IN PRAISE OFTHE ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARIANS: PIONEERS IN LITERACY SCHOLARSHIP

by William F. Meehan Ill

he accomplishments of the ancient wh r th aim as not pr du in cholar hip but Greeks won valued recognition in compiling r i ing and corr ting it. Western intellectual civilization few subjects escaping their observation. o with the rise of writing in the ftfth century B.C. and after they had pioneered rhetoric the Greeks turned their attention to the texts tran­ scribed on papyrus scrolls. The center of intell ctual activity at the time was Athens, in one of the four schools of philosophy run by Aristotle. However, it was not the reflective thinkers in Athens who delved into the written word on the rolls and gave rise to literary scholarship. It was, instead, the scholarly librarians in the Egyptian city of Alexandria working in what became the greatest Greek library and the paragon of research libraries ever since. The formal study of literary texts in classical Greece took root in the third and second centuries B.C. with the librarians in Alexandria who served during the reign of the Ptolemies, the learned rulers who took the capital's cultural standing eriously enough to foster a robust intellectual life. Ptolemy I endowed a center for scholarly research and discussion, the Museum, also providing a library where the spirited acquisition policy led to a hoard of rolls, designed mainly to support examination of the classics of Greek literature, particu­ larly Homer. Gathered from the spoils of war and th confiscation of ship cargo, the abundant collection in Alexandria, however, lacked exemplary copies, or authoritative versions, of literary works. Several copie of a work were acquired, each containing a different version of the text, with lines missing or added as well as tran posed, along with variants in spelling and diction. Setting up a standard text for these literary works of Greek cultural importance, therefore, was the first scholarly undertaking at the Museum, where several of the librarians were grammarians. The editing and therefore standardizing of literary works that subsequently flourished at the Museum secured its position as an exalted place not only in the history of libraries but also in the history of literary studies. Before long, it grew into a model of skillful editing

