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MusaeumThe original Musaeum or Temple of the Muses at ancient Alexandria was the source for the modern usage, which denoted in Early Modern France as much a community of scholars brought together under one roof as it did the collections themselves, which French and English writers referred to as a "cabinet" as in "a cabinet of curiosities." A catalogue of the 17th century collection of John Tradescant, which was the founding core of the Ashmolean Museum was published as Musaeum Tradescantianum: or, a Collection of Rarities. Preserved at South-Lambeth near London by John Tradescant, 1656.
The Musaeum at Alexandria, which included the famous Library of Alexandria, was an institution founded by the Ptolemies and under their patronage. More complete coverage is at Library of Alexandria.
References
- Canfora, Luciano, The Vanished Library: A Wonder of the Ancient World, 1987. The only modren history.
- Lee, "The Musaeum of Alexandria and the formation of the 'Museum' in eighteenth-century France," inThe Art Bulletin, September 1997
Muse
In Greek mythology, the Muses (Greek Μουσαι, Mousai) are nine archaic goddesses who embody the right evocation of myth, inspired through remembered and improvised song and traditional "music" and dances. They were water nymphs, associated with the springs of Helicon and Pieris. They are sometimes called Pierides from their association with the spring of Pieres. The Olympian system set Apollo as their leader, Apollon Mousagetes.
According to Hesiod's Theogony, they are the daughters of Zeus, king of the gods, and Mnemosyne, goddess of memory. For Alcman and Mimnermus, they were even more primordial, springing from Uranus and Gaia. Pausanias supports that there were two generations of Muses; the first being daughters of Uranus and Gaia, the second from Zeus and Mnemosyne. Another rarer belief is that they are daughters of Harmonia (the daughter of Aphrodite and Ares) which contradicts with the myth in which they were dancing in the marriage of Harmonia and Cadmus.
Compare the Roman inspiring nymphs of springs, the Camenae.
Muses in myth
According to Pausanias there were three original Muses: Aoide ("song", "voice"), Melete ("practice" or "occasion") and Mneme ("memory") (Paus. 9.29.1). Together, they form the complete picture of the preconditions of poetic art in cult practice. In Delphi three Muses were worshipped as well but with other names: Nete , Mesi and Hypate which are the names of the three chords of the ancient musical instrument lyre
In later tradition, the fourth Muse, Arche, was also considered.
The canonical nine Muses are:
- Calliope (epic poetry)
- Euterpe (music)
- Clio (history)
- Erato (lyrics/love poetry)
- Melpomene (tragedy)
- Polyhymnia (sacred poetry)
- Terpsichore (dancing)
- Thalia (comedy)
- Urania (astronomy)
Together, they form a complete picture of the subjects proper to poetic art in the archaic period. However, the association of specific muses with specific art forms is a later innovation.
In Roman, Renaissance and Neoclassical art, Muses depicted in sculptures or paintings are often distinguished by certain props or poses, as emblems.
Euterpe (music) carries a flute;
Calliope (epic poetry) carries a writing tablet;
Clio (history) carries a scroll and books;
Erato (lyric poetry) is often seen with a lyre and a crown of roses;
Melpomene (tragedy) is often seen with a tragic mask;
Polyhymnia (sacred poetry) is often seen with a pensive expression;
Terpsichore (dancing) is often seen dancing and carrying a lyre;
Thalia (comedy) is often seen with a comic mask; and
Urania (astronomy) carries a staff pointed at a celestial globe.
Function in Society
Greek mousa is a common noun as well as a type of goddess: it literally means "song" or "poem". In Pindar, to "carry a mousa" is "to sing a song". The word is probably derived from the Indo-European root
- men-, which is also the source of Greek Mnemosyne, Latin Minerva, and English "mind", "mental" and "memory".
The Muses were therefore both the embodiments and sponsors of performed metrical speech: mousike, whence "music"; was "the art of the Muses". In the archaic period, before the wide-spread availability of books, this included nearly all of learning: the first Greek book on astronomy, by Thales, was set in dactylic hexameter, as were many works of pre-Socratic philosophy; both Plato and the Pythagoreans explicitly included philosophy as a sub-species of mousike (Strabo 10.3.10). Herodotus, whose primary medium of delivery was public recitation, named each one of the nine books of his Histories after a different Muse.
For poet and "law-giver" Solon (fragment 13), the Muses were "the key to the good life"; since they brought both prosperity and friendship. Solon sought to perpetuate his political reforms by establishing recitations of his poetry—complete with invocations to his practical-minded Muses—by Athenian boys at festivals each year.
The Muses judged the contest between Apollo and Marsyas. They also gathered the pieces of the dead body of Orpheus, son of Calliope, and buried them. They blinded Thamyris for his hubris in challenging them to a contest.
Function in literature
The muses are typically invoked at or near the beginning of an epic poem or classical Greek story. They have served as aids to an author, or as the true speaker; for which an author is only a mouthpiece. Originally, the invocation of the Muse was an indication that the speaker was working inside the poetic tradition, according to the established formulae. Two classic examples :
:Homer, in Book I of "The Odyssey":
:"Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns
:driven time and again off course, once he had plundered
:the hallowed heights of Troy." (Robert Fagles translation, 1996)
:Dante Alighieri, in Canto II of The Inferno:
:O Muses, o high genius, aid me now!
:O memory that noted what I saw,
:Now shall your true nobility be seen!
Cults of the Muses
When Pythagoras arrived at Croton, his first advice to the Crotoniates was to build a shrine of the Muses at the center of the city, to promote civic harmony and learning.
Local cults of the Muses were often associated with springs or fountains. They were sometimes called Aganippids because of their association with a fountain called Aganippe. Other fountains, called Hippocrene and Pirene were also important to the Muses. The Muses were also occasionally referred to as "Corycides", or "Corycian nymphs" after a cave on Mount Parnassos, called the Corycian Cave.
The Muses were especially venerated in Boeotia, near Helicon, and in Delphi and the Parnassus, where Apollo became known as Mousagetes "Muse-leader".
Muse-worship was also often associated with the hero-cults of poets: the tombs of Archilochus on Thasos and Hesiod and Thamyris (whom they blinded) in Boeotia, all played host to festivals, in which poetic recitations were accompanied by sacrifices to the Muses.
The Library of Alexandria and its circle of scholars were formed around a mousaion ("museum" or shrine of the Muses) close by the tomb of Alexander the Great.
Many Enlightenment figures sought to re-establish a "Cult of the Muses" in the 18th century. A popular Masonic lodge in pre-Revolutionary Paris was called Neuf Soeurs ("nine sisters", i.e. nine Muses), and was attended by Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin. One side-effect of this movement was the use of the word "museum" (originally, "cult place of the Muses") to refer to a place for the public display of knowledge.
Miscellaneous
- The poet Sappho of Lesbos was paid the compliment of being called "the tenth Muse".
- The word muse may be used figuratively, to denote someone who inspires an artist.
- In New Orleans, nine streets are named after the Muses.
- The muses appear as co-narrators of the Disney movie Hercules and its spin-off series.
- Muses feature in the graphic novel The Sandman by Neil Gaiman.
Category:Arts goddessesCategory:Greek goddesses
ja:ムーサ
Alexandria
Located on the Mediterranean Sea coast, Alexandria (in Arabic, الإسكندرية, transliterated al-ʼIskandariyyah) is the chief seaport in Egypt, and that country's second largest city, and the capital of the Al Iskandariyah governate. It is located at , 208 km (129 miles) northwest of Cairo. The Canopic mouth of the Nile (now dry) was 19 km (12 miles) east, near the ancient city of Canopus. It has a population of approximately 3,723,000.
It was named after its founder, Alexander the Great, and as the seat of the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt quickly became one of the greatest cities of the Hellenistic world — second only to Rome in size and wealth throughout much of antiquity. However, upon the founding of Cairo by Egypt's mediæval Islamic rulers its status as the country's capital was ended, and it fell into a long decline, which by the late Ottoman period had seen it reduced to little more than a small fishing village.
Ottoman, was inaugurated in 2001]]
2001
History
The history of Alexandria covers four periods:
- The Ptolemaic era which starts with the founding of the city and ends with the arrival of the Romans (blue).
- The Roman era from 80 BC until the arrival of the Arabs in 641 (green).
- The Arab city from 641 until 1798 when Napoleon arrived (yellow).
- The modern city from 1798 (red).
Founding
Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in or around 334 BC (the exact date is disputed) as Ἀλεξάνδρεια (Aleksándreia; see also List of traditional Greek place names). Alexander's chief architect for the project was Deinocrates of Rhodes. Ancient accounts are extremely numerous and varied, and much influenced by subsequent developments. One of the more sober descriptions, given by the historian Arrian, tells how Alexander undertook to lay out the city's general plan, but lacking chalk or other means, resorted to sketching it out with grain. Alexander's seers, and in particular Aristander of Telmessus, interpreted this as an omen that the city would prosper, particularly in grain. Other authors make the omen not the grain itself, but the arrival of flocks of birds to eat it. In any case, the story explains Alexandria's role as the shipping-point for Egyptian grain, which fed the Hellenistic and Roman world.
