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Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: the Library and Museum

at Alexandria
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Erskine, A 1995, 'Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: the Library and Museum at Alexandria' Greece and
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Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: The Museum and Library of Alexandria
Author(s): Andrew Erskine
Source: Greece & Rome, Second Series, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Apr., 1995), pp. 38-48
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Greece& Rome,Vol.xlii, No. 1, April1995
CULTURE AND POWER IN PTOLEMAIC EGYPT:

THE MUSEUM AND LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA
By
ANDREW
ERSKINE
Withinthe palacecomplexin Alexandria,the city foundedby Alexanderin

Egypt,a communityof scholarswas establishedin whatwas knownas the
Museum(or Mouseion);linkedto this was a library,the GreatLibraryof
Alexandria.
Thesetwo institutionsareoftencelebratedfor theirrolein the
of
history scholarship,but they were also the productsof the Hellenistic
age and of the competitionwhich arose between the successorsof
Alexander.In manyways these two institutionsencapsulatethe ideology
andpolicyof the earlyPtolemies.It is the purposeof thispaperto explore
this aspectandset themin a widercontext.
In spiteof the famousintellectualswhoworkedin Alexandria,mensuch
as Euclid,Callimachus,and Eratosthenes,the evidencefor the Museum
andLibraryis verypoor.It is not evencertainwhetherthey werefounded
by PtolemyI or II, althoughit is mostlikelythattheywereset up underthe
firstPtolemyanddevelopedunderthe second.'Butpaucityof evidencehas
not preventeddebate.2My concernhere is not with the form of these
institutions,but ratherwith the fact of their existenceat all. It is useful,
however,to beginby presentingan outlineof eachinstitution.
The Museumwas a communityof scholarswhich was both academic
andreligious.It was religiousin so far as it was centredon a shrineof the
Muses,the Greek deitiesof artisticand intellectualpursuits,hence the
name,the Museum.These scholarswere engagedin the studyof science
(for instance,medicine,mathematics,astronomy)and in the study of
literature(editing the major Greek texts such as Homer).As well as
studyingtheyseemalsoto haveactedas teachers.The numberof members
is unknown,as are most of their names.They all appearto have been
supportedby the kingswho providedthemwith pay and meals.3This did
writerof polemical
not pleaseeveryone- Timonof Phlius,a contemporary
verse,attackedthe Museumin the followinglines:4
In the populous land of Egypt there is a crowd of bookish scribblerswho get fed as they
argue away interminablyin the chicken coop of the Muses.
A less prejudicedview of the Museum is found in the geographer Strabo's

description of the city of Alexandria.Although brief and written almost

CULTURE AND POWER IN PTOLEMAICEGYPT
39
300 yearsafterthe establishmentof the Museum,this is still our earliest

informativeaccount:
The city has extremelybeautifulpublicprecinctsandalsothe royalpalaces,whichcovera
fourthor even a thirdof the wholecity area.For just as each of the kings,fromlove of
splendour,wouldaddsomeornamentto the publicmonuments,so at his own expensehe
wouldprovidehimselfwith a residencein additionto the existingones,so thatnow in the
wordsof the poet 'thereis buildinguponbuilding'.But all arelinkedwith eachotherand
with the harbour,even thosewhichlie outsideit. The Museumis also partof the palace
complex;it has a coveredwalkway,a hallwith seats(exedra)and a largehouse,in which
thereis a commondininghall for the learnedmenwho sharethe Museum.This groupof
men have communalpossessionsand a priestin chargeof the Museum,who used to be
appointed by the kings but is now appointed by Caesar.5
Strabodoesnot mentionthe Libraryin his discussionof Alexandriaand

