1995/04/01 by Andrew Erskine · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Ancient Egypt and Archaeology #Archaeology #Art #Classical Antiquity Studies #Classics #Competition (biology) #Context (archaeology) #Historical and Literary Studies #History #Ideology #Law #Political science #Politics #Power (physics) #Scholarship
paper · doi:10.1017/s0017383500025213
openalex publication_date 1995/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
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.