A number of the more fantastic foundation myths are found in the Alexander Romance, and were picked up by mediæval Arab historians. The 14th century Arab historian Ibn Khaldun ridiculed one where sea-monsters prevent the foundation, but are thwarted when Alexander descends in a glass box, and armed with exact knowledge of their appearance, erects metal effigies on the beach which succeed in frightening the monsters away.
Alexandria was intended to supersede Naucratis as a Greek centre in Egypt, and to be the link between Greece and the rich Nile Valley. If such a city was to be on the Egyptian coast, there was only one possible site, behind the screen of the Pharos island and removed from the silt thrown out by Nile mouths. An Egyptian townlet, Rhacotis, already stood on the shore and was a resort of fishermen and pirates. Behind it there were five native villages scattered along the strip between Lake Mareotis and the sea, according to a history of Alexander attributed to the author known as pseudo-Callisthenes.
A few months after the foundation, Alexander left Egypt for the East and never returned to his city. His general, Ptolemy (later Ptolemy I of Egypt) succeeded in bringing Alexander's body to Alexandria, where it became a famous tourist destination for ancient travellers.
After Alexander departed, his viceroy, Cleomenes, continued the creation of Alexandria. The Heptastadion, however, and the mainland quarters seem to have been mainly Ptolemaic work. Inheriting the trade of ruined Tyre and becoming the centre of the new commerce between Europe and the Arabian and Indian East, the city grew in less than a generation to be larger than Carthage and in a century it was the largest city in the world; and for some centuries more it was second only to Rome. Nominally a free Greek city, Alexandria retained its senate to Roman times; and indeed the judicial functions of that body were restored by Septimius Severus, after temporary abolition by Augustus.
It was not only a center of Hellenism, but was also the greatest Jewish city in the world. There the Septuagint was produced. The early Ptolemies kept it in order and fostered the development of its museum into the leading Greek university but they were careful to maintain the distinction of its population into three nations, "Greek", Jew and Egyptian. One of the earliest inhabitants was the geometer and number-theorist Euclid. From this division arose much of the later turbulence which began to manifest itself under Ptolemy Philopater, who reigned 221–204 BC.
In ancient times, Alexandria was known for its lighthouse (one of the Seven Wonders of the World) and its library (the largest in the world). Ongoing maritime archaeology in the harbor of Alexandria, begun in 1994, is revealing details of the Alexandria of the Ptolemaic dynasty.
Roman jurisdiction
The city passed formally under Roman jurisdiction in 80 BC, according to the will of Ptolemy Alexander: but it had been under Roman influence for more than a hundred years previously. Julius Caesar dallied with Cleopatra in Alexandria in 47 BC and was mobbed by the rabble; his example was followed by Marc Antony, for whose favor the city paid dear to Octavian, who placed over it a prefect from the imperial household.
Alexandria seems from this time to have regained its old prosperity, commanding, as it did, an important granary of Rome; this fact, doubtless, was one of the chief reasons which induced Augustus to place it directly under imperial power. In AD 215 the emperor Caracalla visited the city; and, for some insulting satires that the inhabitants had directed at him, he abruptly commanded his troops to put to death all youths capable of bearing arms. This brutal order seems to have been carried out even beyond the letter, for a general massacre was the result.
Even as its main historical importance had formerly sprung from pagan learning, so now it acquired fresh importance as a centre of Christian theology and church government. There Arianism was formulated and there Athanasius, the great opponent of both Arianism and pagan reaction, triumphed over both, establishing the Patriarch of Alexandria as a major influence in Christianity for the next two centuries.
As native influences, however, began to reassert themselves in the Nile valley, Alexandria gradually became an alien city, more and more detached from Egypt; and, losing much of its commerce as the peace of the empire broke up during the 3rd century AD, it declined fast in population and splendour.
In the late 4th century, persecution of pagans by Christians had reached new levels of intensity. Temples and statues were destroyed throughout the Roman empire, pagan rituals forbidden under punishment of death, and libraries closed. In 391, Emperor Theodosius ordered the destruction of all pagan temples, and the Patriarch Theophilus, complied with this request. It is possible that the great Library of Alexandria was destroyed about this time.
The Brucheum and Jewish quarters were desolate in the 5th century, and the central monuments, the Soma and Museum, fallen to ruin. On the mainland, life seems to have centred in the vicinity of the Serapeum and Caesareum; both become Christian churches. The Pharos and Heptastadium quarters remained populous and intact.
In 616 it was taken by Khosrau II, king of Persia. Although the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius recovered it a few years later, in 640 the Arabians, under the general Amr ibn al-As, captured it for good after a siege that lasted fourteen months. The city received no aid from Constantinople during that time; Heraclius was dead and the new Emperor Constantine III was barely twelve years old. Notwithstanding the losses that the city had sustained, Amr was able to write to his master, the caliph Omar, that he had taken a city containing "4,000 palaces, 4,000 baths, 12,000 dealers in fresh oil, 12,000 gardeners, 40,000 Jews who pay tribute, 400 theatres or places of amusement."
After Amr
Shortly after its capture, Alexandria again fell into the hands of the Greeks, who took advantage of Amr's absence with the greater portion of his army. On hearing what had happened, however, Amr returned, and quickly regained possession of the city. About the year 646, Amr was deprived of his government by the caliph Uthman ibn Affan. Amr was greatly beloved by the Egyptians; they threatened such a revolt over this that the Greek emperor was determined to reduce Alexandria.
The attempt proved successful. The caliph, perceiving his mistake, immediately restored Amr, who, on his arrival in Egypt, drove the Greeks within the walls of Alexandria, but was only able to capture the city after a most obstinate resistance by the defenders. This so exasperated him that he completely demolished its fortifications, although he seems to have spared the lives of the inhabitants as far as lay in his power.
The city was for some time a center of the Mediterranean spice trade, receiving overland caravans of pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace and more from India and beyond, which were bought by European traders at enormously inflated prices. The locations of the source of these spices were carefully guarded by their Indian and Arabian merchants.
The building of Cairo in 969, and, above all, the discovery of the route to the East by the Cape of Good Hope in 1498, nearly ruined the commerce of Alexandria; the canal, which supplied it with Nile water, became blocked; and although it remained a principal Egyptian port, at which most European visitors in the Mamluk and Ottoman periods landed, we hear little of it until about the beginning of the 19th century.
Alexandria figured prominently in the military operations of Napoléon's Egyptian expedition of 1798. The French troops stormed the city on July 2 1798, and it remained in their hands until the arrival of the British expedition of 1801. The battle of Alexandria, fought on March 21 that year between the French and the British, took place near the ruins of Nicopolis, on the narrow spit of land between the sea and Lake Abukir.
During the anarchy which accompanied Ottoman rule in Egypt from first to last, Alexandria sank to a small town of about 4,000 inhabitants, and it owed its modern rennaissance solely to Mehemet Ali, who wanted a deep port and naval station for his viceregal domain. He restored its water communication with the Nile by making the Mahmudiya canal, finished in 1820; and he established at Ras et-Tin his favorite residence. The old Eunostus harbour became the port, and a flourishing city arose on the Pharos island and the Heptastadion district, with outlying suburbs and villa residences along the coast eastwards and the Mareotic shore.
Being the starting-point of the "overland route" to India, and the residence of the chief foreign consuls, it quickly acquired a European character and attracted not only French residents, but great numbers of Greeks, Jews and Syrians. There most of the negotiations between the powers and Mehemet Ali were conducted; from there started the Egyptian naval expeditions to Crete, the Morea and Syria; and thither sailed the betrayed Ottoman fleet in 1839. It was twice threatened by hostile fleets, the Greek in 1827 and the combined British, French and Russian squadrons in 1828.
The latter withdrew on the viceroy's promise that Ibrahim should evacuate the Morea. The fortifications were strengthened in 1841, and remained in an antiquated condition until 1882, when they were renovated by Arabi Pasha. Alexandria was connected with Cairo by railway in 1856.
Much favored by the earlier viceroys of Mehemet Ali's house, and removed from the Mameluke troubles, Alexandria was the real capital of Egypt until Said Pasha died there in 1863 and Ismail Pasha came into power. Though this prince continued to develop the city, giving it a municipality in 1861 and new harbour works in 1871–1878, he developed Cairo still more; and the center of gravity definitely shifted to the inland capital.
Bombardment of 1882
1882]]
Fate, however, again brought Alexandria to the front. After a mutiny of soldiers there in 1881, the town was greatly excited by the arrival of an Anglo-French fleet in May 1882, and on June 11 a terrible riot and massacre took place, resulting in the death of four hundred Europeans.
