Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: the Museum and Library of Alexandria', Greece and Rome, Vol

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Culture and power in Ptolemaic Egypt

Citation for published version: Erskine, A 1995, 'Culture and power in Ptolemaic Egypt: The Museum and Library of Alexandria', Greece and Rome, vol. 42, no. 1, pp. 38-48.

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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 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/643071 . Accessed: 16/12/2013 05:40

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This content downloaded from 129.215.19.197 on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 05:40:29 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Greece& Rome,Vol. xlii, No. 1, April1995

CULTURE AND POWER IN PTOLEMAIC EGYPT: THE MUSEUM AND LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA

By ANDREW ERSKINE

Withinthe palacecomplex in Alexandria,the city foundedby Alexanderin Egypt,a communityof scholarswas establishedin whatwas knownas the Museum(or Mouseion);linked to this was a library,the GreatLibrary of Alexandria.These two institutionsare often celebratedfor theirrole in the historyof scholarship,but they were also the productsof the Hellenistic age and of the competitionwhich arose between the successors of Alexander.In many ways these two institutionsencapsulate the ideology andpolicy of the earlyPtolemies. It is the purposeof this paperto explore this aspectand set themin a widercontext. In spiteof the famousintellectuals who workedin Alexandria,men such as Euclid,Callimachus, and Eratosthenes,the evidencefor the Museum andLibrary is verypoor. It is not even certainwhether they werefounded by PtolemyI or II, althoughit is mostlikely that they were set up underthe firstPtolemy and developed under the second.'But paucity of evidencehas not preventeddebate.2 My concern here is not with the form of these institutions,but ratherwith the fact of their existenceat all. It is useful, however,to beginby presentingan outlineof each institution. The Museumwas a communityof scholarswhich was both academic and religious.It was religiousin so far as it was centredon a shrineof the Muses, the Greek deities of artisticand intellectualpursuits, hence the name,the Museum.These scholarswere engagedin the study of science (for instance, medicine,mathematics, astronomy) and in the study of literature(editing the major Greek texts such as Homer).As well as studyingthey seemalso to haveacted as teachers.The numberof members is unknown,as are most of their names.They all appearto have been supportedby the kingswho providedthem with pay and meals.3This did not pleaseeveryone - Timonof Phlius,a contemporarywriter of polemical verse,attacked the 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

This content downloaded from 129.215.19.197 on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 05:40:29 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions CULTURE AND POWER IN PTOLEMAICEGYPT 39 300 years after the establishmentof the Museum,this is still our earliest informativeaccount:

The city has extremelybeautiful public precincts and also the royalpalaces, which cover a fourthor even a thirdof the whole city area.For just as each of the kings,from love of splendour,would add some ornamentto the publicmonuments, so at his own expensehe wouldprovide himself with a residencein additionto the existingones, so that now in the wordsof the poet 'thereis buildingupon building'. But all are linkedwith each otherand with the harbour,even those whichlie outsideit. The Museumis also partof the palace complex;it has a coveredwalkway, a hall with seats(exedra) and a largehouse, in which thereis a commondining hall for the learnedmen who sharethe Museum.This groupof men have communalpossessions and a priestin chargeof the Museum,who used to be appointed by the kings but is now appointed by Caesar.5 Strabodoes not mentionthe Libraryin his discussionof Alexandriaand our knowledgeof the buildingis negligible.Was it partof the Museumor a separatebuilding? Nor is muchknown of the organizationof the Library. Therewas alwaysa librarianin charge,presumably appointed by the king, sincethe librarianoften actedas tutorto the royalfamily. A papyrusfound at Oxyrhynchusprovides the namesof most of the librariansof the third and secondcenturies B.C.6 It is clear from our evidence,scrappy as it is, that the Ptolemiesmade a determinedeffort to obtainas many booksas possiblefor theirlibrary. Buying up booksin the book marketsof Athens and Rhodeswas one way of increasingthe collection,7but the Ptolemies also turnedto moreextreme methods. According to Galenall booksfound on boardships that dockedin Alexandriawere seized, taken away, and copied.Then the copies,not the originals,were returned to the owners.The booksacquired in this way were marked'from the ships'.The Athenians, perhaps,should have knownbetter than to lendone of the Ptolemiestheir precious official edition of the tragediesof Sophocles,Aeschylus, and Euripides,even if he did give them 15 talentsas a security.The king kept the originalsand returnedthe copieswith the smallconsolation that they were producedon the very best papyrusavailable.8 Whatever the truthof these storiesthe view prevailedthat the Library'sappetite for bookswas voracious.Some even suggestedthat the Ptolemies wished to acquire copiesof all booksever written,though translated into Greekfirst.9 Whenmodern scholars seek to explainthe foundationof the Museum andLibrary they often look to Aristotle.There are several reasons for this. First, there is the explicit testimonyof Strabo,who says that Aristotle taughtthe kingsof Egypthow to organizetheir library. Clearly this cannot be literallytrue; Aristotle was deadby the time Ptolemygained control of Egypt. It is most likely that Strabo means that the organization of material

