What Happened to the Ancient

Library of Alexandria?

el-abbadi_f1_i-xxii.indd i 1/25/2008 8:40:28 PM

 Library of the Written Word

VOLUME 3

The Manuscript World

VOLUME 1

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 What Happened to
the Ancient Library of
Alexandria?
Edited by
Mostafa El-Abbadi and Omnia Mounir Fathallah

With a Preface by Ismail Serageldin

LEIDEN • BOSTON
2008

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 On the cover: Lecture hall (Auditorium K) of the educational complex at Kom el-Dikka,
Alexandria (5th–6th century A.D.). © Excavations of the Polish-Egyptian Mission at
Kom el-Dikka, Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology in Cairo.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

ISSN 1874-4834
ISBN 978 90 04 16545 8

Copyright 2008 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated,

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Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
Fees are subject to change.

printed in the netherlands

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 CONTENTS

Preface ......................................................................................... vii

Acknowledgements ..................................................................... xi
List of Illustrations ...................................................................... xiii
Abbreviations .............................................................................. xv
Contributors ................................................................................ xvii
The Alexandria Project .............................................................. xxi

Introduction ................................................................................ 1

À la Recherche de la Systématisation des Connaissances

et du Passage du Concret à l’Abstrait dans l’Égypte
Ancienne ..................................................................................... 9
Mounir H. Megally

Private Collections and Temple Libraries in Ancient

Egypt ........................................................................................... 39
Fayza M. Haikal

Earth, Wind, and Fire: The Alexandrian Fire-storm of

48 B.C. ........................................................................................ 55
William J. Cherf

The Destruction of the Library of Alexandria:

An Archaeological Viewpoint ..................................................... 75
Jean-Yves Empereur

Demise of the Daughter Library ............................................... 89

Mostafa A. El-Abbadi

Ce Que Construisent les Ruines ................................................ 95

Lucien X. Polastron

The Nag Hammadi ‘Library’ of Coptic Papyrus Codices ....... 109

Birger A. Pearson

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 vi contents

Learned Women in the Alexandrian Scholarship and

Society of Late Hellenism .......................................................... 129
Maria Dzielska

Synesius of Cyrene and the Christian Neoplatonism:

Patterns of Religious and Cultural Symbiosis ........................... 149
Dimitar Y. Dimitrov

Damascius and the ‘Collectio Philosophica’: A Chapter in

the History of Philosophical Schools and Libraries in the
Neoplatonic Tradition ................................................................ 171
Georges Leroux

Academic Life of Late Antique Alexandria: A View

from the Field ............................................................................. 191
Grzegorz Majcherek

The Arab Story of the Destruction of the Ancient

Library of Alexandria ................................................................ 207
Qassem Abdou Qassem

The Arab Destruction of the Library of Alexandria:

Anatomy of a Myth ................................................................... 213
Bernard Lewis

Bibliography ................................................................................ 219

I. Sources .............................................................................. 219
II. Lexical Works ................................................................... 223
III. Modern Literature ........................................................... 224

General Index ............................................................................. 241

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 PREFACE

Ismail Serageldin

Upon assuming my duties as Librarian of Alexandria in 2002, I was

determined that the new Library of Alexandria would—like its great
namesake, the Ancient Library of Alexandria—be a centre of excel-
lence in the production and dissemination of knowledge, as well as a
meeting place for the dialogue of peoples and cultures. The most obvi-
ous candidate for the focus of our research efforts would naturally be
the Ancient Library and its period. A special project, the Alexandria
Project (AP), was born to bring the best scholars to focus on that special
early period of Alexandria’s history. Much ground has been covered
and the fruits of this serious effort will be available to the public in
the years to come.
However, of all the topics that concern the public about that period,
none is more intriguing than how did the Ancient Library disappear?
Regretfully, some publications had created an uncertainty about the
topic, which modern scholarship does not share. So it gives me great
pleasure to introduce this volume to the reading public, as the first of the
volumes to come out of the Alexandria Project, and appropriately dedi-
cated to the topic What Happened to the Ancient Library of Alexandria?
Although there has recently been an ever-growing agreement among
specialized scholars to accept that the Alexandria Library had long dis-
appeared before the Arab conquest in the seventh century, yet the old
controversy has cast its shadow on the minds of many non-specialists
who continued to be unclear and remained undecided, to say the least.
So we organized a major international Seminar in September 2004.
The result was reassuring, as independently a high degree of similarity
in opinion was observed among the participant scholars, concerning
the fate of the Ancient Library.
The readers of the present volume can easily judge for themselves.
For the purpose of this preface, a few examples may suffice to illus-
trate this fact. Dr. Cherf (USA), after a thorough analysis of Caesar’s
Alexandrian War in 48 B.C., concludes by endorsing Peter M. Fraser’s
statement that “we are justified in supposing that the contents of the

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 viii preface

Royal Library, if not wholly destroyed, were at least seriously diminished

in the fire of 48 B.C.”
Professor El-Abbadi (Egypt) deals with the Daughter Library incor-
porated within the Serapeum. Employing an Alexandrian method of
linguistic analysis of the relevant texts, he concludes that “there can
hardly be any doubt that the attack on the Serapeum in 391 A.D. put
an end to the temple and the Daughter Library.”
Professor Dzielska (Poland) considers it as a fact of history that Hypatia
witnessed the destruction of the Serapeum and the Daughter Library.
In the final section, both professors Qassem (Egypt) and Bernard
Lewis (USA) deal with the Arab account of how the Great Library
of Alexandria was destroyed by the Arabs after their conquest in 641
A.D. Both refute those accounts as fictitious. Fittingly, Professor Lewis
subtitled his paper, Anatomy of a Myth. After analyzing modern criticism
since the eighteenth century, by Father Renaudot, the distinguished
French orientalist, and by the great historian Edward Gibbon, and
other subsequent critics, Professor Lewis positively states, “It is surely
time that the Caliph Umar and Amr ibn al- Ās, were finally acquitted
of this charge.”
But if the fate of the Ancient Library is thus authoritatively explained
in this volume, another important aspect of Alexandria’s early history is
also underlined by the scholars. That is the continuation of scholarship
beyond the death of Hypatia in 415 A.D. Thus, Professor Dzielska is
keen to emphasize that scholarship in Alexandria did not die with Hypatia.
Professor Leroux (Canada) traces back to Alexandria a manuscript
known as the Collectio Philosophica, which has survived from the ninth
century in Constantinople. He asserts that Alexandria was a city of books
and readers. Even after the destruction of the Serapeum Library in 391 A.D., each
school—for teaching purposes—had its own collection completed and copied from
originals from the Library before its final destruction. He further adds that,
“. . ., the preservation of the collection is a direct result of interaction
between institutional and school libraries.”
This last statement is corroborated by a conclusion reached by
Professor Pearson (USA) about the newly discovered Nag Hammadi
collection of Gnostic and non-Gnostic manuscripts, that they were
part of the Library of a Christian monastery of the network of Pachomius in the
early fourth century.
It is thanks to the continuation of many school and monastic libraries
that “Alexandrian academic life did not end with the destruction of the

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 preface ix

Library,” as stated by Dr. Majcherek (Poland) in his study of the newly

discovered lecture halls at Kom el-Dikka, dated in Late Antiquity.
Thus, Alexandria was never short of books, and continued to be
a renowned seat of learning in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages
as established by the contents of our volume. We hope that this and
other volumes to come will help link back to that great Alexandrian
tradition of scholarship and publication.

Ismail Serageldin
Librarian of Alexandria
Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Alexandria, April 2007

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el-abbadi_f1_i-xxii.indd x 1/25/2008 8:40:29 PM
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The editors are indebted to the following institutions for their kind
permission to reproduce copyright material:

• Centre d’Études Alexandrines (CEAlex) for permission to reproduce

figures 1–11 in chapter 4 by Dr. Jean-Yves Empereur.
• Brill Academic Publishers for permission to reproduce figures 12–17
of the Nag Hammadi Codices (NHC) in chapter 7 by Prof. Dr. Birger
A. Pearson.
• Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology (Polish-Egyptian Mis-
sion at Kom el-Dikka, Alexandria) for permission to reproduce figures
18–24 in chapter 11 by Dr. Grzegorz Majcherek.

We also take this opportunity to express our appreciation and gratitude

for the help and cooperation of the following individuals at the various
stages of producing the present volume:

• Librarians of the Research Unit of the Library Sector at the Biblio-

theca Alexandrina (BA); Valérie Atef for her valuable participation in
organizing the seminar in September 2004. Rania Hosny and Hadir
Shady for their effective assistance in checking and reviewing the text
and bibliographic citations of the various contributions included in
the present volume, as well as for their unflagging help in various
other ways.
• Mona Haggag, Professor of Graeco-Roman Archaeology, University
of Alexandria, Egypt, for her patient and painstaking review of the
final version of the edited chapters.
• Azza Kararah, Professor Emerita of English Literature, University
of Alexandria, Egypt, for undertaking the occasionally arduous task
of revising the English language of the entire work.
• Mohamed Sherif Ali, Associate Professor of Egyptology, Cairo Uni-
versity, Egypt, for kindly undertaking, at short notice, to coordinate
the hieroglyphics in the first two chapters.
• Mohamed El-Sa id El-Dakkak, Professor of Civil Law, University of
Alexandria, Egypt, and legal consultant to the BA, for his help with
legal and administrative matters.

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 xii acknowledgements

• Sohair Wastawy, Chief Librarian of the BA, for her invaluable coop-
eration in organizing the Seminar; for her help with the preparation
of this volume, and for her continuous support of the Alexandria
Project.
• Ismail Serageldin, Director of the BA, for his continued support and
patronage of the Alexandria Project.

Editors
Mostafa El-Abbadi
Omnia M. Fathallah

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 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Bishop Theophilus standing upon the Serapeum after

destruction in 391 A.D. ....................................................... 78
2. Papyrus box of Dioscorides (drawing) ................................ 78
3. An Alexandrian orator with his papyrus box ..................... 79
4. The orator’s papyrus box (detailed view of fig. 3) ............. 79
5. The façade of the Graeco-Roman Museum ...................... 81
6. Dining room of a Macedonian house with a pebble
mosaic .................................................................................. 81
7. Drawing of the mosaic from the Roman House of
Medusa ................................................................................ 83
8. The mosaic of Medusa ....................................................... 83
9. A bone panel decorated with a character from the
entourage of Dionysus ........................................................ 84
10. Mosaic pavement of the Villa of the Birds. General
view ...................................................................................... 85
11. Panel decorated with a parrot, Villa of the Birds (detailed
view of fig. 10) ..................................................................... 85
12. Nag Hammadi Codex I,1 ................................................... 123
13. Nag Hammadi Codex II ..................................................... 124
14. Nag Hammadi Codex III,2 ................................................ 125
15. Nag Hammadi Codex VI,7–8 ............................................ 126
16. Nag Hammadi Codex VII,5 ............................................... 127
17. Nag Hammadi Codex VII,4 ............................................... 128
18. General plan of the Kom el-Dikka site .............................. 203
19. Auditorium H at Kom el-Dikka ......................................... 204
20. Auditorium N at Kom el-Dikka .......................................... 204
21. Auditorium P at Kom el-Dikka .......................................... 205
22. Auditorium M at Kom el-Dikka ......................................... 205
23. Auditorium K at Kom el-Dikka ......................................... 206
24. The great portico in front of the Theatre at Kom
el-Dikka ................................................................................ 206

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el-abbadi_f1_i-xxii.indd xiv 1/25/2008 8:40:29 PM
 ABBREVIATIONS

ÄAT Ägypten und Altes Testament

AP Alexandria Project. Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexan-
dria
APDCA Association pour la promotion et la diffusion des con-
naissances archéologiques
ASAE Annales du service des antiquités de l’Égypte
BA Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria
BAR British Archaeological Reports
BASP Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists
BCH Bulletin de correspondance hellénique
BG Berlin Gnostic Codex
BiEtud Bibliothèque d’études. Cairo: IFAO
BIFAO Bulletin de l’Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale
BiGen Bibliothèque générale. Cairo: IFAO
BIU LSH Lyon Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire de Lettres et Sciences
Humaines, Lyon
BSAA Bulletin de la société archéologique d’Alexandrie
CAH Cambridge Ancient History
CEDOPAL Centre de Documentation de Papyrologie Littéraire,
Département des sciences de l’antiquité, Université
de Liège
CNWS Centre of Non-Western Studies, Leiden University
CNRS Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris
DPA Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. Publié sous la direction
de Richard Goulet. Paris: Editions du CNRS, 1989–
EtudAlex Études alexandrines. Cairo: IFAO
GM Göttinger Miszellen. Göttingen, 1972–
IACS International Association for Coptic Studies
IFAO Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, Cairo
IG Inscriptiones Graecae, 1873–
Syll 3 Dittenberger, Wilhelm. Sylloge inscriptionum graecarum. 3rd
ed. 4 vols. in 5. Lipsiae: apud S. Hirzelium, 1915–24
JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society
JDAI Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts
JEA Journal of Egyptian Archaeology

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 xvi abbreviations

JHS Journal of Hellenic Studies

JRS Journal of Roman Studies
MIFAO Mémoires publiés par les membres de l’Institut fran-
çais d’archéologie orientale. Cairo: IFAO
NAWG Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in
Göttingen
NHC Nag Hammadi Codices
OCD3 The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Edited by Simon Horn-
blower and Antony Spawforth. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1996.
P. Oxy. Oxyrhynchus Papyri
PAM Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean. Warsaw: Polish
Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of Warsaw
University
Pap. Papyrus
PH Damascius: The Philosophical History. Translated by
Polymnia Athanassiadi. Athens: Apamea, 1999.
PLRE Jones, A. H. M., J. R. Martindale, and J. Morris. The
Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. 3 vols. Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971–1992.
Pyr. Pyramid Texts
RAPH Recherches d’archéologie, de philologie et d’histoire.
Cairo: IFAO
RE Real-Encyclopädie der classischen altertumswissenschaft. Edited
by A. Pauly, G. Wissowa, and W. Kroll. Stuttgart, 1893–
REG Revue des études grecques
SUNY State University of New York
Wb. Erman, Adolf and Hermann Grapow. Wörterbuch der
ägyptischen Sprache. 6 vols. Berlin, 1926–31
Wb. Belegstellen Erman, Adolf and Hermann Grapow. Wörterbuch
der ägyptischen Sprache: Die Belegstellen. 5 vols. Leipzig,
1935–53
WWR World Weather Reports. Washington, D.C.
ZÄS Zeitschrift für ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde. Leipzig
& Berlin

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 CONTRIBUTORS

Authors

William J. Cherf, Project Manager and senior consultant for BORN—

a leading business information services consultancy. He is a graduate
of Indiana University, Bloomington (B.A., 1974) and Loyola University
Chicago (M.A., 1978 and Ph.D., 1984). His specialization is in physi-
cal anthropology, ancient Egyptian archaeology and ancient history,
respectively. Therefore, his publications range from the forked snake-
sticks of Tutankhamen to the carbon-14 dating of Late Roman frontier
architecture. He taught at several universities in the USA and performed
archaeological excavations in Israel, Greece and Egypt.

Dimitar Y. Dimitrov, Chief Assistant Professor at Veliko Tarnovo

University “St. Cyril and St. Methodius,” Bulgaria. He teaches Byzan-
tine and Medieval Balkan History. In his research, he focuses on Late
Antiquity, Byzantine/Western relations, and the Byzantine Near East
up to the seventh century A.D. Together with Ivan Hristov, he edited in
Bulgarian Neoplatonism and Christianity. Part 1, The Greek Tradition III–VI
Centuries. Part 2, The Byzantine Tradition (Sofia, 2002, 2004).

Maria Dzielska, Professor of Roman History at the Institute of His-

tory at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. In her research,
she focuses on late antique political and intellectual history (especially
aspects of Greek intellectual life). She is also interested in politi-
cal doctrines of the Roman Empire and early Byzantium. She is the
author of several books, including Apollonius of Tyana in Legend and History
(Rome, 1986; Greek edition Athens, 2000), articles and translations of
Greek authors into Polish. Her book Hypatia of Alexandria (Cambridge,
MA and London 1995) has already been published in several languages
(English, Greek, Korean, Polish, Spanish and Turkish).

Mostafa A. El-Abbadi, Professor Emeritus of Classical Studies at

the University of Alexandria, Egypt, Special Advisor to the Director
of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. He is President of the Archaeological
Society of Alexandria (founded 1893). In 1997, he was granted the

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 xviii contributors

Kavafy Award in Ancient Greek Studies, in 1998, the Egyptian National

Award of Merit in Social Sciences, and, in 2005, the Université du
Québec à Montréal, Canada granted him Doctorat Honoris Causa.
He is the author of several books and articles, including Life and Fate
of the Ancient Library of Alexandria (Paris, 1990), which was translated
into several languages.

Jean-Yves Empereur, Director of Research at the Centre National

de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), founder and Director of the Cen-
tre d’Études Alexandrines (CEAlex). He obtained Ph.D. in Archaeology
from the University of Paris-IV Sorbonne, France. Under his direction
the CEAlex conducts excavation research both underwater and on land.
He is the author of several books and articles most of which focus on
Alexandrian archaeology and history.

Fayza M. Haikal, Professor of Egyptology at the American University

in Cairo, Egypt, the former President of the International Association
of Egyptologists. Haikal was the first Egyptian woman to work on
the salvage of the monuments of Nubia in 1961. She is the author of
several studies in Egyptology, especially editions and publications of
ancient Egyptian texts.

Georges Leroux, Professor of Greek Philosophy at the Université

du Québec à Montréal. He is the author of numerous books and
articles on various topics of ancient philosophy, mainly on the Neopla-
tonic tradition. Among his valuable publications, a translation of Plato’s
Republic with introduction and notes (Paris, 2004).

Bernard Lewis, Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at the

Department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University. He received
his Ph.D. in the History of Islam at the School of Oriental and African
Studies, University of London. His research, teaching and publications
cover the period from the advent of Islam until the present day.

Grzegorz Majcherek, Director of the Polish Mission at Kom el-Dikka,

Alexandria and the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology in
Cairo. His professional career is profoundly connected with Alexandrian
archaeology. He participated in various excavations in Egypt, Syria
and Cyprus. His publications include numerous studies, articles and

el-abbadi_f1_i-xxii.indd xviii 1/25/2008 8:40:29 PM

 contributors xix

reports on various topics ranging from pottery, architecture to Roman

archaeology in general.

Mounir H. Megally, Professor Emeritus of Egyptology. He taught

at several universities; i.e. the Faculty of Arts at the University of
Alexandria, Egypt (1951–1955), Centre of Documentation on Ancient
Egypt (1955–1960), Faculty of Arts at Assyut University (1969) and
Faculty of Archaeology at Cairo University (1970–1982). He was also
a Visiting Professor at the University of Rabat (1979–1984) and at
Oxford University (1974–1975). He worked on the excavations at Giza
on behalf of the University of Alexandria (1951–1955), and was the
inspector of excavations on behalf of the Department of Antiquities
(1955) and on the documentation work in Nubia and Luxor on behalf
of the Centre of Documentation (1955–1960).

Birger A. Pearson, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Uni-

versity of California, Santa Barbra. He participated in work sessions
on the Nag Hammadi papyri in the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo
and contributed in the preparation of the facsimile edition of the
Nag Hammadi Codices published under the auspices of UNESCO
(1972–1977). He became Director of a Research project at Claremont
devoted to the study of the history of Christianity in Egypt from its
beginnings up to the Arab conquest. He is the author of several books
and articles concerning the subject of his interest.

Lucien X. Polastron is a historian, freelance journalist and writer,

founder and President of the non-profit organization L’aractere, which
is devoted to calligraphy and medieval illumination research and
teaching. He is interested in the history of books, libraries and paper
workmanship. He also writes on Chinese, Japanese and Arabic callig-
raphy. Recently, he published a valuable monograph Books on Fire: The
Destruction of Libraries throughout History (Rochester, Vt., 2007).

Qassem Abdou Qassem, Professor Emeritus of Medieval History at

Zagazig University, Egypt, member in many scientific bodies including
the Egyptian Supreme Council of Culture and the Arab Committee for
Ottoman Studies, Tunisia. He is the author of many books and articles
dealing mainly with Medieval history and civilization, particularly on
Mamluks and the Crusades.

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 xx contributorss

Editors

Mostafa A. El-Abbadi. See Authors above, p. xvii, xviii.

Omnia M. Fathallah, Director of Public Services at the Bibliotheca

Alexandrina (BA). She is a graduate of the University of Alexandria,
Egypt (B.A., 1992), specialized in Classical Studies. In 1993, she began
her librarianship career at the BA as a cataloguer of none Arabic mono-
graphs. She participated in the organization of many conferences and
issued manuals of operations especially for cataloguers. In 2002, she was
appointed coordinator of the Alexandria Project (AP). She organized,
under the guidance of Prof. Dr. M. A. El-Abbadi, the International
Seminar: “What Happened to the Ancient Library of Alexandria? ” (26–28
September 2004) of which this publication is the scholarly output.

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 THE ALEXANDRIA PROJECT

The ‘Alexandria Project’ (AP) is one of the major research projects

undertaken by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina since its inception. The
Project is designed primarily to serve researchers whose main area of
study focuses on the Ancient Library of Alexandria and Alexandrian
scholarship as well as other relevant topics. The Project seeks to achieve
its goals through stimulating scholarship, promoting research, organizing
scholarly workshops, seminars, and conferences as well as developing
extensive collections on related topics. It also aims at publishing series
of comprehensive studies of which the present volume is the first.

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el-abbadi_f1_i-xxii.indd xxii 1/25/2008 8:40:30 PM
 INTRODUCTION

Mostafa El-Abbadi

What Happened to the Ancient Library of Alexandria? is the outcome of an

International Seminar organized by the Alexandria Project at the
Bibliotheca Alexandrina (26–28 September 2004).
The subject was originally suggested by Dr. Ismail Serageldin, the
Director of the Library, with the intention of inviting international
scholars of different cultural backgrounds to reconsider afresh, at the
start of the twenty first century, the long disputed question concerning
the fate of the Ancient Library. The final plan developed into a study
of the cultural context of the Alexandria Library with special emphasis
on the still less explored Late Antiquity. The whole work finally crystal-
lized into four main sections:

1. The evolution of the library institution in Ancient Egypt, covered by

two contributors, Mounir Megally and Fayza Haikal.
2. The Alexandria Library under threat in late Ptolemaic and Roman
times, treated by W. J. Cherf, J.-Y. Empereur, M. El-Abbadi and
L. Polastron.
3. The intellectual milieu in Alexandria in Late Antiquity, dealt with
by B. A. Pearson, Maria Dzielska, D. Y. Dimitrov, G. Leroux and
Gr. Majcherek.
4. The Arabs and the Alexandria Library, treated by Qassem A. Qas-
sem and Bernard Lewis.

In the first section, Professor Mounir Megally expounds the natural

and socio-economic foundation of the cultural and scientific develop-
ment in Ancient Egypt. He traces the interaction between man and
nature, the prevailing geophysical conditions—especially the peculiar
phenomenon of the annual Nile flood every summer—and the growth
of Learning; in other words, the systematization of Knowledge and the
passage from the concrete to the abstract. He surveys the beginnings of
several branches of science and technology: the invention of papyrus,
the evolution of systems of numbers, of writing, of measuring time,
the study of astronomy, the awareness of history, . . . etc.

el-abbadi_f2_1-8.indd 1 1/25/2008 8:41:01 PM

 2 mostafa el-abbadi

Next in the same section, Professor Fayza Haikal discusses the phe-
nomenon of private collections and temple libraries in Ancient Egypt.
She distinguishes between archives and libraries in the light of the
different technical words used in hieratic: archives of documents, the house
of papyrus rolls and house of life.
Haikal discusses several points connected with the institution of librar-
ies: divinities, personnel, organization and role in society. She further
describes the differences between private, temple and royal libraries, by
giving examples of each type; and she finally concludes with an assess-
ment of the Alexandria Library in an Egyptian context.
In the second section, Dr. Cherf presents an original approach to
the consequence of Julius Caesar’s setting afire the Egyptian fleet in the
Eastern Harbour during the Bellum Alexandrinum in 48 B.C. Cherf ’s
main purpose is to prove whether, if given available conditions, the fire
of 48 B.C. could have reached fire-storm proportions? He therefore
calculated that the date of Caesar’s Alexandrian War must have taken
place towards the end of August of that year, when meteorological
conditions were warm and windy due to the Etesian northern winds.
Given the proximity of the granary warehouses to the shore within
the harbour area—if ignited by so much as a spark—they would
have exploded and escalated the massive harbour blaze to fire-storm
proportions. Following the famous passage of Lucan’s description of
Caesar’s fire, Cherf concludes that the Alexandria fire did take place
and did spread inland.
Finally, Cherf endorses Peter Fraser’s statement that “we are justi-
fied in supposing that the contents of the Royal Library, if not wholly
destroyed, were at least seriously diminished in the fire of 48 B.C.”
Professor J.-Y. Empereur next considers the evidence of archaeology.
He chiefly presents the evidence of two Roman villas recently uncov-
ered in Alexandria. One of them with the head of Medusa mosaic was
discovered by Empereur himself in the city centre and the other, known
as the Villa of the Birds, excavated by the Polish-Egyptian mission at
Kom el-Dikka. Their dates extend between A.D. 150 and the second
half of the third century A.D.
Empereur gives an account of the devastations suffered by the city
in the second half of the third century at the hands of Zenobia, Aure-
lian, Domitius Domitianus and Diocletian, as well as the earthquake
that destroyed the top of the Lighthouse and other monuments. In the
words of Ammianus Marcellinus (mid-fourth century), “the town lost
the greatest part of the quarter called Bruccheion.” It was in that district

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 introduction 3

that the Mouseion and the Library were situated, and they may very
easily have suffered the same fate as other monuments. Yet Empereur
rightly asserts that the destruction of the Library did not signify the
disappearance of books.
The Daughter Library within the Serapeum complex survived into
Roman times and became, as the present writer (M. El-Abbadi) asserts,
the hub of scholars after the destruction of the Royal Library in 48
B.C. The same fate that befell the Serapeum in A.D. 391, following
the decree of Emperor Theodosius to abolish all pagan cults in the
empire, also put an end to the Daughter Library.
Accounts of contemporary eye-witnesses (e.g. Theodoret, Eunapius,
Aphthonius, Rufinus) testify to the fact that the destruction of the
Serapeum was almost complete and that it had been transformed into
a church. A crucial argument is the testimony of Aphthonius who had
visited the temple before 391 and wrote a Description of it afterwards.
In his words, he claims to have seen “rooms, some . . . served as book-
stores . . ., some others were set up for the worship of the old gods.”
The use of the past tense indicates that those “rooms . . .” no longer
existed at the time of writing. It would also be unthinkable to mention
“the worship of the old gods” in the new church.
Mr. Lucien Polastron, who is interested in the History of vanished
libraries, compares the circumstances detrimental to books and to
libraries in both Alexandria and China. After briefly surveying the
events that threatened the Alexandria Library, he presents the case
of China that witnessed an early period of intellectual enlightenment
between the fifth and third centuries B.C., when a hundred philosophers or
rather a hundred schools flourished. This was the peak of Chinese Classics.
This development terminated in 213 B.C., when it was decreed that
the possession of books was an exclusive Royal prerogative. Gradually,
kings disposed of archives and instructed their subordinates to burn all
writings in order to rule free of risk or constraints.
However, the decree was subsequently abolished in 191 B.C. and the
following decades witnessed reconstruction campaigns of the collection
of books under the Han dynasty. Still, the cycles of destruction and
reconstruction recurred repeatedly with the change of dynasties.
The third section dealing with the intellectual milieu in Late Antiquity
Alexandria is of special interest. It was in Alexandria that we can dis-
tinctly feel the pulse of events in the whole then known world. Against
a background of intense activity, high feelings and dramatic transfor-
mations, international trade thrived and sciences flourished. We have