ourknowledgeof the buildingis negligible.Wasit partof the Museumor a
separatebuilding?Nor is muchknownof the organizationof the Library.
Therewas alwaysa librarianin charge,presumablyappointedby the king,
sincethe librarianoftenactedas tutorto the royalfamily.A papyrusfound
at Oxyrhynchusprovidesthe namesof most of the librariansof the third
and secondcenturiesB.C.6It is clearfrom our evidence,scrappyas it is,
that the Ptolemiesmadea determinedeffortto obtainas manybooksas
possiblefor theirlibrary.Buyingup booksin the bookmarketsof Athens
and Rhodeswas one way of increasingthe collection,7but the Ptolemies
also turnedto moreextrememethods.Accordingto Galenallbooksfound
on boardships that dockedin Alexandriawere seized,taken away,and
copied.Thenthe copies,not the originals,werereturnedto the owners.The
booksacquiredin this way weremarked'fromthe ships'.The Athenians,
perhaps,shouldhaveknownbetterthanto lendone of the Ptolemiestheir
preciousofficial edition of the tragediesof Sophocles,Aeschylus,and
Euripides,even if he did give them 15 talentsas a security.The kingkept
the originalsandreturnedthe copieswith the smallconsolationthat they
wereproducedon the very best papyrusavailable.8
Whateverthe truthof
these storiesthe view prevailedthat the Library'sappetitefor bookswas
voracious.Some even suggestedthat the Ptolemieswished to acquire
copiesof all bookseverwritten,thoughtranslatedinto Greekfirst.9
Whenmodernscholarsseek to explainthe foundationof the Museum
andLibrarythey oftenlook to Aristotle.Thereareseveralreasonsfor this.
First, there is the explicittestimonyof Strabo,who says that Aristotle
taughtthe kingsof Egypthowto organizetheirlibrary.Clearlythiscannot
be literallytrue;Aristotlewas deadby the timePtolemygainedcontrolof
Egypt. It is most likely that Strabo means that the organization of material

40
CULTURE AND POWER IN PTOLEMAIC EGYPT
in the Librarywasmodelledon Aristotle'sownprivatelibrary.'~Secondly,

to establisha groupof scholarsas a Museum,in otherwordsfocusedround
a shrineof the Muses,mightseemoddin itself,butit couldbe explainedif
it weremodelledon Aristotle'sownschoolin Athens,whichwas organized
as a Museum.Aristotle'sschool,the Lyceum,had a shrineof the Muses,a
library,and a stress on community."There certainlyare connections
betweenthe early Ptolemiesand Aristotle'ssuccessorsin what became
knownas the PeripateticSchool.The firstPtolemyhad a Peripateticas a
tutor for his son and this tutor Stratowent on to becomehead of the
Peripatetic School in Athens.'2 But a more important Peripatetic
connectionis believedto have beenDemetriusof Phalerum,who in addition to beinga Peripateticphilosopherwas alsotyrantof Athens.Afterhis
overthrowin 307 the failedtyrantfled to Cassanderand aboutten years
laterarrivedin Alexandriawherehe was shelteredby Ptolemy.'3At least
one sourcesuggeststhat he was in chargeof Ptolemy'sbook-buyingprogramme.'4As a resultit is Demetriuswho is thoughtto providethe link
betweenAristotle'sschool and the Museumand Libraryof Alexandria.
Essentiallythis view holds that the Museumand Librarywere set up
becauseDemetriusof Phalerumwent to Alexandriaand suggestedit to
Ptolemy,who was sufficientlyimpressedto put it into action.But this
Aristotelianlink only providesa partialexplanation.Ptolemy need not
have acceptedDemetrius'suggestion.
Furtherexplanationis found in the traditionalmonarchicpracticeof
patronizingintellectualsandcreativeartists.Pindarhadbeen at the court
of Hieron in Sicily, Euripidesat the court of the Macedonianking
Archelaus,and Plato had visitedthe Syracusantyrants.15But Ptolemyis
providingsomethingdifferent:it is an institutionfor intellectuals.It is the
sponsorship of scholarly activity rather than the sponsorship of
individualsand consequentlythere is less emphasison creativeartists,
such as playwrightsand poets who might be expected to glorify the
monarchin theirverses.16Whatthe Ptolemiesare doingis on a far larger
scale than anything done before - it is institutionalpatronagethat
continuesfrom generationto generation.They providenot only money
but the necessaryfacilities,includinga library.Yet, the Librarybecomes
an end in itself- the objectis to collectas manybooksas possible.Some
sources report that the Librarycontainedas many as half a million
scrolls."Such a library,whichwas in effect a state library,dwarfedthe
smallprivatelibrariesof the past.
AlthoughAristotelianinfluenceand traditionalmonarchicpatronage
of the MuseumandLibrary,theyfail to
arerelevantto ourunderstanding