Since satisfaction was not given for this and the forts were being strengthened at the instigation of Arabi Pasha, the war minister, the British admiral, Sir Frederick Beauchamp Seymour (afterwards Lord Alcester), sent an ultimatum on July 10 and opened fire on the forts the next day. They were demolished, but as no troops were landed immediately a fresh riot and massacre ensued.
As Arabi did not submit, a British military expedition landed at Alexandria on August 10, following which the British engaged in the occupation of the whole country.
Under British control
August 10]
Alexandria has greatly expanded since then. As the British consular report for 1904 stated, "Building … for residential and other purposes proceeds with almost feverish rapidity. The cost of living has doubled and the price of land has risen enormously."
More Greeks continued to settle the city, establishing financial and cultural centres. The Greek poet Constantine Cavafy was born and lived here.
British occupied Alexandria developed into a major Royal Navy base, with the strategic Suez Canal to the east. During Second World War and the North Africa Campaign of 1940–1943 The decisive Battles of El Alamein were fought to its west.
The Egyptian military coup of 1952 saw the destruction of the Egyptian monarchy and British protectorate status. Colonel Nasser took power and the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1954 made provision for the withdrawal of British troops. The numbers of the city's foreign population have dwindled ever since. A small Greek community, however, remains to this day.
The film Ice Cold in Alex would later be set here.
Geography
Ice Cold in Alex
Layout of the ancient city
The Greek Alexandria was divided into three regions:
#The Jews' quarter, forming the northeast portion of the city;
#Rhacotis, on the west, occupied chiefly by Egyptians;
#Brucheum, the Royal or Greek quarter, forming the most magnificent portion of the city.
In Roman times Brucheum was enlarged by the addition of an official quarter, making up four regions in all. The city was laid out as a grid of parallel streets, each of which had an attendant subterranean canal.
Two main streets, lined with colonnades and said to have been each about 60 metres (200 feet) wide, intersected in the centre of the city, close to the point where rose the Sema (or Soma) of Alexander (his Mausoleum). This point is very near the present mosque of Nebi Daniel; and the line of the great east–west "Canopic" street only slightly diverged from that of the modern Boulevard de Rosette. Traces of its pavement and canal have been found near the Rosetta Gate, but better remains of streets and canals were exposed in 1899 by German excavators outside the east fortifications, which lie well within the area of the ancient city.
Alexandria consisted originally of little more than the island of Pharos, which was joined to the mainland by a mole nearly a mile long (1240 m) and called the Heptastadion ("seven stadia" — a stadium was a Greek unit of length measuring approximately 180m). The end of this abutted on the land at the head of the present Grand Square, where rose the "Moon Gate". All that now lies between that point and the modern Ras et-Tin quarter is built on the silt which gradually widened and obliterated this mole. The Ras et-Tin quarter represents all that is left of the island of Pharos, the site of the actual lighthouse having been weathered away by the sea. On the east of the mole was the Great Harbour, now an open bay; on the west lay the port of Eunostos, with its inner basin Kibotos, now vastly enlarged to form the modern harbour.
In Strabo's time, (latter half of 1st century BC) the principal buildings were as follows, enumerated as they were to be seen from a ship entering the Great Harbour.
#The Royal Palaces, filling the northeast angle of the town and occupying the promontory of Lochias, which shut in the Great Harbour on the east. Lochias (the modern Pharillon) has almost entirely disappeared into the sea, together with the palaces, the "Private Port" and the island of Antirrhodus. There has been a land subsidence here, as throughout the northeast coast of Africa.
#The Great Theatre, on the modern Hospital Hill near the Ramleh station. This was used by Caesar as a fortress, where he stood a siege from the city mob after the battle of Pharsalus
#The Poseideion, or Temple of the Sea God, close to the Theatre
#The Timonium built by Mark Antony
#The Emporium (Exchange)
#The Apostases (Magazines)
#The Navalia (Docks), lying west of the Timonium, along the sea-front as far as the mole
#Behind the Emporium rose the Great Caesareum, by which stood the two great obelisks, each later known as "Cleopatra's Needle," and now removed to New York City and London. This temple became in time the Patriarchal Church, some remains of which have been discovered; but the actual Caesareum, so far as not eroded by the waves, lies under the houses lining the new sea-wall.
#The Gymnasium and the Palaestra are both inland, near the Boulevard de Rosette in the eastern half of the town; sites unknown.
#The Temple of Saturn; site unknown.
#The Mausolea of Alexander (Soma) and the Ptolemies in one ring-fence, near the point of intersection of the two main streets
#The Musaeum with its famous Library and theatre in the same region; site unknown.
#The Serapeum, the most famous of all Alexandrian temples. Strabo tells us that this stood in the west of the city; and recent discoveries go far to place it near "Pompey's Pillar" which, however, was an independent monument erected to commemorate Diocletian's siege of the city.
The names of a few other public buildings on the mainland are known, but there is no information as to their position.
On the eastern point of the Pharos island stood the Great Lighthouse, one of the "Seven Wonders," reputed to be 138 meters (450 feet) high. The first Ptolemy began it, and the second completed it, at a total cost of 800 talents. It took 12 years to construct. It is the prototype of all lighthouses in the world. The light was produced by a furnace at the top. It was built mostly with solid blocks of limestone. The Pharos lighthouse was destroyed by an earthquake.
A temple of Hephaestus also stood on Pharos at the head of the mole. In the Augustan age the population of Alexandria was estimated at 300,000 free citizes, in addition to an immense number of women, freedmen, children and slaves. The total population has been estimated to range from 500,000 to over 1,000,000 people.
The modern city
Augustan
Augustan
The city is built on the strip of land which separates the Mediterranean from Lake Mareotis (Mariout), and on a T-shaped peninsula which forms harbors east and west. The stem of the T was originally a mole (breakwater) leading to the island of Pharos which formed the cross-piece. In the course of centuries this mole has been silted up and is now an isthmus half a mile wide. On it a part of the modern city is built. The cape at the western end of the peninsula is Ras et-Tin (Cape of Figs); the eastern cape is known as Pharos or Kait Bey. South of the town — between it and Lake Mareotis — runs the Mahmudiya canal, which enters the western harbour by a series of locks.
isthmus
The Place Mehemet Ali, usually called the Grand Square, is an oblong open space, tree-lined, in the center of which there is an equestrian statue of the ruler after whom it is named. The square is faced with handsome buildings mainly in the Italian style. The most important are the law courts, exchange, Ottoman bank, English church and the Abbas Hilmi theatre.
theatre
On the Ras et-Tin promontory, overlooking the harbour, is the khedivial yacht club (built 1903) and the palace, also called Ras et-Tin, built by Mehemet Ali. In the district between the Grand Square and the western harbour, one of the poorest quarters of the city, is an open space with Fort Caffareli or Napoleon in the center.
A major new library and cultural complex, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, was recently built with the help of the United Nations. The original library contained authentic books from the time of Cleopatra but they were later burned when the library was destroyed.
The predominant languages spoken, besides the Arabic of the natives, are Greek, French, English and Italian.
Alexandria is served by a network of trams traveling east and west roughly parallel to the Corniche, or sea wall.
Ancient remains
Corniche
Very little of the ancient city has survived into the present day. Much of the royal and civic quarter has sunk beneath the harbour due to earthquake subsidence, and much of the rest has been built upon in modern times. "Pompey's Pillar" is the most well-known ancient monument still standing. It is located on Alexandria's ancient acropolis — a modest hill located adjacent to the city's Arab cemetery — and was originally part of a temple colonnade. Including its pedestal it is 30m (99 feet) high; the shaft is of polished red granite, roughly three meters in diameter at the base, tapering to two and a half meters at the top. It has, however, nothing to do with Pompey, having been erected in AD 293 for Diocletian. Beneath the acropolis itself are the subterranean remains of the Serapeum, where the mysteries of the god Serapis were enacted, and whose carved wall niches are believed to have provided overflow storage space for the ancient Library.
Alexandria's catacombs, known as "Kom al Sukkfa" are a short distance southwest of the pillar, consist of a multi-level labyrinth, reached via a large spiral staircase, and featuring dozens of chambers adorned with sculpted pillars, statues, and other syncretic Romano-Egyptian religious symbols, burial niches and sarcophagi, as well as a large Roman-style banquet room, where memorial meals were conducted by relatives of the deceased.
The most extensive ancient excavation currently being conducted in Alexandria is known as "Kom al Dikka", and it has revealed the ancient city's well-preserved theatre, and the remains of its Roman-era baths.
Antiquities
Persistent efforts have been made to explore the antiquities of Alexandria. Encouragement and help have been given by the local Archaeological Society, and by many individuals, notably Greeks justly proud of a city which is one of the glories of their national history.