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 4 mostafa el-abbadi

in this section five contributions of unusual interest. They compliment

one another, and each one sheds fresh light from a different angle.
Professor Birger Pearson discusses the accidental mid-twentieth cen-
tury discovery of the great Coptic papyrus Library of Nag Hammadi.
He meticulously analyses the religious content of the Codices and their
significance which contain evidence of a variety of Christian Gnosti-
cism, of Hermetic texts as well as miscellaneous non-Gnostic texts.
He convincingly argues that the discovered manuscripts were part of
the library of a Christian monastery of the network of Pachomius
(290–346) in the early fourth century.
As they were of a Gnostic nature, they were meant to be destroyed
when apocryphal and heretical books were proscribed in the monasteries. It
is thanks to a few monks who hid their favourite books in the monastic
burial site that they still survive.
In the following paper entitled Learned Women in Alexandrian Scholar-
ship, Professor Maria Dzielska takes us to another exciting aspect of
intellectual life in Alexandria between the fourth and fifth centuries.
A major part of the paper is devoted to Hypatia who witnessed and
survived ‘the destruction of the Serapeum and the Daughter Library.’
Following the example of her father and mentor Theon, the well known
mathematician, Hypatia believed that it was of prime importance to
uphold the scientific heritage of Hellenism. She was very versatile and
her contributions to science included, astronomy, mathematics and
philosophy. Though herself a pagan, her circle of disciples included
both pagan and Christians alike.
Dzielska suggests that Hypatia probably gave her lectures in the
recently discovered lecture halls. As she enjoyed great popularity with her
pupils and high esteem among the city governors, she became involved
in the power conflict (412–415) between Bishop Cyril and the impe-
rial prefect Orestes, with whom she was on friendly terms. It was this
involvement that provoked Cyril’s followers to attack and kill her.
A point Dzielska is keen to emphasize, is that scholarship in Alex-
andria did not die with Hypatia, as is sometimes tendentiously alleged;
on the contrary it remained strong.
Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov, in the following paper, examines the dilemma
of another contemporary intellectual, Synesius of Cyrene who was a
pupil of Hypatia and later on was appointed Bishop of Ptolemais in
Cyrene by Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria. If Hypatia was whole-
heartedly committed to philosophy, Synesius appears to have felt the
internal embarrassment between a philosophic mind and a Christian

el-abbadi_f2_1-8.indd 4 1/25/2008 8:41:01 PM

 introduction 5

heart. On his appointment as bishop, Synesius felt the urge to give

expression of his inner conflict in writing Letter 105, which is the subject
of Dimitrov’s paper.
Through painstaking analysis of Letter 105 and its comparison with
other writings of Synesius, especially the Hymns and On Dreams, Dimitrov
attempts to reconcile the seemingly conflicting philosophic objections
and Synesius’ own concept of the Christian faith as he understood it
in the early fifth century.
Professor Georges Leroux, in his contribution Damascius and the
Collectio Philosophica, which has survived in a manuscript of the ninth
century in Constantinople, he chose the Neoplatonist philosopher,
Damascius as his guide because: (a) Damascius’ career took him from
Damascus (where he was born c. A.D. 460) to Alexandria, Athens, Persia
and back to Alexandria. (b) The fact that two of his major works were
transmitted as part of the Collectio Philosophica.
Leroux accepts Westerink’s argument with regard to the Alexandrian
origin of the collection:
Alexandria was a city of books and reading, it was also a city of debate
and learning and the later period cannot be understood without a constant
reference to the role of the Library before 391 A.D. It is altogether wholly
improbable that the work being done inside the philosophical circles would
have been totally disconnected from the activities of the main Library,
whatever that institution had become during the fourth century.
Leroux concludes that Damascius himself assembled the Collectio Philo-
sophica in Alexandria in preparation for his long stay as a scholarch in
Athens. Later on, a copy of it was taken to Constantinople. Thus the
preservation of the collection is an outcome of interaction between
institutional and school libraries.
To complete the literary image of Alexandria in Late Antiquity as
represented in the last four papers, Professor Grzegorz Majcherek pres-
ents his recent discovery of lecture halls (auditoria) at Kom el-Dikka in a
paper entitled Academic Life of Late Antique Alexandria: A View from the Field.
The discovery of the lecture halls has definitely thrown an entirely new
light on the nature of academic life in late Antique Alexandria. They
date from the fifth century and seem to have continued to function until
the early eighth century. The combined evidence of archaeological and
literary sources leaves little doubt that Alexandria in Late Antiquity,
continued to be one of the great centers of education in the fields of
philosophy, law and medicine, attracting students and professors from
all over the ancient world.

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 6 mostafa el-abbadi

It is remarkable that the sixth century author, Elias describes lecture-

rooms to be “in similarity to theatres, are often rounded in plan so that
the students can see one another as well as the teacher.” Majcherek
comments that Elias appears to have been “describing one of the
lecture-halls on our site where, in theory, he could even have been
teaching.” He concludes by asserting that “quite obviously, Alexandrian
science did not end with the destruction of the Library.”
The final section of our volume—which deals with the Arab period—
presents two papers by the medievalist, Professor Qassem Abdou Qas-
sem and the well-known orientalist, Professor Bernard Lewis. Both
follow similar, but not identical, ways of thinking. Qassem analyses the
basic two Arab accounts of the destruction of the Library of Alexandria; one
is that of al-Baghdādī who visited Egypt c. 595 A.H./A.D. 1200, the
other one by Ibn al-Qiftī (d. 646 H./A.D. 1248) Both authors reported
that it was Amr ibn al- Ās who had destroyed the Library at the order
of Caliph Umar.
Qassem refutes both reports for several reasons: (a) Their late, sudden
appearance after some six centuries of total silence by earlier historians,
Arabs and non-Arabs alike. (b) Discrepancies and errors in al-Baghdādī.
(c) The fictitious nature of al-Qiftī’s account.
Qassem concludes that the Arab story of the destruction of the
Alexandria Library is a fabrication and an example of the abuse of
history for political purposes.
A fitting conclusion to the entire volume is Professor Bernard Lewis’
paper entitled The Arab Destruction of the Library of Alexandria: Anatomy
of a Myth. Lewis starts his presentation with the definite statement:
“Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, some writers are
still disposed to believe and even repeat the story of how the Great
Library of Alexandria was destroyed by the Arabs after their conquest
of the city in A.D. 641, by order of the Caliph Umar.”
He shows that as early as 1713, Father Renaudot, Eusèbe, the dis-
tinguished French orientalist cast doubt on the story of Barhebraeus.
He was followed by the great English historian, Edward Gibbon who
outrightly denies “both the facts and the consequences.” Lewis contin-
ues to enumerate a succession of other Western scholars who carefully
analyzed and demolished the story. The very fact that it still survives and
is repeated, is a clear testimony to the enduring power of a myth.
After analyzing the nature and circumstances of this and other his-
torical myths (Christian and Jewish), Lewis declares, “It is surely time
that the Caliph Umar and Amr ibn al- Ās, were finally acquitted of

el-abbadi_f2_1-8.indd 6 1/25/2008 8:41:02 PM

 introduction 7

this charge which their admirers and later their detractors conspired
to bring against them.”
After the above survey of the contents of our volume, it is I feel,
justifiable to conclude that the various contributors have offered two
responses to the query raised by the title: What Happened to the Ancient
Library of Alexandria?
The first is the prevailing agreement among the participant schol-
ars, that the two principal components of the Alexandria Library, i.e.
the Royal Library within the Royal Palaces’ area (Bruccheion) and the
Daughter Library within the Serapeum, had practically met their end
more than two centuries before the Arabs came to Egypt.
The second response is of particular significance and great conse-
quence, as it asserts that in spite of the disappearance of the institutional
Library, Alexandria continued as one of the great centres of learning
in Late Antiquity, thanks to collections—in the individual schools—of
books that had been made of copies from originals that were in the
Great Library.

el-abbadi_f2_1-8.indd 7 1/25/2008 8:41:02 PM

el-abbadi_f2_1-8.indd 8 1/25/2008 8:41:02 PM
 À LA RECHERCHE DE LA SYSTÉMATISATION DES
CONNAISSANCES ET DU PASSAGE DU CONCRET À
L’ABSTRAIT DANS L’EGYPTE ANCIENNE

Mounir H. Megally

Ce n’est point un hasard si, à un moment important de l’histoire de

l’Antiquité, la cristallisation des connaissances par la création de la
première Grande Bibliothèque du monde s’est faite à Alexandrie, en
Egypte. À moins que, par leurs réalisations novatrices, les civilisations
actives, et celle de l’Egypte ancienne en était une, n’engendrent elles-
mêmes ce genre de hasard heureux; la création de cette Bibliothèque
apparaît alors comme l’aboutissement d’un long enchaînement irréversi-
ble d’étapes positives dans cette voie. Ce long cheminement fait d’essais,
d’échecs, d’améliorations, d’acquis peut sembler modeste ou hors de
propos au regard de l’éclat de cette prestigieuse Bibliothèque, mais fort
heureusement l’histoire millénaire de l’Egypte ancienne nous révèle les
jalons qui marquent son parcours sur la voie menant à l’instauration et
à l’élaboration de ce qu’on appelle archives et bibliothèques.
L’enchaînement de l’histoire millénaire de l’Egypte et sa richesse en
faits historiques offrent à l’historien un large contexte qui lui permet
en général d’avoir une connaissance approfondie des faits et une vue
d’ensemble de leur genèse, de leur déroulement et de leur constance à
travers l’histoire ou, au contraire, et leur sort final quand ils disparaissent
à un moment donné ou se manifestent sous une autre forme. Il peut
les insérer, forme aussi bien que contenu, dans des courants cohérents
de pérennité ou de métamorphoses historiques, contexte où les pro-
babilités de l’émergence d’un fait, de sa continuité ou de son éclipse
apparaissent comme des événements rationnels répondant à des fac-
teurs intelligibles. Il en est de même pour leurs modalités. Ceci permet
également d’adopter éventuellement une approche épistémologique qui
situe ces faits dans un processus d’acquisition de connaissances, une
‘expérience du savoir’ qui clarifie certaines conditions de son émergence,
de sa signification réelle, de son impact sur la vie de l’homme et de
sa transmission, un des domaines des ‘sciences sociales’ qui explorent
les ‘faits humains collectifs.’ Le parcours vers la systématisation des

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 10 mounir h. megally

connaissances, dont nous essayerons d’évoquer ici les grandes lignes,

en est un bon exemple.1
Ce parcours a commencé véritablement par la recherche d’un
ensemble d’idéogrammes capables de signifier d’une façon constante
un contenu intelligible et précis, le même pour celui qui les trace
que pour ceux qui les liront, avant d’arriver à établir un système
d’écriture complet et cohérent qui peut à la fois exprimer des choses
concrètes et des concepts abstraits. Ce système graphique, qui mène
une société au seuil de l’époque historique, marque, en fait, une des
phases importantes d’un changement social profond. Il est certain
que la mise au point d’un système graphique cohérent, et le système
égyptien employant idéogrammes et phonogrammes en est bel et bien
un exemple performant, ne se remarque que dans des sociétés qui ont
atteint une certaine complexité créative, sociétés urbaines dotées d’un
gouvernement centralisé, c’est-à-dire un Etat. L’écriture joue, en effet,
un rôle essentiel et surtout accélérateur dans l’intensification du travail
humain et l’adoption sur une grande échelle d’un ensemble de plans
organisationnels d’ordre socio-économique, permettant à une société
de devenir cumulative, facteur qui nous intéresse ici vu son action
stimulatrice sur l’acquisition de la connaissance.
L’émergence de ce système graphique est ainsi à chercher dans son
contexte originel, celui d’une recherche d’amélioration de la perfor-
mance des activités économiques dans des conditions déterminées. Très
tôt il y eut une recherche de ce genre en Egypte, recherche poussée par
des exigences bien réelles, qui étaient associées dans ce pays, comme
d’ailleurs dans toute société ancienne ou moderne, aux fonctions nor-
males de production et d’échange essentielles pour son développement.
À la lumière de ces contingences contraignantes, le processus de ce
système devient intelligible.
Ces circonstances sociales de la connaissance, pratiques ou abstraites,
ont favorisé un processus irréversible d’accomplissement que l’Egypte

1
Nous sommes convaincus de l’intérêt, pour les études historiques, de la recherche
de schémas des processus d’actions élémentaires et directes qui sous-tendent les déci-
sions pragmatiques prises pour gérer l’activité économique et l’action politique d’un
peuple. Ces schémas rendent plus intelligibles bien de faits historiques et plus aisée la
possibilité de saisir les relations existantes entre eux; dans ce cas, ces faits se distinguent
plus facilement comme des éléments qui concourent à un même effet d’ensemble.
De ce point de vue, l’histoire de l’Égypte ancienne est un bon exemple du rôle de
l’interaction de facteurs socio-économiques dans son remarquable développement et
surtout en ce qui concerne le sujet qui nous préoccupe aujourd’hui, la systématisation du savoir et le
passage du concret vers l’abstrait.

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 à la recherche de la systématisation 11

a connu tôt dans sa longue histoire, et qui s’est réalisé à travers de

multiples enchaînements de procédures et d’essais. Comme tout sys-
tème, il a dû nécessiter un long apprentissage par un groupe social
qui le pratique régulièrement et par la création, par la suite, d’une des
institutions les plus importantes de la société, l’école, étape décisive sur
la voie de la systématisation des connaissances. À l’origine, ce dévelop-
pement était principalement limité aux milieux des fonctionnaires de
l’Administration, les scribes, et la connaissance qu’ils disséminaient était
essentiellement en rapport avec leur activité, leur rôle social.
On peut facilement comprendre que ce même processus aboutisse,
pour de multiples raisons et grâce au système politico-économique
favorable, à une rationalisation des connaissances remarquable par
rapport aux normes de l’époque, que l’écriture a permis de matérialiser
dans des textes. Il a également fait ressentir la nécessité de conserver
dans des archives et, plus tard dans des bibliothèques, des documents
importants jugés nécessaires pour maintenir et intensifier cette évolution
générale, documents tenus disponibles pour des consultations ultérieures.
De multiples indices historiques concrets indiquent l’existence de telles
archives ou bibliothèques en Egypte, même si leurs bâtiments construits
en briques crues ont disparu, à l’opposé de salles semblables qui faisaient
partie de temples érigés en pierre.
Mais, plus que les bâtiments, l’existence d’archives et de bibliothèques
nous intéresse ici comme l’aboutissement d’une longue recherche de
systématisation des connaissances dans plusieurs domaines, processus
dont on peut retracer certaines étapes et motivations. Il est important
de noter que mis à part le domaine théologique, ce processus mène,
in fine, à un pas fondamental: le passage d’une connaissance de ce
qui est matériel, sensible, réel, bref d’une connaissance technique, à
une connaissance plus systématisée qui en est la conséquence logique.
Par exemple, l’analyse du système de l’écriture, on va le voir, montre
comment on abstrait des choses leur propriété essentielle, on constate
les relations entre leurs caractéristiques structurelles et on isole par
abstraction ce qui les unit, les rassemble ou les oppose: il s’agit bien là
d’exercices d’abstraction. Ce passage du concret à l’abstrait caractérise
la recherche positive du savoir ainsi que la dissémination organisée des
connaissances.
On peut ne pas s’accorder à attribuer à ce savoir un caractère
‘scientifique’ jugé d’après les normes actuelles, propriété qu’on accorde,
par exemple, au savoir grec, proche de nous et dont nous partageons
bien des caractéristiques et surtout des approches. On peut, également,
penser que ce savoir était resté au niveau de l’expérience spontanée

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 12 mounir h. megally

ou commune, c’est-à-dire, sans une conceptualisation systématisée ou

poussée, ou uniquement au stade empirique d’une science,2 opinion
qui risque d’injecter une dimension anachronique dans le débat. Bref,
c’est une question ouverte. Néanmoins, c’est un savoir qui témoigne
d’une véritable unicité d’approches, de formes, et de procédures de
connaissance conformes à une certaine exigence de précision, d’ob-
jectivité, de méthode et d’abstraction, même si les principes n’en
sont pas clairement formulés ou pleinement exprimés. Par exemple,
il est vrai que les textes mathématiques que nous avons de l’Egypte
ancienne ne présentent pas une formulation clairement énoncée de
règles mathématiques, mais cette absence est-elle, en elle-même, un
argument certain ou le seul argument? On voit, par contre, dans ces
textes l’application d’une règle mathématique non énoncée, celle du
rapport constant de la conférence d’un cercle à son diamètre, π, et on
peut se demander, dans ce cas, si la modélisation retenue dans les spé-
cimens d’exercices mathématiques modèles, conservés parmi les textes
didactiques égyptiens, n’a pas rendu inutile l’énonciation de règles vu,
peut-être, que les étudiants en avaient connaissance. D’ailleurs, mis à
part quelques compositions littéraires, on constate, en général, dans les
textes, un laconisme parfois très poussé, sobriété qui ne caractérise pas
uniquement les textes religieux comme les Textes des Pyramides ou les
Textes des Sarcophages, par exemple, mais également les sapiences, etc.
En effet, l’esprit oriental, nous le pensons, est, en général, peu enclin
à être explicite. Il opte plutôt pour le contenu virtuel des propositions.
Il est superflu, à ses yeux, de formellement exprimer ce qui est jugé
connu, courant, évident, présupposé ou axiomatique.

I. La recherche des connaissances découle de la

gestion socio-économique du pays

I.1. Cadre géophysique et son impact

À l’origine, cette recherche d’acquisition de connaissances s’inscrit en
Egypte dans un cadre socio-économique et fait partie d’une gestion poli-

2
Il n’est pas aisé en général, vue la formulation bien concise, de saisir certaines
structures conceptuelles dans les mathématiques égyptiennes, cf., par exemple, Toomer,
“Mathematics and Astronomy,” 44–45.

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 à la recherche de la systématisation 13

tique pertinente du pays face aux exigences inévitables et astreignantes

de sa géographie physique. C’est un exemple intéressant de l’étroite
relation entre cette recherche, facteur de stimulation et de dynamisme,
et l’état socio-économique d’un pays dont on va essayer d’évoquer ici
l’essentiel dans son contexte.
La partie fertile de l’Egypte, il ne faut pas l’oublier, n’est pas vaste;
c’est une vallée étroite autour du Nil, sa seule source d’eau, réalité qui
prend tout son sens face à l’immensité du désert qui l’entoure, visible
de partout de la vallée. Ceci explique d’une part l’importance donnée
à l’inondation, source de vie dont dépend l’économie du pays, et de
l’autre l’action unificatrice de cette inondation, base de l’unité organique
du pays. On peut facilement comprendre qu’aucune des nombreuses
régions de cette vallée, qui s’enchaînent du Sud au Nord, ne pouvait
gérer seule l’inondation ni ses conséquences sur son territoire; cette
gestion, tout comme le contrôle équitable des eaux pour satisfaire les
besoins de tous ne pouvait être, comme c’est encore le cas aujourd’hui,
qu’une affaire d’Etat.
Ceci a été un ou le facteur déterminant de la création d’une admi-
nistration centrale forte. En effet, le pouvoir politique centralisé, régime
que cette situation a favorisé, disposait de ce que les chefs des provinces
n’avaient pas: la constance de la légitimité politique nationale dont le
commandement et la puissance sont incontestés, la possibilité de disposer
de moyens matériels importants, adéquats et disponibles dans tout le
pays et, surtout, ‘l’énergie animatrice,’ outil politique nécessaire pour
pouvoir imposer son arbitrage dans les litiges entre régions, provinces
et villes concernant l’étendue des territoires et, plus important encore,
dans les conflits relatifs au droit à des quantités déterminées des eaux
de l’inondation pour irriguer les champs. Par ailleurs, le fait que la
superficie de terre arable varie sensiblement d’une région à l’autre com-
plique les modalités de l’application d’une politique équitable compte
tenu de la densité ou de la faiblesse de la concentration urbaine, et
oblige à se référer systématiquement à des arbitrages anciens et à des
barèmes acceptés par tous et qui sont consignés dans des documents
de base conservés aux archives.
L’exemple de l’action politique du roi Amenemhat I, fondateur de
la XIIe dynastie, est intéressant à ce propos par sa clarté d’application
de ce principe de référence aux archives étatisées. Pour marquer la
naissance d’une période nouvelle de gestion équitable du pays, il s’est
déplacé lui-même pour veiller à la réparation des irrégularités qui
s’étaient glissées pendant la trouble Première Période Intermédiaire

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 14 mounir h. megally

dans la démarcation de territoires de villes et également pour rétablir

leurs pleins droits dans le partage équitable des eaux, selon les données
consignées dans les registres anciens.3 C’est un exemple intéressant du
recours du pouvoir à des barèmes fixes servant de repères connus depuis
toujours et non pas à des mesures arbitraires qui, sous la pression poli-
tique de certains chefs locaux, accepteraient des irrégularités cumulées
depuis quelques décennies. On comprend aisément la signification
politique de l’un des ‘noms’ de ce fondateur d’une nouvelle période:
whm mswt4 ‘Rénovateur de naissances,’ nom qui renvoie au
principe égyptien fondamental de rénovation dans la continuité des
systèmes et des normes performants.
Ces prérogatives du pouvoir central s’avéraient également indispen-
sables pour l’ordonnance des dispositions à prendre, en même temps
et partout dans le pays, en vue d’assurer une gestion juste des eaux de
l’inondation dont dépendait l’ordre public. Cet ordre était vulnérable à
cause de la configuration géographique du pays en une longue bande,
l’exposant au danger de scission pour différentes raisons, entre autres
une maigre récolte due à une inondation insuffisante ou au contraire
dévastatrice: famine et troubles pouvaient alors menacer les assises du
pouvoir politique en place et même les fondements de l’unité politique
associant en une seule entité la Haute et la Basse Egypte. Les troubles
politiques survenus après l’Ancien Empire quand le pays a connu,
pendant la Première Période Intermédiaire, un recul ou une absence
de pouvoir politique unifié, en sont un exemple significatif.
Cette gestion nationale de l’inondation, secondée par un discours
officiel insistant sur le respect de la justice sociale, m¡ t, personnifié
par la déesse Maât,5 assise de l’unité politique du pays, semble avoir été
réellement appliquée ou tout au moins être un but social déclaré de
l’action politique; les noms des rois, leurs titres officiels ainsi que ceux
des hauts fonctionnaires l’indiquent.6 Ils confirment surtout la respon-
sabilité du pouvoir vis-à-vis de toutes les régions du pays et de tous

3
Cette réparation a été faite, selon un texte conservé dans la tombe de Khnoumho-
tep, gouverneur du XVIe nome de la Haute Egypte, ‘d’après ce qui était [noté] dans
les documents [anciens], et a été vérifié selon ce qui était [établi] par le passé’; voir
Newberry, Beni Hasan, vol. 1, pl. 22, 25–26 (lignes 40 sq.); Breasted, Ancient Records of
Egypt, 1:283 § 625; Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs, 129.
4
Wb. I, 141, 2 sq.
5
Pour cette notion fondamentale de la pensée égyptienne voir Assmann, Maât.
6
L’Egyptien semble avoir réalisé de bonne heure l’impact, tant psychologique que
matériel, de ce principe dans l’action politique pour une bonne gestion du pays.

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 à la recherche de la systématisation 15

ses individus ainsi que l’effort de l’organisation administrative de pro-

mouvoir des projets agricoles à cet effet.7 Cette action renforce l’assise
politique de l’Etat et crée, chez l’individu, un sentiment de confiance
et des rapports positifs avec la structure politico-sociale; c’est un facteur
d’unification qui affirme chez l’individu le sentiment d’appartenir à une
communauté nationale, comme en témoigne l’ensemble des données et
l’expriment d’une façon éloquente des œuvres littéraires tels les fameux
romans de Sinouhé8 et du Naufragé.9

I.2. La spécificité du phénomène de l’inondation et ses conséquences sur

l’esprit civique
L’Administration doit affronter une difficulté inhérente à l’inondation,
phénomène par nature variable, tributaire des pluies tombant sur les
régions des sources du Nil. En effet, l’ampleur, la date et la hauteur
de l’inondation étant conditionnées par des facteurs climatiques, celle-ci
peut osciller entre une faible montée et une crue très haute. Cette
variabilité rend inappropriée l’application systématique, chaque année,
des mêmes éléments d’un plan unique pour organiser la participation
aux travaux concernant l’inondation d’un pourcentage adéquat de la
population, paramètre également variable. Vu ces variabilités, le suc-
cès de la gestion publique de l’inondation ne devait pas seulement être
fonction de l’efficacité des mesures administratives ni de la politique
officielle de rigueur et de prévoyance systématiques, que nous évo-
querons plus loin, mais surtout du consentement global des habitants
d’adhérer au principe des travaux communs, jugés nécessaires quelle
que soit leur date ou leur ampleur. La conscience de cette variabilité et

7
Le discours politique en Egypte donne de l’importance à de tels projets; voir l’image
du roi Scorpion prenant part à une cérémonie importante que nous croyons être celle
du brisement des digues pour que l’inondation submerge les champs; reproduction in
Emery, Archaic Egypt, pl. 2a. On connaît également les efforts des rois du Moyen Empire,
par exemple, pour des projets agricoles dans le Fayoum.
8
Cf. Lefebvre, Romans et contes égyptiens, 5 sq. Un des aspects importants de la litté-
rature égyptienne est qu’elle permet d’exprimer certains sentiments que l’on ne trouve
ni dans le discours politique de l’époque ni aussi clairement dans les biographies de
particuliers. On peut citer, par exemple, une certaine fierté de Sinouhé de se sentir
Egyptien ou sa profonde nostalgie pour son pays et ce qu’il représente ainsi que le
désir viscéral d’être enterré dans son pays.
9
Sentiment du Naufragé, même malgré l’enchantement de l’endroit où il a échoué
après le naufrage du bateau, île animée par un être quasi divin et où il n’y avait que
des merveilles, image égyptienne du paradis, voir Lefebvre, ibid., 32 sq.