41
accountfor the attractionof theseinstitutionsto the Ptolemies.Whatthey

offerinsteadareprecedentsor at leastapproximate
precedents.In orderto
explainwhy the Museumand Librarywere able to developinto such an
importantpair of institutions,it is necessaryto interpretthem in the
contextof the Hellenisticworldandin particularin the contextof the new
kingdomof the Ptolemies,its ideology,andits needs.
On the deathof AlexanderPtolemyhad seizedpowerin Egypt.Lacking
anybasisfor his ruleapartfromforcehe soughtto providehimselfwitha
traditionby placinggreatemphasison his ownlinkswithAlexander.In this
in the eyes of
wayhe attemptedto legitimizehis ownposition,particularly
the Greeks.InvokingAlexander'sname could also reflectaspirationsof
greaterconquests.The focuswas on Alexanderfromthe verybeginningof
Ptolemy'sreign,whenPtolemydramaticallykidnappedAlexander'sbody
and broughtit to Egypt. The body was first taken to Memphis,the
traditionalcapital of Egypt. But when Ptolemy moved the capital to
Alexandria,the bodywenttoo.Therein Alexandriait wasputin a goldsarcophagus,whichwas later replacedwith a glass one. The Mausoleumin
whichthe body lay was locatedwithinthe palacecomplex,thus making
clearthe associationbetweenAlexanderandPtolemy.The bodyremained
thereat leastuntilthe time of Octavian'svisitto Alexandria.'8
Ptolemy's guardianshipof Alexander'sbody marked him out as
Alexander'sheir andmadehim special.This associationwas reinforcedin
otherways,for instanceby movingthe courtto Alexandria,a city named
afterAlexanderandfoundedby him.Alexanderalsobecameincorporated
into the religiousframeworkof the Greeksof Egypt- a cult of Alexander
was set up, whicheventuallybecamea dynasticcult,19thus firmlylinking
the Ptolemaicdynastywith Alexander.Furtherpublicitywas given to
Ptolemy'srelationshipwith Alexanderby the publicationof Ptolemy's
memoirs,whichnot surprisinglyhighlightedhis own role in Alexander's
campaigns.20It was also suggestedthat if the Ptolemaicfamilytree was
tracedbackto about500 B.C.,it wouldlink up withAlexander'sfamily.21
IndeedsomestoriesevensuggestedthatPtolemy'sfatherwasnot Lagusat
all but PhilipII, the fatherof Alexander.22
This focus on Alexanderwas of crucialimportanceto the Ptolemies;it
gave the dynastylegitimacyand a tradition.It is in this contextthat the
establishmentof the MuseumandLibraryshouldbe placed.Aristotlehad
beenat the courtof PhilipII in Macedonwherehe hadactedas tutorto the
youngAlexander.23
By foundingandsponsoringanintellectualcommunity
in the mannerof Aristotle'sschool, Ptolemy is again emphasizingthe
connectionand similaritybetweenhimselfandAlexander.It was Aristotle

