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THE RISE AND FALL OF ALEXANDRIA DOWNLOAD FREE BOOK Justin Pollard, Howard Reid | 329 pages | 27 Apr 2009 | Penguin Publishing Group | 9780143112518 | English | New York, NY, United Kingdom The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern Mind I enjoyed the context the book added to religions that were developing at the time. I actually have a substantially lower opinion of the legendary library than when I started, because it turns out that many of its books were actually stolen from other libraries in the ancient world, and a book- stealing library — especially in the days before the printing press — is no library for me. The Ptolemys devoted much of their enormous wealth to the acquisition of every Greek book, as well as works from Africa, Persia, India, Israel and other parts of the world. That being said, I definitely found the first half of the book to be far more interesting than the second. I knew bits and pieces about Alexandria, here and there, such as scenes from the lives of Caesar and Cleopatra and the fate of Archimedes, but I never really had a sense of the extent to which the city was the intellectual center of the West. I did note that Alexandrea was a diverse city of Egyptians, Jews, Greeks, Romans and people from neighboring countries. This is a marvelous chronology of Alexandria, one of the great, lost cities of the ancient world. Alston Purvis. Augustus and Alexander the Great were both similar in their rise. After reading this book on Audible, I plan to delve deeper elsewhere to learn more about the philosophers Celsus and Philo, the Therapeutae The Rise and Fall of Alexandria, The Antikythera wreck, and more. What a wondrous place this city must have been, and so rich in history. Karl Polanyi. Oct 13, Kenny rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: anyone who thinks modern man knows anything! This was just the perfect sort of history for me. Barri J. This is based upon the audio download from [ www. In fact Romans learned most things from the Etruscan civilization. Fascinating read. So much so that we sometimes lack The Rise and Fall of Alexandria willingness to think before we act. The city was founded by Alexander the Great who encouraged respect for alien cultures and the open-minded pursuit of knowledge. Maybe I should rate this book five stars. He lives in Dorset where he grows vegetables and wonders where all the sheep have gone. Hardcoverpages. Now I do, and among other things I learned that the Ptolemaic family dynasty was one of the more ruthlessly dysfunctional ones around, despite its interest in fostering philosophy and the advancement of knowledge. The authors also paint an incomplete The Rise and Fall of Alexandria of the city's literary culture and its museum, which functioned like a modern university. The Old Testament comes down to us mainly from the Greek The Rise and Fall of Alexandria made in the Alexandrian Library. I found this book fascinating. Dec 25, Lauren Albert rated it liked it Shelves: cities- and-urban-studieshistory-middle-east. The Lively Place. Interesting to hear about ideas from Alexandria that had a lasting impact on subsequent history, such as the Julian calendar, brought back from Egypt by J An overview of the political and intellectual history of Alexandria during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods in Egypt. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. There is no shortage of dramatic historical moments, either. Every now and then we stumble on a major civilization, such as the ancient culture of Ebla, which flourished only a few millennia ago and about which we knew nothing. I found the section about Hypatia A. Ethnic The Rise and Fall of Alexandria — many minorities — Russian Orthodox majority. Want to Read saving…. Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire Essay The Rise and Fall of Alexandria is a systematic and entertaining explanation of Alexandria. I didn't really know that much about Alexandria, other than having heard countless references to the library, which is its main claim to fame. Weiland rated it really liked it. They were reluctant to let the manuscripts out of their hands even for a moment. An overview of the political and intellectual history of Alexandria during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods in Egypt. The only negative thing I can say about this is that I it was so loaded with incredible little tidbits that I tried to speed up in certain areas and just couldn't because I did not want to miss out on anything. The Rise and Fall of Alexandria Popular Essays. The great intellectual achievements of antiquity had few immediate practical implications. Jan 16, Lyn rated it liked it. The reign of Augustus Caesar and the reign of Alexander the Great were more different in many ways. They dragged her from her chariot, tore off The Rise and Fall of Alexandria clothes, and, armed with abalone shells, flayed her flesh from her bones. Every small work we do is technology dependent. It's a fascinating history no doubt, but not told with The Rise and Fall of Alexandria kind of enthusiasm by the author that mark the first chapters. Perry Anderson. I cannot give you a simple answer. They also imply in the Eratosthenes chapter again that Columbus would have trouble convincing the King of Spain that The Rise and Fall of Alexandria world was round, when the real trouble was convincing the court that he could make it, as the distance was too great for any amount of carried supplies a conclusion that Columbus would have come to if he'd used Eratosthenes' figure for the size of the Earth, instead of a much smaller estimate. The Ptolemys devoted much of their enormous wealth to the acquisition of every Greek book, as well as works from Africa, Persia, India, Israel and other parts of the world. Through technological advances in communication our planet is in the final stages of being bound up at a breakneck pace into a single global society. The first ethical dilemma was being sworn into office as DIC. By the time he was thirty, he had worked his way up to the position of chief of the Central European bureau of the Chicago Tribune. So a history of the city has a lot of appeal. This was an absolutely fantastic book! We build on those foundations still. That due to the plenitude of slave labor and the absence of coal, it was used only for entertainments and temple tricks? Presumably they're referring to the Commentariolusand it's an interesting connection that I hadn't heard about before. When Rome's Republic was formed, Rome was a mere small city-state, easily managed. So the bulk of the book is more of a who's who of ancient philosophy. The historian, Sally J. Rise and Fall of Rome Research Paper I actually have a substantially lower opinion of the legendary library than when I started, because it turns out that many of its books were actually stolen from other libraries in the ancient world, and a book-stealing library — especially in the days before the printing press — is no library for me. Read More. American Foreign Policy and Its Thinkers. A fine history, but nothing spectacular in it's presentation. I would recommend this to anyone with an interest in the ancient world. Details if other :. He… More about Howard Reid. It The Rise and Fall of Alexandria the citadel of a brilliant scientific tradition. Did you know that Eratosthenes of Cyrene measured the circumference of the earth using only a shadow, a well, an Alexandrian troop trained to measure distances by means of startlingly exact strides, trigonometry, and a frikking stick, all to within miles of its actual circumference? The city was founded by Alexander the Great who encouraged respect for alien cultures and the open-minded pursuit of knowledge. Hitler's evil plan caused one of the world's biggest tragedies, World War II. I found this book fascinating. So much so that we sometimes lack the willingness to think before we act. It was here that Plato, Socrates, Euclid, Aristotle, and many others did their thing. Shirer William Shirer, the son of a lawyer, was born in Chicago in His French had gotten better as he continued in school and he also received great education at the College of Brienne. Narrated by: Simon Vance This was the history of knowledge The Rise and Fall of Alexandria Alexandria. Stephen Kendrick. How presumptuous Western historians can sometimes by to assume that Western Europe thought of everything first! There The Rise and Fall of Alexandria no counterbalance to stagnation, to pessimism, to the most abject surrenders to mysticism. Though looking it up on Wikipedia shows that the authors perpetuate a translation-induced misconception of Aristarchus' theory being considered impious at the time. And we need them all. This war experience gave Both the text and the narration of the audiobook are sometimes a bit dry but the inventions and events discussed are fascinating. This is a lighter, less technical, book than I was expecting, and for the lighter side of non-fiction, fairly well written The most startling mistake is a statement that the Julian calendar correctly identified as being borrowed from Eratosthenes is accurate to one day in 1, years. The book covered the economy, history and existing knowledge of the ancient era. Anyway, this is a good book to have in your library if you are interested in ancient history, and I plan to be keeping it in mine.