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 16 mounir h. megally

de l’importance de ses conséquences socio-économiques directes pour

leur survie sont des facteurs qui ont dû, avec le temps et la mémoire
collective d’expériences malheureuses, façonner le caractère discipliné
des habitants et leur esprit attentif et ‘sage;’ ils dépendent parfois trop,
encore maintenant, des autorités. C’est un facteur, dont on ne fait pas
état, du renforcement du pouvoir des autorités. En tout cas, les indivi-
dus devaient être prêts à répondre à leur appel pour être affectés, en
dehors de leur activité de paysan, dans les projets communs d’irrigation,
même loin de leur propre localité, avant mais aussi après l’inondation.
Cette prise de conscience de la responsabilité commune d’assurer un
équilibre dynamique entre leur propre activité et les projets communs
semble bien être un des principaux facteurs d’un certain sens civique
chez les Egyptiens.
Par ailleurs, l’obligation de s’épauler entre habitants de la même loca-
lité pour parer aux dangers de l’inondation et pour en tirer ensemble
un profit maximal renforce localement ce sens civique, ce qui représente
un appui majeur pour le pouvoir central. Cette interdépendance locale
contrebalance la centralisation du pouvoir politique et crée d’autres liens
sociaux importants. Elle conditionne, par exemple, le comportement
religieux, donnant une certaine primauté à un sentiment religieux de
caractère local symbolisé par le , la ‘divinité locale,’10 et ce par rap-
port à la divinité ou aux divinités officielles dont le culte était célébré à
la capitale ou dans les grandes villes. Malgré la centralisation poussée
qui caractérise l’organisation séculaire et religieuse officielles du pays,
ces divinités locales sont invoquées non seulement par des particuliers
mais également par le Pharaon11 lui-même, officiant, par excellence,
des divinités officielles.
L’importance du rôle civique de l’Egyptien face à l’inondation est
mise en évidence par la transposition qu’il en fait dans sa vision de
l’au-delà. En effet, l’individu est représenté, à un moment donné dans
l’histoire des traditions funéraires, comme un paysan prêt, préparé
matériellement à assumer, dans l’au-delà, cette obligation sociale de
répondre positivement à l’appel des autorités pour participer, entre
autres, aux travaux de gestion de l’inondation. La matérialisation de ce
concept est une statuette, appelée wšbti12 (oushebti), ‘répondeur,’

10
Wb. II, 212, 8 sq.
11
Même dans les Textes des Pyramides, ex. Pyr. § 891, voir Faulkner, Ancient Egyptian
Pyramid Texts, 156.
12
Wb. I, 373; ibid. IV, 435, 15.

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placée en de multiples exemplaires dans la tombe à partir du Moyen

Empire. Elle représente le mort momifié comme travailleur agricole
avec ses outils, deux houes et un panier sur le dos, prêt à répondre
wšb13 (ouesheb) à l’appel pour construire des digues ou pour,
le cas échéant, les colmater. Il est intéressant que rois, nobles et par-
ticuliers soient représentés, à partir de Nouvel Empire, dans ce rôle
civique d’attendre l’appel, pour participer au travail commun de leur
propre gré. Le parachèvement, à l’égyptienne, de cette matérialisation
est une émouvante imploration du mort à cette statuette qui le repré-
sente de ne pas manquer à l’appel,14 invocation gravée sur l’oushebti et
qui figurera aussi dans le Livre des Morts:
Oh! oushebti, si je suis appelé, si je suis désigné pour faire tout travail . . .,
de labourer les champs, d’inonder les rives ou de transporter le sable de l’Est à
l’Ouest, réponds: ‘Me voilà’.15
Le langage aussi reflète cette disponibilité et ce sentiment civique. En
effet, ce qu’on louait chez l’individu dans l’Egypte ancienne était son
aptitude à s m ‘écouter’ (ce qu’on lui demande).16 Or, sémantique-
ment ce verbe égyptien ‘écouter’ a de nombreuses acceptions: ‘com-
prendre,’ ‘juger’ mais surtout ‘obéir,’17 etc., comme c’est d’ailleurs le cas
dans d’autres langues sémitiques ou, par exemple, dans l’arabe parlé
égyptien. En outre, le terme substantivé s m š, lit. ‘Celui qui écoute
l’appel,’ exprimé ici par deux idéogrammes, une oreille et un homme
debout levant le bras pour appeler, a non seulement l’acception propre
de ‘répondeur à l’appel,’ ‘servant,’18 employé pour désigner certains
fonctionnaires spécifiques,19 mais également une acception figurée de
ce que l’individu se devint d’être: un répondeur à l’appel, celui du Roi20
(c’est-à-dire obéir aux ordres de l’Administration) ou de divinités.21

13
Ibid., 371, 8 sq.
14
Dans son approche foncièrement globalisante l’Egyptien était enclin à étayer
l’expression plastique d’un fait ou d’une chose par un apport linguistique complétif.
15
Chapitre 6, cf. Faulkner, Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, 36.
16
In s mw s m d, mrr s m pw ir dt ‘L’écouteur est celui qui écoute, celui qui aime
écouter est celui qui fait ce qui est dit’: Sagesse de Ptahotep, cf. Sethe, Ägyptische lesestücke,
41, 5–6; trad. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, 1:47.
17
Wb. IV, 384 sq.
18
Wb. IV, 389, 12.
19
Ibid., 389, 13–16.
20
Ibid., 390, 1.
21
Ibid., 390, 2.

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 18 mounir h. megally

I.3. Travaux requis face à l’inondation

Les travaux que l’Administration devait orchestrer, avec la participation
et surtout avec le consentement de la population, pour faire face à
l’inondation étaient gigantesques. Ils étaient de deux ordres.
Tout d’abord, il fallait consolider systématiquement l’infrastructure
autour du Nil, c’est-à-dire les digues, afin de pouvoir maximaliser
l’emploi de l’eau précieuse, travail auquel participe en principe toute
la population. En pratique, cette obligation signifie l’orchestration, cha-
que année à l’échelle nationale, de la participation directe ou indirecte
d’un pourcentage suffisant de la population adulte dans une panoplie
de travaux qui devaient commencer bien avant l’inondation. C’était
une tâche complexe qui nécessitait bien entendu l’élaboration d’un
plan et d’un calendrier précis pour pouvoir garantir le recrutement
et le contrôle de contingents suffisants pour mener à bien ce projet
national partout dans le pays, que ce soit dans les régions de haute ou
de faible densité d’habitation. Dans ces dernières régions il faut surtout
compter sur des mains d’œuvre levées dans d’autres localités,22 ce qui
nécessitait le transfert, peut-être par le Nil, de paysans, de leurs outils
et de leur nourriture loin de leurs propres villages.23 L’Administration
devait mener à bien et en temps utile ce travail gigantesque imposé par
l’inondation en même temps que les autres tâches comme la construc-
tion de fortifications, de temples, de tombes royales, ainsi que les autres
travaux publiques ou les activités militaires, etc.
Le facteur temps était important pour la transmission des informa-
tions entre l’Administration centrale et ses postes avancés à travers le
pays; il était un des paramètres dont il fallait tenir compte pour l’exé-
cution de tout plan organisationnel conséquent de la gestion du calen-
drier fixant la date, dans chaque région, des travaux de construction de

22
Ce principe d’avoir recours à des contingents de travailleurs issus de régions à
forte densité de population pour être affectés ailleurs selon la nécessité a dû faciliter
l’exécution de projets importants de construction comme par exemple les pyramides,
les fortifications militaires, etc. Il est intéressant de remarquer une certaine continuité
de ce procédé actuellement sous la forme de contingents d’‘ouvriers déplacés’ ‫ﻋﻤﺎر اﻟﯩڗ اﺣﻴﻞ‬
recrutés à partir de régions peuplées, et affectés ici et là dans des projets importants.
23
Les difficultés matérielles de ce travail ainsi que le dépaysement qu’il implique de
se trouver affecté dans plusieurs régions loin de son village selon le plan des autorités
chaque année semblent expliquer cette nostalgie de sa ‘maison’, sentiment bien exprimée
dans des textes littéraires. Il est possible que l’impact de ce fait sous-tende un sentiment
semblable chez l’Egyptien encore maintenant.

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digues avant l’inondation ainsi que celle de leur rupture systématique,

le moment venu, afin d’assurer, pour tous et dans toute région, une
irrigation normalisée, suffisante et juste. Vu la variabilité de la date
d’arrivée des eaux de l’inondation dans les différentes régions et surtout
de leur hauteur rendant aléatoire toute application d’un calendrier fixe
répété sans modification tous les ans, une communicabilité rapide entre
l’Administration centrale et ses agents locaux partout dans le pays était
essentielle pour pouvoir relayer à temps les informations concernant
cette date d’une importance capitale mais surtout concernant la hau-
teur de l’inondation au sud du pays, donnée qui était prise comme
indicateur économique de premier ordre pour les travaux et pour la
récolte. Cette hauteur de l’inondation devait absolument être prise en
compte, chaque année, dans le calcul du volume d’eau alloué à chaque
province et à chaque localité selon des barèmes, probablement établis
dans leurs grandes lignes au moins dès les débuts de l’époque histori-
que, mais systématiquement mis à jour en fonction de ces variables.
On peut ainsi saisir l’importance majeure de cette hauteur annuelle
de la crue; sa mention figure comme une donnée majeure parmi les
rares indications citées dans les annales officielles de l’Etat à partir de
la Première Dynastie, comme on le voit sur la Pierre de Palerme qui
est une des premières annales de l’Egypte ancienne.24 Dans ces condi-
tions on comprend la nécessité de l’invention en Egypte du nilomètre
qui donnait cette information importante, affichée systématiquement à
l’adresse de tous les agents de l’Administration et gardée aux archives.
On comprend également l’utilité du retour systématique à ces archi-
ves pour consulter leurs données concernant la hauteur et la date de
l’inondation dans les années précédentes; elles permettaient aux agents
de l’Administration d’ajuster au mieux leurs décisions, d’améliorer leur
performance et d’adapter le calendrier à suivre.
Ensuite, l’Administration devait veiller à ce que ses ordres, d’un intérêt
capital comme les dates de rupture des digues, arrivent à temps dans
les différentes provinces, proches ou distantes.
Ce double flux incessant de renseignements et de directives de la plus
haute importance, qui ne pouvaient souffrir de délai, se faisait grâce à
un système rapide et performant de communication via le Nil qui liait
effectivement et dans les meilleurs temps toutes les régions de l’Egypte.

24
Pour une traduction de ce document voir Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, 1:75 sq.

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Un autre résultat de ce fait est la conscience de la valeur du temps et

l’intérêt de la maximaliser comme l’indiquent bien de bibliographies
à partir de l’Ancien Empire.
La seconde obligation étatique était la maximalisation de l’emploi de
cette seule ressource d’eau du pays pour l’irrigation de tous les champs
afin d’obtenir une récolte parfaite,25 non seulement pour maintenir en
vie la population mais également pour augmenter les réserves perma-
nentes de grain pour qu’elles soient suffisamment abondantes pour
parer aux éventuelles conséquences catastrophiques d’une inondation
insuffisante et d’une famine certaine.
Cette mesure préventive devint avec le temps, et probablement à la
suite de plusieurs faibles inondations, un idéal socio-économique en soi,
assurant une continuité de la prospérité, garante d’une paix sociale et
base de pérennité de son système politique. Elle rejoint l’idéal affiché par
plusieurs chefs de l’organisation administrative ainsi que par plusieurs
fonctionnaires de ‘faire mieux’ et surtout ‘plus rapidement’ que les
autres par le passé.26 On peut ainsi comprendre l’origine de certaines
idées sur la capacité légendaire de l’Egypte de pouvoir restaurer ses
stocks de grain, image de l’Egypte déjà connue de certains peuples
anciens, et reflétée dans des passages de la Bible;27 d’ailleurs, grâce à
sa gestion pertinente de l’inondation, l’Egypte bien que très limitée en
terre arable,28 est néanmoins resté pendant longtemps, à cause de sa
récolte miraculeuse et sa gestion performante, le grenier de Rome,29
de Byzance et des Arabes.

25
Dans ces conditions il n’est pas étonnant que le thème le plus important représenté
dans les scènes des tombes en Egypte à partir de l’Ancien Empire soit celui de la culture
du blé et de sa récolte miraculeuse. Ce thème va également être repris dans les vignettes
du Livre des Morts, voir ex. Faulkner, Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, 10.
26
Remarquer l’importance donnée à l’idéal de toujours faire mieux que par le
passé pour servir le roi dans tous les domaines, thème qui est mis en valeur dans les
biographies à partir de l’Ancien Empire; un bon exemple en est la biographie de Weni,
haut fonctionnaire qui a servi les rois de la VIe dynastie, où ce leitmotiv se répète
plusieurs fois, cf. Sethe, Urkunden des alten Reichs, 98 sq.; 125, 10–11.
27
Par exemple, l’octroi du blé égyptien aux gens de Canaan mentionnés dans la
Bible, voir Gen. 41:57, 42:1–3, 42:5–7, 43:1–3, 45:23.
28
Par exemple par rapport à un autre pays, la Mésopotamie.
29
Le grenier de Rome se trouva à un moment donné en Egypte. La collecte du
blé était effectuée sous le préfet de l’annone et ses services et transportée à partir
d’Alexandrie.

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I.4. La nécessité d’un système de dénombrement et les implications de ce

processus promoteur
Cependant, ce rôle de l’Administration ne pouvait se réaliser sans l’aide
d’un inventaire systématique des potentialités du pays, comprenant tous
les habitants et leurs biens, au sens économique du terme, ainsi que les
moyens de gardiennage et de transport des produits et leur distribution;
sans un tel recueil complet on ne pouvait avoir une représentation
quantitative, même simplifiée, des ressources potentielles du pays. En
effet, sans une image semblable, toute proportion gardée, de ce qu’on
appelle maintenant une comptabilité sociale, on ne pouvait envisager
ni le recrutement à temps des contingents de paysans nécessaires pour
exécuter ces tâches, ni l’agencement approprié de leur affectation,
selon leur capacité physique, aux différents travaux30 dans tout le pays,
ni non plus la réalisation et le maintien en bon état des ouvrages de
l’infrastructure comme les digues et les canaux exposés chaque année
à une inondation. La complexité de cette tâche est amplifiée dans le
contexte d’une économie en nature, où rémunération et salaires sont
donnés en objets réels, ce qui multiple les opérations de prélèvement,
de transport, de stockage et de distribution de produits de tout genre.
La préparation d’un tel inventaire suppose, d’un côté, la disponibilité
de moyens matériels suffisants et, de l’autre, un système administratif
réfléchi et bien structuré et un effectif important et capable de représen-
ter l’autorité de la ‘loi,’ de tenir la comptabilité de tout, de centraliser
les renseignements et de présenter d’une manière claire aux autorités
les données relatives aux potentialités de toutes les régions du pays.
Ce rôle impliquait la nécessité de tout savoir, tout compter, tout
enregistrer, tout analyser, tout inventorier.31 Le seul moyen était le
recensement régulier,32 conduit par les nombreux agents d’une impo-
sante administration qui amassait ainsi des informations complètes qui

30
La répartition des mains d’œuvre obéissait à des critères stricts d’aptitude, répar-
tissant les personnes selon leurs potentialités physiques, voir par exemple Pap. Sallier I,
7,1 sq., cf. Gardiner, Late-Egyptian Miscellanies, 84–85 et Caminos, Late-Egyptian Miscel-
lanies, 317 sq.
31
La biographie de Weni précise que lorsqu’il avait été nommé ‘Gouverneur de la
Haute Egypte’ il avait veillé à ‘tout noter’; cf. ce texte en Sethe, Urkunden des alten Reichs,
106, 4 sq.
32
Il y a plusieurs exemples de dénombrement, ou de tentatives de dénombrement,
dans l’Antiquité, comme en Mésopotamie ainsi que dans les cités-Etats, en Grèce, à
Rome (le terme de ‘recensement’ dérive du terme latin censu), en Chine à l’époque
pré-impériale, au Japon, etc., mais sans une telle régularité à l’égyptienne.

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permettaient une image réelle du cadastre, de l’assiette des impôts et

de la main d’œuvre nécessaire pour l’exécution des travaux publics
jugés indispensables;33 mais ces informations devaient aussi être faciles
à garder, à ventiler et à consulter à tout moment; elles étaient mises à
la disposition de l’Administration centrale à la capitale ainsi que dans
les bureaux de l’administration locale dans les différentes régions du
pays. L’incidence de cet effort sur la cadence de la recherche de la
systématisation des connaissances est bien évidente.

II. Les besoins concrets pour la réalisation des dénombrements et

pour la sauvegarde de leurs données

II.1. L’invention du système de chiffres

Il est facile de comprendre que nous n’ayons pas de trace, ni d’idée
claire, des moyens ‘graphiques’ employés lors des premiers comptages
faits avant l’élaboration d’un système graphique complet. Lors de ces
premiers comptages, la ‘notation’ sur place des renseignements néces-
saires ainsi que celle de la suite des opérations s’y référant remontent
aux périodes qui précèdent l’époque historique. Ceci nous prive de tout
moyen d’en évaluer l’importance. Si on peut facilement comprendre
que le principe d’exprimer une chose à l’aide de son image mène
naturellement à la genèse de l’invention de l’écriture en Egypte, on ne
peut formuler une idée claire sur les modalités de l’application de ce
principe avant l’invention du système graphique. Comment faisait-on
pour mémoriser les différentes quantités conséquentes d’impôts en nature
exigées des habitants ou le nombre élevé de contingents de personnes à
recruter d’ici et là pour les travaux liés à l’inondation, les matériaux mis
à leur disposition, les calendriers nécessaires, etc., etc.? Il est probable

33
Aucun élément précis ne permet de supposer que l’Etat ait dû recourir, en Egypte,
à une justification religieuse pour ‘légitimer’ directement le principe du dénombrement
aux yeux de la population comme ce fut probablement le cas, par exemple, en Israël
(ex. Num. 26:2, Yahvé ordonne à Moïse de faire le recensement de toute la com-
munauté des enfants d’Israël) et à Rome où on faisait des offrandes rituelles lors et à
l’occasion du dénombrement. La prise de conscience du défide l’inondation et de ses
conséquences pour chaque ville et village et la compétence du système politique fort
étaient probablement suffisantes, sans devoir avoir recours à une justification de valeur
religieuse. Il est vrai qu’à l’occasion de la récolte on faisait des offrandes à Ernoutet,
Déesse de la Récolte, mais on ne peut établir dans ce cas une relation de cause à effet.
Cette déesse n’était pas liée au dénombrement per se.

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 à la recherche de la systématisation 23

que ceci s’exprimait, par exemple, à l’aide de quelques ‘bâtonnets’ et

‘billes’34 de différentes grandeurs, dont plusieurs exemples de taille et
de forme différentes se trouvent dans les musées; leur contexte et les
modalités exactes de leur usage restent inconnus et leur emploi ne
pouvait être que ‘rudimentaire.’ L’intérêt épistémologique de ce volet
qui se situe dans les époques préhistoriques est bien évident.
En tout cas, à un moment donné vers la fin des époques préhistoriques
en Egypte, la nécessité de conserver de tels résultats s’est fait sentir;
ce système de bâtonnets et billes a dû alors être transcodé et exprimé
par la notation de leur forme comme signes graphiques, c’est-à-dire en
traçant des barres et des points, que l’on emploiera désormais comme
chiffres. Cette organisation de ces premiers signes en un ensemble
graphique est l’amorce d’un esprit de système qui a préparé le terrain
pour l’invention, le moment venu, en Egypte d’un système complet,
cohérent et structuré de chiffres, entiers et fractions, pour exprimer le
nombre des mesures de grandeurs physiques employées dans la vie
courante ou pour exprimer une construction abstraite.35 C’est un outil
facile et d’une importance capitale, qui a été initialement créé, dans
le contexte égyptien, pour le service du dénombrement et qui va être
maintenu tout au long de l’histoire de ce pays. Il va aussi permettre
à l’Egyptien d’accéder aux notions arithmétiques, qui lui ont permis
d’effectuer l’arpentage des champs et de parfaire une technique comp-
table36 employée intensivement, et plus tard de parvenir à l’abstraction
des données, processus qui œuvre pour la systématisation du savoir.

II.2. L’invention du système de l’écriture

Par ailleurs, il est compréhensible que l’invention des chiffres soit
corollaire, dans le contexte du dénombrement, d’une autre invention,
l’écriture, autre outil absolument indispensable pour en consigner les
résultats. Nous ne parlons pas ici de l’usage de quelques pictogram-
mes utilisés ici ou là pour libeller les objets comptés, comme les signes

34
Voir le schéma de points arrangés en une formation conservée sur le verso du Pap.
Sallier IV, (Gardiner, Late-Egyptian Miscellanies, 95 et Caminos, Late-Egyptian Miscellanies,
358). Il est possible que l’origine de ce système de calcul, dont on ne comprend pas le
mécanisme, remonte aux périodes d’avant la découverte du système de l’écriture.
35
Il en est de même dans d’autres civilisations de l’Antiquité comme celle de la
Mésopotamie et de la Chine où la connaissance des chiffres et des notions mathématiques
coïncident avec la connaissance du principe de ‘statistique’ et du dénombrement.
36
Voir Megally, Notions de comptabilité.

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 24 mounir h. megally

employés à cet effet par certaines civilisations ‘archaïques,’ mais bien

d’un système graphique complet, duquel découlent des conséquences
culturelles importantes, réelles et constantes, quantitatives et qualitatives.
Il a vu le jour comme outil de travail de l’Administration et est arrivé
relativement rapidement à une maturité évidente; son emploi était bien
commode malgré l’absence de notation des voyelles, et son apprentissage
facile grâce au nombre relativement limité d’unités graphiques.
Sa commodité tient surtout au fait qu’il emploie des idéogrammes
ainsi que des phonogrammes, les premiers représentant des réalités
concrètes dont l’intelligibilité, et par conséquent la valeur phonétique,
peuvent être rapidement saisies sans peine par le lecteur, alors que les
seconds facilitent davantage la lecture. Le système utilise également
des idéogrammes comme ‘déterminatifs’ pour parfaire la graphie du
mot: par l’image d’une réalité concrète qu’ils représentent, facile à
saisir, ceux-ci distinguent un mot de ses homonymes et compensent
dans un sens l’absence de voyelles. En effet, d’être guidé par un signe
qui, plastiquement, détermine le sens par l’indication, par exemple,
d’un être, d’une action, d’un objet ou du symbole d’une idée abstraite,
facilite l’appréhension du sens d’un mot écrit sans voyelles et aide, par
la suite, à différencier la lecture appropriée du mot des autres catégo-
ries de formes dérivées—verbe, adjectif, substantif, participe, infinitif,
etc.37—qui sont tirées sur la même racine et qui sont écrites par les
mêmes radicaux, les mêmes consonnes.
La facilité de ce système a favorisé l’intensification de son emploi par
l’Administration. L’Egypte est une des rares civilisations anciennes qui a
maximalisé le rôle de l’écriture, ce qui lui a permis d’instaurer très tôt
le recensement biannuel38 puis le recensement annuel, nwt.39
D’ailleurs, l’émergence, en Egypte, d’un pouvoir central politiquement
fort et stable, doté d’un système économique solide et d’une organisation
administrative structurellement centralisée se confond avec l’émergence

37
Comme par exemple le manque de voyelles dans le système graphique arabe où
une graphie composée des trois consonnes ‫( ك ت ب‬k, t, b) par exemple peut être
comprise et par conséquence lue, selon le contexte, comme signifiant: ‘il a écrit,’ ‘il a
été écrit,’ ‘il a fait écrire,’ ‘fais écrire’ mais aussi ‘écrire’ et ‘livres,’ etc. Dans d’autres
exemples il peut y avoir aussi d’autres dérivés tirés sur la même racine comme le
participe présent ou passé ainsi que d’autres formes grammaticales.
38
La Pierre de Palerme montre que cette mesure administrative du recensement
de la population existait dès le début de la 1ere dynastie.
39
Wb. V, 379, 5–16. Il est intéressant de se demander quelles sont les relations notion-
nelles entre cette acception et celle d’autres termes corrélés comme nô ‘distinguer,’
‘faire la différence,’ ibid., 374, 1 sq. et nt, ‘différence,’ ibid., 376, 1, etc., dont la
signification est en relation sémantique évidente avec l’essence d’un recensement.

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 à la recherche de la systématisation 25

de ce système graphique. On ne peut pas imaginer l’essor performant

de ce système politico-économique égyptien sans l’apport de ce système
graphique. Par ailleurs, l’histoire des systèmes politique et économique
de l’Egypte ancienne qui se sont développés rapidement à partir de
l’aube de l’époque historique, donc à partir de la Première Dynastie
(± 3000 av. J.-C.), se confond surtout avec l’histoire du recensement,
institutions se renforçant mutuellement.40
L’accroissement de la fréquence des dénombrements pour asseoir le
calcul de l’assiette fiscale et l’ampleur des prestations exigées sur une
base réelle et systématiquement ajustée selon les variations annuelles
de l’inondation et l’augmentation du cheptel est une démarche auda-
cieuse qui, dans le contexte d’une économie en nature comme celle
de l’Egypte ancienne, était une tâche gigantesque. Elle signifie, en
réalité, un dénombrement continuel41 fait par les scribes qui devaient
systématiquement cerner la main-d’œuvre et les biens dans le pays,
qu’ils soient permanents, comme les biens-fonds, ou variables, comme
la récolte enregistrée en été ou le cheptel dont l’accroissement ne peut
être évalué qu’au printemps.
Bien que la pratique de l’écriture en Egypte ait été plus ou moins
limitée au milieu des scribes et des prêtres, ces dénombrements succes-
sifs, répétés à ce rythme accéléré et organisés par une foule d’agents
de l’organisation administrative, avaient un effet sur la population
analphabète. Ils la mettaient en contact avec cet outil du pouvoir et
véhicule du savoir attirant ainsi des jeunes pour le poste envié de scribe.
Ceci a naturellement développé la relative propagation de l’écriture et
a favorisé la création d’une base capable de la véhiculer. Par ailleurs,
l’aura de mystère qui enveloppait l’écriture aux yeux de cette population
analphabète semble être à l’origine d’une certaine ‘divinisation’ de cet
outil civilisateur; les textes sacrés ont été appelés mdw-n r ‘les paroles
des dieux,’42 terme qui fût étendu à un moment donné à l’écriture elle-
même, outil de pouvoir, de promotion sociale et de connaissance, mais
surtout outil de ‘création.’

40
C’est le cas en Mésopotamie, civilisation contemporaine et économiquement
similaire. Le même phénomène est également connu chez les Chinois, les Grecs, les
Romains, etc.
41
Les textes emploient pour ces opérations des termes idiomatiques comme ôp
‘compter,’ ibid. I, 66, 1 sq., ex. Sethe, Urkunden des alten Reichs, 106, 7, ainsi que
sp r ‘enregistrer,’ Wb. III, 106, 11 sq., ex. Pap. Anastasi V, 15,7 sq.; cf. Gardiner, Late-
Egyptian Miscellanies, 64 et Caminos, Late-Egyptian Miscellanies, 247.
42
Wb. II, 180, 13–181, 1 sq.