42
who taughtAlexanderand,as Strabosays,it was Aristotlewho taughtthe

kingsof Egypthow to organizetheirlibrary.
Not only did the Libraryand Museumhelp to providea politicaland
dynasticlink with Alexander;they also gave the Greek inhabitantsof
Egypt a culturallink to their own Greekpast. One effect of the newly
createdHellenistickingdomswas the impositionof Greekcitiesoccupied
by Greekson an alien landscape.In Egyptthere was a native Egyptian
populationwith its own culture,history,and traditions.The Greekswho
cameto Egypt,to the courtor to live in Alexandria,wereseparatedfrom
theiroriginalcultures.Alexandriawas the mainGreekcity of Egyptand
withinit therewas an extraordinary
mix of Greeksfrommanycities and
all withdifferentcivic,social,andreligioustraditionsbehind
backgrounds,
Therewouldbe no onetraditionto lookbackto, a traditionwhich
them.24
would unite the people.A contrastcan be made here with colonies,for
instancethose sent out from Greekcitiesin the eighthto sixthcenturies
B.C.A mothercity sendsout a colonyof its own citizenswho establisha
new city - but becausethe colonistsall comefromthe samecity they can
continuethe traditionsof the mothercity.25
So a Graeco-Macedonian
surface was imposed on Egypt, but this
surfacelacked a unifyingtradition- except for a commonGreekness.
Settingup the MuseumandLibraryis the settingup of a centreof Greek
cultureand intellectuallife in the city.It helpsto fill the culturalvacuum
that exists within the city. Adoptingthe practicesof Aristotle'sschool,
studyingthe text of Homer,acquiringthe officialtexts of the Athenian
tragediesall help to establishsome senseof continuitywith a Greekpast.
The averageAlexandrianGreekmay have hadlittle knowledgeof this or
indeedmuch interestin what went on in the Museumand Library,but
these institutionswouldstill be importantsymbolsof this continuityand
Greekness.26
So the Ptolemaickingdommay appearabruptlyin Egyptwithoutroots,
but the Museum and Librarylink the new kingdom and its Greek
inhabitantsto Alexanderandto a Greekpastandpresent.It is becausethey
help to supplythis need that they surviveand strengthen.And the more
they survivethe moretheythemselvesactnot as linkswitha traditionbut
as the traditionitself.Consequentlythese institutionscan gain still more
strength.
The Ptolemaicemphasison Greek cultureestablishesthe Greeksof
Egyptwithan identityfor themselves.It alsoenablesthisGreekidentityto
be projected outwards to a wider Greek world, all the more important if
there is a feeling that Macedoniansare not real Greeks.27But the emphasis

43
on Greekculturedoes even morethanthis - these are Greeksrulingin a

foreignland.The moreGreekscan indulgein theirown culture,the more
theycanexcludenon-Greeks,in otherwordsEgyptians,the subjectswhose
landhas beentakenover.The assertionof Greekcultureservesto enforce
Egyptiansubjection.So the presencein Alexandriaof two institutions
devotedto the preservationandstudyof Greekcultureacts as a powerful
symbolof Egyptianexclusionand subjection.Texts from other cultures
couldbe keptin the library,but onlyoncetheyhadbeentranslated,thatis
to say Hellenized.
Yet, at the sametime,thisneedfor separatenessalsoreflectsa fearthat
the Egyptiansmightpose a threatto the Greeks'own culturalidentity.A
reading of Alexandrianpoetry might easily give the impressionthat
Egyptiansdid not exist at all; indeed Egypt itself is hardlymentioned
exceptfor the Nile andthe Nile flood,bothof whichhadbeenwell-known
This omissionof the
amongGreekssinceat leastthe time of Herodotus.28
a
and
from
masks
fundamental
Egypt
Egyptians
insecurity.It is no
poetry
coincidencethat one of the few poetic referencesto Egyptianspresents
themas muggers.29
A dramaticexpressionof Greek identity came in the form of a
spectacularreligiousprocessionwhichtookplacein Alexandriain the early
third century B.C. The only source for this processionis a lengthy
descriptionin Athenaeus,who foundhis informationin a bookcalled'On
Alexandria'by a certain Callixinusof Rhodes.30It is not known how
commonsuch events were in Alexandria.The emphasisin the surviving
accountof the processionis on Dionysusbut it is evidentthat he was not
the only god honouredin the celebration.The visualimpactwouldhave
been tremendous,as some exampleswill demonstrate.Therewas a fourwheeledfloat,21 ft long on whichwas a 15 ft statueof Dionysus,dressed
in purple,saffron,and gold and surroundedby gold objects.It took 180
men to dragthis float along.It was followedby an extraordinary
statue,
whichwas drawnby 60 men.This statuesurprisedthe crowdby standing
up mechanically,pouringa libationof milk,and then sittingdownagain.
On anotherfloatpulledby 300 mentherewas an enormouswine pressin
which 60 men dressedas Satyrstrampledon ripe grapesand sang.The
processionalso consistedof numerousanimals:there were 2,400 dogs
includingIndian,Hyrcanian,and Molossiandogs, sheep from Ethiopia,
Arabia,andEuboea,cowsfromIndiaandEthiopia.Thenthereweremore
exoticanimals:leopards,cheetahs,lions,a giraffe,anEthiopianrhinoceros,
andcagesof all sortsof birds.The processionconcludedwith a displayof
Ptolemaicmilitaryforces, consistingof over 57,000 infantryand over

