Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: the Museum and Library of Alexandria

Abstract

Within the palace complex in Alexandria, the city founded by Alexander in Egypt, a community of scholars was established in what was known as the Museum (or Mouseion); linked to this was a library, the Great Library of Alexandria. These two institutions are often celebrated for their role in the history of scholarship, but they were also the products of the Hellenistic age and of the competition which arose between the successors of Alexander. In many ways these two institutions encapsulate the ideology and policy of the early Ptolemies. It is the purpose of this paper to explore this aspect and set them in a wider context.

Museum: A Timeless Educator

“…The Mouseion was the first academia. Erskine (1995) calls it the prototype of university, the first academic community.…”

Zechariah 9–14 and the Continuation of Zechariah during the Ptolemaic Period

“…One could also add that the reference to the twelve prophets in Sir 49:10 implies the existence of a corpus of the Twelve and hints that this corpus has already reached its last stages of development in the beginning of the second century B.C.E. This is also suggested by Sir 48:10, which quotes the epilogue to Malachi (Mal 3:24), one of the latest texts of the prophetic corpus (see Steck,Abschluß der Prophetie,[127][128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][140][141][142][143][144]van der Toorn,Scribal Culture,[253][254][255] 14 could have taken place early in the Seleucid period, 63 it is safe to consider Zech 9-14 as mainly written before this period.…”

“…149 This can also be seen in other texts, for instance the Enochic Book of the Watchers. 150 In addition, it brings to the fore the importance of the sociohistorical developments of the Hellenistic period for understanding the 149 In particular, V. Tcherikover has made a similar suggestion on the basis of a historical reading of Josephus' tale of the Tobiads (Hellenistic Civilization and the Jews, [126][127][128][129][130][131][132][133][134] ZECHARIAH 9-14 43 last stages in the formation of the Hebrew Bible. At the methodological level, this study points to the relevance of associating a sociohistorical inquiry with literary approaches in the study of prophetic literature, especially difficult texts such as Zech 9-14.…”

“…The Ptolemies sought not only political dominion over the Hellenistic world, but also cultural supremacy as a symbol of their power. 129 They gave considerable weight to literary activity and sponsored great scholarly institutions such as the prestigious Musaeum at Alexandria, with its outstanding associated library. There, the systematic collection and evaluation of writings was one of the main scholarly activities.…”

Library Development Strategy for The Community at Coastal Areas

“…In fact, the library as a site representing the various possible battles illustrated in the Foucault approach [13] [14] can be seen in relation to the powers that operate in libraries in the time before Christ as in Erskine [15] entitled Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: The Museum and Library of Alexandria. This discursive practice dynamics as an active cultural process becomes an important discourse to be explored in the context of library management.…”