Library
Alexander the Great -- the Conquests as a source of knowledge
The Founding of the Library and the Mouseion
The Egyptian Section of the Alexandria Library
The Papyri: Evidence of Greek and Egyptian Scientific Interchange
The Pinakes -- a Bibliographical Survey of the Alexandria Library
The Alexandria Library -- " The Memory of Mankind"
Appendix 1 -- The Contents of the Alexandria Library
Appendix 2 -- The End of the Library
References
The Modern
Library
BIBLIOTHECA ALEXANDRINA--The revival of the Ancient Library of Alexandria
Back to Alexandria Home Page
The founder of the Dynasty must have realised that a thorough knowledge of the country and its inhabitants was necessary for the establishment of his monarchy on a sound basis. He therefore encouraged Egyptian priests to accumulate records of their past tradition and heritage and to render them available for use by Greek scholars and men of letters whom he invited to reside in the country.
Diodorus provides a description of what took place at that early stage in the life of the Library: "Not only," he reports, "did the priests of Egypt render accounts of their records, but many also of the Greeks who went up as far as Thebes, under Ptolemy son of Lagos, composed histories of Egypt, one of whom was Hecataeus (of Abdera)" (Diod. I. 46.8=F.Jacoby, FGH, 3a, 264 F 25, p.33)
In confirmation of this statement, two names immediately occur to the mind, Manethon and Hecataeus of Abdera.
Manethon is the well-known Egyptian high priest of Heliopolis, well versed in the lore of his native land, whom Ptolemy I consulted on the adoption of Sarapis as the official deity for the new dynasty. His other, more lasting task was to collect information from the 'sacred records' and compile a complete Egyptian history in Greek (Aegyptiaca), which he dedicated to Ptolemy II (Diod.I.87.1-5 ; 88.4).
Due to his command of the Egyptian language and knowledge of the history of Egypt, his complete work would have been of unique value; unfortunately it has only survived in excerpts. Although his long recital on the episode of the Hysksos and Moses, is believed to have been much interfered with, yet his long chronological lists of the Egyptian dynasties and kings is of great value as is his division of the Pharaohs into thirty dynasties and three major periods which is still adopted by modern Egyptologists.5
As for Hecataeus, he was one of the Greek writers invited by Ptolemy I to reside in the country and write its history. His "Aegyptiaca" has not survived in its entirety but long excerpts from it were incorporated into 'Histories' of Diodorus.
In describing his own method of writing history, Hecataeus makes the following claim, "As for the stories invented by Herodotus and certain writers in Egyptian affairs, who deliberately preferred to the truth the telling of marvellous tales and the invention of myths for the amusement of their readers, these I shall omit, and we shall set forth what appears in the written records of the priests of Egypt and had passed our careful scrutiny" (ap. Diod. I. 69. 7).
We need not take this criticism too literally since Hecataeus adopted much of Heridotus' account in its main outline while making his own contributions only in certain matters of detail which were probably derived from the sacred records, as well as from his own personal observations.
Recent studies have revealed certain points in which Hecataeus differed from or even corrected Herodotus.6 In dealing with the aspect of the Egyptian scientific activity, he highly praised the efforts of the Egyptian scientists in particular in the field of astronomy where he asserts that, "to this day, they have preserved records concerning each of the stars over an incredible number of years….. and as a result of their long observations they have prior knowledge of earthquakes and floods, of the rising of comets….etc." (ap. Diod. I. 81. 4-5).
Admiration for Egyptian astronomy by the Greeks was not limited to Hecataeus alone; mention has been made of Eudoxus of Cnidus, who studied astronomy in Egypt shortly before Alexander's conquest.
Photo: A papyrus roll of Homer's Iliad