44
23,000 cavalry.Ptolemy'scontrolover both the humanand the natural

worldis forcefullydemonstrated.31
Thisprocessionis veryrevealingaboutPtolemaicEgypt.In essenceit is
a religiousprocession,but its magnificenceand its contenttransformit
into somethingmore than this. For anyonewatching,whetherthey are
foreigners,whomightbe payinga visitor thereon a diplomaticmission,or
AlexandrianGreeksor nativeEgyptians,the processionhammersout the
message of Ptolemy'senormouswealth and power.32For Alexandrian
Greeks,boththosewatchingandthosetakingpart,it willbe a celebration
and affirmationof Greekness.But it is even more than this; it is also a
processionshoutingout Greeksuperiorityto any nativeEgyptianswho
happento be in the vicinity.Thusin a popular,visualformthe procession
embodiesthose sameelementswhichwere observedabovein the case of
the LibraryandMuseum.
But the processionalso reflectsPtolemaicaspirationsto rule.On one
level these aspirationsare representedby the very fact of the procession,
but they are alsovisiblein the detailof the imagesusedin the procession.
There was a float on which statues of Alexanderand Ptolemy stood
together, thus emphasizingthe association between Alexander and
Ptolemy.AlongsidePtolemywas placeda statuerepresentingthe city of
Corinth.This is ratherenigmaticbut it is mostlikelythatit representsthe
Leagueof Corinth,the Leagueof Greekcitiesset up by Philipof Macedon
andusedby Alexanderfor the waragainstPersia.The implicationhereis
thatPtolemywasnow heirto Alexander'sleadershipof the Greekcitiesof
the mainland.Thus the next float containedexpensivelydressedwomen,
who are saidby Athenaeusto represent'thecitiesof Ioniaandthe rest of
the Greekcities of Asia and the islandswhichhad been subduedby the
Persians'.As this cart followedAlexanderand Ptolemy,it againsuggests
the leadershipof Alexanderand his heir Ptolemy,this time over Greeks
won by Alexanderfromthe Persians.So Ptolemyis emphasizinghis claim
This claimor even assertionof leadership
to leadershipoverthe Greeks.33
can be found in the reignsof both PtolemyI and PtolemyII. The first
Ptolemyannouncedhimselfto be the championof Greekfreedom,the
secondis praisedby the courtpoet Theocritusfor the extent of his rule
outsideEgypt,andpraisedby the Leagueof the Islandsof the Aegeanfor
At the
all the benefitshe hasgiventhe islandsandthe restof the Greeks.34
time of the ChremonideanWar the AtheniansdescribedPtolemyII as
followingthe policy of his ancestorby showinghis enthusiasmfor the
In these statementsthey wereechoing
commonfreedomof the Greeks.35
the imagePtolemyII was himselfprojecting.

45
The Ptolemiesnot only soughtto be the politicalleadersof the Greek

world;the foundationof the Museumand Libraryrevealsthat they also
soughtto be the culturalleaders.Beingculturalleaderswas a reflectionof
theiraspirationto politicalleadership.
ThescholarsofAlexandria
camefrom
all overthe PtolemaicEmpireandbeyond.EratosthenesandCallimachus
camefromCyrene,AristophanesfromByzantium,PhilitasfromCos, and
Theocritusfromas farafieldas Syracuse.So justas the Ptolemiessoughtto
establishcontrolover otherGreekstates,so they also soughtto establish
controloverGreekculture.Theywentaboutin justthe sameway- seizing
booksfromships,trickingforeignstatesintorelinquishing
them,practices
suchas thesemightseemmorelikethe high-handedattitudeof an imperial
power than a book collector.The aim was all Greek books, thus a
monopolyof Greekculture.They wantedHomer,Aeschylus,Sophocles,
Euripides,the worksof Aristotle.Andthereis somethingimperialistin the
treatmentof the booksthemselves- organizingthem, cataloguingthem,
and editingthem.Callimachusmust have spentmanyyears on his work
entitledTablesofpersonseminentin everybranchof learning,together
witha
list of theirwritings or Tables(17TvaKEs) for short. It was writtenin 120
books and was dividedaccordingto subjector genre,Table of Orators,
Table of Philosophers,Table of LyricPoets, etc. Each authorwas listed
with a shortbiographyanda list of titlesof theirworksand
alphabetically
for goodmeasurethe totalnumberof lines in eachwork.36
One of the main industriesof the Museum and Librarywas the
productionof definitiveeditionsof the great worksof Greek literature,
especiallyHomer.The editingof Homerwas undertakenas earlyas the
firstlibrarian,Zenodotus,andsuccessivescholarsworkedon newversions,
most famouslyAristarchus,the librarianin the late thirdcentury.But it
was not just Homer who got the editorialtreatment.Aristophanesof
Byzantiumproducededitionsof Homer,Hesiod,Pindar,andhis namesake
In cataloguingand editing these texts in this (comAristophanes.37
paratively)systematicway the scholarsof the Museumand Librarywere
exertingtheircontroloverthe Greekculturalheritage.The newHellenistic
world has an effect here too. As far as the scholarsof Alexandriaare
concernedit is a Greekculturalheritage,not one dividedinto Athenian,
Theban,etc. Callimachus'Tablesare dividedby genre,not by geography.
This reflectsthe mixednatureof Alexandriansocietyat thistime.
So the Ptolemiesnot only exertedpowerover Greekstates they also
exertedit overGreekliterature.They actedas politicalleadersof Greece,
bothin rulingGreekstatesand supportingthem- at differenttimesthey
providedfinancialaid to both the AchaeanLeague and the Spartans.38