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 26 mounir h. megally

II.3. L’invention du papyrus

Originellement, les informations étaient notées sur un support disponible
trouvé partout, des éclats de calcaire qu’on pouvait facilement ramasser
ou des tessons de vases en terre cuite qu’on jetait, les ostraca. C’étaient
des supports pratiques pour de petites notations mais ils n’étaient pas
adaptés pour noter le volume de renseignements relatifs au recensement.
Leur petit format privait le scribe sur le chantier, ainsi que les agents
dans les bureaux de l’Administration Centrale, d’une vue d’ensemble
des données. Une image globale des résultats nécessitait un support plus
adéquat sur lequel on pouvait inscrire conjointement plusieurs données.
L’invention du papier,43 fait de la tige d’une plante répandue, le papyrus,
offrait ce support idéal; on pouvait en préparer des grandes feuilles,
d’environ 50 cm. de haut, sur lesquelles on pouvait écrire une masse
d’informations portant sur une activité constante. De plus, on pouvait
coller ensemble des feuilles pour en faire un ou m ¡ ,44 un
‘rouleau de papyrus,’ un ‘livre,’ ce qui présentait plusieurs avantages.
Ce rouleau pouvait contenir des données continues couvrant une
longue période, données facilement disponibles pour toute consultation
ultérieure, comme celles des dénombrements. Pratiquement, un rouleau
de papyrus qui ne dépassait guère quelques centimètres de diamètre45
une fois roulé était facile à manipuler et à transporter, ce qui faisait
gagner du temps. Les scribes pouvaient les transporter, dans des sacs
légers, pour les consulter sur place là où ils travaillaient. Et aux archives,
ils étaient faciles à classer et à stocker dans des coffrets ou des jarres
gardés dans un ¡ n sšw,46 (Salle des Ecrits), au pr
m ¡t, (Maison des Livres), termes désignant les Archives dans la capi-
47

tale et probablement aussi dans les provinces. Enfin, l’administration

provinciale pouvait facilement communiquer à l’Administration Centrale
des copies des documents importants existant dans les archives locales,
mettant ainsi à sa disposition un aperçu exhaustif de leurs documents,
ceux des tribunaux et notaires compris, auxquels on pouvait se référer
en cas de litige comme l’indique, par exemple, l’inscription juridique
de Mes.48

43
L’étymologie du mot ‘papier’ remonte en toute probabilité à un terme égyptien,
non attesté, comme * p¡ pr ¡, pour le papyrus voir Černy, Paper and Books.
44
Cf. Wb. II, 187, 5–6.
45
Voir Černy, Paper and Books, 218.
46
Cf. Wb. III, 222, 4.
47
Cf. ibid. II, 187, 8.
48
Voir Gardiner, The Inscription of Mes.

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 à la recherche de la systématisation 27

Sur ces rouleaux on copiait également tout genre de textes, littérai-

res, religieux, compositions mathématiques ou médicales, sapiences,
textes didactiques, etc. On peut ainsi comprendre comment le papyrus,
invention égyptienne et monopole d’Etat, spécificité égyptienne exportée
partout, a permis à l’homme et non seulement en Egypte d’atteindre
une étape décisive sur la voie de la thésaurisation du savoir et de sa
dissémination bien aisée.49

III. La spécificité du système égyptien d’écriture et ses implications

III.1. Aptitudes de schématisation, de généralisation et d’abstraction

La pratique du système égyptien d’écriture et de ses idéogrammes, qui
sont des images des êtres et des choses réelles, implique une adaptation
d’une image donnée, proprement dite, et de ses traits morphologiques
en un signe graphique, le pictogramme, qui est naturellement simplifié.
Cette opération doit faire appel à une certaine faculté de simplification,
de schématisation et de systématisation, aptitudes qui sous-tendent
toute approche d’abstraction qui est essentielle à la systématisation des
connaissances. Cette adaptation se fait en fonction de trois paramètres:

1. une simplification de l’image de l’objet en un idéogramme pour en

garder uniquement les caractéristiques irréductibles,
2. une schématisation de la configuration de celles-ci de façon à assu-
rer, à l’aide de quelques traits simples, un rapport sémantique clair
avec l’objet que représente l’idéogramme, schématisation faite selon
les normes de réduction qui gèrent la représentation plastique à
l’époque,
3. une systématisation de toutes ces unités réduites, les idéogrammes,
en un ensemble structuré et cohérent de signes graphiques ayant
ensemble des rapports fonctionnels réciproques de façon à maintenir
une différenciation morphologique spécifique, outil indispensable de
distinction entre les éléments plus ou moins ressemblants.

C’est, donc, un système graphique essentiellement différent du système

alphabétique que l’on connait; il transmet les items du champ sémantique

49
Malgré l’invasion de l’informatique le papier reste encore pour une large popula-
tion le support le plus pratique et le moins cher pour véhiculer la connaissance.

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 28 mounir h. megally

par une traduction plastique des images correspondantes impliquant une

réduction de celles-ci à leurs éléments spécifiques, c’est-à-dire, opérant
un choix de traits irréductibles capables de transmettre des significations
et de leurs relations sémantiques précises. Par exemple, de passer en
revue les idéogrammes représentant l’homme et ses occupations50 per-
met de saisir la pertinence de leurs éléments irréductibles: peu de traits
simples qui transmettent aisément des significations bien différenciées.
De pratiquer la lecture, et surtout la notation, de ces idéogrammes est
un exercice certain de schématisation.
Au début, pour noter un mot, le système graphique employait seul
l’idéogramme correspondant, le signe-mot. Avec l’accroissement de
l’emploi de l’écriture dû à l’obligation administrative de tout enregistrer,
ce qui augmentait systématiquement le nombre de mots notés, on a
dû adapter le système. On n’a pas multiplié outre mesure le nombre
d’idéogrammes employés, ce qui serait un procédé compliqué et peu
pratique. Par contre, on a utilisé certains signes-mots pour écrire
plus d’un seul signifié. Ceci se fait en préfixant à l’idéogramme des
phonogrammes correspondants; leur valeur phonétique appro-priée
permet ainsi de noter un nombre grandissant de mots tout en employ-
ant un ensemble raisonnable d’idéogrammes, mesure qui facilite en
même temps leur lecture.51 L’idéogramme fait dans ce cas fonction
de déterminatif, signe dont l’image détermine le sens voulu du mot
et l’explicite.
Or, il fallait opter pour une rationalisation du nombre des déter-
minatifs employés dans le système graphique pour le rendre pratique.
Vu la multitude des mots du lexique et de leurs nuances sémantiques,
il s’avère impraticable d’utiliser autant de déterminatifs aptes à ren-
dre compte de tous les phénomènes signifiants du vocabulaire d’une
langue donnée ni même d’un seul ensemble de mots se rapportant
à un même champ sémantique. Comme solution, l’Egyptien à opté
pour une approche pragmatique: l’emploi d’une sélection suffisante,
et relativement limitée, de déterminatifs. Ceci ne peut se réaliser sans
une schématisation rationnelle de leurs détails spécifiques afin de les
rendre à la fois faciles à transcrire et adaptables à un emploi aussi large
que possible. L’élargissement de la signifiance de chaque élément de ce
choix de déterminatifs est, en effet, un facteur qui conditionne le choix

50
Voir Gardiner, Egyptian Grammar, “Sign-list” A 1.
51
Cf. Gardiner, Egyptian Grammar, § 23, OBS.

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 à la recherche de la systématisation 29

des traits considérés caractéristiques des signes graphiques employés

à cet effet ainsi que leur morphologie afin d’assurer leur cohérence
sémantique. Ceci ne peut se faire sans une analyse, à différents niveaux
de signification, du contenu de chaque mot, de ses nuances et du
contexte de son emploi, d’une part, et de l’autre, des relations entre
les éléments du vocabulaire pour pouvoir isoler les mots aptes à avoir
le ou les mêmes déterminatifs appropriés selon leur valeur sémantique.
Ces procédés de simplification, de schématisation et de rationalisation
représentent un exercice sémantique important dont les rapports avec
la systématisation du savoir sont évidents.

III.2. Catégorisation de notions et choix de déterminatifs

Toute rationalisation de ce genre de la fonction de déterminatif
demande un regroupement des éléments du vocabulaire et des concepts
dans un nombre raisonnable de classes distinctes, classement qui les
ordonne selon des relations logiques. C’est essentiellement une opération
de catégorisation sémantique. La même approche domine le procédé
de catégorisation des éléments du lexique suivi dans les compositions
didactiques connues sous le nom Onomastiques.52

III.3. Schématisation graphique: l’écriture hiératique

Les conditions de travail imposées par le déroulement du dénombrement
annuel entraînaient une autre schématisation de ce système d’écriture:
la station debout des scribes, comme on les voit dans les scènes sur les
parois des tombes par exemple, et la rapidité avec laquelle ils devaient
exécuter leur travail sont des paramètres qui favorisaient une notation
rapide et donc plutôt sommaire, surtout écrite à l’encre sur papyrus ou
ostraca: c’est la naissance de l’écriture hiératique et plus tard du démo-
tique. Il s’agit d’une schématisation graphique des idéogrammes par
une ‘interprétation’ de nature plastique, afin de simplifier leurs parties
constitutives. En d’autres mots, pour pouvoir écrire les signes rapide-
ment à l’aide d’un pinceau chargé d’encre, le scribe doit schématiser
leur forme de façon à capter l’essentiel de leur structure morphologique
et à le condenser en peu de traits rapides. Cependant, par ces traits
irréductibles il doit maintenir la capacité d’évoquer le prototype, base

52
Voir Gardiner, Ancient Egyptian Onomastica.

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 30 mounir h. megally

de la différenciation sémantique. Or, une schématisation de ce genre de

tous les signes du système graphique, éléments analogues constituant un
ensemble cohérent, n’est pas une tâche simple. De passer en revue les
‘astuces’ graphiques employées à cet effet est hors de notre propos.
Cette schématisation graphique implique un passage conceptuel du
modèle intégral du prototype à l’époque, qui a déjà été sémantiquement
simplifié mais reste encore chargé de détails plastiques, à un schéma
formé d’un minimum de traits significatifs. C’est essentiellement un
passage du complexe au simple, du minutieux au sommaire et du
complémentaire au fondamental, le tout selon ce que nous avons
appelé une ‘logique interne’ de la transformation graphique des signes
hiératiques.53 Ce qui ressort de cette transformation est un schéma
condensé qui est perçu globalement. Mais une telle schématisation ne
s’opère pas sans une analyse des traits constitutifs de la forme plastique
du pictogramme selon des normes de nature logique, et sans l’option
de l’une ou l’autre simplification graphique qui capte le trait significatif
en un schéma qu’on modélise. C’est un processus qui a dû prendre un
certain temps.
Ce qui est significatif dans ce passage du complexe au simple est
qu’il soit exercé dans le domaine de la langue dont l’empreinte est
incontestable dans la vision du monde; la langue d’un peuple et son
identité sont intimement liées. Il est normal que cet exercice ait une
influence directe sur les scribes lors de leur apprentissage puis lors de
la pratique quotidienne de l’hiératique, stimulant ainsi chez eux un
processus généralisé de simplification à travers l’analyse. Cette aptitude
à schématiser les formes plastiques des éléments du système graphique
rejoint une approche correspondante qui est suivie dans d’autres domai-
nes comme par exemple dans l’art; les grandes lignes de la figuration
plastique, comme on le voit dans les compositions artistiques montrant
les êtres et les choses dans les scènes, présentent des caractères identi-
ques à ceux de la schématisation, sémantique et graphique, des signes
de l’écriture. C’est un aspect parmi d’autres de l’harmonie profonde
entre faits culturels d’une civilisation créatrice.

53
Voir Megally, Considérations sur les variations. Cf. aussi les tableaux de signes
hiératiques et leurs formes à travers l’histoire de cette écriture in Möller, Hieratische
Paläographie.

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IV. Évaluation relative des choses et ses incidences sur la

catégorisation et la hiérarchisation de ce qui est dénombré

Un rythme annuel de dénombrement n’a de sens que s’il vise à capter

les variations qualitatives en même temps que quantitatives des choses.
Ainsi, l’important d’un dénombrement annuel n’est pas, en fait, le calcul
arithmétique de ce qui est dénombrable mais la définition des choses
à dénombrer selon des paramètres fixes.
Une première démarche indispensable est la distinction pragmatique
des choses; on apprend au jeune scribe les noms des choses pour pou-
voir identifier correctement ce qui est dénombrable.54 On peut ainsi
facilement comprendre la raison du soin pris par les textes didactiques
d’inclure des exercices de définition comme c’est le cas également dans
les Onomastiques.55 Les termes de la langue y sont ordonnés dans des
listes désignant les éléments du potentiel économique, social ou militaire,
etc. Or, d’inclure des termes distincts mais qui sont plus ou moins con-
nexes, sans donner d’explication aucune de leur signification, en une
même catégorie ou classe selon des axes sémantiques non exprimés, les
met en un contexte relationnel éclairant qui permet de distinguer les
rapports étroits entre leur acception. C’est la méthode suivie dans ces
exercices didactiques. Ces listes montrent qu’un signifiant est certes un
terme pragmatique de convention et de référence mais également de
classification par rapport aux autres signifiants et leurs signifiés. Ainsi
les termes usuels de la langue y sont ventilés en catégories cohérentes
selon les normes socio-économiques de l’époque et dans le cadre de
l’économie agricole en nature du pays.
Par ailleurs, une connaissance de la valeur relative des choses ou
de leur valeur d’échange, basée sur une estimation en quantités ou
états physiques,56 s’impose vu l’absence dans une économie en nature
d’évaluation absolue, par exemple, par l’intermédiaire d’une unité
monétaire de référence. Il faut donc une définition plus précise et plus
caractéristique des items, comme des états spécifiques, les âges par

54
Ce soin donné à la distinction pragmatique de choses caractérise un ensemble
d’exercices pour jeunes scribes de l’époque du Nouvel Empire, voir l’ensemble de docu-
ments didactiques in Gardiner, Late-Egyptian Miscellanies. Ces papyrus ont été traduits
et commentés in Caminos, Late-Egyptian Miscellanies.
55
Ce genre de documents est comme le ‘thésaurus’ un répertoire de termes nor-
malisés selon le contenu dans des classements logiques; il sert de recueil ou lexique,
un livre de référence. Voir Gardiner, Ancient Egyptian Onomastica.
56
Voir Janssen, Commodity Prices.

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 32 mounir h. megally

exemple pour les contingents de personnes recrutées pour un projet ou

un travail précis. Ainsi donc, le nombre total de la population d’une
localité donnée ne servirait en rien au plan de recrutement d’une main
d’œuvre adéquate si ce nombre n’est pas ventilé en catégories selon
l’âge et la capacité physique des gens.57 Ceci explique la présence dans
ces listes d’une certaine prolifération de termes voisins correspondants
à ces paramètres variables.58 Ceci permet de déterminer d’une année
à l’autre si un membre d’une classe de personnes ou un élément d’une
catégorie change de statut et par la suite passe à une autre charge fiscale.
C’est un exercice continu de systématisation des connaissances, pour
tous les scribes de l’Administration qui cadrent l’économie en nature
dans tout le pays.
Ces listes didactiques prennent également en considération une hié-
rarchisation raisonnée du potentiel socio-économique selon les normes
pratiquées où une place précise est allouée à chaque composante selon
l’importance qu’on lui donne. Les titres administratifs et épithètes
qualificatifs que portent les fonctionnaires en sont un exemple clair; ils
sont échelonnés dans ces textes selon le même principe de l’hiérarchie
administrative et la valeur qu’on leur attribue. Le même principe gère
la place de titres mentionnés dans les documents administratifs ou les
décrets officiels ou inscrits dans les tombes des particuliers.59 Tout semble
suivre un ordre logiquement réfléchi.

57
Ex. Pap. Anastasi IV, 7,2–3, voir Gardiner, Late-Egyptian Miscellanies, 41, 15–16;
Caminos, Late-Egyptian Miscellanies, 155. Nos dictionnaires, par exemple le Wb., don-
nent des traductions des termes égyptiens désignant des états successifs de l’âge d’un
homme. Mais en dehors de ces acceptions plus ou moins vagues nous ignorons les
conditions, sociales et autres, qu’elles impliquent. Malheureusement, les textes égyp-
tiens ne sont pas explicites sur les barèmes qui sous-tendent la vraie différenciation
entre ces expressions que les scribes prenaient soin d’employer non seulement dans les
rapports administratifs ou les pièces comptables mais également dans les documents
didactiques. C’est justement le cas des termes comme ‘vieil homme,’ ‘homme,’ ‘jeune
homme’ et ‘cadet’ employés dans l’exemple en question. Par conséquent, on ne connait
pas non plus les implications fiscales de cette catégorisation qui devait être définie, et
par la suite mise au jour lors du dénombrement annuel, ni les vraies conséquences en
matière de distribution de charges lors de l’exécution d’un plan organisationnel pour
les travaux récurrents comme ceux concernant la préparation des digues avant et
pendant l’inondation. Il en est de même pour leur responsabilité.
58
Voir par exemple les différents termes qualifiant les bœufs selon les étapes suc-
cessives de leur âge et de leur état dans le Wb. VI, 197.
59
Malgré les multiples recherches sur les rangs des différents échelons des fonction-
naires de l’Administration égyptienne, on n’est pas encore certain à l’état actuel de
nos connaissances de pouvoir dresser les riches ensembles de titres que portaient les
hauts fonctionnaires selon leur ordre hiérarchique exact.

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 à la recherche de la systématisation 33

V. Rapport du dénombrement avec d’autres domaines du savoir

D’autres branches du savoir comme l’arpentage, la comptabilité, la

géométrie, les mathématiques, etc. semblent procéder directement ou
indirectement de la gestion, au sens large du terme, de l’inondation
et du dénombrement. Par exemple, grâce aux informations en leur
possession les scribes pouvaient identifier les limites des lopins de terre
que les eaux de l’inondation risquaient d’estomper. Ils pouvaient aussi
trancher une série de problèmes apparentés comme l’empiètement sur
une propriété contiguë60 quand les marques de séparation entre champs
n’étaient plus à leur place, comme la dérobade aux prestations fixées ou
la déviation de l’eau du voisin.61 Le fait que ces actes soient mentionnés
comme péchés au Chapitre 125 du Livre des Morts indique leur fré-
quence. Les scribes devaient posséder un minimum de connaissances,
de notions juridiques et une capacité de saisir rapidement l’essentiel
d’une situation pour pouvoir restaurer l’ordre.

VI. Conscience du temps et de l’histoire, le calendrier et les annales

Le rythme annuel de l’inondation qui règle le cycle de l’agriculture, la

régularité du jour et de la nuit, le mouvement du soleil et de la lune,
ont fait prendre conscience de la notion du temps, de même que la
constance des mouvements des étoiles observées dans un ciel sans nua-
ges, etc. Ce sont des éléments qui ont aidé l’Egyptien à systématiser le
temps, à fixer une méthode pratique pour marquer son déroulement. La
date de l’inondation qui marque le début du rythme agricole est prise
comme point de départ d’une année nouvelle et de ses trois saisons:
1. ¡ t, ‘inondation,’ temps des eaux submergeant les champs,
2. prt ‘l’hiver,’ temps du labeur et du soin des plantes, 3.
šmw ‘été,’ temps de la récolte, du stockage du grain et du prélèvement

60
Parmi les péchés dont le mort devait se laver devant les dieux selon le Chapitre
125 du Livre des Morts il y avait le fait ‘d’empiéter sur les champs [d’autrui]’ ainsi que
les querelles sauf ‘pour sa propriété,’ cf. Allen, Book of the Dead, 98 (S 18), Faulkner,
Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, 31–32.
61
Le fait de dévier l’eau ou de construire une digue illicitement était cité parmi
les péchés dont le mort devait se déclarer innocent d’après le Chapitre 125 du Livre
des Morts: ‘Je n’ai pas dévié l’eau pendant sa saison, je n’ai pas construit une digue
sur l’eau qui coulait [vers les autres]’, voir Allen, Book of the Dead, 97; Faulkner, Ancient
Egyptian Book of the Dead, 31.

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 34 mounir h. megally

des impôts. De plus, selon les changements de phases de la lune et des

astres, l’année est divisée en 12 mois de 30 jours de 24 heures, sys-
tème62 que nous utilisons toujours dans ses lignes essentielles. Le cadre
ordonné et systématisé du temps facilite, en effet, la systématisation des
connaissances.
Par ailleurs, lorsque, à l’époque de l’inondation les eaux submergent
la vallée sauf les villes et les villages, la population est obligée de se
concentrer dans ces lieux devenus des espaces de ‘réunification.’ Cette
‘pause’ de quelque trois mois sans travail dans les champs n’est cepen-
dant nullement une période passive. Son rythme récurrent en fait un
‘événement’ social important où délibération et réflexion peuvent s’acti-
ver, entraînant des échanges de connaissances, d’expériences acquises, de
savoir et de souvenirs communs, renforçant le sentiment d’appartenance
à une collectivité soudée et homogène. C’est un contexte qui aide à
maintenir les mémoires et les traditions, vecteurs de l’histoire.
Grâce à cette conscience du temps et de l’histoire, l’Egyptien a très
tôt senti qu’il était intégré dans la durée, dans l’histoire, ce qui l’a incité
à remonter le temps et à élaborer des annales où il se situe et surtout
où il situe les réalisations importantes de ses prédécesseurs comme le
montrent les annales sur la Pierre de Palerme. Cette prise de conscience
de l’histoire, qui est un facteur de développement, s’insère dans une
approche plus large qui sous-tend la pensée égyptienne: sa profonde
vénération pour les réalisations de ses ancêtres qui ont permis de sys-
tématiser des connaissances dans de multiples domaines.
À cette conscience collective et révérencieuse envers l’histoire on peut
attribuer une volonté générale du maintien de l’acquit, une conviction
de la pérennité des réalisations et de la nécessité d’en conserver les
informations et de préserver pour les générations futures un savoir de
valeur, auquel avait été attribué une origine quasi divine, tout au moins
pour certaines inventions comme l’écriture, idée en rapport avec celle
de la force créatrice de la parole.
Cependant, en parallèle avec l’admiration des réalisations du passé,
il y avait une volonté d’actualiser le savoir. Les documents didactiques
montrent clairement cet esprit d’innovation. À côté d’un certain confor-
misme des données pédagogiques qui reflétent un attachement à
l’héritage du passé, l’éducation des jeunes scribes, ossature de la gestion
du pays, montre une ouverture didactique certaine63 au Nouvel Empire.

62
Cf. Parker, “Calendars and Chronology,” 13 sq.
63
On le remarque par exemple dans les documents didactiques du Nouvel Empire.

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 à la recherche de la systématisation 35

Grâce à ces scribes nous pouvons nous faire une idée du dévelop-
pement des connaissances dans plusieurs domaines. En effet, certains
documents administratifs, économiques, judiciaires, etc.64 du pr
m ¡t, ‘les archives’65 ou du pr n , la ‘Maison de Vie,’66 où étaient
archivés et compilés les textes religieux,67 ont survécu. De plus, habitués
à élaborer des copies de documents officiels et administratifs, exercice
qui a développé la calligraphie, certains maîtres et scribes de l’admi-
nistration copiaient également pour le compte de particuliers, afin de
former des bibliothèques privées, textes littéraires, religieux, magiques
ou mythologiques, sapiences, manuels de mathématiques, traités de
médecine, etc. On répétait un vieil adage selon lequel les livres étaient
plus précieux que toute chose68 et même utiles dans l’au-delà, ce qui a
‘sauvé’ quelques collections comme celles d’un prêtre lecteur du Moyen
Empire trouvée dans le site du Ramesseum.
Mais beaucoup de textes ont disparu. Il y a plusieurs raisons à la
disparition de ces collections. Le papyrus est une matière organique,
exposée aux phénomènes de dégradation ou de décomposition par
de multiples causes comme l’humidité ou l’usage. Il y a également la
destruction délibérée lors des invasions successives de l’Egypte ou de
désordres politiques intérieurs69 quand on s’est attaqué aux symboles
de l’Etat et surtout aux archives. Enfin il ne faut pas oublier la fameuse
industrie qui, au Moyen Age, broyait des momies et des rouleaux de

Parmi ces compositions beaucoup de passages sont contemporains de l’époque où on

les enseignait, comme ceux qui concernent les colonies en Asie, ex. Gardiner, Late-
Egyptian Miscellanies, 63 (13,6 sq.); 108 (9,9 sq.); Caminos, Late-Egyptian Miscellanies.,
242, 401 sq.
64
Quelques exemples de dates différentes: Posener-Kriéger, Archives du temple funéraire
(Ancien Empire) comprenant des comptabilités et des tableaux de services du personnel
d’un temple funéraire de la Ve dynastie; Hayes, Papyrus of the Late Middle Kingdom où sont
consignés les noms des individus qui s’étaient dérobés de l’acquittement des services
exigés par les autorités ainsi que les directives de la ‘Grande Prison’ les concernant et
l’exécution de ces mesures disciplinaires; Megally, Papyrus Hiératique Comptable, docu-
ment émanant de la direction du Grenier à la XVIIIe dynastie concernant les activités
d’échange de blé et des dattes; Gardiner, Ramesside Administrative Documents, comprenant
une série de documents relatifs à certaines activités économiques de l’époque rames-
side; ibid., Wilbour Papyrus, qui comme ibid., “Ramesside Texts,” 19 sq. traitent de la
taxation en nature de certaines régions pendant l’époque ramesside.
65
Wb. I, 187, 8.
66
Ibid. I, 515, 8.
67
Cf. (Wb. II, Belegstellen, p. 273 [II, 187,8] 2e exemple): ‘les docu-
ments qui sont conservés dans les archives religieuses.’ On déclarait avec fierté qu’on
connaissait (tous) les documents existants dans la salle des documents des archives:
, ibid., 3e exemple.
68
Comme le précisent les sapiences.
69
Comme celles commises pendant la Première Période Intermédiaire

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 36 mounir h. megally

papyrus en poudre pour être expédiés en Europe comme remède! Mais

heureusement une partie de ce riche savoir avait déjà été accessible à
d’autres peuples étrangers, surtout aux Grecs. Son contenu n’est donc
pas réellement perdu.
L’Egypte est un pays de continuité, de permanence. Sa recherche de
systématisation des connaissances a ouvert la voie vers le savoir et vers
la création de la première Grande Bibliothèque du monde. C’est clai-
rement un exemple intéressant de linéarité historique du savoir. Grâce
à sa situation unique de carrefour et de charnière entre deux mondes,
le ‘hinterland’ égyptien, chargé de savoir acquis, et d’autres civilisations,
plus récentes, assoiffées de connaissance, Alexandrie a pu mettre en
contact plus direct que par le passé l’héritage de l’Egypte ancienne avec
l’hellénisme et certaines philosophies et sagesses du Moyen Orient. Les
contributions égyptiennes essentielles qui ont permis la systématisation
du savoir dans plusieurs domaines et la conception même d’une biblio-
thèque, sont l’invention des chiffres et de l’écriture, du papyrus, de la
notation rapide à l’encre, du système de datation, du classement des
archives, etc. Il serait intéressant de chercher à définir d’autres contribu-
tions profondes de l’héritage de l’Egypte ancienne dans ce qu’Alexandrie
a transmis au monde antique dans des domaines comme la géométrie,
la géographie, l’astronomie, la médecine, la philosophie, la rhétorique,
etc., domaines qu’on traitait alors dans cette ville phare.
J’ose espérer que la Bibliothèque d’Alexandrie, ce forum culturel,
scientifique et artistique très actif, puisse accueillir un jour un centre
de recherches sur la transmission de connaissances entre la raison
égyptienne et les autres raisons, hellénique ou moyen-orientales. On
retracera peut-être quelques maillons du passage aux peuples voisins70 ou
de la métamorphose de certains thèmes littéraires ou concepts égyptiens
d’ordre scientifique, métaphysique ou ontologique entre autres, comme,
par exemple, l’analogie de certaines règles mathématiques égyptiennes
et des formulations grecques, similaires ou comparables, en l’occurrence
la valeur π sûrement employée mais non formulée dans le calcul égyp-
tien; ou comme la correspondance entre mdw,71 ‘la parole créatrice

70
Il est tentant de trouver des rapports entre le concept égyptien de l’Océan Primordial
exprimé dans certains textes religieux au moins depuis le Moyen Empire mais exposé
longuement dans un groupe de textes démotiques—cf. Smith, On the Primaeval Ocean—et
certaines idées bibliques sur la Création exprimées en Gen. 1.
71
Cf. Wb. II, 187, 6.

