The Library of Alexandria: Centre of Learning in the Ancient World

The Library of Alexandria: Centre of Learning in the Ancient World

"The Library of Alexandria explores one of the greatest cultural adornments of the late ancient world. The origins of the 'vanished library' of Alexandria lie in the distant echoes of the great library of Pisistratus in Athens, an institution which set the tone for establishing a dominant culture and inspired Alexander the Great to build a library of his own in his empire's most important city." "Roy MacLeod has here assembled an array of distinguished scholars to bring this great - tragically destroyed - institution back to life. They demonstrate how the contemporary reputation of its library helped Alexandria to become a point of convergence for Greek, Roman, Jewish and Syrian culture that drew scholars and statesmen from throughout the ancient world." "This is a wide-ranging and fascinating study for both scholars and general readers."--Jacket.

Roy MacLeod

London ; New York : I.B. Tauris

Introduction : Alexandria in history and myth / Roy MacLeod -- pt. 1. Alexandria in history and myth. Ch. 1. Before Alexandria : libraries in the Ancient Near East / D.T. Potts ; Ch. 2. Alexandria : the umbilicus of the ancient world / Wendy Brazil ; Ch. 3. Cloistered bookworms in the chicken-coop of the muses : the ancient library of Alexandria / Robert Barnes ; Ch. 4. Aristotle's works : the possible origins of the Alexandria collection / R.G. Tanner -- pt. 2. Scholarship in the Alexandrian manner. Ch. 5. Doctors in the library : the strange tale of Apollonius the bookworm and other stories / John Vallance ; Ch. 6. The theatre of Paphos and the theatre of Alexandria : some first thoughts / J.R. Green ; Ch. 7. Scholars and students in the Roman East / Samuel N.C. Lieu ; Ch. 8. The Neoplatonists and the mystery schools of the Mediterranean / Patricia Cannon Johnson ; Ch. 9. Alexandria and its Medieval legacy : the book, the monk and the rose / J.O. Ward.

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