this work.