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 à la recherche de la systématisation 37

qui se réalise par le verbe’ et le logos formulé par Philon d’Alexandrie

ou plus tard dans l’Evangile selon St. Jean,72 et maintes fois interprété
ultérieurement surtout sous sa forme latinisée de Verbum.
La Bibliothèque d’Alexandrie ajouterait alors à son brillant rayon-
nement actuel une dimension épistémologique considérable.

72
John 1:1–5.

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el-abbadi_f3_9-38.indd 38 1/25/2008 9:35:28 PM
 PRIVATE COLLECTIONS AND TEMPLE LIBRARIES
IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Fayza M. Haikal

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to serve as an introduction concerning

books and libraries in Ancient Egypt, long before Ptolemy I established
his famous Mouseion and Library in Alexandria. I shall attempt to
show that these institutions were not a total novelty in Ancient Egypt,
but rather a modernization and revitalization of an existing tradition
in a forward leap on the infinite journey of knowledge. To illustrate
this point, I shall begin my paper with a reminder of the conversation
between an ancient Egyptian priest and a famous Greek visitor, Solon,
as reported by Plato in Timaeus, as follows:
. . . But the oldest one among the (Egyptian) priests exclaimed: ‘Solon,
Solon, you Greeks are always children; there are no old men in Greece!’
‘What are you trying to say?’ asked Solon.
‘You are young in spirit,’ replied the Egyptian priest, ‘for you possess
no truly antique traditions, no notion gray with time’ . . . it is said that
here are preserved the oldest traditions . . . Thus there is nothing beautiful
nor great nor remarkable done, be it in your country (Greece), or here,
or in another country known to us, which has not long since been consigned to
writing and preserved in our temples.1 (Plato Timaeus 22–23)
Indeed, temples and tombs are libraries, in as much as their walls
preserve the oldest and longest religious books that we have in Egypt
and maybe in the world, from the Pyramid Texts dating back to the
middle of the third millennium B.C., to the last inscriptions of the
Temple of Philae in the fifth century A.D.; in addition to historical
records, geographical texts, and a large variety of inscriptions and scenes
providing invaluable information on the economy of the country, its
social life and the level of its scientific achievements. My presentation,

1
Sauneron, Priests of Ancient Egypt, 114.

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 40 fayza m. haikal

however, will not deal with this kind of information, but will rather
focus on institutions concerned with the management and preservation
of written documents for the purpose of their transmission.

I. Evidence for the presence of archives and libraries in

Ancient Egypt

In spite of massive losses of texts written on perishable organic material

such as papyrus, wooden tablets or leather rolls, the increasingly large
amount of written data coming from Ancient Egypt and the variety
of the text genres, ranging from administrative to religious, including
literary and scientific texts point to the presence of some sort of system
for administering all this material. More importantly, evidence of their
transmission across time indicates clearly that certain texts must have
been kept in depositories for preservation and easy access or retrieval.
These depositories varied according to the categories of texts; whereas
specific accounts and certain administrative documents (such as the
fifth dynasty Abusir Papyri which deal essentially with the circulation
and redistribution of man power, cattle and goods between different
temples) may have required a shorter time of preservation, registra-
tion of personal property and legal texts required more permanence.
For example, in order to ensure his possession of a parcel of land that
belonged to his family for several generations and over which there had
been much litigation among heirs, a Ramesside person had to provide
evidence to the court through deeds of property, registered and kept
in the proper governmental archives for more than three hundred
years. This proprietor had the whole case inscribed on the walls of his
tomb for everybody to know that he had won the case and to avoid
further problems for his heirs.2 Religious and literary texts as well as
medico-magical prescriptions proved to have the longest life span, since
Pyramid Texts dating from the third millennium B.C. can still be read
on Graeco-Roman temple walls in the early centuries of the common
era, while Middle Kingdom literary texts, written in the second mil-
lennium B.C. have been found recopied or mentioned until the very
end of Ancient Egypt’s history if not even later. The longevity of such
‘sacralized’ texts has induced research on the system ancient Egyptians

2
Gaballa, Memphite Tomb-Chapel of Mose, 22–30.

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 private collections and temple libraries in ancient egypt 41

used for their recording, preservation and transmission. In an article

entitled “Bücher und Bibliotheken im alten Ägypten,”3 Erika Schott
collected titles of Pyramid Texts, spells and other religious incantations,
not written on the walls of monuments because they were not read
when the spells were recited. These titles were recorded on the outer
side of the original papyrus rolls that served as master copy, in order
to define their content, classify them and facilitate their retrieval from
depositories for further usage. Research on writing material in Ancient
Egypt, and more specifically on papyrus, the way it was manufactured
and produced in different sizes to suit different needs, as well as the
way how it was preserved, has been pursued by a number of scholars.4
Fayence labels fixed to papyrus rolls or to their containers were also
found.5 Titles of texts related to daily life or rituals in the temple were
also inscribed on walls of temple libraries of the late periods.

II. The institutions

II.1. Difference between ¡ n zšw6 (Hall of Written Documentation),

pr m ¡t7 (House of Papyrus Rolls) and pr n 8 (House of Life)
Different names were given to the more generic appellation Hall of Writ-
ten Documentation when referring to offices or rather archives connected
with governmental institutions, such as those depicted in the Ramesside
tomb of Thay (TT #23) or mentioned in literary references, such as
the text found in the tomb of Rekhmire and other eighteenth dynasty
officials. This paper however, will focus on the House of Papyrus Rolls
and on the House of Life. Whereas the designation House of Papyrus Rolls
clearly indicates some sort of library, the name House of Life is more
ambiguous.

3
E. Schott, “Bücher und bibliotheken im alten Ägypten,” 73ff.
4
See Černy, Paper and Books; S. Schott, E. Schott, and Grimm, Bücher und bibliotheken;
for examples, see Burkard, “Bibliotheken im alten Ägypten,” 79–115.
5
See Parkinson, “Two or Three Literary Artifacts,” 49–57 which mentions, among
other things, the labels coming from Amenhotep III private palace library in western
Thebes.
6
Wb. III, 222, 4.
7
Ibid. I, 515, 12.
8
Ibid., 515, 6, translated as ‘House of the literates’ (Haus der Schriftgelehrten).

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 42 fayza m. haikal

II.2. The pr n or House of Life

Sir Alan Gardiner’s (1938) scholarly article on the pr n 9 remains an
essential reference on the matter, in spite of its early date and in spite of
the author’s modestly saying that his own ‘investigations have brought
to light nothing startlingly new.’ In this article Sir Alan Gardiner col-
lected all the texts including the word pr n available at the time, which
referred to the institution or to its members.
The only Old Kingdom certain attestations of a pr n dates back
to the sixth dynasty, more precisely to Pepi II’s decrees in favor of
the priests of the Temple of Min in Coptos, exempting them from a
number of obligations (corvée) such as exemption from supplying the
apparatus of the House of Life probably meaning the requirements in
papyrus, reed pens and ink for this institution. Such an exemption
could indicate that the pr n at that early date was already attached to
or depended upon temple administration and subsidies. Dating from
the Middle Kingdom, the earliest (?) direct mentions come from: an
inscribed block from the time of S’ankhkare at el-Tod, reading Khnum
foremost of the House of Life;’ Prince Montuhotep of the Abydos Stela
CGC20539 was a ry sšt¡w n pr n ‘Master of the secrets of the House
of Life,’ while at el-Bersheh we have an ômy-r zš m pr n ‘Overseer of
writings in the House of Life;’ other titles begin to appear related to
this house, like ‘scribe of the House of Life,’ etc.10
The New Kingdom gives us an actual evidence for this institution
at Tell el-Amarna11 where bricks stamped with the name of the House
of Life were used for the construction of an independent building,
close to the King’s house and the Small Aten Temple and next to the
records’ office; J. R. Harris12 has provided arguments for the circula-
tion of Middle Kingdom literature at el-Amarna. He notes that the
Ramesside version of the ‘tale of Sinuhe’ on the Ashmolean Ostrakon
includes features, such as the writing of Re and Aten which suggest
that this copy was derived from a version transcribed in the Amarna
period. We cannot prove, however, that it was copied in the House of
Life but it might well have been.

9
Gardiner, “House of Life,” 157–179.
10
For later periods, see also Grimal, “Bibliothèques et propagande royale,” 37–48.
11
Kemp and Garfi, Survey of the Ancient City of El- Amarna, 61, sheet 5.
12
Harris, “Note on the Ramessid Text of ‘Sinuhe’,” 25–28.

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 private collections and temple libraries in ancient egypt 43

With the nineteenth dynasty, evidence increases. In his book on

History, Diodorus13 mentions a library in the Ramesseum, Ramses II’s
memorial temple. However, the exact location of the library inside the
temple is still under investigation.14 Christian Leblanc who is currently
cleaning, restoring and studying the temple, found a building with many
rooms south-east of the temple and an open space in which a large
quantity of inscribed literary ostraca were found, some of them look
like school exercises, leading him to believe that the rooms were in fact
wt sb¡yt ‘teaching class rooms’ in the school of the temple, may be in
connection with a pr n . The title of ‘scribe of the House of Life’ occurs
frequently in different places in Egypt (Thebes, Memphis, Abydos, . . .
etc.) and according to Leblanc different pr n could have specialized in
different disciplines, each one being more closely related to the main
divinity of the temple to which the House of Life was affiliated. Thus,
the Temple of Sekhmet Bastet at Bubastis would concentrate more on
medicine while that of Heliopolis would concentrate more on building
and temple decoration. Leblanc also draws an analogy between these
institutions and later Arabic compounds including a dar el- eloum ‘House
of Sciences,’ dar el-hekmah ‘House of Wisdom,’ and dar el-kotob ‘House of
Books’ which also included a kuttab (scriptorium/school) for children’s
education. More titles related to the pr n continue to appear and
Ramses IV has several inscriptions where st pr n (a company/troupe
of the pr n ) is mentioned.
If the Houses of Life at Memphis, Abydos, el-Amarna, Akhmim,
Coptos, Esna and Edfu are the institutions most referred to in the docu-
mentation at hand, it is generally assumed that all great temples must
have had, as an annex, a House of Life where works of great scholarship
were created and kept for re-transmission.15 According to Pap. Salt 825,
6, 5–7, 7 the mythological/religious conception of the House of Life of
Abydos describes it as a structure surrounded by gods and served by
priests. It had an inner body surrounded by four other ones.
As for the n y he is (the living one) Osiris, and as for the 4 pr around it
they are Isis, Nephthys, Horus and Thoth . . . Geb is its ground, Nut is its
heaven. The hidden one who rests within it is the great god . . . There are
4 doors, one in each wall . . . It shall not be known nor shall it be seen, but

Diodorus Siculus 1.49.2–3.

13

Derchain, Tombeau d’Osymandyas, 165ff. Wessetzky, “Aegyptische tempel bibliothek,”

14

54–59.
15
See Grimal, “Bibliothèques et propagande royale,” passim.

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 44 fayza m. haikal

the sun shall look upon its mystery. The people who enter it are the staff
of Re and the scribes of the House of Life. The people who are in it, the fkty
priest is Shu, the slaughterer (hnty) is Horus who slays the enemies of his
father Osiris and the scribe of the sacred books is Thoth, and it is he who
will recite the ritual in the course of every day, unseen, unheard . . . No
Asiatic shall enter into it . . . The books that are in it are the emanations
b¡w of Re wherewith to keep alive this god and to overthrow his enemies.
As for the staff of the House of Life who is in it, they are the followers of
Re protecting his son Osiris every day.16
It is clear from the names of the gods mentioned, that we have here
a representation of cosmic elements and the cycle of life as well as an
evocation of the myth that dominated and explains ancient Egyptian
civilization, namely that of divine kingship and its legitimacy. Re
and Osiris are the two poles of existence, in this life and in life after
death and they encompass all that exists. The Books are the b¡w r (the
might and power of the god) by means of which Osiris is kept alive.
To protect them is indeed to protect life and its perpetration, and this
is the purpose of the ‘scribes of the House of Life’ and their ultimate
goal. The fact that the House of Life is described as having an ‘inner
body surrounded by four other ones’ reminds us of the four shrines
of Tutankhamon surrounding the anthropoid coffins which protect his
mummy, osirified and hence potentially alive n y like the god lying in
the House of Life.

II.3. The pr m ¡t
Scribes of the pr m ¡t (House of Papyrus Rolls) and scribes of the pr m ¡t
pr ¡ (House of Papyrus Rolls of the Great House/palace) were also known in
the Old Kingdom.17 Later, Papyrus Westcar, which dates to the Middle
Kingdom, mentions that when the magician Djedi was summoned to
Khufu’s court in the Old Kingdom’s fourth dynasty, he requested two
barges for his transportation.18 One of them was to transport himself,
his family and household, while the other was to transport his books,
thus already suggesting the existence of large private collections in the
Old Kingdom.

16
After Gardiner, “House of Life,” 168.
17
Jones, Index of Ancient Egyptian Titles, 2:848ff.
18
See Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. 1, Old and Middle Kingdoms (1975), 218.

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 private collections and temple libraries in ancient egypt 45

Though often mentioned in relation to private houses or palaces in

literary texts, these institutions are best known in temples. In the Temple
of Edfu, the pr m ¡t is a small room near its entrance. This room bears
inscriptions over narrow niches in the walls mentioning the title of
the specific papyrus that was to be kept in it, in order to facilitate its
retrieval for use during the temple’s daily activities.
The meanings of the two words, pr m ¡t and pr m ¡t have probably
developed with time, with pr m ¡t gaining in importance. Egyptologists
generally agree now that in the later periods, the pr m ¡t was a small
room inside the temple where a catalogue of the documents, and
perhaps a copy of individual documents related to the temple’s daily
life (administrative and religious rituals) were kept, while the pr n
was outside the temple and had a larger library and a more complex
organization.19

II.4. Divinities under whose patronage the institutions are placed

Khnum, Thoth, Seshat lady of writing, Osiris, a particular form of
Horus and Isis, nbt pr n are the main divinities under whose patronage
the institutions were placed.
Diodorus,20 mentions that the Ramesseum library that he called
‘clinic of the soul’ was under the patronage of Seshat, nwt pr m ¡t, sf
bw (the mistress of the library, who loosens impurity), because books
were meant to purify the soul. Seshat is most often seen attending
Thoth in his writing activities. He is the inventor of writing and ‘scribe
of the gods.’ It is his statue, mostly as a baboon, which is found in the
different places where writing activities are exercised as for example, in
the depiction of a scribal institution and archive in the tomb of Thay
(TT #23).21 Khnum is a creator god, Isis is ‘mistress of magic,’ the
magic infused in knowledge as it helps heal and even revive, as Isis did

19
See Grimal, “Bibliothèques et propagande royale;” Burkard, “Bibliotheken im
alten Ägypten;” see also the extraordinary finds of Tebtunis now being studied by a
number of scholars; see S. Quirke, review of Hieratische papyri aus Tebtunis, by Jürgen
Osing, and, Papiri geroglifici e ieratici da Tebtynis, by Jürgen Osing and Gloria Rosati, JEA
89 (2003): 283–287.
20
Diod. Sic. 1.49.2–3.
21
Porter, and Moss, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts,
Reliefs, and Paintings, vol. 1, The Theban Necropolis, pt. 1, Private Tombs, representations of
scribes at work is common in private tombs from the Old Kingdom, but the actual
depiction of the location of their work is rare.

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 46 fayza m. haikal

when she revived Osiris to conceive their child Horus who inherited
the knowledge of his mother and benefited from her infinite protection
(see late tales). As for Osiris himself, he is the one who taught mankind
civilization when he was ruling upon earth.22

II.5. Administration of the institutions

We are poorly informed on the administration of these institutions and
on the daily running of their affairs. While titles such as ry sšt¡w n pr
n ‘Master of the secrets of the House of Life’ seem more related to
academic or religious matters than to actual administration, ômy-r zš
‘Overseer of writings’ may correspond to an administrative title. One
should go deeper in the matter of the st ‘troupe’ related to these insti-
tutions and search for more titles. It is known however that in temple
administration while the first prophet was in charge of the cult, the
second prophet was in charge of administration.23 Maybe the investiga-
tion of new documents can better clarify the situation.24 While the actual
everyday administration is still difficult to describe, we may assume that
as everywhere else, the top positions were filled by royal decree.

II.6. Organization of the collections

The organization of the collections depended probably on the nature
of the documents: papyrus rolls came in different sizes according to
their content, religious books such as the Book of the Dead for example,
being usually the longest and highest in size25 while letters were usually
smaller. Documents could be kept in special boxes or pots, and rolls
could be deposited in niches in the walls of the pr m ¡t of the temples
as can be seen in Edfu for example; wooden writing boards, potsherd
and limestone flakes (ostraca) are more likely to be found in tombs or
in settlement dumps like the great pit of Deir el-Medineh, a fact which
indicates that they belonged to individuals rather than to public organi-

22
See Plutarch’s de Iside et Osiride, ed. and trans. Griffiths.
23
Sauneron, Priests of Ancient Egypt, 61.
24
On this matter see Quack, “Buch vom tempel und verwandte texte,” 1–20 until
his forthcoming publication of the whole text. See also Osing, Hieratische papyri aus
Tebtunis, and Osing and Rosati, Papiri geroglifici e ieratici da Tebtynis, both reviewed by
Quirke (see n. 19).
25
The rolls could be up to 40 cm high and up to 30 m long or more. Literary texts
were usually only up to 20 cm high and much shorter. See Černy, Paper and Books.

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 private collections and temple libraries in ancient egypt 47

zations. Other official public artifacts must have had different systems of
storage (probably similar to museum store rooms today). When temple
stelae and statuary crowded the place or lost their immediate purpose,
they would simply be dumped in a ‘cachette’ under the ground of the
temple or inside a tomb.
We have seen that texts of older periods were re-copied by the scribes
of the House of Life sometimes with annotations (glosses) or interpreta-
tions and we know that foreign as well as multilingual texts did exist
in Egypt,26 but we do not know how often foreign texts were actually
translated for their scientific or literary value before the Alexandria
Library was created and we definitely do not have any record of the
place of provenance of any text. According to Michel Chauveau,27
translation was into Greek rather than into Egyptian in the Graeco-
Roman period, while some Aramaic texts in the Acheminid period may
have influenced Demotic literature. However straightforward translation
is not attested so far, though it might have existed if we believe what
the Egyptian priest said to Solon.28

II.7. The House of Life and its role in the society

That the House of Life was considered as an institution rather than as
a mere building, is clearly demonstrated by the fact that its name in
Hieroglyphic was sometimes determined by a human being, in addition
to the regular sign determining buildings.29 Pap. Salt 825’s description
of the House of Life, mentioned above, emphasizes the protective and
regenerative aspect of the institution that creates religious and scientific
texts considered as the b¡w r (the god Re’s might and power), for the
perpetration of life upon earth. In the Late Period, the famous texts on
the statues of Peftuaneith and Wedjahorresnet recall the restoration of
different houses of life under Amasis I and then Darius respectively, after

26
Foreign communities settled in Egypt quite early in its history. Foreign names are
found already in the First Intermediate Period, if not earlier. From the New Kingdom
on, foreign traders established in Egypt may have had correspondence with outposts
in their original homeland or elsewhere. The international diplomatic correspondence
kept in the Amarna archives was written in cuneiform and much later, in addition to
settlers’ documentation, tourists left inscriptions in their native language (graffiti) on
many of the monuments that they visited. Multilingual royal decrees emitted by foreign
rulers in the Late and Graeco-Roman periods are also common, see note 27.
27
Chauveau, “Bilinguisme et traduction.”
28
See note 1.
29
Parkinson, “Two New ‘Literary’ Texts,” 190–93.

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 48 fayza m. haikal

their destruction by Cambyses’ armies.30 The ‘Famine Stela’ at Seheil,

the ‘tale of the Princess of Bakhtan,’ Pap. Salt, and many other late texts
mention the great knowledge of the scribes of this institution and we
also know that they were given the status of priests.31 Hieroglyphic in
the Late Period is even called ‘writing of the House of Life.’ In Late
Hieratic and Demotic literature, and probably even before, attestations
of the House of Life and its personnel were becoming more frequent;
scribes of the House of Life were also considered as magicians capable
of practicing positive as well as negative sorcery.32 In order to achieve
such great knowledge and fame, the House of Life had specialists in
the different fields of knowledge, and presumably a hierarchy within
these fields.
The renown of this wisdom crossed the sea, and numerous passages in the
Greek and Latin texts speak of the wisdom and the technical knowledge
of these scribes: they could heal the sick, knew the medicinal plants, geog-
raphy, the signs of the sacred animals, the history of the ancient kings,
knew how to foretell the future . . . Their colleagues . . . scribes of the divine
books, baptized pterophores by the Greeks because of the great feathers
which adorned their coiffure . . . occupied themselves with medicine . . . In
the funeral ceremonies they participated as private ritualists, performing
beatific ceremonies to the blessed spirits . . . and were also considered by
the people as magicians . . . there were also the horologues (priest-time
keepers) and the astrologers who had to know the mythological calendar
etc. . . . in addition to these there were the official executor of sacrificial
animals and all the artists and decorators who inscribed the walls.33
Under Psammetichus II, Peteese, a priest accompanying the king on
an expedition to Syria was told: “Thou art a scribe of the House of
Life; there is not a thing that they shall ask thee to which there is not
a suitable answer.”34
This remark emphasizes the vast knowledge expected from these
scribes and also their role as envoys of the royal court. For the lay
public however, the teaching instituted by the scribes of the House of
Life and the presence of a serving medical body among its priests to
help the people in their lifetime, were more tangible services to the

30
Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. 3, The Late Period (1980), 35, 39.
31
For these stories, see Lichtheim, ibid.
32
See Posener, Papyrus Vandier. See also Lichtheim, “The Stories of Setne Khaem-
was,” in Ancient Egyptian Literature, 3:125–151.
33
Sauneron, Priests of Ancient Egypt, 63–64.
34
Freedy and Redford, “Dates in Ezekiel,” 462–485.

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 private collections and temple libraries in ancient egypt 49

community. We also know that a healing center or sanatorium was

related to this house, at least in the later periods if not before. Even
after death, people needed the priests of the House of Life to recite the
appropriate spells over their mummies and at their tombs to ensure
their safety in the other world.

III. Private collections and temple libraries: the documents

Although the archeological context of a large part of the documents we

have today remains unknown, there is clear evidence for the existence
of private collections next to institutional libraries in Ancient Egypt.35
Documents sometimes mention, in a colophon, the name of their
owner or of the scribe who copied them (who could be the very owner
himself ). Hazards of excavations have also sometimes revealed entire
collections whether in a temple, a tomb or a settlement. Every now and
then Egyptological research updates and clarifies our understanding of
these texts, and brings to our attention newly discovered ones. In the
last decade or so, in addition to excellent monographs, a number of
seminars have resulted in very important publications with compila-
tions, descriptions and studies of texts of all genres and of all periods.
Literary texts in particular seem to have attracted more attention.

III.1. Private Collections

Private collections are usually found in tombs or in settlements. They
usually show a variety in their contents as they often conserve miscel-
laneous texts including private correspondence, literary compositions,
medico-magical texts, scientific treatises and religious funerary texts
according to the profession and the taste of their owners.
Apart from later mentions of Old Kingdom private collections, as
we have seen above, we have still not found any Old Kingdom writ-
ten papyrus coming from a private collection. The main collections
dating to the Middle Kingdom are: the Ramesseum Papyri which were
placed in a now destroyed wooden chest on which was the figure of
a jackal representing ry sšt¡w (he who is upon the secrets), in a mod-
est tomb beneath one of the store rooms of Ramses II’s memorial

35
Morenz, Beiträge zur schriftlichkeitskultur im Mittleren Reich, 14.

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 50 fayza m. haikal

temple in the West of Thebes. The papyri contain a wide variety of

texts, medico-magical, religious and literary as well as accounts. They
must have formed a kind of family archive as they span over about
a century; their last owner, a member of the ô t-t¡wy court, must have
lived under the thirteenth dynasty. The el-Lahun Collection at the Petrie
Museum includes literary fragments ‘tale of Hay’ and ‘tale of Horus and
Seth’ as well as priestly documents. The Berlin Collection probably found
in a tomb, includes a version of the famous ‘tale of Sinuhe,’ the ‘dialogue
between a man and his soul,’ the ‘story of the herdsman,’ and the ‘tale of the
eloquent peasant.’ These collections have been compiled and studied in
a number of publications.36
Apart from the palace of Amenhotep III in the West of Thebes
which probably housed an important private collection,37 the richest
source of New Kingdom papyri that we have, is most certainly the
village of Deir el-Medineh, where the teams in charge of the building
and decoration of royal monuments in the New Kingdom lived with
their families.38 Some of the artists and scribes living there held among
their titles that of ‘scribe of the House of Life,’ but without reference to
the house of life of any specific temple.39 Among these learned people,
Amennakht son of Ipouy and Qenherchepeshef are famous for their
private collections of ostraca and papyri which contain copies of some
of the most famous texts of Ancient Egypt. Private documents coming
from Saqqara tombs are also numerous, but their exact provenance is
unspecified.40
In the Late and Graeco-Roman periods, a private collection compris-
ing papyri and ostraca was found at el-Hibeh in Middle Egypt. The
archeological context of later great collections is less evident; most of
them seem related to temple archives or libraries in spite of the fact

36
For one of the best and most recent, see Parkinson, Poetry and Culture, 68–72.
37
See Parkinson’s article in note 5.
38
Valbelle, Ouvriers de la tombe; Černy, Community of Workmen at Thebes; Demarée and
Egberts, Village Voices.
39
Bickel and Mathieu, “Écrivain Amennakht et son enseignement,” 31–51; Derchain,
Tombeau d’Osymandyas, 165–171.
40
On Amennakht, his library and compositions, see Bickel and Mathieu, “Écrivain
Amennakht et son enseignement;” On Qenherchepeshef ’s library, see Hornung, “Wege
zum altägyptischen Menschen,” 139–140; for the Saqqara documents, see Quirke,
“Archive,” 391; for a compilation of literary texts of all periods, see Loprieno, Ancient
Egyptian Literature.