Indiana Librmi~ Vol. 27, II!Jiber 2 3 3 sourc s. As the first editor of any text Alexandria s first interpretations that differed specifi.cally from librarian can be called the founder of textual criticism. Zenodotus . He furthermore, recognized eight parts of speech: noun verb participle pronoun article, The third head of the Library of Alexandria adverb, preposition and conjunction. Aristophanes was appointed by Ptolemy V and erved circa. 205-185. Ari tophanes had a well deserved Aristarchus name was equivalent to' famous critic," reputation as a notabl literary scholar. A pupil of and his authodty as a textual scholar justified his Zenodotus Aristophanes i credited with initiating acclaim but Alexandria s fifth librarian might best be marking that furthered the rise of grammar and textual remembered for the work of one of his students, criticism a acad mlc pursuits. Identified with Dionysius Thrax. Although he was not a librarian, Ari tophanes exemplary editions of Homer is a system Thrax authored the first surviving Greek grammar. His of accentuation and punctuation marks devised mainly fifteen-page Tecbnf g1·ammatike opens with a descrip­ to pres rve proper pronunciation· among hi innova­ tion of Alexandrian gramm.ar that places in context the tions are elision mark r · yllabic junctures· the hy­ principles underlying the work of the librarian literary phen comma, colon and period· short and long scholars. Grammru:, according to Thrax consists of six vowel sign · and accents or diacritics used to indicate parts: precise oral recitation adhering to prosody; pitch level and stress. A1 o originating with him are clarification of literary words and phrases· preparation ev ral ymbols pertinent to textual criticism, such as of commentary on expressions and content; ascertain­ th ast risk and the collectiv ob lisk which marked ing etymology· determining regularities· and high consecutive lines thought puriou . He was confident regard for literature. The Technf turned out to be the in his independent recensions which were based on pinnacle of literary scholarship in Alexandria, justifying manu cript evidence but his adh r nee to Alexandrian the purpose of textual studies and the role of the cultural standard sometime prevented his full under- grammarian while securing the lasting triumph of the tanding of Hom r s world and thus the epic poets diction and plain style. Working with po ts as well as pioneering librarians. Practically every grammar book today can be traced to Thrax. dramati t Aristophane cholarship encompas ed Pindar r suiting in th fir t edition of the lyrical poet s Like so many of the lasting contributions of ancient c 11 cted odes. otably, he separat d the works into Greeks to the Western intellectual tradition, the b oks c mpl te with ubdivision by th me and achievement of the librarian literary scholars in Helle­ recognition of metrical sch me . H also v ntur d into nistic Alexandria deserves distinction. Their highly lexicography, compiling the first li t of words that considered work earns the esteem and gratitude of in lud d tymologie and h compo d a description anyone who appreciates the art of literary editing, and f grammatical r gularity in Gr ek declen ion. it should inspire academic librarians to aim for excel­ Arist phane might be t be remember d however for lence in their own scholarly endeavors. his li t f poets categorized by form (lyric epic etc.), which initiated the id a fa lit rary canon. WORKS CONSULTED Aristarchu th n xt head of the library wa a Casson L. (2001).Libra1·iesin the ancient world. New pupil f Aristophane and appointed by Ptolemy VI. Haven: Yale University Press. Whil administering the library in circa. 175-145 Ari tarchus levat d H m ric lit ra.ry cholar hip to a Forbes P.B.R. (1933). Greek Pioneers in philology and 1 gitlmate body f know! dg and help d mak his era grammar. The Classical Review, 47 (3) , 105-112. r nown d in th stud of language and lit rature. Macleod, R. (2000). Introduction: Alexandria in history An1 ng hi list of far-reaching accomplishments was th and myth. In R. Macleod (Ed.) The library of running c mm ntary which rank d second only to his Alexandria: Centre of learning in the ancient world p rt critical treati e . A command fvocabulary (pp. 1-15). London: I.B. Tauris. in£ rm d nis use of homonyms and ynonym to xplain c nn tions b tw en words in lit rary works. Robins, R. H . (1957). Dionysius Thrax and the western Arista1·chu wa an auth ritative omeric critic and grammatical tradition. Transactions ofthe interpreter. Ii xan1ination of the poet language Philological Society, 55, 67-106. tru t in th po n usag , and commentary on the p t th m out tanding. firmly beli ved that the FURTHER READING auth r was hi wn b t interpr rer thereby instituting El-Abbadi, M. (1992). Life and fate of the ancient library th id a f authorial int nt. e furthered th analogi­ ofAlexandria. (2nd eel.). Paris: United Nations cal m th d adding to hi t ach r s rules of infle:rion Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. and d cl n i n whil initiating marginal ymbols that pointed t n pJcuou w rd r content t disrup- Fraser, P.M. (1972) . Ptolemaic Alexandria (Vols. 1-3). tion of the rd r of lines and its carr ction and to Oxford: Clarendon Press.

34 Iudiana Libraries, Vol. 27, lf!tJber 2 Kenyon F. G. (1980). Books and readers in ancient Greece and Rome. Chicago: Ar Publishing. (Original work publi h d in 1932). Long A.A. (19 4). Hellenistic philosophy: Stoics epicur·eans sceptics. London: Duckworth. Luhtala A. (2005). Gramm,ar and philosophy in late antiquity: A study ofP1'ician 's sources. Am terdam and Philadelphia: John B njamins. Pinner H. L. (1948) . The wm·ld of books in classical antiquity. Leiden: A.W. ijthoff. Pfeiffer R. (1968). A history of classical scholarship. Oxford: Clarendon Pre . Sandys J. E. (1958). A history ofclassical scholar·ship. (Vol. 1.) ew York: Hoffner Publishing Co. (Original work published in 1903). Staikos K. (2004). The history ofthe library in western civilization. ew Castle D 1. : Oak Knoll Press. Woodard R. D. (1997) . Gr·eek writingfromKnossos to Homer: A linguistic inte-rpretation ofthe origin ofthe Greek alphabet and the continuity ofancient Greek literacy. Oxford and ew York: Oxford niver ity Press.

ABOUliTHE AUTHOR William F. Meehan III works in the rare book department at.Arader Galleries in New York.

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