Synopses & Reviews
The Library of Alexandria was one of the greatest cultural adornments of the late ancient world, containing thousands of scrolls of Greek, Hebrew and Mesopotamian literature and art and artifacts of ancient Egypt. This book demonstrates that Alexandria became--through the contemporary reputation of its library--a point of confluence for Greek, Roman, Jewish and Syrian culture that drew scholars and statesmen from throughout the ancient world. It also explores the histories of Alexander the Great and of Alexandria itself, the greatest city of the ancient world. This new paperback edition offers general readers an accessible introduction to the history of this magnificent yet still mysterious institution from the time of its foundation up to its tragic destruction.
Review
"Fascinating ... [and] ... should appeal to the general as well as the academic reader."--
The Anglo-Hellenic Review"Informative, assiduously researched and exhaustively stimulating."--Library Review
About the Author
Roy MacLeod is Professor of History at the University of Sydney.
Table of Contents
Notes on contributors * Map of Alexandria * Preface * Introduction: Alexandria in History and Myth--Roy MacLeod *
Part I: Alexandria in History and Myth * Before Alexandria: The Umbilicus of the Ancient World--Wendy Brazil * Cloistered Bookworms in the Chicken-Coop of the Muses: The Ancient Library of Alexandria--Robert Barnes * Aristotle's Works: The Possible Origins of the Alexandria Collection--R.G. Tanner *
Part II. Scholarship in the Alexandrian Manner * Doctors in the Library: The Strange Tale of Apollonius the Bookworm and other Stories--John Vallance * The Theatre of Paphos and the Theatre of Alexandria: Some First Thoughts--J.R. Green * Scholars and Students in the Roman East--Samuel N.C. Lieu * The Neoplatonists and the Mystery Schools of the Mediterranean--Patricia Cannon Johnson * Alexandria and its Medieval Legacy: The Book, the Monk and the Rose--J.O. Ward * Bibliography * Index