The past and present directors of the museum have been enabled from time to time to carry out systematic excavations when opportunity offered; Mr D.G.Hogarth made tentative researches on behalf of the Egypt Exploration Fund and the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies in 1895; and a German expedition worked for two years (1898–1899). But two difficulties face the would-be excavator in Alexandria.
First, since the great and growing modern city stands right over the ancient one, it is almost impossible to find any considerable space in which to dig, except at enormous cost. Second, the general subsidence of the coast has sunk the lower-lying parts of the ancient town under water.
Unfortunately the spaces still most open are the low grounds to northeast and southwest, where it is practically impossible to get below the Roman strata.
The most important results were those achieved by Dr G Botti, late director of the museum, in the neighbourhood of "Pompey's Pillar," where there is a good deal of open ground. Here substructures of a large building or group of buildings have been exposed, which are perhaps part of the Serapeum. Hard by immense catacombs and columbaria have been opened which may have been appendages of the temple. These contain one very remarkable vault with curious painted reliefs, now lighted by electricity and shown to visitors.
The objects found in these researches are in the museum, the most notable being a great basalt bull, probably once an object of cult in the Serapeum. Other catacombs and tombs have been opened in Kore es-Shugafa Hadra (Roman) and Ras et-Tin (painted).
The Germans found remains of a Ptolemaic colonnade and streets in the north-east of the city, but little else. Mr Hogarth explored part of an immense brick structure under the mound of Kom ed-Dik, which may have been part of the Paneum, the Mausolea or a Roman fortress.
The making of the new foreshore led to the dredging up of remains of the Patriarchal Church; and the foundations of modern buildings are seldom laid without some objects of antiquity being discovered. The wealth underground is doubtless immense; but, despite all efforts, there is not much for antiquarians to see in Alexandria outside the museum and the neighbourhood of "Pompey's Pillar." The native tomb-robbers, well-sinkers, dredgers and the like, however, come upon valuable objects from time to time, which find their way into private collections.
External links
- [http://www.alex4all.com/english/cat.php Alex4All]
- [http://wikitravel.org/en/article/Alexandria Wikitravel: Alexandria]
- http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/Alexandria/index.html
- [http://www.sevenwondersworld.com/wonders_of_world_lighthouse_alexandria.html Seven Wonders of the world: Lighthouse of Alexandria]
- [http://www.unesco.org/csi/pub/source/alex5.htm Mostafa el-Abbadi on the pivotal place of Alexandria in Greek and Roman era trade networks]
- [http://st-takla.org/Alexandria-1.html More about Alexandria.. past and present at St Takla Church - Alex. website]
Category:Cities in Egypt
Category:Roman legions camps
Category:World Book Capital
Category:Hellenistic colonies
ja:アレクサンドリア
John TradescantTwo John Tradescants, father and son, were among the earliest English botanists and plantsmen, travellers, collectors and all around polymaths.
John Tradescant the elder (ca 1570s - 15/16 April, 1638) was an English naturalist, gardener, collector and traveller, probably born in Suffolk, England. He began his career as head gardener to the Earl of Salisbury at Hatfield House, who initiated Tradescant in travelling by sending him to the Low Countries for fruit trees. Later, Tradescant was gardener to the royal favorite George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. John Tradescant travelled to Arctic Russia in 1618, to the Levant and to Algiers, collecting seeds and bulbs everywhere and assembling a collection of curiosities of natural history and ethnography housed in a large house -- "The Ark" -- in Lambeth, London. The Ark was the prototypical "Cabinet of Curiosity" or Kunst- und Wunderkammer[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kuns/hd_kuns.htm], a collection of rare and strange objects, that became the first museum open to the public in England, the Musaeum Tradescantianum. From their botanical garden in Lambeth, on the south bank of the Thames, he and his son, John, introduced many plants into English gardens that have become part of the modern gardener's repertory. A genus of plants (Tradescantia) is named to honour him.
His son, John Tradescant the Younger (1608 - 1662), botanist and gardener, born in Meopham, Kent, made three trips to Virginia between 1637 and 1662 to collect plants. Among the seeds he brought back, to introduce to English gardens were great American trees, like Magnolias, Bald Cypress and Tulip tree, and garden plants such phlox and asters. He also added to the cabinet of curiosities his American acquisitions such as the ceremonial cloak of Chief Powhatan, one of the most important Native American relics. When his father died, he succeeded as head gardener to Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria, making gardens at the Queen's House, Greenwich, designed by Inigo Jones, from 1638 to 1642, when the queen fled the Civil War. He published the contents of his father's celebrated collection as Musaeum Tradescantianum-- books, coins, weapons, costumes, taxidermy, and other curiosities-- dedicating the first edition to the Royal College of Physicians (with whom he was negotiating for the transfer of his botanic garden), and the second edition to the recently-restored Charles II. Tradescant bequeathed his library and museum (or some say it was swindled) to Elias Ashmole (1617 - 1692), whose name it bears as the core of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford where the Tradescant collections remain largely intact. For this Tradescant, the standard botanical author abbreviation Trad. is applied to species he described.
Tradescant father and son were buried in the churchyard of St-Mary-at-Lambeth which is now established as the Museum of Garden History.
They are the subjects of two novels by Philippa Gregory, Earthly Joys and its sequel Virgin Earth.
The Tradescant collection is the earliest major English Cabinet of Curiosities. Other famous collections in Europe preceded it, for example Emperor Rudolf II's Kunst- und Wunderkammer was well-established at Prague by the end of the 16th Century.
References
- Prudence Leith-Ross, The John Tradescants: Gardeners to the Rose and Lily Queen 1984. ISBN 0720606128 Sounder than its title suggests.
- Arthur MacGregor (Editor), Tradescant's Rarities: Essays on the Foundation of the Ashmolean Museum 1983. ISBN 0198134053
External link
- [http://www.ashmol.ox.ac.uk/ash/amulets/tradescant/ Tradescant Collection at the Ashmolean Museum]
Tradescant, John
Tradescant, John
Tradescant, John
Tradescant, John
Tradescent, John
Library of Alexandria
The Royal Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt was once the largest in the world. It is usually assumed to have been founded at the beginning of the 3rd century BC, during the reign of Ptolemy II of Egypt, after Ptolemy's father had set up the temple of the Muses—the Musaeum (whence we get museum).
The initial organization of the library, believed to have stored 400,000 to 700,000 parchment scrolls at its peak, is attributed to Demetrius Phalereus. The library was destroyed by fire, but though there are a number of competing legends about when and how this happened and the truth remains unknown.
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina was inaugurated in 2003, near the site of the old library.
Overview
One story holds that the Library was seeded with Aristotle's own private collection, through one of his students, Demetrius Phalereus. Another story concerns how its collection grew so large: By decree of Ptolemy III of Egypt, all visitors to the city were required to surrender all books and scrolls in their possession; these writings were then swiftly copied by official scribes. The originals were put into the Library, and the copies were delivered to the previous owners. While encroaching on the rights of the traveler or merchant, it also helped to create a reservoir of books in the relatively new city.
The Library's contents were likely distributed over several buildings, with the main library either located directly attached to or close to the oldest building, the Museum, and a daughter library in the younger Serapeum, also a temple dedicated to the god Serapis. Carlton Welch provides the following description of the main library based on the existing historical records:
:A covered marble colonnade connected the Museum with an adjacent stately building, also in white marble and stone, architecturally harmonious, indeed forming an integral part of the vast pile, dedicated to learning by the wisdom of the first Ptolemy in following the advice and genius of Demetrios of Phaleron. This was the famous Library of Alexandria, the "Mother" library of the Museum, the Alexandriana, truly the foremost wonder of the ancient world. Here in ten great Halls, whose ample walls were lined with spacious armaria, numbered and titled, were housed the myriad manuscripts containing the wisdom, knowledge, and information, accumulated by the genius of the Hellenic peoples. Each of the ten Halls was assigned to a separate department of learning embracing the assumed ten divisions of Hellenic knowledge as may have been found in the Catalogue of Callimachus of Greek Literature in the Alexandrian Library, the farfamed Pinakes. The Halls were used by the scholars for general research, although there were smaller separate rooms for individuals or groups engaged in special studies.
In 2004 a Polish-Egyptian team claimed to have discovered a part of the library while excavating in the Bruchion region. The archaeologists claimed to have found thirteen "lecture halls", each with a central podium. Zahi Hawass, president of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said that all together, the rooms uncovered so far could have seated 5000 students.
Destruction of the Great Library
One of the reasons so little is known about the Library is that it was lost centuries after its creation. All that is left of many of the volumes are tantalizing titles that hint at all the history lost from the building's destruction. Few events in ancient history are as controversial as the destruction of the Library, as the historical record is both contradictory and incomplete. Not surprisingly, the Great Library became a symbol for knowledge itself, and its destruction was attributed to those who were portrayed as ignorant barbarians, often for purely political reasons.