46
to this was theirrole as culturalleaders.In this capacity

Corresponding
a
theypresented gymnasiumtogetherwitha libraryto the city of Athens,a
gift fromthe new culturalcapitalof Greeceto the old.39The Museumand
Librarymade Alexandriathe focus for intellectualsfrom throughout
Greece.Furthermorethe Ptolemiesgainedprestigenot simplybecause
theypossessedthe MuseumandLibrarybut as a resultof associationwith
the contents of these institutions.They possesseddefinitivecopies of
Homer,the Atheniantragedies,andotherimportantworks.
A signof the widerpoliticalsignificanceof the MuseumandLibraryin
the Greekworldis the waythattheywerecopiedby the upstartkingdomof
the Attalidsin Pergamum.By the second centurythe Ptolemieswere
weakerthantheyhadbeenandthe Attalidsexploitedthisweaknessto gain
more power for themselves. In addition to taking over Ptolemaic
possessionsin Asia Minorthey acted as benefactorsof the Greeksboth
Thus they offered fundingto the Achaean
politicallyand culturally.40
as
the
Ptolemies
had done beforethem, they put up public
Leagueand,
Again,
buildingsin Athens,the famousStoas of Attalusand Eumenes.41
therefore,therewas the emphasison Athens.But theiremulationof the
Ptolemieswentfurtherthanthis,becausethey alsoset up theirownlibrary
and intellectualcentre at Pergamum.42
They then proceededto try and
the
Alexandrian
scholars
poach
including librarianof Alexandriahimself,
Aristophanesof Byzantium,a man famous for his knowledgeof the
The Ptolemiesreactedfirmlyto this;Aristophanes
Library'sorganization.
nevergot to Pergamum,butwas put in prisonin Alexandriaandhe stayed
thereuntilhe died.43
The Ptolemiestook furtherstepsto put a premature
endto this new royallibrary.Theirsecretweaponin this culturalwarwas
theircontrolover the supplyof papyrus.Plinythe Eldertells us that the
Ptolemiesbannedthe exportof papyrus;it is unclearwhetherthis only
appliedto Pergamumor was a generalban or indeedwhetherthe whole
affairhas beenexaggerated.44
This drasticmeasurefailedto put an end to
the PergameneLibrarywhichresortedto the use of animalskin instead.
So by the secondcenturythe AlexandrianLibrarywas seen as a potent
political symbol which the Ptolemies would fight to protect. One
consequenceof this rivalry was the rise in the number of forged
manuscriptson the market in that period and afterwards.45Original
manuscriptsand previouslyunknownworks by famous authorswere
much in demand.Each librarywantedsomethingthe other one did not
possess.
But the importantpoint is that these two kingdomswere competingwith
each other for prominence and prestige in the Greek world. And these

47
institutionsandtheirsuccesswere symbolsof the powerof the kingdoms.