This content downloaded from 129.215.19.197 on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 05:40:29 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 40 CULTURE AND POWER IN PTOLEMAIC EGYPT in the Librarywas modelledon Aristotle'sown privatelibrary.'~ Secondly, to establisha groupof scholarsas a Museum,in otherwords focused round a shrineof the Muses,might seem odd in itself,but it couldbe explainedif it weremodelled on Aristotle'sown schoolin Athens,which was organized as a Museum.Aristotle's school, the Lyceum,had a shrineof the Muses,a library,and a stress on community."There certainlyare connections betweenthe early Ptolemiesand Aristotle'ssuccessors in what became knownas the PeripateticSchool. The first Ptolemyhad a Peripateticas a tutor for his son and this tutor Strato went on to becomehead of the Peripatetic School in Athens.'2 But a more important Peripatetic connectionis believedto have been Demetriusof Phalerum,who in addition to beinga Peripateticphilosopher was also tyrantof Athens.After his overthrowin 307 the failedtyrant fled to Cassanderand aboutten years later arrivedin Alexandriawhere he was shelteredby Ptolemy.'3At least one sourcesuggests that he was in chargeof Ptolemy'sbook-buying pro- gramme.'4As a resultit is Demetriuswho is thoughtto providethe link betweenAristotle's school and the Museumand Libraryof Alexandria. Essentiallythis view holds that the Museum and Librarywere set up becauseDemetrius of Phalerumwent to Alexandriaand suggestedit to Ptolemy,who was sufficientlyimpressed to put it into action.But this Aristotelianlink only providesa partialexplanation. Ptolemy need not have acceptedDemetrius' suggestion. Furtherexplanation is found in the traditionalmonarchic practice of patronizingintellectuals and creativeartists. Pindar had been at the court of Hieron in Sicily, Euripidesat the court of the Macedonianking Archelaus,and Plato had visitedthe Syracusantyrants.15 But Ptolemyis providingsomething different: it is an institutionfor intellectuals.It is the sponsorship of scholarly activity rather than the sponsorship of individualsand consequentlythere is less emphasison creative artists, such as playwrightsand poets who might be expected to glorify the monarchin theirverses.16 What the Ptolemiesare doingis on a far larger scale than anything done before - it is institutionalpatronage that continuesfrom generationto generation.They providenot only money but the necessaryfacilities, including a library.Yet, the Librarybecomes an end in itself - the objectis to collectas manybooks as possible.Some sources report that the Librarycontained as many as half a million scrolls."Such a library,which was in effect a state library,dwarfed the smallprivate libraries of the past. AlthoughAristotelian influence and traditionalmonarchic patronage arerelevant to our understandingof the Museumand Library, they fail to