Much of the debate rests on a different understanding of what constituted the actual Library. Large parts of the Library were likely decentralized, so it is appropriate also to speak of the "Alexandrian libraries." Both the Serapeum, a temple and daughter library, and the Museum itself existed until about AD 400. Only if one believes the Museum to be distinct from the Great Library, an event of destruction prior to that point becomes plausible.
One account of such an event of destruction concerns Julius Caesar. During his invasion of Alexandria in 48 BC–47 BC, Caesar set the enemy fleet in the harbor on fire. Some historians believe that this fire spread into the city and destroyed the entire library. While this interpretation is now a minority view, it is based on several ancient sources, all of which were written at least about 150 years after the destruction supposedly took place. Edward Parsons has analyzed the Caesar theory in his book The Alexandrian Library and summarizes the sources as follows:
A final summary is interesting: of the 16 writers, 10—Caesar himself, the author of The Alexandrian War, Cicero, Strabo, Livy (as far as we know), Lucan, Florus, Suetonius, Appian, and even Athenaeus—apparently knew nothing of the burning of the Museum, of the library, or of books during Caesar's visit to Egypt; and six tell of the incident as follows:
#Seneca (AD 49), the first writer to mention it (and that nearly 100 years after the alleged event), definitely says that 40,000 books were burned.
#Plutarch (c. 117) says that the fire destroyed the great Library.
#Aulus Gellius (123–169) says that during the "sack" of Alexandria 700,000 volumes were all burned.
#Dio Cassius (155–235) says that storehouses containing grain and books were burned, and that these books were of great number and excellence.
#Ammianus Marcellinus (390) says that in the "sack" of the city 70,000 volumes were burned.
#Orosius (c. 415), the last writer, singularly confirms Seneca as to number and the thing destroyed: 40,000 books.
Of all the sources, Plutarch is the only one to refer explicitly to the destruction of the Library. Plutarch was also the first writer to refer to Caesar by name. Ammianus Marcellinus' account seems to be directly based on Aulus Gellius because the wording is almost the same.
The majority of ancient historians, even those strongly politically opposed to Caesar, give no account of the alleged massive disaster. Cecile Orru argued in Antike Bibliotheken (2002, edited by Wolfgang Höpfner) that Caesar could not have destroyed the Library because it was located in the royal quarter of the city, where Caesar's troops were fortified after the fire (which would not have been possible if the fire had spread to that location).
Furthermore, the Library was a very large stone building and the scrolls were stored away in armaria (and some of them put in capsules), so it is hard to see how a fire in the harbor could have affected a significant part of its contents. Lastly, modern archaeological finds have confirmed an extensive ancient water supply network which covered the major parts of the city, including, of course, the royal quarter.
The destruction of the library is attributed by some historians to a period of civil war in the late 3rd century AD — but we know that the Museum, which was adjacent to the library, survived until the 4th century. There are also allegations dating to medieval times that claim that Caliph Omar, during an invasion in the 7th century, ordered the Library to be destroyed, but these claims are generally regarded as a Christian attack on Muslims, and include many indications of fabrication, such as the claim that the contents of the Library took six months to burn in Alexandria's public baths. The legend of Caliph Omar's destruction of the library provides the classical example of a dilemma: Omar is reported to have said that if the books of the library did not contain the teachings of the Qur'an, they were useless and should be destroyed; if the books did contain the teachings of the Qur'an, they were superfluous and should be destroyed.
Evidence for the existence of the Library after Caesar
As noted above, it is generally accepted that the Museum of Alexandria existed until c. AD 400, and if the Museum and the Library are considered to be largely identical or attached to one another, earlier accounts of destruction could only concern a small number of books stored elsewhere. This is consistent with the number given by Seneca, much smaller than the overall volume of books in the Library. So under this interpretation it is plausible that, for example, books stored in a warehouse near the harbor were accidentally destroyed by Caesar, and that larger numbers cited in some works have to be considered unreliable -- misinterpretations by the medieval monks who preserved these works through the Middle Ages, or deliberate forgeries.
400]
Even if one considers the Museum and the Library to be very much separate, there is considerable evidence that the Library continued to exist after the alleged destruction. Plutarch, who claimed the Great Library was destroyed (150 years after the alleged incident), in Life of Antony describes the later transfer of the second largest library to Alexandria by Mark Antony as a gift to Cleopatra. He quotes Calvisius as claiming "that [Mark Antony] had given her the library of Pergamus, containing two hundred thousand distinct volumes", although he himself finds Calvisius' claims hard to believe. In "Einführung in die Überlieferungsgeschichte" (1994, p. 39), Egert Pöhlmann cites further expansions of the Alexandrian libraries by Caesar Augustus (in the year AD 12) and Claudius (AD 41-54). Even if the most extreme allegations against Caesar were true, this raises the question of what happened to these volumes.
The continued existence of the Library is also supported by an ancient inscription found in the early 20th century, dedicated to Tiberius Claudius Balbillus of Rome (d. AD 56). As noted in the "Handbuch der Bibliothekswissenschaft" (Georg Leyh, Wiesbaden 1955):
:"We have to understand the office which Ti. Claudius Balbillus held [...], which included the title 'supra Museum et ab Alexandrina bibliotheca', to have combined the direction of the Museum with that of the united libraries, as an academy."
Athenaeus (c. AD 200) wrote in detail in the Deipnosophistae about the wealth of Ptolemy II (309-246 BC) and the type and number of his ships. When it came to the Library and Museum, he wrote: "Why should I now have to point to the books, the establishment of libraries and the collection in the Museum, when this is in every man's memory?" Given the context of his statement, and the fact that the Museum still existed at the time, it is clear that Athenaeus cannot have referred to any event of destruction -- he considered both facilities to be so famous that it was not necessary for him to describe them in detail. We must therefore conclude that at least some of the Alexandrian libraries were still in operation at the time.
Destruction of the pagan temples by Theophilus
In the late 4th century, persecution of pagans by Christians had reached new levels of intensity. Temples and statues were destroyed throughout the Roman Empire, pagan rituals forbidden under punishment of death, and libraries closed. In 391, Emperor Theodosius ordered the destruction of all pagan temples, and Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria complied with this request. Socrates Scholasticus provides the following account of the destruction of the temples in Alexandria:
Socrates Scholasticus
:"Demolition of the Idolatrous Temples at Alexandria, and the Consequent Conflict between the Pagans and Christians."
:"At the solicitation of Theophilus bishop of Alexandria the emperor issued an order at this time for the demolition of the heathen temples in that city; commanding also that it should be put in execution under the direction of Theophilus. Seizing this opportunity, Theophilus exerted himself to the utmost to expose the pagan mysteries to contempt. And to begin with, he caused the Mithreum to be cleaned out, and exhibited to public view the tokens of its bloody mysteries. Then he destroyed the Serapeum, and the bloody rites of the Mithreum he publicly caricatured; the Serapeum also he showed full of extravagant superstitions, and he had the phalli of Priapus carried through the midst of the forum. [...] Thus this disturbance having been terminated, the governor of Alexandria, and the commander-in-chief of the troops in Egypt, assisted Theophilus in demolishing the heathen temples. These were therefore razed to the ground, and the images of their gods molten into pots and other convenient utensils for the use of the Alexandrian church; for the emperor had instructed Theophilus to distribute them for the relief of the poor. All the images were accordingly broken to pieces, except one statue of the god before mentioned, which Theophilus preserved and set up in a public place; 'Lest,' said he, 'at a future time the heathens should deny that they had ever worshiped such gods.'"
The Serapeum housed part of the Library, but it is not known how many books were contained in it at the time of destruction. Notably, Paulus Orosius admitted in his History against the pagans: "[T]oday there exist in temples book chests which we ourselves have seen, and, when these temples were plundered, these, we are told, were emptied by our own men in our time, which, indeed, is a true statement." Some or all of the books may have been taken, but any books left in the Serapeum at the time would have been destroyed when it was razed to the ground.
As for the Museum, Mostafa El-Abbadi writes in Life and Fate of the ancient Library of Alexandria (Paris 1992):
:"The Mouseion, being at the same time a 'shrine of the Muses', enjoyed a degree of sanctity as long as other pagan temples remained unmolested. Synesius of Cyrene, who studied under Hypatia at the end of the fourth century, saw the Mouseion and described the images of the philosophers in it. We have no later reference to its existence in the fifth century. As Theon, the distinguished mathematician and father of Hypatia, herself a renowned scholar, was the last recorded scholar-member (c. 380), it is likely that the Mouseion did not long survive the promulgation of Theodosius' decree in 391 to destroy all pagan temples in the City."