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 private collections and temple libraries in ancient egypt 51

that their contents may also include a variety of texts unrelated to

religious documentation.41 This period also witnessed the proliferation
of bilingual texts in Egypt.

III.2. Temple archives and libraries: Walls of the temples

Like the walls of tombs, the walls of temples were covered with different
kinds of texts shedding light on different aspects of Egyptian life.

III.3. Temple archives and libraries: Actual libraries

Temple archives presenting a miscellany of texts related to the economic
life and administration of the temple mixed with religious compositions
are known since the Old Kingdom. In fact, the oldest written texts we
have come from temple archives.42

III.3.1. Funerary texts

We have mentioned above that all funerary texts were inscribed on the
walls of royal and private tombs as well as on coffins and sarcophagi.
However, these very texts have also been copied or abbreviated on papyri
for the benefit of tomb owners who wanted to supply themselves with
more copies for their afterlife. Some of these papyri, richly illustrated
with colored vignettes are probably the first illustrated books in the
world. There must also have been master copies written on papyrus
to be available for the scribes who inscribed the texts on the walls of
tombs or on other funerary equipments; and it is very likely that all this
documentation was made and preserved in the scriptoria of the temples.
All these funerary compositions, from the Pyramid Texts written in the
third millennium B.C. to the last funerary texts of the Graeco-Roman
period, deal essentially with the accession of the deceased to the afterlife
and his escaping its dangers before merging with the gods of the other
world and spending eternal life in bliss. They all contain superb passages
of intensive religiosity and great literary value, comparable with other

41
Quirke, “Archive,” 391. Other great collections coming from the Graeco-Roman
period seem rather related to temple libraries. See note 42 below.
42
For the Abusir and Gebelein archives, see Black and Tait, “Archives and Libraries,”
4:2204ff. For a full publication of the Abusir document, see Posener-Kieger, Archives du
temple funéraire de Néferirkarê-Kakaï. For mention of the great collections of the late and
Graeco-roman period, see Quirke in note 19.

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 52 fayza m. haikal

religious texts from different traditions. Funerary compositions recited

during mummification or at funerals were also kept in the libraries of
the temples. All these texts have been compiled and presented in a
number of publications.43

III.3.2. Texts for temple rituals

Temples had a life of their own. The daily ritual performed in them was
not limited to the service and adoration of the gods, it served essentially
to dispel chaos and maintain an orderly creation and the equilibrium
of the world. In addition to the performance of the daily ritual, the
calendar was full of festivals with rites performed inside the temple or
even sometimes expanding outside the temple in processional journeys
of the gods to different locations. All these rituals demanded great
knowledge of specific texts preserved in the libraries of the temples.44

III.3.3. Related texts

In addition to religious texts, temple libraries housed other kinds of
documentation for the smooth performance of the various functions
in the temple’s life, such as astronomical texts to establish among other
things, the time of rituals, veterinary treatises to ensure the good health
of animals slaughtered as offerings, texts on drugs and pharmacy, magic
and medicine, dream interpretation, history, geography, economics,
administration and geometry, all sciences needed for the service of the
gods and their creations.45

Conclusion

The Alexandrian Mouseion and Library in the Egyptian context

According to P. M. Fraser:46
. . . The Mouseion at Alexandria takes its place in a combined tradition of cult
and religious feeling and also of literary activity. It is only in the Roman period

43
See for example, Hornung, Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife; Goyon, Rituels
funéraires de l’ancienne Égypte.
44
For a list of these texts, see Sauneron, Priests of Ancient Egypt, 138.
45
See Sauneron, ibid., 135–170; Quack, “Historische abschnitt des buches vom
tempel,” 267ff.
46
Fraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria, 1:313.

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 private collections and temple libraries in ancient egypt 53

that the Mouseia develop into secular centers of learning, the ancient
equivalent of a University, a development due to the ecumenical prestige
of the Alexandrian Mouseion.
He also adds that according to Strabo:47
The Mouseion is part of the royal quarter and it has a cloister and an
arcade and a large house in which is provided the common meal of the
men of learning who share the Mouseion. And this community has com-
mon funds, and a priest in charge of the Mouseion who was appointed
previously by the kings, but now by Caesar.
These citations indicate that the members of the Mouseion were pre-
sided over by a priest and that they were first regarded as a group of
men of learning brought together for religious and scientific purposes
(in as much as all sciences were part of philosophy), essentially to serve
the Muses. Such was also the main purpose of the scribes of the House
of Life; to serve the Gods.
Although the Mouseion was funded by the crown, it seems that it
remained free to invest its funds as it pleased, in the same way as were
regular temples in Egypt and elsewhere in antiquity. In addition to its
priest as highest religious authority (equivalent to the ‘first prophet’ of
Egyptian traditional temples), it seems that an Epistates or administrative
director appointed by the crown was in charge of the administrative
aspects of the Mouseion and its finances (this administrator could also
be compared with the second prophet of Egyptian temples).
We do not know how the members of the institution were paid but
it is likely that they were exempted from taxes as teachers since it is
assumed that teaching was performed there through discussions and
conversations.48 This financial arrangement can also be compared to
the prevailing situation in Ancient Egypt where people were encour-
aged to learn to write and one of the incentives was to be exempted
from taxes.49
The Library on the other hand was presided over by a Librarian, a
royal appointment associated from its inception with a very influential
post, that of ‘tutor to the children of the royal house.’ Tzetzes says that

47
Ibid., 315.
48
Ibid., 316–18. On the duties of the first and second prophets of Egyptian temples,
see Sauneron, Priests of Ancient Egypt, 61.
49
Pap. Anastasi V, 15, 6–17, 3 ‘the scribe is not taxed like the peasant.’ Gardiner,
Late-Egyptian Miscellanies.

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 54 fayza m. haikal

there were two libraries, ‘the library outside the palace’ and ‘the library
within the palace.’50 The Royal Library must have been the equivalent
of the pr m ¡t pr ¡ or ‘House of Books of the Royal Palace’ with its
scribes.51 As for the one outside the palace and related to the Mouseion,
that one too could be paralleled with the pr m ¡t of Egyptian temples,
particularly that there is no clear indication that the Library at its incep-
tion was a public building similar to the libraries of today.52
It is interesting to see that institutionalized research centers and librar-
ies were often associated with religious institutions and placed under the
protection of divinities or muses. This tradition continued in the east
even after the Hellenistic period when research was particularly active
in monasteries and later on in mosques. Even in medieval Europe, great
universities started with monks. Knowledge was somehow part of the
divine, of the mysteries of the world.

50
After Fraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria, 321ff.
51
Jones, Index of Ancient Egyptian Titles, 2:849.
52
Fraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria, 320. It is clear however that the conception of the
Alexandrian Mouseion and Library developed greatly during the Hellenistic period.
Particularly interesting in this respect are the acquisition methods, organization and
translations of the contents, etc., which really modernized the concepts of a library.
See Fraser, ibid., 320–35.

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 EARTH, WIND, AND FIRE:
THE ALEXANDRIAN FIRE-STORM OF 48 B.C.

William J. Cherf

The Alexandrian Library and the fate of its intellectual content in

48 B.C. have been discussed by Classical philologists, historians, and
archaeologists over the past 183 years. The select bibliography alone
is simply enormous, numbering over fifty citations.1

1
Dedel, Historia critica bibliothecae Alexandrinae (1823); Klippel, Ueber das Alexan-
drinische Museum (1838); Parthey, Alexandrinische Museum (1838); Ritschl, Alexandrinischen
Bibliotheken unter der ersten Ptolemaern (1838); Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, s.v.
“Alexandria,” 1:97; Göll, Alexandrinische Museum (1868); El-Falaki, Mémoire sur l’antique
Alexandrie (1872); Kiepert, “Zur Topographie des alten Alexandria,” (1872): 345;
Lefort, Bibliothèque d’Alexandrie et sa destruction (1875); Weniger, Alexandrinische Museum
(1875); Chastel, “Destinées de la bibliothèque d’Alexandrie,” (1876): 484–496; Schil-
ler, “Zur Topographie und Geschichte des alten Alexandria,” (1883): 330–334; Bati,
“Burning of the Alexandrian Library,” (1884): 103–107; Cumpfe, “Beiträge zur einige
das Museum und die Bibliotheken zu Alexandria betreffende Fragen,” (1885): 63–71;
Judeich, Caesar im Orient: Kritische Übersicht der Ereignisse vom 9. August 48 bis Oktober 47
(1885); Hirtius, Bellum Alexandrinum, erklärt von Rudolf Schneider (1888); Cornelissen,
“Ad librum de Bello Alexandrino,” (1889): 52–55; Nourrisson, Bibliothèque des Ptolémées
(1893); Puchstein, RE, s.v. “Alexandria,” (1), col. 1376–1388; K. Dziatzko, RE, s.v.
“Bibliotheken: v. Alexandrinische Bibliotheken,” (3), col. 409–414; Teggart, “Caesar
and the Alexandrian Library,” (1899): 472; Jung, Caesar in Aegypten, 48/47 v. Chr. (1900);
Blomfield, “Emplacement du musée et de la bibliothèque des Ptolémées,” (1904): 15–37;
Macaire, “Nouvelle étude sur la Serapeum d’Alexandrie,” (1910): 443–456; Magdi
Bey, “Résponse à S. B. Kyrillos Macaire à propos de l’incendie de la bibliothèque
d’Alexandrie,” (1910): 553–570; Ibid., “Observations on the Fate of the Alexandrian
Library,” (1911); Furlani, “Sull’incendio della biblioteca di Alessandria,” (1924): 205–
212; Ibid., “Giovanni il Filopono e l’incendio della biblioteca d’Alessandria,” (1925):
58–77; Bell, “Alexandria,” (1927): 171–184; Breccia, Porto d’Alessandria d’Egitto, (1927);
Bushnell, “Alexandrian Library,” (1928): 203; Staquet, “César à Alexandrie: L’incendrie
de la bibliothèque,” (1928): 169; Graindor, Guerre d’Alexandrie (1931); Calderini, Dizionario
de nomi geografici e topografici dell’ Egitto Greco-Romano (1935); Götze, “Antiken Bibliotheken,”
(1937): 225–247; Harvey, “Alexandrian Library,” (1940); Parsons, Alexandrian Library
(1952); Zeydan, “Burning of the Books at the Library of Alexandria and Elsewhere,”
(1952): 413–421; Westermann, Library of Ancient Alexandria (1954); De Vleeschauwer,
“Bibliothèque Ptolémées d’Alexandrie,” (1955): 1–39; Forster, Alexandria (1961); Adriani,
Topografia di Alessandria (1966); Moschonas, “Sur la fin probable de la bibliothèque
d’Alexandrie,” (1967): 37–40; Niazi, “Destruction of the Alexandrian Library,” (1968):
163–174; Mader, “Library of Alexandria,” (1976): 2–13; Hemmerdinger, “Que César
n’a pas brûlé la bibliothèque d’Alexandrie,” (1985): 76–77; Canfora, Vanished Library
(1990); Blum, Kallimachos: The Alexandrian Library and the Origins of Bibliography (1991);

el-abbadi_f5_55-74.indd 55 1/25/2008 8:47:33 PM

 56 william j. cherf

At issue for these scholars are basically three questions that can be
summarized as follows. First of all, where was the Library located—near
the Eastern Harbour or safely beyond it? Second, do the ancient tes-
timonia that refer to the loss of stored books mean the Great Library
itself, or some other external collection? Third and finally, was the
Great Library indeed damaged or destroyed as a result of the Bellum
Alexandrinum, when Julius Caesar set afire the Egyptian fleet in the
Eastern Harbour?
To date, no scholar has focused upon one detail that all of the ancient
testimonia agree upon—the fire itself.2 So the present thesis argues
simply this: if the necessary conditions were available, could the

El-Abbadi, Life and Fate of the Ancient Library of Alexandria (1992); Ellens, Ancient Library
of Alexandria and Early Christian Theological Development (1993); Jochum, “Alexandrian
Library and its Aftermath,” (1999): 5–12; MacLeod, Library of Alexandria (2000); Cas-
son, Libraries in the Ancient World (2001).
2
Caesar Bellum Civile 3.111: Sed rem obtinuit Caesar omnesque eas naves et reli-
quas, quae erant in navalibus, incendit, quod tam late tueri parva manu non poterat,
confestimque ad Pharum navibus milites exposuit. Seneca De tranquillitate animi 9.5:
Quadraginta [codex Ambrosianus xl; Quadringenta Pincianus] milia librorum Alex-
andriae arserunt; pulcherrimum regiae, opulentiae monimentum alius laudaverit, sicut
T. Livius quie elegantiae regum curaeque egregium id opus ait fuisse. Lucan Pharsalia
10.488–505: Sed adest defensor ubique, Caesar et hos aditus fladiis, hos ignibus arcet,
Obsessusque gerit—tanta est constantia mentis—Expugnantis opus. Piceo iubet unguine
tinetas, Lampadas inmitti iunctis in vela carinis; Nec piger ignis erat per stuppea vincula
perque, Manates cera tabulas, et tempore eodem, Transtraque nautarum summique
arsere ceruehi. Iam prope semustae merguntur in aequora classes, Iamque hostes et
tela natant. Nec puppibus ignis, Incubuit solis; sed quae vicina fuere, Tecta mari, longis
rapuere vaporibus ignem, Et cladem fovere Noti, percussaque flamma, Turbine non
alio motu per tecta cucurrit . . . Quam solet aetherio lampas decurrere sulco, Materiaque
carens atque ardens aere solo. Illa lues paulum clausa revocavit ab aula, Urbis in aux-
ilium populos. Plutarch Caesar 49: δεύτερον δέ περικοπτόμενος τὸν στόλον ἠναγκάσθη
διὰ πυρὸς ἀπώσασθαι τὸν κίνδυνον, ὁ καὶ τὴν μεγάλην βιβλιοθήκην ἐκ τῶν νεωρίον
ἐπινεμόμενον διέφθειρε. Florus Epitoma de Tito Livio 2.13.59–60: Ac primum proximo-
rum aedificiorum atque navalium incendio infestorum hostium tela submovit, mox in
paeninsulam Pharon subitus evasit. Aulus Gellius Noctes Atticae 7.17.3: Ingens postea
numerus librorum in Aegypto ab Ptolemaeis regibus vel conquisitus vel confectus est
ad milia ferme voluminum septingenta; sed ea omnia bello priore Alexandrino, dum
diripitur ea civitas, non sponte neque opera consulta, sed a militibus forte auxiliaris
incensa sunt. Dio Cassius 42.38.2: κἀκ τούτον πολλαὶ μὲν μάχαι καὶ μεθ᾿ ἡμέραν καὶ
νύκτωρ αὐτοῖς ἐγίγνοντο, πολλὰ δὲ καὶ κατετίμπρατο, ὥστε ἄλλα τε καὶ τό νεώριον τάς
τε ἀποθῆκας καὶ τοῦ σίτου καὶ τῶν βίβλων, πλείστων δὴ ἀρίστων, ὥς φασι, γενομένων,
καυθῆναι. Ammianus Marcellinus 22.16.13: In quo bybliothecae fuerunt inaestima-
blies: et loquitur monumentorum veterum concinens fides, septingenta voluminum
milia, Ptolomaeis regibus vigiliis intentis composita, bello Alexandrino, dum diripitur
civitas, sub dictatore Caesare conflagrasse. Orosius Historiae adversus paganos 6.15.31: Ea
flamma cum partem quoque urbis invasisset quadraginta mila librorum proximis forte
aedibus condita exussit. Zonaras 10.10.3: ὅτε πῦρ ἐμβαλοντες Καίσαρος τῷ στόλω καὶ
ἡ μεγάλη βιβλιοθήκη ἑμπεπρηστο.

el-abbadi_f5_55-74.indd 56 1/25/2008 8:47:34 PM

 earth, wind, and fire 57

intentionally set Alexandrian fire of 48 B.C. have reached fire-storm

proportions?
In support of this thesis, a brief chronological overview of the Bellum
Alexandrinum will first be necessary. Second, the meteorological condi-
tions needed to produce a natural fire-storm will be outlined. Third,
will be discussed the “fuel” which was readily available that could
have fed such a fiery calamity. Fourth, the fire’s initial ignition and its
unintended inland spread will be described. Useful to this description
will be the comparison of eyewitness accounts of the Great Chicago
Fire of 1871 with that of Lucan’s. Lastly the author will posit the
question, once having established the possibility that such a fire-storm
could have occurred, how could the Great Library have survived such
a fiery tempest?

I. Definition

What is a fire-storm? A fire-storm is usually a natural phenomenon

that combines fire with the mass movement of air to create a fire of
extreme intensity over a wide area. After an area catches fire, the air
above the area becomes extremely hot and rises rapidly. Cold air then
rushes in at ground level from the outside, creating high winds which
fan the flames at ground level further. This vortex creates a self-sustain-
ing “fire-storm” that can attain temperatures as high as 2000ºC. While
such fire-storms are common features of forest fires in the American
West, they also have been known to form within the raging conflagra-
tions that plague large urban areas. In fact, there is strong evidence
that suggests that such was the case of the Great Fire of Rome in A.D.
64, the Great Fire of London 1666, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871,
and the 1906 San Francisco Fire.

II. Chronology

Chronological reckoning and the coordination of it with the seasons is

a hazardous exercise, but we need to do so in order to establish whether
the meteorological conditions could support the formation of a natural
fire-storm. First what must be attempted, in order to approximate a
modern time frame for the ignition of the Egyptian fleet by Caesar’s
troops, is a two-step chronological calculation in order to convert

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 58 william j. cherf

pre-Julian calendrical dates into Julian dates, and then convert the Julian
dates into those of the Gregorian calendar.
The pre-Julian dates that we know of include Caesar’s arrival at
Alexandria on either the 1st or 2nd of October 48 B.C.,3 and that
the date for the surrender of the Egyptian army was on the 27th of
March 47 B.C.4 Therefore, the burning of the fleet must have occurred
sometime during that six month period. However, based upon internal
textual evidence, several valuable chronological benchmarks are avail-
able to assist us in narrowing down when the fire was started. They
include:

– The “successive days” of unrest that began with Caesar’s arrival at

Alexandria;5
– Caesar’s inability to flee the city because of the Etesian winds;6
– Pothinus’s call for the Egyptian army at Pelusium to liberate Alex-
andria;7
– Caesar’s awareness of the approach of the Egyptian army;8
– His dispatch of a delegation to meet the approaching Egyptian
army;

3
Velleius Paterculus 2.53.3 dates Pompey’s murder at Pelusium to 28 September
48 B.C. (pre-Julian). Livy (Periochae 112) reports that Caesar arrived at Alexandria
three days after that event, thus, on 2 October 48 B.C. (pre-Julian), Graindor, Guerre
d’Alexandrie, 18 n. 1. This date has been accepted by most scholars, however, Bengtson,
Römische Geschichte, 227 n. 1, quoting Heinen, Rom und Ägypten von 51 bis 47 v. Chr., 70f.,
has preferred 1 October 48 B.C. (pre-Julian) for the date of Caesar’s arrival.
4
For the date of the surrender of the Egyptian army to Caesar, see Lord, “Date
of Julius Caesar’s Departure from Alexandria,” 25.
5
Caes. B Civ. 3.106.1–5; Livy Per. 112; Dio Cass. 42.7; Luc. Phar. 10.11. Caesar’s
sojourn in Egypt was most probably for financial reasons—after Pharsalus his soldiers
and officers had to be paid. Thus, Caesar went to Alexandria to collect an old debt
of Ptolemy XII for his kingly confirmation by the Roman Senate. The attempted
collection of this debt may have caused the Alexandrian’s rioting (Caes. B Civ. 3.107;
Cicero Epistulae ad Atticum 2.16.2; Suetonius De vita Caesarum 54.3; Dio Cass. 39.12.1
and Pliny Naturalis historia 33.136).
6
Caes. B Civ. 3.107: Ipse enim necessario etesiis tenebatur, qui navigantibus ibus Alexandria
flant adversissimi. Hirtius Bellum Alexandrinum 3: Namque eum (Caesar) interclusum tempestatibus
propter anni tempus recipere transmarina auxilia non posse.
7
Caes. B Civ. 3.108.2 and Dio Cass. 42.36.2. That Ptolemy XIII’s reign occurred
during the Alexandrian War, see Samuel, Ptolemaic Chronology, 168; Skeat, Reigns of the
Ptolemies, 18, 41; Pestman, Chronologie Égyptienne d’après les textes demotiques, 82–83 and
Heinen, “Caesar und Kaisarion,” 182.
8
Caes. B Civ. 3.109. To cross the Delta from east to west, the Egyptian army had
to first march to the Delta’s apex and cross the Nile near Memphis before advancing
in a northwesterly direction towards Alexandria. Cf., Arrian 3.1 for Alexander’s similar
route from Pelusium to Alexandria.

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 earth, wind, and fire 59

– The murder of one of Caesar’s delegation;

– Caesar’s reaction to that murder by taking custody of young King
Ptolemy XIII;
– The arrival of the Egyptian army at Alexandria;9
– The outbreak of hostilities known as the First Battle;
– The street-to-street fighting;
– Finally, the overwhelming pressure placed upon the already battle-
weary Caesarian troops that drove Caesar to set afire the anchored
fleet as a diversionary tactic in order to cover their retreat to the
security of Pharos Island.10

The course of these events has been discussed elsewhere in consider-

able and exhaustive detail.11 Suffice it to say, the communis opinio holds
that the First Battle and the burning of the Egyptian fleet took place
sometime early in November of 48 B.C. (pre-Julian), or about a month
after Caesar’s arrival.12
Admittedly, the assignment of precise Julian equivalents for pre-Julian
dates can only be approximated, but the task can be done with some
degree of probability.13 After some calculations, the pre-Julian year of
48 B.C. had advanced some 47 days ahead of the Julian calendar.14
When these 47 days are applied, Caesar’s landing at Alexandria in
early October (pre-Julian) corresponds to about mid-August ( Julian).15

9
Caes. B Civ. 3.110.
10
Supra note 2.
11
Judeich, Caesar im Orient; Jung, Caesar in Aegypten, 48/47 v. Chr.; Bouché-Leclercq,
Histoire des Lagides; Veith, Geschichte der Feldzüge C. Julius Caesars; Drumann, Geschichte
Roms in seinen Übergang, vol. 3; A. Klotz, RE, s.v. “C. Iulius C. f. C. Caesar,” (10, 1),
col. 186–275; Graindor, Guerre d’Alexandrie; Walter, Caesar: A Biography; Carcopino, César;
Adcock, Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 9; Dodge, Caesar; and Heinen, Rom und Ägypten
von 51 bis 47 v. Chr.
12
Judeich, Caesar im Orient, 83; Drumann, Geschichte Roms, 3:483–484; Carcopino,
César, 913.
13
Samuel, Greek and Roman Chronology, 163–164.
14
In 46 B.C. Julius Caesar, as pontifex maximus, reformed the Roman calendar by
adding an intercalary month of 23 days plus an additional 67 days which had not been
added to the preceding years of 51 through 47 B.C., Drumann, Geschichte Roms, 3:762;
Carcopino, César, 1030. This calendrical discrepancy arose because the pre-Julian year
contained 355 days and three biennial intercalations of 22, 23, and 22 days had not
occurred to maintain the pre-Julian calendar with the solar year, Samuel, Greek and
Roman Chronology, 155–159. Similarly, if intercalations are omitted, then the pre-Julian
year would advance in relation to the solar year at a rate of approximately 10 days per
year. Thus, if 46 B.C. was 67 days in advance of the solar year, then 47 B.C. would be
approximately 57 days in advance, and 48 B.C. approximately 47 days in advance.
15
Carcopino, César, 910.

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 60 william j. cherf

Next, we are told that Caesar could not embark from Alexandria on
account of the Etesian winds. The Egyptian trade-winds, or Etesians,
typically blow out of the North to Northwest,16 and according to the
pre-Julian calendar did so from mid-September through mid-November.
When corrected into Julian dates, these winds blew from early August
through early October (table 1).

Table 1. Pre-Julian, Julian, Gregorian Correlation for 48 B.C.

Calendar Months
Quintilis Sextilis
Pre-Julian (pJ) September (29) October (31) November (29)
(31) (29)
August
Gregorian (G) July (31) September (30) October (31) November (30)
(31)

Early Oct. (pJ)

Caesar’s
Mid-
Arrival at
August ( J)
Alexandrian Events in 48 B.C.

Alexandria
End July
(G)
Early Nov. (pJ)
First Battle.
Ignition of
Mid-Sept. ( J)
Egyptian
Fleet End
August (G)

Etesian Mid-Sept. thru Mid-Nov. (pJ)

winds
(Duration: Early August thru Early October ( J)
60 day
maximum) Mid-July thru Mid-September (G)

With Caesar’s arrival at Alexandria in mid-August ( Julian), he then

would have been stranded there until the Etesian winds began to subside
sometime in early October ( Julian). These annual winds blew from the
Northwest to North for approximately 40 to 60 days—their fluctuation
being based upon a particular year’s sun-spot activity.17 In other words,
Caesar sailed into Alexandria with the Etesian winds, which had been
blowing since early August. These same winds will now pin him and
his army down in Alexandria for the next 45–50 days.

16
Strabo 17.1.17 (C793) and H. Gärtner, Kleine Pauly, s.v. “Etesien,” (2), col. 381,
lines 34–36.
17
Judeich, Caesar im Orient, 71–72; Lamb, Climate, 1:456.

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 earth, wind, and fire 61

Indeed, Caesar’s tactical dilemma was caused by the Etesian winds,

and conversely, the Egyptian army’s hope to defeat Caesar depended
upon these unsettling conditions. In essence, the Egyptian army had
to engage and quickly defeat Caesar’s forces before the Etesian winds
died down. Caesar, meanwhile, had to devise an urban defense that
would frustrate a swift Egyptian victory if he had any hope in being
relieved. The Egyptians soon realized, however, that Caesar’s defensive
strategy was working and that they were running out of time. The
Egyptian decision was to attempt to man the anchored ships in the
Eastern Harbour in the hope of preventing the Roman relief forces
from arriving. This tactical ploy by the Egyptians forced Caesar’s hand
into burning the fleet.
So when the above Julian corrective is applied, Caesar’s desperate
act of burning the fleet should have taken place about a month after
his arrival, that is, on or around the middle of September 48 B.C.
( Julian).
Now in order to be able to apply the modern meteorological data,
a correlation between the Julian calendar and the present-day Grego-
rian system must be made, for it was discovered during the sixteenth
century that the Julian calendar advanced approximately 11 minutes
every year, or about one day in every 130 years.18 In short, between
45 B.C. and A.D. 2004 the Julian calendar has advanced some 15.7
days. When this final Gregorian correction is applied, the ignition of
the Alexandrian fire corresponds to sometime near the end of August
(Gregorian) (table 1 above).