This content downloaded from 129.215.19.197 on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 05:40:29 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions CULTURE AND POWER IN PTOLEMAICEGYPT 41 accountfor the attractionof theseinstitutions to the Ptolemies.What they offer insteadare precedents or at least approximateprecedents. In orderto explainwhy the Museumand Librarywere able to developinto such an importantpair of institutions,it is necessaryto interpretthem in the contextof the Hellenisticworld and in particularin the contextof the new kingdomof the Ptolemies,its ideology,and its needs. On the deathof AlexanderPtolemy had seizedpower in Egypt.Lacking any basisfor his ruleapart from force he soughtto providehimself with a traditionby placinggreat emphasis on his ownlinks with Alexander. In this wayhe attemptedto legitimizehis own position,particularly in the eyes of the Greeks.Invoking Alexander's name could also reflect aspirationsof greaterconquests. The focuswas on Alexanderfrom the verybeginning of Ptolemy'sreign, when Ptolemydramatically kidnapped Alexander's body and brought it to Egypt. The body was first taken to Memphis,the traditionalcapital of Egypt. But when Ptolemy moved the capital to Alexandria,the bodywent too. There in Alexandriait was put in a goldsar- cophagus,which was later replacedwith a glass one. The Mausoleumin which the body lay was locatedwithin the palacecomplex, thus making clearthe associationbetween Alexander and Ptolemy. The bodyremained thereat least untilthe time of Octavian'svisit to Alexandria.'8 Ptolemy's guardianshipof Alexander'sbody marked him out as Alexander'sheir andmade him special.This associationwas reinforcedin otherways, for instanceby movingthe courtto Alexandria,a city named afterAlexander and founded by him.Alexander also becameincorporated into the religiousframework of the Greeksof Egypt- a cult of Alexander was set up, whicheventually became a dynasticcult,19 thus firmlylinking the Ptolemaicdynasty with Alexander.Further publicity was given to Ptolemy'srelationship with Alexanderby the publicationof Ptolemy's memoirs,which not surprisinglyhighlighted his own role in Alexander's campaigns.20It was also suggestedthat if the Ptolemaicfamily tree was tracedback to about500 B.C.,it wouldlink up with Alexander'sfamily.21 Indeedsome stories even suggestedthat Ptolemy's father was not Lagusat all but PhilipII, the fatherof Alexander.22 This focus on Alexanderwas of crucialimportance to the Ptolemies;it gave the dynastylegitimacy and a tradition.It is in this contextthat the establishmentof the Museumand Libraryshould be placed.Aristotle had beenat the courtof PhilipII in Macedonwhere he had actedas tutorto the youngAlexander.23 By foundingand sponsoring an intellectualcommunity in the mannerof Aristotle'sschool, Ptolemy is again emphasizingthe connectionand similaritybetween himself and Alexander.It was Aristotle

This content downloaded from 129.215.19.197 on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 05:40:29 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 42 CULTURE AND POWER IN PTOLEMAIC EGYPT who taughtAlexander and, as Strabosays, it was Aristotlewho taughtthe kingsof Egypthow to organizetheir library. Not only did the Libraryand Museumhelp to providea politicaland dynasticlink with Alexander;they also gave the Greek inhabitantsof Egypt a culturallink to their own Greek past. One effect of the newly createdHellenistic kingdoms was the impositionof Greekcities occupied by Greekson an alien landscape.In Egypt there was a native Egyptian populationwith its own culture,history, and traditions.The Greekswho came to Egypt,to the courtor to live in Alexandria,were separatedfrom their originalcultures. Alexandria was the main Greekcity of Egyptand withinit therewas an extraordinarymix of Greeksfrom manycities and backgrounds,all withdifferent civic, social, and religious traditions behind them.24There would be no one traditionto look backto, a traditionwhich would unite the people.A contrastcan be made here with colonies,for instancethose sent out from Greekcities in the eighthto sixth centuries B.C.A mothercity sends out a colonyof its own citizenswho establisha new city - but becausethe colonistsall come fromthe samecity they can continuethe traditionsof the mothercity.25 So a Graeco-Macedoniansurface was imposed on Egypt, but this surface lacked a unifyingtradition - except for a commonGreekness. Settingup the Museumand Libraryis 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,acquiring the officialtexts of the Athenian tragediesall help to establishsome sense of continuitywith a Greekpast. The averageAlexandrian Greek may have had little knowledgeof this or indeedmuch interestin what went on in the Museumand Library,but these institutionswould still be importantsymbols of this continuityand Greekness.26 So the Ptolemaickingdom may appearabruptly in Egyptwithout roots, but the Museum and Library link the new kingdom and its Greek inhabitantsto Alexanderand to a Greekpast and present. It is becausethey help to supplythis need that they surviveand strengthen.And the more they survivethe morethey themselvesact not as linkswith a traditionbut as the traditionitself. Consequently these institutionscan gain still more strength. The Ptolemaicemphasis on Greek cultureestablishes the Greeks of Egyptwith an identityfor themselves.It alsoenables this Greekidentity to be projected outwards to a wider Greek world, all the more important if there is a feeling that Macedonians are not real Greeks.27But the emphasis