So theirestablishmentwas not a simpleacademicexercisebut had wider
politicalsignificance.
NOTES
1. P. M. Fraser, PtolemaicAlexandria (Oxford, 1972), i. 321-2, 469 n. 69, 475 n. 13, R. Pfeiffer,
Historyof ClassicalScholarship
(Oxford,1968),pp.95-102.
2. In addition to Fraser and Pfeiffer, note recently L. Canfora, The VanishedLibrary (London,
1989, originally published in Italian, Palermo 1987), R. Blum, Kallimachus:the AlexandrianLibrary
and the OriginsofBibliography(Madison,Wisconsin, 1991, originallypublishedin German, Frankfurt,
1977), M. El-Abbadi, The Life and Fate of the Ancient Libraryof Alexandria(Unesco, Paris, 1990), G.
die Rezeptionvon Zeitgeschichte

an Hof der erstendrei
Weber,Dichtungund hofischeGesellschaft:
Ptolemaer(Stuttgart, 1993), pp. 56-101.

3. On the Museum in general, Fraser, op. cit. (n. 1), i. 312-19; on pay, op. cit., 310-11, Athen.
11.493e-94b, Vitr. 7 Pref. 8; on meals, Strabo 17.793-4, quoted below.
4. Timon Fr. 60 W (Diels 12), Athen. 1.22d.
5. Strabo 17.793-4.
6. P. Oxy. 1241; Fraser, op. cit. (n. 1), i. 322-3.
7. Athen. 1.3b.
8. Galen, Comm. in Hipp. Epid. iii, CMG 5.10.2.1, pp. 78-9, quoted in Fraser, op. cit. (n. 1),
i. 480 n. 147. Galen's views may have been coloured by the fact that he was a native of Alexandria's
erstwhile rival Pergamum.
9. In general, Ps. Aristeas, 9-10, followed by John Tzetzes in G. Kaibel, Com. Graec.Frag., p. 19f.
(Pb), on which Blum, op. cit. (n. 2), pp. 104-13. Pfeiffer, op. cit. (n. 1), pp. 99-102. Texts included the
Pentateuch (Ps. Aristeas),probablyalso Zoroaster(Pliny, N.H. 30.4), and Egyptian texts translatedby
Manetho, on all of which Fraser, op. cit., i. 329-30, 505-11.
10. Strabo 13.608.
11. Library, Strabo 13.608-9; the will of Theophrastus (head of school 322-c.286) refers to the
Museum and emphasizes the communal nature of the school, D.L. 5.51-7; Fraser, op. cit. (n. 1), i. 31216 stresses the similarities though J. P. Lynch, Aristotle's School (Berkeley/Los Angeles, 1974),
pp. 121-3, would minimize them.
12. D.L. 5.58.
13. D.L. 5.75-85.
14. Ps. Aristeas, 9-10, followed by John Tzetzes in G. Kaibel, Com. Graec.Frag., p. 19f. (Pb).
15. On these, Weber, op. cit. (n. 2), pp. 33-53.
16. This is not to diminish Alexandrian poetry, but it is only part of more extensive Ptolemaic
patronage.
17. John Tzetzes, op. cit. (n. 9), gives almost half a million, while Aul. Gell. 7.17.3 gives c. 700,000.
18. Kidnappingand sarcophagus:Strabo 17.794, Diod. 18.26-8, ArrianFGH 156 F.9.25, 10.1, Paus.
1.6.3.Octavian visited the body and accidentallyknocked off part of the nose, Dio 51.16.
19. Fraser, op. cit. (n. 1), i. 215-19.
20. Arrian 1.1; C. BradfordWelles, 'The Reliability of Ptolemy as an Historian' in Miscellanea di
Studi Alessandrini in Memoria di A. Rostagni (Turin, 1963), pp. 101-16, R. M. Errington, CQ 19
(1969), 233-42.
21. Fraser, op. cit. (n. 1), i. 45, ii. 123 n.62.
22. Pausanias, 1.6.2.
23. Plut. Alex. 7-8; F. L. Vatai, Intellectualsin Politics in the GreekWorld(London, 1984), pp. 11216.
24. Fraser, op. cit. (n. 1), i. 38-74.
25. A.J. Graham, CAH2 iii. 3, 153-5.
26. Cf. G. Zanker, Realism in Alexandrian Poetry (London, 1987), pp. 19-22, who places
Alexandrianpoetry in the context of a need for cultural continuity. More recently, in Sarajevo,it was
the role of the National Library of Bosnia Herzegovina as a cultural symbol that contributed to its
destruction in August 1992.