III. Meteorological conditions

Recent research in palaeoclimatology has shown that the weather of

Eastern North Africa and the Southeastern Mediterranean has not
significantly changed since the third millennium B.C.19 In fact; the
direction of that region’s prevailing winds has remained constant for
the last 50,000 years.20

18
Carcopino, César, 1032.
19
Brooks, Climate Through the Ages, 333; Butzer, Environment and Archaeology, 236; ibid.,
Early Hydraulic Civilization in Egypt, 26.
20
Ramly, “Shoreline Changes during the Quaternary in the Western Desert Medi-
terranean Coastal Region (Alexandria-Sallum), U.A.R.,” 286.

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 62 william j. cherf

With the burning of the fleet in the Eastern Harbour taking place
sometime near the end of August 48 B.C. (Gregorian), modern meteo-
rological data of the monthly temperatures, rainfall, wind directions,
and wind rose velocities, can now be consulted. These data indicate
that the air temperature in modern Alexandria during the months
of June through September would have averaged between 23ºC and
25ºC. (75ºF–78ºF.) and that rainfall during that same period was
practically non-existent.21 Such conditions create a warm and parched
environment.
Modern pilot chart data for the month of August reveals that the
prevailing winds for that month come predominantly from the North-
west and measure at Force 3, or about 13–19 kilometers per hour.
Most importantly, calm conditions occur only 1% of the time during
August.22 These data, therefore, describe the warm and parched condi-
tions that one would expect at ancient Alexandria at the end of August
(Gregorian) with the Etesian winds constantly blowing.
In addition, Alexandria and its Eastern Harbour were unprotected
from these off-shore winds. The surface contour of Alexandria, from
north to south, rises only seven meters for every linear kilometer. Flat
Pharos Island provided the city with no wind break whatsoever.23 In
fact, the artificial crescent which formed the Eastern Harbour was
constructed of several layers of man-made wave-breakers or moles.24
In short, the meteorological conditions at ancient Alexandria were
warm, rainless, windy, and without any wind protection. Given such

21
Air temperatures, see World Weather Reports, (= WWR) 1941–1950 (Washington
D.C., 1959) 142. Rainfall, see WWR, 1921–1930 (Washington D.C., 1944) 82, June to
September, 0.0 mm.; WWR, 1931–1940 (Washington D.C., 1947) 70, June to September,
0.0 mm.; WWR, 1941–1950 (Washington D.C., 1959) 142, June to September, 0.6 mm.;
WWR, 1951–1960 (Washington D.C., 1967) 466, June–September, 0.3 mm.
22
Northwesterlies average a 54% occurrence, westerlies at 31%, northerlies at 8%,
northeasterlies at only 2%. All other compass points observed fall below 2% in occur-
rence. U.S. Hydrographic Office, Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic, no.1400 (Washington
D.C., 1947–February 1971) and U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office, Pilot Chart of the
North Atlantic, no.16 (Washington D.C., March 1971–1980). A wind of Force 3 on the
Beaufort Scale can be described as a breeze of 7–10 knots (12.8–18.5 kph), strong
enough to extend light flags. Watts, Instant Wind Forecasting, 10–11.
23
Fraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria, 1:18.
24
These moles were extended to protect the Eastern Harbour from wave-action
and off-shore currents, ibid., 1:21. The natural moles of the Island of Antirrhodus
and the Poseidon Peninsula offered further internal protection for any ships at anchor
in the harbour.

el-abbadi_f5_55-74.indd 62 1/25/2008 8:47:34 PM

 earth, wind, and fire 63

conditions, any flammable elements used in the construction of the

moored fleet and the harbour-side features of boathouses, dry-docked
vessels, naval arsenals, neighboring storage buildings and granaries
would have been desiccated to the point of kindling wood.

IV. Fuel

Now must be considered the flammable capacity of the fleet, harbour-

side architecture, and that of the royal architecture of the palace
complex.

IV.1. The fleet

The literary sources speak of the loss due to the fire of some 110 ships
both at anchor and in the naval dockyards.25 Of these, 50 fully decked
and outfitted quadriremes and quinqueremes were tied up at the quay.26
In addition, we are told that another 22 decked warships that had been
tasked to Alexandria were in the dockyards in dry-dock.27 The remainder
of these ships—some 38 vessels in all—was presumably smaller craft
either moored in the harbour or laid up in the dockyards for repair or
storage for the season.28 The fifty warships, moored as many probably
were side by side, would have resembled from the air a continuous row
of gigantic match-sticks over one third of a kilometer long.29 With their

25
Hirtius B Alex. 12: Ac tam etsi amplius CX navibus longis in portu navalibusque amiserant,
non tamen reparandae classis cognationem deposuerunt.
26
Caes. B Civ. 3.111: Quarum erant L . . . quadriremes omnes et quinqueremes aptae instructaeque
omnibus rebus ad navigandum.
27
Caes. B Civ. 3.111: XXII (naves longas), quae praesidii causa Alexandriae esse consuerant,
constratae omnes. L. Casson discusses the necessity to seasonally dry-dock warships in
order to prevent them from becoming water-logged. Casson, Ships and Seamanship in
the Ancient World, 90.
28
The size and displacement of these warships are unknown. However, late-Hel-
lenistic warships tended to sit low in the water, had a displacement in excess of 40
metric tons, and were usually designed on a ratio of 1:10, beam width to hull length.
The rigging of at least a main sail completed its upper, wooden cataphract structure.
In comparison to a quadrireme or quinquereme, a trireme in 48 B.C. would have been
considered a light unit. See ibid., 100, 116–117, 123; and Foley and Soedel, “Ancient
Oared Warships,” 149, 155–156.
29
The average beam of a quinquereme or quadrireme was about 5 to 6 meters
wide. With a conservative 2 meter gap between each ships’ gunnels, fifty warships ×
5 meters = 250 meters plus 2 × 49 (docking gap) = 98 m. The sum would have been
approximately 350 meters in length at a minimum.

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 64 william j. cherf

full rigging in place and hulls coated with pitch and wax, these warships
represented an accident truly waiting to happen.30

IV.2. Harbour-side architecture

The architecture of the Eastern Harbour must have been a crowded
and bustling place with a continuous ring of quay that stretched from
the Timonium west as far as the naval dockyards. Behind these moor-
ings were tightly packed in the many warehouses (ἀποστάσεις) that
were either a part of or immediately adjacent to the Emporium.31 Such
warehouses “were presumably close to the quay for unloading goods”
and are not to be confused with the dry-docks of the naval dockyard.32
Alexandria after all was a foremost expediter of grains, papyri, glass-
ware, textiles and hemp, and its commerce relied upon ample storage
areas for these commodities. Therefore, logic and logistics placed them
at or near the northern edge of the city for ease of transport to and
from the ships.33 Behind and mixed in with the presumably quay-side
warehouses were the many storage houses (ἀποθῆκαι) of books, grain,
and other goods that are mentioned by the literary sources.34 Of par-
ticular interest to this paper was the seasonal condition of the grain
warehouses. By late August most of them were either empty or only
partially filled.35 Empty or partially filled granaries are by nature coated
with a fine layer of chaff, itself a highly combustible fuel.

30
If one does not think that an ancient ship was highly flammable, then consider the
following telling, if irreverent tongue in cheek, passages from Aristophanes’ Acharnians
190: ὄζουσι πίττης καὶ παρασκευῆς νεῶν; and 918–924: αὕτη γὰρ ἐμπρήσειεν ἄν τὸ
νεώριον. νεώριον θρυαλλίς; οἴμοι, τίνι τρόπῳ; ἐνθεὶς ἂν ἐς τίθην ἀνὴρ Βοιώτιος, ἅψας
ἂν εἰσπέμψειεν ἐς τὸ νεώριον δἰ ὑδρορρόας, Βορέαν ἐπιτηρήσας μέγαν. κεἴπερ λάβοιτο
τῶν τὸ πῦρ ἅπαξ, σελαγοῖτ᾿ ἄν αἴφνης.
31
Strabo 17.1.9 (C794). Fraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria, 2:76 n. 175; and Casson, Ships
and Seamanship in the Ancient World, 366.
32
Fraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria, 2:75 n. 174, 2:76 nn. 175, 176.
33
Fraser further emphasizes that the terms ἀποστάσεις and ἀποθῆκαι describe
similar structures, with the qualification that the latter is a more generalized term for
storage houses, while the former is a more specific term for dock-side warehouses,
ibid., 2:76 n. 176.
34
Supra note 2.
35
The Nile inundation began at Aswan in late May or early June, while in Cairo,
the high Nile occurred in early September through early October, see Kees, Ancient
Egypt, 54. Consequently, the Egyptian harvest was staggered as well beginning in April
and lasting until the end of May or later. Shipment to Alexandria usually took place
from May through June, see Rickman, Roman Granaries and Store Buildings, 303 citing
P. Oxy. 2182. Upon arrival the grain was immediately exported before the arrival of the

el-abbadi_f5_55-74.indd 64 1/25/2008 8:47:35 PM

 earth, wind, and fire 65

Beyond, to the west of the warehouses, stood the naval dockyards

(νεώρια) that extended all the way to the Heptastadion.36 Such instal-
lations included ship sheds (νεώσοικοι) where ships might be built,
repaired, or laid up for the season and their accompanying armories
(σκευθῆκαι or ὁπλοθῆκαι) where stores of pitch and caulking wax,
sails, oars, tackle, and rigging were all housed.37 Such boathouses were
typically roofed and colonnaded with boat ramps facing seaward.38
Nonetheless, these boathouses, with their ramps facing seaward fully
exposed dry-docked hulls freshly caulked with wax and coated with
pitch on their insides and out, containing highly flammable contents.
In short, much of the Alexandrian harbour-side architecture was
most likely constructed of either stone walls or walls built of sun-dried
mud brick mixed with straw. Internal roof supports and framing were,
however, made of wood over which a ceramic tile roof was constructed.
Given these observations, inscriptional and archaeological data from
elsewhere throughout the Mediterranean report the extensive use of
wood in Hellenistic harbour construction and decoration.39 Therefore,
we should consider that similar practices were employed at Alexandria
as well. But in the final analysis, it was not so much the architecture that
was so volatile, but rather the contents that were stored within them.

IV.3. Royal architecture

Located inland and behind the harbour-side architecture of warehouses,
storehouses, and naval dockyards stood the stone architecture of the

Etesian winds. But how much grain was exported from Alexandria during the years
49/48 and 48/47 B.C., while the civil war between Cleopatra VII and Ptolemy XIII
raged? Furthermore, Alexandria’s granaries were probably empty since 50/49 B.C.,
a year when Egypt suffered a low Nile and poor harvest, see Rostovtzeff, Social and
Economic History of the Hellenistic World, 2:909.
36
Strabo 17.1.9 (C794).
37
Casson, Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World, 363.
38
The assumption that the naval dockyard or νέωρια of Alexandria were ramped
and covered by a roofed colonnade can be argued by comparison with other Hel-
lenistic harbours, such as Piraeus, Sunium, Apollonia in Cyrenaica, and Oeniadae in
Acarnania, ibid., 363–366.
39
A fine example of a Hellenistic naval arsenal was that at Piraeus. Built around 350
B.C. and destroyed by Sulla in 86 B.C., this arsenal had wooden doors, a continuous
two-story wooden gallery, beamed frame supports for roofing, wooden architraves, and
wooden blocks to support the central ridge beam, see IG II2 1668 and Syll 3 969. Its
outer construction was principally limestone measuring 400 × 55 ft. with 2.5 ft. thick
walls 27 ft. high, Marstrand, Arsenalet i Piraeus.

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 66 william j. cherf

palace complex, the many temples, municipal buildings and the hous-
ing of the wealthy. Such architecture surely was built with more care,
with better materials, all to be more lasting. It is in this context that we
should perhaps apply Aulus Hirtius’ description of Alexandrian build-
ing construction as being almost fire-proof: “For Alexandria is almost
safe from fire, because the buildings are without wooden floors and
the construction is held together by arch-roofs which are of rubble or
a plaster/cement mixture.”40
Still and all, this statement remains nothing more than a sweeping
generalization, for note the amount of wood that Hirtius tells us was
still available in supposedly fire-safe Alexandria:

– Caesar has siege-works and pent-houses constructed;41

– The Egyptian army counters these defenses with lofty towers, 40 feet
high, some of which are even wheeled;42
– The Alexandrians build timber barricades;43
– The Alexandrians, after having lost over 110 ships to the fire, then
after it repaired their old ships, build 22 new quadriremes, and 5 new
quinqueremes, by using the wooden beams scavenged from public
buildings.44

While this author would be the first to admit that much, if not all, of
the above recycled wood came from non-royal architecture, the point
still must be made that there seemed to be no end to the wood supply
in Alexandria.

40
Hirtius B Alex. 1: Nam incendio fere tuta est Alexandrea, quod sine contignatione ac materia
sunt aedificia et structuris ac fornicibus continentur tectaque sunt rudere aut pavimentis.
41
Hirtius B Alex. 1: operibus vineisque agendis.
42
Hirtius B Alex. 2: Praeterea alias ambulatorias totidem tabulatorum confixerant subiectisque
eas rotis funibus iumentisque obiectis derectis plateis in quamcumque erat visum partem movebant.
43
Hirtius B Alex. 12: et materiam cunctam obicerent.
44
Hirtius B Alex. 12: Ac tam etsi amplius CX navibus longis in portu navalibusque amise-
rant, non tamen reparandae classis cognationem deposuerunt. B.A. 13: Naves veteres erant in occultis
regiae navalibus, quibus multis annis ad navigandum non erant usi: has reficiebant, illas Alexandream
revocabant. Deerant remi: porticus, gymnasia, publica aedificia detegebant, asseres remorum usum
obtinebant . . . Itaque paucis diebus contra omnium opinionem quadriremis XXII, quinqueremis V
confecerunt; ad has minores apertasque compluris adiecerunt.

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 earth, wind, and fire 67

V. Ignition

Most likely, Caesar’s firing of the warships at anchor was an act of

military desperation. That the fire then readily spread from the anchored
ships into the open seaward sides of the boathouses and on to the
naval arsenals, quay-side warehouses, and neighboring storage houses
cannot be considered impossible—especially given the prevailing winds.
But even before the falling wind-borne embers and actual flames had
even reached these structures, they had been preceded and primed
for instantaneous combustion by the searing, superheated air from the
burning fleet across a broad front—perhaps as wide as one third of
a kilometer.45 And so, the fire rapidly spread inland and became self-
perpetuating—driven by the prevailing winds, superheated air drafts,
flames, and continuous cinder fallout.
But it would be the granary warehouses—if superheated or ignited
by so much as a spark—that immediately would have exploded upwards
and outwards in a fiery plume. Such granary explosions themselves
create tremendous heat convections and updrafts that can propel ash
and cinders hundreds of meters into the air. The repetitive ignition of
several such granaries could have escalated this massive harbour blaze
to fire-storm proportions. Under such intense heat, limestone block
calcines, flakes apart, and even explodes. Only kiln-dried brick can
begin to withstand such heat,46 and none of Alexandria’s architecture
was built with such a fire-resistant material.
Given the prevailing Northwest winds, this potential fire-storm,
perhaps as much as one third of a kilometer in width, moved rapidly
inland in a generally southeast direction. All these elements add up to
a situation that would have placed at least the northern third of ancient
Alexandria directly in harm’s way.
Ptolemaic Alexandria, the intellectual and commercial focus of the
ancient world,47 covered in Strabo’s time an area 30 stades long by 7–8
stades wide,48 which calculates to about 25.5 hectares in area divided

45
See note 29 above.
46
Eyewitness reports during the Chicago Fire of 1871 attest to the explosive reaction
of superheated stone, see Lakeside Monthly 7 (Chicago 1872) 35; Moses and Kirkland,
History of Chicago Illinois, 1:207; Sheahan and Upton, Great Conflagration, 228.
47
Strabo 17.1.13 (C798): μέγιστον ἐμπόριον τῆς ὀικουμένης.
48
Puchstein, RE, s.v. “Alexandria,” (1), col. 1381, lines 25–26 quoting Strabo 17.1.8
(C793). Fraser tentatively agrees. Fraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria, 1:13, 2:26–27 n. 64.

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 68 william j. cherf

into five municipal principalities.49 As for the Palace quarter, it covered

both the northeastern peninsula of Lochias, which formed the eastern
boundary of the Eastern Harbour, and the north-central to north-east-
ern part of the city proper. It is assumed that this quarter included the
Mouseion and the Great Library. Unfortunately, the precise location
of these structures is unknown.50 According to a contemporary of the
first century B.C., the city contained within its cramped confines some
300,000 free inhabitants.51
Since earliest antiquity, uncontrollable fire was one of man’s most
dread enemies. Whether naturally or intentionally set, the outbreak of
fire in any cramped, congested, and overcrowded urban setting—prior
to the advent of modern fire-fighting tactics and technologies—was
truly something to be feared.52
This proposed reconstruction of the Alexandrian Fire was inspired
by a passage from Lucan’s Pharsalia and by several eyewitness accounts
of the Great Chicago Fire of 8–10 October 1871.53 Although greatly
removed by time and space, the Alexandrian and Chicago fires share
much in common: coastal locations, steady breezes, and granary instal-
lations. Furthermore, the Great Chicago Fire offers a better historical
parallel to Alexandria of Caesar’s day than other fire-storms of modern
history on two counts: first, the rudimentary nature of its fire-fighting
capacity; and second, the materials and artificial manner in which the
fire-storms were started.54

49
Of these, only two are known as to what they contained: Alpha (the courts of
justice); and Delta (the Jewish quarter). Beta is known only from Augustan and later
documents to have contained the Square Stoa and its own granaries. Gamma and Eta
have no references. Only the location of Delta has been located in the northeastern
corner of the city near the palace complex, Fraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria, 1:34–35.
50
Caes. B Civ. 3.111.3, 3.111.8–10; Hirtius B. Alex. 13.1; Diodorus Siculus 1.50.8,
17.52.4 and Strabo 17.1.8–9 (C793–794). Calderini, Dizionario, 1:97–100; Fraser, Ptol-
emaic Alexandria, 1:14–15.
51
Diod. Sic. 17.52.6 followed by Calderini, Dizionario, 1:200; Rostovtzeff, Social and
Economic History of the Hellenistic World, 2:1138 n. 74; Fraser considers 300,000 too low
and estimates a population just “short of one million” inhabitants in 60 B.C. Fraser,
Ptolemaic Alexandria, 1:91, 2:171–172 n. 358.
52
For the effect of urban fires on late Republican Rome, see for example, Yavetz,
“Living Conditions of the Urban Plebs in Republican Rome,” 500–517.
53
Luc. Phar. 10.488–505. Harper’s Weekly, October 21, 1871, 984–985; ibid., October
28, 1871, 1010–1013; ibid., November 4, 1871, 1028–1029; and Lakeside Monthly 7
(1872) 22–39.
54
The firestorms of World War II, specifically those at Dresden, Hamburg, Tokyo,
and Nagasaki can be removed from consideration, since they were the artificial creations
of saturation incendiary or nuclear bombardment. None of these firestorms could have

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 earth, wind, and fire 69

As a native of Chicago, Illinois, the story of that city’s fire, the Great
Chicago Fire of 1871, made an indelible impression. With every stroll
through the streets of its downtown area one is faced with two remind-
ers, the only two structures that survived that awful conflagration: the
Chicago Water Tower and its adjacent Pumping Station. These two lone
islands of massive stone construction were all that were left standing in
their neighborhood. In fact the phrase “Second City,” when applied to
Chicago does not refer to its importance in comparison with that of
New York, but rather to the new city that arose phoenix-like from its
own ashes. “Second City”—Nea Polis. Do not the meanings of these
two phrases sound vaguely similar and appropriate? Old Chicago of
1871 sprawled over some 932 hectares of flat, lake-side plain that pos-
sessed no topographical wind barriers. While that city’s area was three
and a half times that of ancient Alexandria, it contained practically
the same free population, reckoned at 334,000. Domestic architecture
was predominantly wooden structures, whereas some of the urban
landscape was punctuated with more ambitious structures of brick,
marble, and stone. The Fall of 1871 had been particularly hot and dry
with a meager summer’s rainfall.55 On the early evening of October
8th, 1871, the entire city was as dry as kindling wood.
We are told that many eyewitnesses were rendered numb or hysterical.
Gale-like heat convections, described as “hurricanes” or “tornadoes,”
were recorded as high as 100 kilometers per hour. Burning embers were
lofted over 300 meters into the air creating virtually an illuminated snow
storm of fallout. Drafts that funneled through the city streets formed
eddies of swirling smoke and leaping tongues of fire. The collective heat
was so intense that stone structures failed and exploded, brick structures
collapsed, glass flowed like water, and structural metal groaned—then
failed. The superheated air alone, which preceded this fury, ignited
wooden objects and reportedly made glass glow a ruddy red. Before the
ordeal was over 810 hectares or 86% of Old Chicago, since called the
“Burnt District,” and nearly 18,000 structures were consumed in only
two days time. Despite the Chicago fire-brigades’ valiant and ceaseless
toil, this holocaust spread at will, ran its course, and was only brought
under control by the gentle rain of 10 October 1871.56

occurred naturally. They occurred only because of the massive introduction of foreign,
flammable, and explosive materials into a confined area.
55
Musham, “Great Chicago Fire, October 8–10, 1871,” 87.
56
Harper’s Weekly, October 28, 1871, 1010; Lakeside Monthly 7 (1872) 33; Musham,

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 70 william j. cherf

In light of the Old Chicago Fire, we now turn to Lucan and his
famous passage from the Pharsalia. Note the similarity of imagery in
the description of the Alexandrian fire’s spread that originated from
the burning pitch and running wax of the warships.57 He writes:
Nor did the fire fall upon the vessels only: the houses near the sea caught
fire from the spreading heat, and the winds fanned the conflagration, till
the flames, smitten by the eddying gale, rushed over the roofs as fast as
the meteors that often trace a furrow though the sky, though they have
nothing solid to feed on and burn by means of air alone. This calamity
for a time called off the crowd from the close-barred palace to rescue
the city.58
Admittedly, Lucan’s source for this memorable passage was his own
probable eyewitness account of the Roman fire of A.D. 64. Nonethe-
less, the Alexandrian fire did take place, and did spread inland. We
know this, because the papyri of the first through fourth centuries A.D.
attest to the Alexandrian granaries as being located in a new quarter of
the city significantly called the Neapolis.59 On the basis of this evidence,
Ausfeld rightly concluded that the Neapolis was none other than the
name given to that part of Alexandria around the Eastern Harbour,
which had to be rebuilt subsequent to the fire of 48 B.C.60
Strabo’s post-fire account of Alexandria,61 by far our best topographi-
cal description of the city and its surroundings, nevertheless, is based
upon his autopsy dated to between 24 and 20 B.C.62—almost a full
generation after the fire. Thus, some features and buildings visible from
the Eastern Harbour were recent additions that had replaced the fire-
gutted waterfront. Typical of the massive construction effort to hide the
scares of the Bellum Alexandrinum were: the entire Emporium complex

“Great Chicago Fire, October 8–10, 1871,” 130, 135; Moses and Kirkland, History of
Chicago Illinois, 1:205–206.
57
Luc. Phar. 10.680–688: Nulla tamen plures hoc edidit aequore clades, Quam pelago diversa
lues. Nam pinguibus ignis, Adfixus taedis et tecto sulpure vivax, Spargiture; at faciles praebere alimenta
carinae, Nunc pice, nunc liquida rapuere incendia cera. Nec flammas superant undae, sparsisque per
aequor, Iam ratibus fragmenta ferus sibi vindicat ignis. Hic recipit fluctus, extinguat ut aequore flam-
mas, Hi, ne mergantur, tabulis ardentibus haerent.
58
Supra note 2.
59
The Neapolis, located northeast of Rhakotis, included the granaries and other new
construction, Calderini, Dizionario, 1:131–132.
60
Ausfeld, “Neapolis und Brucheion in Alexandria,” 481–497.
61
Strabo 17.1.9 (C794).
62
Fraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria, 1:7, 2:12–13 n. 29.

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 earth, wind, and fire 71

that enveloped the Caesareion,63 the Poseidon Peninsula’s mole exten-

sion, the Timonium built by Marcus Antonius,64 and the many newly
constructed shops, warehouses, and granaries so necessary to such a
commercial center.65 It is not surprising then to note Strabo’s silence
concerning such pre-fire structures such as the Ptolemaic Arsinoeion,66
and the Great Library. That these structures were not visible from
the Eastern Harbour only underlines the extensive rebuilding in and
around these structures, if one assumes that they themselves had sur-
vived intact at all.
In summation, how far inland the fire reached and whether it de-
stroyed, or at least damaged in part the Great Library, remains unclear.67
Fraser, however, noted that almost all references to the Alexandrian
Library in Imperial times, which were not of a historical nature, referred
to the Serapeum Library. That observation, in fact lead Fraser to openly

63
Strabo 17.1.9 (C794). Calderini, Dizionario, 1:110–111, 118–119; Fraser, Ptolemaic
Alexandria, 1:24, 2:66–69, nn. 153–156, 2:70 n. 161. The Emporium was the main
market area that extended to the seafront, comprising more than one structure and
including the Caesareion. Its general location is known, for the extant ruins of the
Caesareion stand near the city’s central shoreline.
64
Strabo 17.1.9 (C794); Plutarch Antonius 69. Fraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria, 1:24,
2:66–67 n. 153.
65
Strabo 17.1.9 (C794); Dio Cass. 42.38.2. Calderini, Dizionario, 1:93, 135; Fraser,
Ptolemaic Alexandria, 1:25, 2:76 nn. 175–176.
66
Ibid., Ptolemaic Alexandria, 1:25. This structure, never fully completed and prob-
ably damaged during the Alexandrian War, was neglected to be later outdone by the
Caesareion adjacent to it.
67
Supra note 2. Of these sources, Caesar and Aulus Hirtius mention only the burn-
ing of moored and dry-docked vessels. Lucan provides a vivid account for the inland
course of the fire, which was first fanned by the coastal breezes and then worsened
by the fire’s own draft. Florus has Caesar igniting the docks and neighboring build-
ings. Dio Cassius also has Caesar starting the fire in the dock area, but then adds the
destruction of the neighboring granaries and the ἀποθῆκαι τῶν βίβλων. Plutarch is the
first, followed by Orosius, to connect the burning of the fleet and the inland spread of
the fire to the destruction of the Great Library. Zonaras simply records that Caesar
torched the Alexandria’s warehouses and Great Library. Plutarch, unlike the rest, seems
to have followed an Alexandrian Greek source other than Livy, Teggart, “Caesar and
the Alexandrian Library,” 471–474. Unfortunately, Livy’s Book 112, a critical source
for the Bellum Alexandrinum, exists only as an epitome—Periocha 112.
This is not to say that the extraordinary archaeological efforts by the French and
Polish missions in Alexandria have not been in vain. Professor Dr. Jean-Yves Empereur
placed the library’s destruction within second and third century A.D. contexts on the
basis of numismatic evidence. In addition, Professor Dr. Empereur had kindly informed
this author that core borings had also been undertaken throughout the city’s confines.
The results of these data, however, I have yet to examine regarding their number,
location, depth and stratification. Therefore, I heartily encourage the reader to consult
Prof. Dr. Empereur’s data contained in this volume.