This content downloaded from 129.215.19.197 on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 05:40:29 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions CULTURE AND POWER IN PTOLEMAIC EGYPT 43 on Greekculture does even morethan this - these are Greeksruling in a foreignland. The moreGreeks can indulgein theirown culture,the more theycan excludenon-Greeks, in otherwords Egyptians, the subjectswhose landhas beentaken over. The assertionof Greekculture serves to enforce Egyptiansubjection. So the presencein Alexandriaof two institutions devotedto the preservationand studyof Greekculture acts as a powerful symbolof Egyptianexclusion and subjection.Texts from other cultures couldbe keptin the library,but only oncethey hadbeen translated, that is to say Hellenized. Yet, at the sametime, this need for separatenessalso reflects a fear that the Egyptiansmight pose 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,both of whichhad been well-known amongGreeks since at least the time of Herodotus.28This omissionof the Egyptand Egyptians from poetry masks a fundamentalinsecurity. It is no coincidencethat one of the few poetic referencesto Egyptianspresents them as muggers.29 A dramatic expression of Greek identity came in the form of a spectacularreligious procession which took place in 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 visualimpact would have been tremendous,as some exampleswill demonstrate.There was a four- wheeledfloat, 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 extraordinarystatue, whichwas drawnby 60 men.This statuesurprised the crowdby standing up mechanically,pouring a libationof milk, and then sittingdown again. On anotherfloat pulledby 300 men therewas an enormouswine pressin which 60 men dressedas Satyrstrampled on ripe grapesand sang. The processionalso consistedof numerousanimals: there were 2,400 dogs includingIndian, Hyrcanian, and Molossiandogs, sheep from Ethiopia, Arabia,and Euboea, cows fromIndia and Ethiopia. Then therewere more exoticanimals: leopards, cheetahs, lions, a giraffe,an Ethiopianrhinoceros, and cages of all sortsof birds.The processionconcluded with a displayof Ptolemaicmilitary forces, consistingof over 57,000 infantryand over

This content downloaded from 129.215.19.197 on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 05:40:29 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 44 CULTURE AND POWER IN PTOLEMAIC EGYPT 23,000 cavalry.Ptolemy's control over both the humanand the natural worldis forcefullydemonstrated.31 This processionis veryrevealing about Ptolemaic Egypt. In essenceit is a religiousprocession, but its magnificenceand its contenttransform it into somethingmore than this. For anyone watching,whether they are foreigners,who mightbe payinga visitor thereon a diplomaticmission, or AlexandrianGreeks or nativeEgyptians, the processionhammers out the message of Ptolemy'senormous wealth and power.32For Alexandrian Greeks,both thosewatching and those taking part, it will be a celebration and affirmationof Greekness.But it is even more than this; it is also a processionshouting out Greek superiorityto any native Egyptianswho happento be in the vicinity.Thus in a popular,visual form the procession embodiesthose same elementswhich were observedabove in the case of the Libraryand Museum. But the processionalso reflectsPtolemaic aspirations to rule. On one level these aspirationsare representedby the very fact of the procession, but they are also visiblein the detailof the imagesused in the procession. There was a float on which statues of Alexanderand Ptolemy stood together, thus emphasizingthe association between Alexander and Ptolemy.Alongside Ptolemy was placeda statuerepresenting the city of Corinth.This is ratherenigmatic but it is mostlikely that it representsthe Leagueof Corinth,the Leagueof Greekcities set up by Philipof Macedon and usedby Alexanderfor the war againstPersia. The implicationhere is thatPtolemy was now heirto Alexander'sleadership of the Greekcities of the mainland.Thus the next float containedexpensively dressed women, who are saidby Athenaeusto represent'the cities of Ioniaand the rest of the Greek cities of Asia and the islandswhich had been subduedby the Persians'.As this cart followedAlexander and Ptolemy,it againsuggests the leadershipof Alexanderand his heir Ptolemy,this time over Greeks won by Alexanderfrom the Persians.So Ptolemyis emphasizinghis claim to leadershipover the Greeks.33This claimor even assertionof leadership can be found in the reigns of both PtolemyI and PtolemyII. The first Ptolemy announcedhimself to be the championof Greek freedom,the secondis praisedby the court poet Theocritusfor the extent of his rule outsideEgypt, and praised by the Leagueof the Islandsof the Aegeanfor all the benefitshe has giventhe islandsand the rest of the Greeks.34At the time of the ChremonideanWar the Atheniansdescribed Ptolemy II as followingthe policy of his ancestorby showinghis enthusiasmfor the commonfreedom of the Greeks.35In these statementsthey were echoing the imagePtolemy II was himselfprojecting.