Conclusions
There is a growing consensus among historians that the Library of Alexandria likely suffered from several destructive events, but that the destruction of Alexandria's pagan temples in the late 4th century was probably the most severe and final one. The evidence for that destruction is the most definitive and secure. Caesar's invasion may well have led to the loss of some 40,000-70,000 scrolls in a warehouse adjacent to the port (as Luciano Canfora argues, they were likely copies produced by the Library intended for export), but it is unlikely to have affected the Library or Museum, given that there is ample evidence that both existed later.
Civil wars, decreasing investments in maintenance and acquisition of new scrolls and generally declining interest in non-religious pursuits likely contributed to a reduction in the body of material available in the Library, especially in the fourth century. The Serapeum was certainly destroyed by Theophilus in 391, and the Museum and Library may have fallen victim to the same campaign.
Other libraries of the ancient world
- The libraries of Ugarit (in modern Syria), ca 1200 BC, include diplomatic archives, literary works and the earliest privately-owned libraries yet recovered.
- The library of King Ashurbanipal, in Nineveh (near modern Mosul, Iraq)— Considered to be "the first systematically collected library", it was rediscovered in the 19th century. While the library had been destroyed, many fragments of the ancient cuneiform tables survived, and have been reconstructed. Large portions of the Epic of Gilgamesh were among the many finds.
- The Villa of the Papyri, in Herculaneum, Italy— The only library known to have survived from classical antiquity, this villa's large private collection may have once belonged to Julius Caesar's father-in-law, Lucius Calpurnius Piso. Buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed the town in 79 AD. Rediscovered in 1752, around 1800 carbonized scrolls were found in the villa's top storey. Using modern techniques such as multi-spectral imaging, previously illegible or invisible sections on scrolls that have been unrolled are now being deciphered. It is possible that more scrolls remain to be found in the lower, unexcavated levels of the villa.
- At Pergamum (in what is now Turkey), the Attalid kings formed the second best Hellenistic library after Alexandria, founded in emulation of the Ptolemies. When the Ptolemies stopped exporting papyrus, partly because of competitors and partly because of shortages, the Pergamenes invented a new substance to use in codices, called pergamum or parchment after the city. This was made of fine calfskin, a predecessor of vellum and paper.
- Caesarea Palaestina, located in present-day Israel, had a great early Christian library. Through Origen and the scholarly priest Pamphilus, the theological school of Caesarea won a reputation for having the most extensive ecclesiastical library of the time, containing more than 30,000 manuscripts: Gregory, Basil the Great, Jerome and others came to study there.
- The great seats of learning in ancient India, namely Takshasila, Nalanda, Vikramashila, Kanchi and other universities also maintained vast libraries of palm leaf manuscripts of various subjects, ranging from theology to astronomy.
The Library in Modern Fiction
The Library of Alexandria was included as a card in the "Arabian Nights" expansion of the popular role-playing game Magic: The Gathering. The artwork on the card was done by artist Mark Poole. The card is somewhat popular and very expensive in the Magic universe.
The Great Library can be built as a World Wonder in the Civilization series of turn-based strategy computer games. Its effects are different in each game of the series.
References
- Alexander Stille: The Future of the Past (chapter: "The Return of the Vanished Library"). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002. 246-273.
- [http://www.ub.uni-konstanz.de/fi/ger/alexandria-aftermath.pdf Uwe Jochum, "The Alexandrian Library and its aftermath"] from Library History vol 15 (1999), pp 5-12.
- Edward Parsons: The Alexandrian Library. London, 1952. [http://www.humanist.de/rome/alexandria/alex2.html Relevant online excerpt].
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External links
- Ellen N. Brundige: [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/GreekScience/Students/Ellen/Museum.html "The Library of Alexandria"]
- Christian historian James Hannam analyzes the fall of the library and finds Christians not responsible http://www.bede.org.uk/library.htm
- Researcher of Christian origins and biblical history Kenneth Humphreys analyzes the destruction of the library and, along with the renowned scholar of the Roman Empire Edward Gibbon, concludes that it was the Christians' fault, specifically Bishop Theophilus. http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/hypatia.html
- [http://www.bibalex.org/ Bibliotheca Alexandrina]
- [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/malexanderlibrary.html The Straight Dope] What happened to the great library of Alexandria?
ja:アレクサンドリア図書館
Category:Defunct libraries
Category:Ancient Egypt
Category:Former buildings and structures of Egypt
Ptolemies
The Ptolemaic dynasty was a Greek royal family which ruled over Egypt for nearly 300 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC.
Ptolemy, a Macedonian and one of Alexander the Great's generals, was appointed satrap of Egypt after Alexander's death in 323 BC. In 305 BC he declared himself King Ptolemy I, later known as "Soter" (saviour). The Egyptians soon accepted the Ptolemies as the successors to the pharaohs of independent Egypt. Ptolemy's family ruled Egypt until the Roman conquest of 30 BC.
All the male rulers of the dynasty took the name Ptolemy. Ptolemaic queens, some of whom were the sisters of their husbands, were usually called Cleopatra, Arsinoe or Berenice. (Hence the history of Ptolemaic Egypt can be confusing for novice readers.) The most famous member of the line was the last queen, Cleopatra VII, known for her role in the Roman political battles between Julius Caesar and Pompey, and later between Octavian and Mark Antony. Her suicide at the conquest by Rome marked the end of Ptolemaic rule in Egypt.
Ptolemaic rulers and consorts
The dates in brackets are regnal dates for the kings. They frequently ruled jointly with their wives, who were often also their sisters. Several queens exercised regal authority, but the most famous and successful was Cleopatra VII (51 BC-30 BC), with her two brothers and her son as successive nominal co-rulers. Several systems exist for numbering the later rulers; the one used here is the one most widely used by modern scholars. Dates are years of reign.
- Ptolemy I Soter (305 BC-282 BC) married first (probably) Thais, secondly Artakama, thirdly Eurydice and finally Berenice I
- Ptolemy II Philadelphus (284 BC-246 BC) married Arsinoe I, then Arsinoe II Philadelphus; ruled jointly with Ptolemy the Son (267 BC-259 BC)
- Ptolemy III Euergetes (246 BC-222 BC) married Berenice II
- Ptolemy IV Philopator (222 BC-204 BC) married Arsinoe III
- Ptolemy V Epiphanes (204 BC-180 BC) married Cleopatra I
- Ptolemy VI Philometor (180 BC-164 BC, 163 BC-145 BC) married Cleopatra II, briefly ruled jointly with Ptolemy Eupator in 152 BC
- Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator (never reigned)
- Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II (Physcon) (170 BC-163 BC, 145 BC-116 BC) married Cleopatra II then Cleopatra III; temporarily expelled from Alexandria by Cleopatra II between 131 BC and 127 BC, reconciled with her in 124 BC.
- Cleopatra II Philometora Soteira (131 BC-127 BC), in opposition to Ptolemy VIII
- Cleopatra III Philometor Soteira Dikaiosyne Nikephoros (Kokke) (116 BC-101 BC) ruled jointly with Ptolemy IX (116 BC-107 BC) and Ptolemy X (107 BC-101 BC)
- Ptolemy IX Soter II (Lathyros) (116 BC-107 BC, 88 BC-81 BC as Soter II) married Cleopatra IV then Cleopatra Selene; ruled jointly with Cleopatra III in his first reign
- Ptolemy X Alexander I (107 BC-88 BC) married Cleopatra Selene then Berenice III; ruled jointly with Cleopatra III till 101 BC
- Berenice III Philopator (81 BC-80 BC)
- Ptolemy XI Alexander II (80 BC) married and ruled jointly with Berenice III before murdering her; ruled alone for 19 days after that.
- Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos (Auletes) (80 BC-58 BC, 55 BC-51 BC) married Cleopatra V
- Cleopatra V Tryphaena (58 BC-57 BC) ruled jointly with Berenice IV Epiphaneia (58 BC-55 BC)
- Cleopatra VII Thea Neotera (51 BC-30 BC) ruled jointly with Ptolemy XIII (51 BC-47 BC), Ptolemy XIV (47 BC-44 BC) and Ptolemy XV Caesarion (44 BC-30 BC).
- Arsinoe IV (48 BC-47 BC) in opposition to Cleopatra VII
Simplified Ptolemaic family tree
Many of the relationships shown in this tree are controversial. The issues are fully discussed in the external links.
Cleopatra VII
See also
- Hellenistic Greece
- History of Ancient Egypt
- History of Greek and Roman Egypt
External links
- [http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/ptolemies.htm Ptolemaic Dynasty]
- [http://www.livius.org Livius], [http://www.livius.org/ps-pz/ptolemies/ptolemies.htm Ptolemies] by Jona Lendering
Category:Ancient Greek titles
Category:Family trees
ja:プトレマイオス朝
Library of Alexandria
The Royal Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt was once the largest in the world. It is usually assumed to have been founded at the beginning of the 3rd century BC, during the reign of Ptolemy II of Egypt, after Ptolemy's father had set up the temple of the Muses—the Musaeum (whence we get museum).
