Edinburgh Research Explorer 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. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/643071> Link: Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research Explorer Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Published In: Greece and Rome Publisher Rights Statement: © Erskine, A. (1995). Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: the Library and Museum of Alexandria. Greece and Rome, 42, 38-48 General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorer content complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 24. Sep. 2021 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 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . 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Cambridge University Press and The Classical Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Greece &Rome. http://www.jstor.org 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 addi- tion 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