This content downloaded from 129.215.19.197 on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 05:40:29 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions CULTURE AND POWER IN PTOLEMAICEGYPT 45 The Ptolemiesnot only soughtto be the politicalleaders of the Greek world;the foundationof the Museumand Libraryreveals that they also soughtto be the culturalleaders. Being cultural leaders was a reflectionof theiraspiration to politicalleadership. The scholarsof Alexandriacame from all over the PtolemaicEmpire and beyond.Eratosthenes and Callimachus camefrom Cyrene,Aristophanes from Byzantium, Philitas from Cos, and Theocritusfrom as far afieldas Syracuse.So justas the Ptolemiessought to establishcontrol over otherGreek states, so they also soughtto establish controlover Greek culture. They went aboutin justthe sameway - seizing booksfrom ships, tricking foreign states into relinquishingthem, practices suchas thesemight seem more like the high-handedattitude of an imperial power than a book collector.The aim was all Greek books, thus a monopolyof Greek culture.They wantedHomer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides,the worksof Aristotle.And there is somethingimperialist in the treatmentof the booksthemselves - organizingthem, cataloguingthem, and editingthem. Callimachus must have spent manyyears on his work entitledTables ofpersons eminent in everybranch of learning,together with a list of theirwritings or Tables(17TvaKEs) for short. It was writtenin 120 books and was dividedaccording to subjector genre, Table of Orators, Table of Philosophers,Table of Lyric Poets, etc. Each authorwas listed alphabeticallywith a shortbiography and a list of titles of theirworks and for good measurethe total numberof lines in eachwork.36 One of the main industriesof the Museum and Librarywas the productionof definitiveeditions of the great works of Greek literature, especiallyHomer. The editingof Homerwas undertakenas early as the firstlibrarian, Zenodotus, and successive scholars worked on new versions, most famouslyAristarchus, the librarianin the late thirdcentury. But it was not just Homer who got the editorialtreatment. Aristophanes of Byzantiumproduced editions of Homer,Hesiod, Pindar, and his namesake Aristophanes.37In cataloguing and editing these texts in this (com- paratively)systematic way the scholarsof the Museumand Librarywere exertingtheir control over the Greekcultural heritage. The newHellenistic world has an effect here too. As far as the scholarsof Alexandriaare concernedit is a Greekcultural heritage, not one dividedinto Athenian, Theban,etc. Callimachus'Tables are dividedby genre,not by geography. This reflectsthe mixednature of Alexandriansociety at this time. So the Ptolemiesnot only exertedpower over Greek states they also exertedit over Greekliterature. They actedas politicalleaders of Greece, both in rulingGreek states and supportingthem - at differenttimes they providedfinancial aid to both the AchaeanLeague and the Spartans.38