48
27. Herod. 5.22, Dem. 9.31; E. Badian, 'Greeks and Macedonians'in B. Barr-Sharand E. N. Borza
andGreecein LateClassicalandHellenisticTimes(Washington,
(edd.),Macedonia
1982),pp.33-51.
28. Herod, 2.19-27. On Egypt in Alexandrianpoetry, Weber,op. cit. (n. 2), pp. 369-99.
29. Theoc. 15.46-50, a passage played down by R. L. Hunter, 'Greek and non-Greek in the
Argonauticaof Apollonius' in S. Said (ed.), EAAHNIEMOE (Leiden, 1991), pp. 81-99. On Greek/
Egyptian relations, note also A. E. Samuels, TheShiftingSands of History:Interpretationsof Ptolemaic
Egypt (Lanham/New York, 1989), pp. 35-49.
30. Athen.5.197-203, FGH 627 F2; E.E. Rice TheGrandProcessionof PtolemyPhiladelphus
(Oxford, 1983) with text.

31. On the role of animals, see K. M. Coleman, 'Ptolemy Philadelphus and the Roman amphitheatre' in W.J. Slater (ed.), Roman Theatreand Society (Ann Arbor,forthcoming 1995).
32. Perhaps reinforcedby the presence of a 180 ft gold phallus in the procession, Athen. 5.201e.
33. Athen. 5.201d-e; on these statues and their interpretation,Rice, op. cit. (n. 30), pp. 102-10.
34. Diod. 19.62.1-2, 20.37.2; Theoc. 17.77-94; SIG3 390, esp. lines 10-20.
35. SIG3 434-5, lines 15-20.
36. Blum, op. cit. (n. 2), pp. 124-81, Fraser, op. cit. (n. 1), i. 452-4, F. Schmidt, Die Pinakes des
Kallimachos(Berlin, 1922).
37. On Alexandrianscholarship,Pfeiffer, op. cit. (n. 1), pp. 87-233, Fraser, op. cit., i. 447-79.
38. Plut. Arat. 41, Cleom. 22, Polyb. 2.51.
39. In general, Polyb. 5.106.6-8, C. Habicht, ClassicalAntiquity 11 (1992), 68-90; gymnasiumwith
library(the Ptolemaion), Paus. 1.17.2, TheAthenianAgora, vol. 3 Literaryand EpigraphicTestimonia,
ed. R. E. Wycherley (Princeton, 1957), pp. 142-4, nos. 456-63 (460, 461 on library),Habicht, Studien
zur GeschichteAthens in hellenistischerZeit (G6ttingen, 1982), pp. 112-17.
40. Polyb. 32.8.5, Livy 42.5.3; Habicht,
viii. 331, 376.
CA-F TheAthenianAgora (London, 1992), pp. 172-5, Vitr.
41. Achaea, Polyb. 22.1; Athens,J. M. Camp,
5.9.1.
42. Pfeiffer, op. cit. (n. 1), pp. 234-51, E. V. Hansen, The Attalids of Pergamum(Ithaca, 19712),
pp. 390-433. The evidence for the Library is collected in J. Platthy, Sources on the Earliest Greek
Libraries(Amsterdam, 1968). Much of it stresses the rivalry between Pergamum and Alexandria.
43. Vit. Aristoph.(p. 362 West), quoted in Fraser,op. cit. (n. 1), ii. 662. His knowledge of the Library
was revealed when he uncovered plagiarismin a poetry competition, Vitr. 7 Pref. 5-7.
44. Pliny, N.H. 13.70.
45. So Galen, Comm.in Hipp. De Nat Hom., CMG 5.9.1, pp. 55, 57, quoted in Fraser, op. cit. (n. 1),
ii. 481 n. 150.
My thanks to Kathleen Coleman, Malcolm Latham, and Theresa Urbainczykfor help and comments.


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Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: the Library and Museum

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Greece& Rome,Vol.xlii, No. 1, April1995