The initial organization of the library, believed to have stored 400,000 to 700,000 parchment scrolls at its peak, is attributed to Demetrius Phalereus. The library was destroyed by fire, but though there are a number of competing legends about when and how this happened and the truth remains unknown.
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina was inaugurated in 2003, near the site of the old library.
Overview
One story holds that the Library was seeded with Aristotle's own private collection, through one of his students, Demetrius Phalereus. Another story concerns how its collection grew so large: By decree of Ptolemy III of Egypt, all visitors to the city were required to surrender all books and scrolls in their possession; these writings were then swiftly copied by official scribes. The originals were put into the Library, and the copies were delivered to the previous owners. While encroaching on the rights of the traveler or merchant, it also helped to create a reservoir of books in the relatively new city.
The Library's contents were likely distributed over several buildings, with the main library either located directly attached to or close to the oldest building, the Museum, and a daughter library in the younger Serapeum, also a temple dedicated to the god Serapis. Carlton Welch provides the following description of the main library based on the existing historical records:
:A covered marble colonnade connected the Museum with an adjacent stately building, also in white marble and stone, architecturally harmonious, indeed forming an integral part of the vast pile, dedicated to learning by the wisdom of the first Ptolemy in following the advice and genius of Demetrios of Phaleron. This was the famous Library of Alexandria, the "Mother" library of the Museum, the Alexandriana, truly the foremost wonder of the ancient world. Here in ten great Halls, whose ample walls were lined with spacious armaria, numbered and titled, were housed the myriad manuscripts containing the wisdom, knowledge, and information, accumulated by the genius of the Hellenic peoples. Each of the ten Halls was assigned to a separate department of learning embracing the assumed ten divisions of Hellenic knowledge as may have been found in the Catalogue of Callimachus of Greek Literature in the Alexandrian Library, the farfamed Pinakes. The Halls were used by the scholars for general research, although there were smaller separate rooms for individuals or groups engaged in special studies.
In 2004 a Polish-Egyptian team claimed to have discovered a part of the library while excavating in the Bruchion region. The archaeologists claimed to have found thirteen "lecture halls", each with a central podium. Zahi Hawass, president of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said that all together, the rooms uncovered so far could have seated 5000 students.
Destruction of the Great Library
One of the reasons so little is known about the Library is that it was lost centuries after its creation. All that is left of many of the volumes are tantalizing titles that hint at all the history lost from the building's destruction. Few events in ancient history are as controversial as the destruction of the Library, as the historical record is both contradictory and incomplete. Not surprisingly, the Great Library became a symbol for knowledge itself, and its destruction was attributed to those who were portrayed as ignorant barbarians, often for purely political reasons.
Much of the debate rests on a different understanding of what constituted the actual Library. Large parts of the Library were likely decentralized, so it is appropriate also to speak of the "Alexandrian libraries." Both the Serapeum, a temple and daughter library, and the Museum itself existed until about AD 400. Only if one believes the Museum to be distinct from the Great Library, an event of destruction prior to that point becomes plausible.
One account of such an event of destruction concerns Julius Caesar. During his invasion of Alexandria in 48 BC–47 BC, Caesar set the enemy fleet in the harbor on fire. Some historians believe that this fire spread into the city and destroyed the entire library. While this interpretation is now a minority view, it is based on several ancient sources, all of which were written at least about 150 years after the destruction supposedly took place. Edward Parsons has analyzed the Caesar theory in his book The Alexandrian Library and summarizes the sources as follows:
A final summary is interesting: of the 16 writers, 10—Caesar himself, the author of The Alexandrian War, Cicero, Strabo, Livy (as far as we know), Lucan, Florus, Suetonius, Appian, and even Athenaeus—apparently knew nothing of the burning of the Museum, of the library, or of books during Caesar's visit to Egypt; and six tell of the incident as follows:
#Seneca (AD 49), the first writer to mention it (and that nearly 100 years after the alleged event), definitely says that 40,000 books were burned.
#Plutarch (c. 117) says that the fire destroyed the great Library.
#Aulus Gellius (123–169) says that during the "sack" of Alexandria 700,000 volumes were all burned.
#Dio Cassius (155–235) says that storehouses containing grain and books were burned, and that these books were of great number and excellence.
#Ammianus Marcellinus (390) says that in the "sack" of the city 70,000 volumes were burned.
#Orosius (c. 415), the last writer, singularly confirms Seneca as to number and the thing destroyed: 40,000 books.
Of all the sources, Plutarch is the only one to refer explicitly to the destruction of the Library. Plutarch was also the first writer to refer to Caesar by name. Ammianus Marcellinus' account seems to be directly based on Aulus Gellius because the wording is almost the same.
The majority of ancient historians, even those strongly politically opposed to Caesar, give no account of the alleged massive disaster. Cecile Orru argued in Antike Bibliotheken (2002, edited by Wolfgang Höpfner) that Caesar could not have destroyed the Library because it was located in the royal quarter of the city, where Caesar's troops were fortified after the fire (which would not have been possible if the fire had spread to that location).
Furthermore, the Library was a very large stone building and the scrolls were stored away in armaria (and some of them put in capsules), so it is hard to see how a fire in the harbor could have affected a significant part of its contents. Lastly, modern archaeological finds have confirmed an extensive ancient water supply network which covered the major parts of the city, including, of course, the royal quarter.
The destruction of the library is attributed by some historians to a period of civil war in the late 3rd century AD — but we know that the Museum, which was adjacent to the library, survived until the 4th century. There are also allegations dating to medieval times that claim that Caliph Omar, during an invasion in the 7th century, ordered the Library to be destroyed, but these claims are generally regarded as a Christian attack on Muslims, and include many indications of fabrication, such as the claim that the contents of the Library took six months to burn in Alexandria's public baths. The legend of Caliph Omar's destruction of the library provides the classical example of a dilemma: Omar is reported to have said that if the books of the library did not contain the teachings of the Qur'an, they were useless and should be destroyed; if the books did contain the teachings of the Qur'an, they were superfluous and should be destroyed.
Evidence for the existence of the Library after Caesar
As noted above, it is generally accepted that the Museum of Alexandria existed until c. AD 400, and if the Museum and the Library are considered to be largely identical or attached to one another, earlier accounts of destruction could only concern a small number of books stored elsewhere. This is consistent with the number given by Seneca, much smaller than the overall volume of books in the Library. So under this interpretation it is plausible that, for example, books stored in a warehouse near the harbor were accidentally destroyed by Caesar, and that larger numbers cited in some works have to be considered unreliable -- misinterpretations by the medieval monks who preserved these works through the Middle Ages, or deliberate forgeries.
400]
Even if one considers the Museum and the Library to be very much separate, there is considerable evidence that the Library continued to exist after the alleged destruction. Plutarch, who claimed the Great Library was destroyed (150 years after the alleged incident), in Life of Antony describes the later transfer of the second largest library to Alexandria by Mark Antony as a gift to Cleopatra. He quotes Calvisius as claiming "that [Mark Antony] had given her the library of Pergamus, containing two hundred thousand distinct volumes", although he himself finds Calvisius' claims hard to believe. In "Einführung in die Überlieferungsgeschichte" (1994, p. 39), Egert Pöhlmann cites further expansions of the Alexandrian libraries by Caesar Augustus (in the year AD 12) and Claudius (AD 41-54). Even if the most extreme allegations against Caesar were true, this raises the question of what happened to these volumes.
The continued existence of the Library is also supported by an ancient inscription found in the early 20th century, dedicated to Tiberius Claudius Balbillus of Rome (d. AD 56). As noted in the "Handbuch der Bibliothekswissenschaft" (Georg Leyh, Wiesbaden 1955):
:"We have to understand the office which Ti. Claudius Balbillus held [...], which included the title 'supra Museum et ab Alexandrina bibliotheca', to have combined the direction of the Museum with that of the united libraries, as an academy."
Athenaeus (c. AD 200) wrote in detail in the Deipnosophistae about the wealth of Ptolemy II (309-246 BC) and the type and number of his ships. When it came to the Library and Museum, he wrote: "Why should I now have to point to the books, the establishment of libraries and the collection in the Museum, when this is in every man's memory?" Given the context of his statement, and the fact that the Museum still existed at the time, it is clear that Athenaeus cannot have referred to any event of destruction -- he considered both facilities to be so famous that it was not necessary for him to describe them in detail. We must therefore conclude that at least some of the Alexandrian libraries were still in operation at the time.
Destruction of the pagan temples by Theophilus
In the late 4th century, persecution of pagans by Christians had reached new levels of intensity. Temples and statues were destroyed throughout the Roman Empire, pagan rituals forbidden under punishment of death, and libraries closed. In 391, Emperor Theodosius ordered the destruction of all pagan temples, and Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria complied with this request. Socrates Scholasticus provides the following account of the destruction of the temples in Alexandria:
Socrates Scholasticus
:"Demolition of the Idolatrous Temples at Alexandria, and the Consequent Conflict between the Pagans and Christians."