This content downloaded from 129.215.19.197 on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 05:40:29 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 46 CULTURE AND POWER IN PTOLEMAIC EGYPT Correspondingto this was their role as culturalleaders. In this capacity theypresented a gymnasiumtogether with a libraryto the city of Athens,a gift fromthe new culturalcapital of Greeceto the old.39The Museumand Librarymade Alexandriathe focus for intellectualsfrom throughout Greece.Furthermore the Ptolemiesgained prestigenot simplybecause they possessedthe Museumand Library but as a resultof associationwith the contents of these institutions.They possesseddefinitive copies of Homer,the Atheniantragedies, and otherimportant works. A sign of the widerpolitical significance of the Museumand Libraryin the Greekworld is the waythat they were copied by the upstartkingdom of the Attalidsin Pergamum.By the second century the Ptolemieswere weakerthan they had been and the Attalidsexploited this weakness to gain more power for themselves. In addition to taking over Ptolemaic possessionsin Asia Minorthey acted as benefactorsof the Greeksboth politicallyand culturally.40Thus they offered funding to the Achaean League and, as the Ptolemieshad done beforethem, they put up public buildingsin Athens,the famous Stoas of Attalusand Eumenes.41Again, therefore,there was the emphasison Athens.But theiremulation of the Ptolemieswent further than this, because they alsoset up theirown library and intellectualcentre at Pergamum.42They then proceededto try and poachAlexandrian scholars including the librarianof Alexandriahimself, Aristophanesof Byzantium,a man famous for his knowledgeof the Library'sorganization. The Ptolemiesreacted firmly to this;Aristophanes nevergot to Pergamum,but was put in prisonin Alexandriaand he stayed thereuntil he died.43The Ptolemiestook furthersteps to put a premature end to this new royallibrary. Their secret weapon in this culturalwar was their controlover the supplyof papyrus.Pliny the Eldertells us that the Ptolemiesbanned the export of papyrus;it is unclearwhether this only appliedto Pergamumor was a generalban or indeedwhether the whole affairhas been exaggerated.44This drasticmeasure failed to put an end to the PergameneLibrary which resorted to the use of animalskin instead. So by the secondcentury the AlexandrianLibrary was 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 previouslyunknown works by famous authors were much in demand.Each librarywanted something the other one did not possess. But the importantpoint is that these two kingdomswere competing with each other for prominence and prestige in the Greek world. And these

This content downloaded from 129.215.19.197 on Mon, 16 Dec 2013 05:40:29 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions CULTURE AND POWER IN PTOLEMAIC EGYPT 47 institutionsand theirsuccess were symbolsof the powerof the kingdoms. So their establishmentwas not a simpleacademic exercise but 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 Alexandrian Library and the OriginsofBibliography (Madison, Wisconsin, 1991, originallypublished in German, Frankfurt, 1977), M. El-Abbadi, The Life and Fate of the Ancient Libraryof Alexandria (Unesco, Paris, 1990), G. Weber,Dichtung und hofischeGesellschaft: die Rezeptionvon Zeitgeschichtean Hof der erstendrei 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),probably also Zoroaster(Pliny, N.H. 30.4), and Egyptian texts translated by 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. 312- 16 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, Arrian FGH 156 F.9.25, 10.1, Paus. 1.6.3.Octavian visited the body and accidentally knocked off part of the nose, Dio 51.16. 19. Fraser, op. cit. (n. 1), i. 215-19. 20. Arrian 1.1; C. Bradford Welles, '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 Greek World(London, 1984), pp. 112- 16. 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.

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27. Herod. 5.22, Dem. 9.31; E. Badian, 'Greeks and Macedonians' in B. Barr-Sharand E. N. Borza (edd.),Macedonia and Greecein LateClassical and Hellenistic Times (Washington, 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, TheShifting Sands of History:Interpretations of Ptolemaic Egypt (Lanham/New York, 1989), pp. 35-49. 30. Athen.5.197-203, FGH 627 F2; E. E. Rice The GrandProcession of PtolemyPhiladelphus (Oxford, 1983) with text. 31. On the role of animals, see K. M. Coleman, 'Ptolemy Philadelphus and the Roman amphi- theatre' 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, TheAthenian Agora, 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. 41. Achaea, Polyb. 22.1; Athens, J. M. Camp,CA-F TheAthenian Agora (London, 1992), pp. 172-5, Vitr. 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 Urbainczyk for help and comments.

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