:"At the solicitation of Theophilus bishop of Alexandria the emperor issued an order at this time for the demolition of the heathen temples in that city; commanding also that it should be put in execution under the direction of Theophilus. Seizing this opportunity, Theophilus exerted himself to the utmost to expose the pagan mysteries to contempt. And to begin with, he caused the Mithreum to be cleaned out, and exhibited to public view the tokens of its bloody mysteries. Then he destroyed the Serapeum, and the bloody rites of the Mithreum he publicly caricatured; the Serapeum also he showed full of extravagant superstitions, and he had the phalli of Priapus carried through the midst of the forum. [...] Thus this disturbance having been terminated, the governor of Alexandria, and the commander-in-chief of the troops in Egypt, assisted Theophilus in demolishing the heathen temples. These were therefore razed to the ground, and the images of their gods molten into pots and other convenient utensils for the use of the Alexandrian church; for the emperor had instructed Theophilus to distribute them for the relief of the poor. All the images were accordingly broken to pieces, except one statue of the god before mentioned, which Theophilus preserved and set up in a public place; 'Lest,' said he, 'at a future time the heathens should deny that they had ever worshiped such gods.'"
The Serapeum housed part of the Library, but it is not known how many books were contained in it at the time of destruction. Notably, Paulus Orosius admitted in his History against the pagans: "[T]oday there exist in temples book chests which we ourselves have seen, and, when these temples were plundered, these, we are told, were emptied by our own men in our time, which, indeed, is a true statement." Some or all of the books may have been taken, but any books left in the Serapeum at the time would have been destroyed when it was razed to the ground.
As for the Museum, Mostafa El-Abbadi writes in Life and Fate of the ancient Library of Alexandria (Paris 1992):
:"The Mouseion, being at the same time a 'shrine of the Muses', enjoyed a degree of sanctity as long as other pagan temples remained unmolested. Synesius of Cyrene, who studied under Hypatia at the end of the fourth century, saw the Mouseion and described the images of the philosophers in it. We have no later reference to its existence in the fifth century. As Theon, the distinguished mathematician and father of Hypatia, herself a renowned scholar, was the last recorded scholar-member (c. 380), it is likely that the Mouseion did not long survive the promulgation of Theodosius' decree in 391 to destroy all pagan temples in the City."
Conclusions
There is a growing consensus among historians that the Library of Alexandria likely suffered from several destructive events, but that the destruction of Alexandria's pagan temples in the late 4th century was probably the most severe and final one. The evidence for that destruction is the most definitive and secure. Caesar's invasion may well have led to the loss of some 40,000-70,000 scrolls in a warehouse adjacent to the port (as Luciano Canfora argues, they were likely copies produced by the Library intended for export), but it is unlikely to have affected the Library or Museum, given that there is ample evidence that both existed later.
Civil wars, decreasing investments in maintenance and acquisition of new scrolls and generally declining interest in non-religious pursuits likely contributed to a reduction in the body of material available in the Library, especially in the fourth century. The Serapeum was certainly destroyed by Theophilus in 391, and the Museum and Library may have fallen victim to the same campaign.
Other libraries of the ancient world
- The libraries of Ugarit (in modern Syria), ca 1200 BC, include diplomatic archives, literary works and the earliest privately-owned libraries yet recovered.
- The library of King Ashurbanipal, in Nineveh (near modern Mosul, Iraq)— Considered to be "the first systematically collected library", it was rediscovered in the 19th century. While the library had been destroyed, many fragments of the ancient cuneiform tables survived, and have been reconstructed. Large portions of the Epic of Gilgamesh were among the many finds.
- The Villa of the Papyri, in Herculaneum, Italy— The only library known to have survived from classical antiquity, this villa's large private collection may have once belonged to Julius Caesar's father-in-law, Lucius Calpurnius Piso. Buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed the town in 79 AD. Rediscovered in 1752, around 1800 carbonized scrolls were found in the villa's top storey. Using modern techniques such as multi-spectral imaging, previously illegible or invisible sections on scrolls that have been unrolled are now being deciphered. It is possible that more scrolls remain to be found in the lower, unexcavated levels of the villa.
- At Pergamum (in what is now Turkey), the Attalid kings formed the second best Hellenistic library after Alexandria, founded in emulation of the Ptolemies. When the Ptolemies stopped exporting papyrus, partly because of competitors and partly because of shortages, the Pergamenes invented a new substance to use in codices, called pergamum or parchment after the city. This was made of fine calfskin, a predecessor of vellum and paper.
- Caesarea Palaestina, located in present-day Israel, had a great early Christian library. Through Origen and the scholarly priest Pamphilus, the theological school of Caesarea won a reputation for having the most extensive ecclesiastical library of the time, containing more than 30,000 manuscripts: Gregory, Basil the Great, Jerome and others came to study there.
- The great seats of learning in ancient India, namely Takshasila, Nalanda, Vikramashila, Kanchi and other universities also maintained vast libraries of palm leaf manuscripts of various subjects, ranging from theology to astronomy.
The Library in Modern Fiction
The Library of Alexandria was included as a card in the "Arabian Nights" expansion of the popular role-playing game Magic: The Gathering. The artwork on the card was done by artist Mark Poole. The card is somewhat popular and very expensive in the Magic universe.
The Great Library can be built as a World Wonder in the Civilization series of turn-based strategy computer games. Its effects are different in each game of the series.
References
- Alexander Stille: The Future of the Past (chapter: "The Return of the Vanished Library"). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002. 246-273.
- [http://www.ub.uni-konstanz.de/fi/ger/alexandria-aftermath.pdf Uwe Jochum, "The Alexandrian Library and its aftermath"] from Library History vol 15 (1999), pp 5-12.
- Edward Parsons: The Alexandrian Library. London, 1952. [http://www.humanist.de/rome/alexandria/alex2.html Relevant online excerpt].
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External links
- Ellen N. Brundige: [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/GreekScience/Students/Ellen/Museum.html "The Library of Alexandria"]
- Christian historian James Hannam analyzes the fall of the library and finds Christians not responsible http://www.bede.org.uk/library.htm
- Researcher of Christian origins and biblical history Kenneth Humphreys analyzes the destruction of the library and, along with the renowned scholar of the Roman Empire Edward Gibbon, concludes that it was the Christians' fault, specifically Bishop Theophilus. http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/hypatia.html
- [http://www.bibalex.org/ Bibliotheca Alexandrina]
- [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/malexanderlibrary.html The Straight Dope] What happened to the great library of Alexandria?
ja:アレクサンドリア図書館
Category:Defunct libraries
Category:Ancient Egypt
Category:Former buildings and structures of Egypt Kristendom
Kristendom, den religion som utgår från Jesus från Nasarets lära så som den återges i Nya Testamentet, andra delen av kristendomens heliga skrift Bibeln. Kristendomens anhängare anser att Jesus är den utlovade Messias/Kristus. Kristendomen är en abrahamitisk religion.
Kristen tro
Kärnan i den kristna tron är att Jesus Kristus blev avrättad för människornas synders skull, som därmed blev förlåtna. Ett evigt liv efter döden är också centralt inom kristendomen, och att det som krävs för att uppnå detta eviga liv främst är tro på Gud och Jesus, inte att utföra vissa gärningar. De olika kristna trosbekännelserna (t.ex. den apostoliska och den nicaenska) tillkom för att ena (eller särskilja) kyrkans syn på vad kristen tro är och fungerar därför som en bra sammanfattning av vad som ingått i begreppet kristen tro vid olika tidpunkter och platser.
Den apostoliska trosbekännelsen (nyare översättning):
Vi tror på Gud, allsmäktig Fader,
himlens och jordens skapare.
Vi tror på Jesus Kristus, hans ende Son, vår Herre,
som blev till som människa genom den heliga Anden,
föddes av jungfrun Maria,
led under Pontius Pilatus,
korsfästes, dog och begravdes,
steg ner till dödsriket,
uppstod från de döda på tredje dagen,
steg upp till himlen,
sitter på Guds, den allsmäktige Faderns, högra sida
och skall komma därifrån för att döma levande och döda.
Vi tror på den heliga Anden,
den heliga, universella kyrkan, de heligas gemenskap,
syndernas förlåtelse, kroppens uppståndelse och det eviga livet.
Amen
Det centrala budskapet brukar illustreras med ett bibelställe, som kallas Lilla Bibeln (Joh. 3:16):
"Så älskade Gud världen att han gav den sin ende Son, för att de som tror på honom inte skall gå under utan ha evigt liv."
Tidig historia
Kristendomen uppstod ur judendomen under första århundr | | |