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 72 william j. cherf

state that: “All considered then, we are justified in supposing that the
contents of the Royal Library, if not wholly destroyed, were at least
seriously diminished in the fire of 48 B.C.”68 Given the potential fire-
storm conditions that may have occurred in 48 B.C., this author finds
Fraser’s assessment difficult to refute.
The literary sources that chronicle the fiery events surrounding 48
B.C., however, are at times so contradictory that one must rely upon
inference and comparative analysis in dealing with them.69 Moreover,
any archaeological approach to the question is hampered by the paucity
of evidence, and of course, by the unknown location of the Mouseion
and its Library collection.70
In the end, whether or not the Great Library survived the fiery tem-
pest of the Bellum Alexandrinum of 48 B.C. cannot be proven.71 However,

68
Fraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria, 1:335.
69
Ibid., 1:334.
70
The remains of the Mouseion and its library have yet to be found. The systematic
archaeological investigation of Alexandria is hindered by coastal subsidence, building
activity of the past century which created a new coastline, the mixing of stratigra-
phy during this and on-going construction, and ancient construction and demolition
from Ptolemaic through Roman times, ibid., 1:9–10. Nonetheless, these structures are
thought to have been located together or in close proximity in the southwest corner
of the Ptolemaic palace complex, about 400 meters from the north-central shoreline
of the Ptolemaic Eastern Harbour, southwest from the Heptastadion, behind the naval
dockyard (νεώρια). K. Dziatzko, RE, s.v. “Bibliotheken: v. Alexandrinische Bibliotheken,”
(3), col. 412, lines 6–10; W. Helck, Kleine Pauly, s.v. “Alexandria,” (1), col. 244, lines
30–32; and Fraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria, 1:15, 2:30–31 n. 77.
71
The ancients were divided as to the extent of the fire’s damage. Seneca (Tranq.
9.5), Dio Cassius (42.38), and Orosius (6.15.31–34) record the loss of either 40,000
or 400,000 books, depending upon the mss. reading, Reynolds, L. Annaei Senecae, 224
n. 6; White, Scholia on the Aves of Aristophanes, xxxii–xxxiii; Orosius. Historiarum Adversum
Paganos Libri VII, ed. Zangemeister, 402 n. 1. Westermann outright questioned Seneca’s
lost Livian source for the number of volumes supposedly lost (40,000 or 400,000);
Westermann, Library of Ancient Alexandria, 13. Dio Cassius (42.38) merely states that
“the storehouses of grain and books of the greatest number and excellence were
burned” and what he meant by these “storehouses of books” is not clear. The phrase,
however, has been interpreted variously as either “a warehouse of books,” a “storage
area within the library,” or even as “the Great Library” itself, see Fraser, Ptolemaic
Alexandria, 1:335, 2:494 n. 226. If they can be trusted, Aulus Gellius (NA 7.17.3) and
Ammianus Marcellinus (22.16.13)—both following a non-Livian source—report the
loss of 70,000 and 700,000 books, respectively.
R. S. Bagnall, in his critical paper entitled, “The Library of Alexandria: Desires
and Realities,” rightly questions the great numbers of books supposedly lost, in some
respects harkening back to the many known exaggerations of Herodotus. However,
Bagnall based his low estimates only upon the known Classical corpus, which in this
scholar’s view excludes all the non-Classical sources that could well have been present
within that universal collection—Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Persian and East Indian.

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 earth, wind, and fire 73

on the basis of modern meteorological data and a comparative histori-

cal analogy with the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, it has been suggested
that an unintended, natural fire-storm had occurred. The key question
as to whether the Great Library and its precious literary collection were
in any way affected is unknown. But given the potential fury of such a
fire-storm, this author would not be surprised if that literary collection
had indeed been threatened and possibly damaged.

Also modern opinion is divided so as to the extent of the Great Library’s damage
in 48 B.C. On the one hand, there are those who contend that the library was either
destroyed or damaged during the Alexandrian War. These scholars cite the testimonia
of Seneca, Plutarch, Aulus Gellius, and Ammianus Marcellinus. On the other hand,
however, there are those who argue that it was only stored books or papyrus rolls, either
located dockside or transferred to the quays, which were destroyed, K. Dziatzko, RE, s.v.
“Bibliotheken: v. Alexandrinische Bibliotheken,” (3), col. 412; Mahaffy, History of Egypt
Under the Ptolemaic Dynasty, 242–243; Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, 1:112–113;
Holmes, Roman Republic and the Founder of the Empire, 3:489; Bevan, History of Egypt Under
the Ptolemaic Dynasty, 365; Irwin, English Library, 36; Tarn, Hellenistic Civilization, 270;
Adcock, “Civil War: Part IV, Caesar at Alexandria,” 671; Canfora, Vanished Library,
136; Jochum, “Alexandrian Library and its Aftermath,” 9–10. It is also argued that
the burning of these papyrus rolls led to the “legend” of the Great Library’s demise
and that Plutarch is guilty of Alexandrian propaganda, Teggart, “Caesar and the
Alexandrian Library,” 474.

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el-abbadi_f5_55-74.indd 74 1/25/2008 8:47:36 PM
 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA:
AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL VIEWPOINT

Jean-Yves Empereur

I. The destruction of the Library of Alexandria

The debate surrounding the destruction of the Library among mod-

ern writers has taken a rather striking ideological dimension. In effect,
the Western tradition following the evidence of Seneca and Plutarch,1
among others, has commonly attributed the fire that ravaged the build-
ing to Julius Caesar. Lucan and Dio Cassius recount how, as he tried
to out-manoeuvre the attacking Alexandrians from the heights of the
royal palaces, he set fire to vessels anchored in the Eastern Harbour.2
This action led to the burning of an apothiki full of papyri and this has
been interpreted as the destruction of the Library of Alexandria.
Another version attributes the destruction to Amr ibn al- Ās, the
Arab conqueror of Egypt who took Alexandria in 642 A.D., the Library
having apparently survived until this date. We know the tale: obeying
the command of the Caliph ‘Umar, ‘Amr used the papyri to heat the
furnaces of Alexandria’s public bathhouses. . . .
Then, there is the intermediary version. The guilty party this time
are the Christians led by Bishop Theophilus. In 391 A.D., this latter
applied the edict of Theodosius prohibiting the practice of pagan cults
and he led his troops in the destruction of the most famous sanctuary at
Alexandria, the Temple of Serapis which dominated the city at the top
of some one hundred steps upon the platform that the Alexandrians,
somewhat pompously, called the Acropolis (fig. 1). Only ruins were left
of the sanctuary and upon them a monastery dedicated to St. John
was built. This violence against the pagans continued throughout the
following decades and it was not only the cults themselves that were
targeted, but also individuals. Thus Cyril, nephew and successor to
Theophilus, in a desire to end the teaching of pagan philosophy, sent

1
Seneca De tranquillitate animi 9.5; Plutarch Caesar 49.
2
Lucan Pharsalia 10.486–505; Dio Cassius 62.32.8; Caesar Bellum Civile 3.111.

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 76 jean-yves empereur

his hordes of monks to assassinate Hypatia in the open streets of

Alexandria in 415 A.D.
So, what new arguments do we have to allow us to accept this or that
theory rather than the other, or indeed, should we move away from the
traditional lines of thought? Do we need to reread the texts?
It is certainly difficult to imagine the total disappearance of the
Library at the time of Caesar since Strabo, who, in 25 B.C., gives us the
most detailed description of ancient Alexandria, mentions the Mouseion
in paragraph 8, chapter 17 of his Geography. It is perhaps somewhat
brief a description for us, especially as he does not mention the word
‘Library.’ But this silence speaks words that we might attempt to interpret.
If one reads Book 17 in its entirety, with all the diverse information
about the land of Egypt, one has the impression that Strabo was able
to draw on a variety of sources at his disposition. Surely, Strabo would
have deplored the destruction of the Library while he was dedicating
a paragraph to the Mouseion.3 The logical result of this has been that,
during the past few years, one has come to see Caesar’s fire as burning
only a storehouse, either of manuscripts destined for export or of blank
papyri, and that the Library itself was too far from the coast to have
been ignited by the burning boats. Accordingly, Amr is guilty.
That the destruction was due to the Christians is also problematic,
the location of the sanctuary of Serapis would indicate the sacking
of the Daughter Library and not the main institution attached to the
Museum.
How do we break out of this circle? Without any new texts, what
arguments might support one or the other theory? In fact, an examina-
tion of the terrain, thanks to a series of salvage excavations recently
undertaken in the Bruccheion district, has brought to light information
that allows for a new response.

II. The archaeological viewpoint

First of all, one should recognise the insignificance of any physical

traces of the Library itself. Certainly, in the middle of the nineteenth
century, a granite case was found that bore the Greek inscription

3
Strabo 17.1.8; cf. also references to the Library from the time of Claudius and
Domitian in Canfora, Véritable histoire de la bibliothèque d’Alexandrie, 210.

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 the destruction of the library of alexandria 77

“Dioscourides, 3 volumes” (fig. 2),4 and given the incertitude of the era
concerning the topography of the ancient town, one could believe that
this was one of the storage units of the Library that held the works of
the botanist Dioscorides of Anazarbus. But from the beginning of the
twentieth century this hypothesis was rejected and in 1908 A. Reinach
underlined just how difficult it would have been to store the hundreds
of thousands of papyri of the Library in this fashion.
In actual fact, the only papyri that archaeology has found for us in
Alexandria are those of stone! Here, we are talking about the statues
of philosophers or orators from the second century A.D. dressed in a
toga and represented with a bundle of papyri at their sides lying upon
a capsa; a metal box with a lock that was used for carrying their works
(figs. 3, 4).
Not one of the excavations undertaken over more than a century
has uncovered any papyri. There is one mention of the discovery of
carbonized papyri that were found and then dumped by an engineer
at Kom el-Dikka in the nineteenth century. Now that we know how to
restore them,5 it is a shame that they were not saved and we can but
hope to find others in a similar condition during digs in town. However
the climate is too humid for there ever to be finds of papyri in good
condition, whilst our colleagues discover hundreds every year in the
sands of Egypt’s deserts.
Thus, the only hope is to find the remains of the Library itself. But
what can we expect from such a discovery? What will there be to find
but an empty stoa? Will we be able to recognise it for what it is when
the city must have held multiple stoas; the four interminable stadia-long
porticos of the gymnasium, the long stoas that ran along the Canopic

4
Now held in the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna (inv. III 86 L): cf. É. Bernand,
Inscriptions grecques d’Alexandrie ptolémaïque, 167–169. Before the object was rediscovered
in Vienna by Tkaczow, numerous studies of this box were undertaken from the draw-
ings of Harris, circa 1840 (his archives are held in the Graeco-Roman Museum of
Alexandria); Tkaczow, Topography of Ancient Alexandria, 201. This object was found to
the south of the junction of Fouad and Sherif Streets, and the first publishers believed
that from this they could deduce the location of the Library. This hypothesis was
quickly abandoned: cf. the arguments contra in Reinach, “∆ΙΟΣΚΟΥΡΙ∆ΗΣ Γ ΤΟΜΟΙ,”
350–370. Alone and in an inexplicable way, there is A. Bernand, Alexandrie la grande,
132 “H. Brugsch savant de notoriété mondiale (!), ayant affirmé, selon Botti, que ce
coffre de pierre avait bien été trouvé là, il semble qu’il n’y ait guère de doute sur
l’emplacement présumé du Musée, d’autant que cette localisation s’accorde avec les
indications de Strabon.”
5
As has been demonstrated by the example of the Villa dei Papiri at Herculanum.

el-abbadi_f6_75-88.indd 77 1/25/2008 8:48:08 PM

el-abbadi_f6_75-88.indd 78
78
jean-yves empereur

Figure 2. Drawing of the papyrus box of Dioscorides.

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Archives CEAlex/
CNRS.

Figure 1. Bishop Theophilus standing upon the sanctuary of

Serapis after its destruction in 391 A.D. Kunsthistorisches
Museum, Vienna. Archives CEAlex/CNRS.

1/25/2008 8:48:08 PM
el-abbadi_f6_75-88.indd 79
the destruction of the library of alexandria

Figure 3. An Alexandrian orator with his papyrus box.

79

White marble. Second century A.D. Graeco-Roman Figure 4. The orator’s papyrus box. Detailed view of
Museum, Alexandria. Archives CEAlex/CNRS. figure 3. Archives CEAlex/CNRS.

1/25/2008 8:48:09 PM
 80 jean-yves empereur

Way. . . . How could we recognise the stoa of the Library, unless of course
it had an inscription that identified it as such, the word ΒΙΒΛΙΟΘΗΚΗ
carved on an architrave much as the actual Graeco-Roman Museum
bears the word ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟΝ (fig. 5). Otherwise, we might well have one
more portico at Alexandria without being able to attribute it to any
particular monument.
It should be emphasised that excavations at Alexandria are under-
taken without directly being attached to the search for any specific
monument. Aside from the research so well executed by the Polish
mission within the archaeological park of Kom el-Dikka, there are no
systematic excavations here in Alexandria. We are involved solely in
urban salvage digs following the activities of construction companies.
When a developer decides to demolish an old building to replace it
with a modern tower, a brief period of time is allowed to the archae-
ologist to undertake a salvage dig and examine as fast as possible the
underground strata before returning the parcel to its owner so that the
construction project can be realised. Thus, one can never establish a
true archaeological policy with predefined scientific aims. In reality, we
are obliged to follow the developers’ programme of building sites and
it is not easy, given the increase in their projects these past few years.
The salvage excavations of the Centre d’Études Alexandrines
(CEAlex)6 are all so many parts of a giant puzzle on the scale of the
ancient city. Alongside the underwater digs7 and explorations in the
necropolis8 the CEAlex has concentrated its efforts in the district of
Bruccheion, the royal palaces and environs. There the deepest layers have
revealed signs of the first generations of Alexandrians, the settlers who
accompanied the founder in 331 B.C. Such is the case of the house
found in the garden of the former British Consulate with its little dining
room decorated with a pebble mosaic that resembles those of Pella, the
town in Macedonia where Alexander the Great was born (fig. 6). In a
neighbouring parcel a grand house was uncovered. The style of mosaics
that adorned the floors is quite different from our first example. Here
we have floral and vegetal patterns, and in the dining room between the

6
A team of the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (UMS 1812),
based in Alexandria. Cf. the web site www.cea.com.eg.
7
Cf. Empereur, Phare d’Alexandrie.
8
Salvage excavations to the west, in the district of Gabbari (cf. Empereur and Nenna,
Nécropolis 1) and to the east in the Latin cemeteries, around the Alabaster Tomb (digs
began in September 2002).

el-abbadi_f6_75-88.indd 80 1/25/2008 8:48:10 PM

el-abbadi_f6_75-88.indd 81
Figure 6. Dining room of a Macedonian house with a pebble
mosaic. End of the fourth century B.C. Archives CEAlex/
CNRS.
the destruction of the library of alexandria

Figure 5. The façade of the Graeco-Roman Museum,

81

Alexandria (with the inscription MOYΣEION). Founded

1895. Archives CEAlex/CNRS.

1/25/2008 8:48:10 PM
 82 jean-yves empereur

benches where the diners lounged, an Aegis, a shield of colourful scales

with a head of Medusa at its centre (figs. 7, 8). This head is composed
of miniscule tessera of some millimetres across, a technique known as
opus vermiculatum, whilst the rest of the carpet is made of larger tessera,
opus tesselatum. The Medusa with the serpents twined through her hair
was supposed to ward off any potential trouble-making intruder, her
petrifying gaze being directed towards the entrance of the room.
It is above all the chronology of the house that interests us. While
the archaeological material (ceramics, coins etc.) found beneath the bed
of the mosaic demonstrates that construction was around the year 150
A.D., the more recent material found in abandoned layers dates from
the second half of the third century A.D. It would therefore seem that
this grand dwelling was only used for a little over one century before
being abandoned. Later, upon the filled-in ruins, different craftsmen,
workers in coral and semi-precious stones, sculptors of bone and ivory
(fig. 9) and glassmakers, established their workshops.
This House of Medusa is not unique. There is a parallel in the Villa
of the Birds excavated by our Polish colleagues within the archaeologi-
cal park of Kom el-Dikka that stands on the same ancient north-south
road named R4 by Mahmoud el-Falaki.9 This is the only house to be
open to the public and one can admire a large dining room with small
attached rooms. The building is decorated with remarkable mosaics,
certain pavements depicting multi-coloured birds, parrots, pigeons etc.
(figs. 10, 11); while in a room to the north there is a panther. In the
excavation report, the archaeologist dates the construction of this house
to the mid-second century A.D. and indicates that it was destroyed by
a fire in the second half of the third century A.D.10 Thus it suffered

9
In the years 1865–1866, Mahmoud el-Falaki dug a series of trenches on the orders
of the Khedive Ismail in order to draw up a map of ancient Alexandria. This map
with an explanatory text was published in Copenhagen in 1872. All the plotted streets
carry a name composed of a letter and a number (L for streets running east-west and
R for those running north-south). Cf. Rodziewicz, “Débat sur la topographie de la
ville antique,” 38–48; esp. 40–42.
10
Cf. ibid., “Quartier d’habitation gréco-romain à Kôm el-Dikka,” 169–216. The
Villa of the Birds (sounding R) is published in pages 175–192. One should note in
particular the conclusion: “Toutes les mosaïques du sondage R furent détruites vers la
fin du IIIe siècle par un incendie d’envergure notable qui embrasa toutes les maisons
étudiées par nous. La période de destruction des maisons coïncide avec la période de
guerre avec Palmyre, quand le quartier alexandrin du Bruchium fut brûlé. Ce peut
être un détail important permettant de ranger cette partie ou la totalité du terrain de
Kôm el-Dikka justement dans ce quartier.” (ibid., 192)

el-abbadi_f6_75-88.indd 82 1/25/2008 8:48:10 PM

el-abbadi_f6_75-88.indd 83
the destruction of the library of alexandria

Figure 7. Drawing of the mosaic from the Roman House of Figure 8. The mosaic of Medusa, Alexandria; details of
83

Medusa, Alexandria. c. 150 A.D. Archives CEAlex/CNRS. the central medallion. Archives CEAlex/CNRS.

1/25/2008 8:48:11 PM
 84 jean-yves empereur

Figure 9. A bone panel decorated with a character from the entourage of

Dionysus from a bone and ivory sculptor’s workshop established above the
Roman House of Medusa. Fifth century A.D. Archives CEAlex/CNRS.

el-abbadi_f6_75-88.indd 84 1/25/2008 8:48:11 PM

el-abbadi_f6_75-88.indd 85
Figure 10. Mosaic pavement of the Villa of the Birds. General Figure 11. Panel decorated with a parrot in the mosaic pave-
view. c. 150 A.D. Polish-Egyptian Mission at Kom el-Dikka,
the destruction of the library of alexandria

ment of the Villa of the Birds, Alexandria. Detailed view of

Alexandria, Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology figure 10. Archives CEAlex/CNRS.
in Cairo; M. Rodziewicz, “Un quartier d’habitation Gréco-
Romain à Kôm el-Dikka,” Études et travaux 9 (1976), 181.
85

1/25/2008 8:48:11 PM
 86 jean-yves empereur

the same fate as the House of Medusa, being in use for little more
than one century and then destroyed by an action—violent in this
case—that happened during the second half of the third century A.D.
According to the study of ceramics, it seems that the abandonment
should be dated rather to the middle than to the end of this second
half of the third century.
Now that we have examined the data from the terrain, should we
see these acts of abandonment as individual fates or, given that we
are dealing with not simply an isolated case but with two houses from
the same district, could they be linked to an event within the history
of the city?

III. The trials of the second half of the third century

The history of Alexandria was particularly troubled during the second

half of the third century A.D. First of all, Queen Zenobia of Palmyra
invaded the town in 269. The Emperor Aurelian rapidly sent his
troops, which then spent more than one year trying to retake the city.
A quarter of a century later it was an usurper, Domitius Domitianus,
who seized Alexandria and, in 297, the Emperor Diocletian arrived
from Antioch and besieged the city, protected as it was behind thick
defensive walls. He too had to wait a year before reconquering the
city. The evidence of this victory still stands in Alexandria today. It is
in fact the sole monument still upright, the only one to have resisted
all the many earthquakes that have hit the city over two millennia and
which have destroyed the majority of monuments, with the Pharos as
most notable. This is so-called Pompey’s Pillar, the inscription of which
tells us that it was erected by Publius, prefect of Egypt, in honour of
Diocletian, a statue of whom would have stood upon the floral capital
some 30 metres above the ground.11
Towards the end of the fourth century Ammianus Marcellinus, a
Greek from Syria settled in Rome and writing in Latin, describes the
Bruccheion district as deserted, wiped off the map of Alexandria:
Under the reign of Aurelian, the civil quarrels having degenerated into
murderous combats, the walls were destroyed and the town lost the greatest

11
Cf. Kayser, Recueil des inscriptions grecques et latines (non funéraires) d’Alexandrie impériale
(I er–III e s. apr. J.-C.), 52–57.

el-abbadi_f6_75-88.indd 86 1/25/2008 8:48:13 PM

 the destruction of the library of alexandria 87

part of the quarter called Bruccheion, which for a long time had been the
residence of people of distinction.12
It is also worth noting that at the end of this very same fourth century,
St. John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, evokes the futility of
glory on Earth by taking as an example the tomb of Alexander the
Great, the very location of which has been lost to the memory of the
Alexandrians. “Tell me, where therefore lies the tomb of Alexander?
Show it to me and tell me the date of his death.”13 This district of
Bruccheion is that of the royal palace and environs without our being able
to give it any definite limits such is our overall ignorance of the topog-
raphy of the ancient city. It would seem that the House of Medusa was
situated within this district, in which stood the Museum, the Library as
well as the tomb of Alexander. Does this mean to say that the palaces
were also destroyed at this period? Such is not altogether impossible,
since when ‘Amr conquered the town in 642, the administrative centre
was to the west of the city, and not to the east, and it would remain
there until the arrival of the Ottomans in 1517, a period when it would
move to the new city that was growing on the silted up tongue of land
that had once been the Heptastadion.14

IV. Earthquakes and fires

In conclusion, what should we understand when we talk of the destruc-

tion of a library? In the past few decades historians have been con-
sidering the significance of earthquakes, how they are characterised
by ancient writers and their consequences. Quite often, one realises
that such a City that has supposedly been wiped off the map by an
earthquake reappears a few years later in the inscriptions.15 One needs
only to read the news reports of the serious fire that struck the main
University Library of Lyon few years ago, to understand that this form
of exaggeration has not disappeared when one wants to get across to

12
Ammianus Marcellinus 22.15.
13
John Chrysostom Homily 26.5 (Migne, PG 61, Joh. Chrys. 10, C581). On the Sôma,
see most recently, Adriani, Tomba di Alessandro: Realtà, Ipotesi e Fantasie.
14
Cf. Behrens-Abouseif, “Topographie d’Alexandrie médiévale,” 113–125; esp.
118–121.
15
Cf. Tremblements de terre: Histoire et archéologie: 4es rencontres internationales d’archéologie
et d’histoire d’Antibes, 2–4 novembre 1983.

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 88 jean-yves empereur

the public the gravity of an event. Certainly, one would not wish to
minimise the extent of the damage inflicted at Lyon (and there was
no need of Caesar, a simple electric malfunction was sufficient), with
a fire that burned for six days and consumed 280000 volumes (out of
a total of 460000), however, in April 2001 the Library was restored,
opened once again to the public and through great acts of solidarity
some 100000 volumes, donations from individuals and institutions, were
reintroduced to the Library.16 There is no longer any outward sign of
damage and one has to read the newspapers to find any mention of
that which happened. I would like to stress this point regarding con-
tinuance and reconstruction, because the philosophers, who continued
their teaching in the Greek tradition up until the middle of the sixth
century, if not until the Arab conquest the following century,17 must
have had the works of Plato and Aristotle to hand. These Fathers of
the Church must have had access to the papyri of their predecessors.
Books will have continued at Alexandria and the destruction of the
Library did not mean the disappearance of books.
Clearly, should the activities of the developers lead us one day to
excavate in the area of the Library (and we know roughly where it
stood), we will perhaps have the chance to better date the destruc-
tion of the building. Of course, we would not let such an opportunity
slip by, however, salvage archaeology at Alexandria is a difficult, if
not dangerous, sport. The archaeologist’s desire to preserve the city’s
heritage does not count for much when faced with the power of the
construction companies and it is possible that the Library will one day
be destroyed (or has already?) by a bulldozer. When confronted by the
derisory means of the archaeologists, the motto of the modern builders
would seem to be Alexandrea delenda est . . .

16
Cf. the web site: Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire de Lettres et Sciences Humaines,
“L’incendie du 12 juin 1999,” BIU LSH Lyon, http://osiris.ens-lsh.fr/reconstitution/
incendie.htm (accessed July 2007).
17
Cf. Sirinelli, Enfants d’Alexandre, 554.

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 DEMISE OF THE DAUGHTER LIBRARY

Mostafa A. El-Abbadi

The promulgation of an imperial decree by Theodosius I in 391 A.D.

to put an end to pagan cults throughout the empire inspired fear and
foreboding among many of the worshippers of the old gods.1 Alex-
andria, as a centre of culture and learning, was no exception. At one
stage of the implementation of the imperial policy, Theophilus, Bishop
of Alexandria, was able to obtain the Emperor’s approval to transform
the Temple of Dionysus into a church. His drastic methods frightened
many of the inhabitants who were still pagan, and, filled with anguish
and anxiety, they sought refuge in the formidable compound of the
Serapeum. It was a massively built construction on raised ground, more
like a stronghold, and historians repeatedly described it as the Acropolis
of Alexandria.2 In order to storm the Serapeum, Theophilus sought
assistance from the prefect and the commander of the Roman army
in Egypt. Both refused to provide the military support he requested
unless they had explicit authorization from the Emperor. This was soon
forthcoming and Theodosius issued a decree sanctioning the demolition
of the temples in Alexandria. Backed by this imperial decree, Theophi-
lus led a fanatic mob to the entrance of the Serapeum, where he read
aloud the words of the Emperor to a terrified crowd. Alarmed, they
took flight while Theophilus walked up the hundred steps leading to
the temple proper, himself delivering the first blow to the cult statue
of Serapis. His followers emulated his example and ran amok in the
temple, destroying, demolishing and plundering. When the devastation
was complete, Theophilus ordered a church to be set up in its place, to
be named after Honorius, the youngest son of Emperor Theodosius.3

1
Socrates Historia ecclesiastica. 5.16.
2
Polybius Historiae 5.39; Aphthonius Progymnasmata apud G. Botti, Acropole d’Alexandrie
et le Serapeum d’apres Aphtonius et les fouilles, 23–6; Clement of Alexandria Protrepticus 4.42
‘ἄκρα’; cf. McKenzie, Gibson, and Reyes, “Reconstructing the Serapeum in Alexan-
dria,” JRS 94 (2004): 86.
3
Full descriptions are found in Rufinus Historia ecclesiastica 2.23–30; Socr. Hist. eccl.
5.16; Sozomen Historia ecclesiastica 7.15; Theodoret Historia ecclesiastica 5.22; Eunapius
Vita Aedesii 77–8; John of Nikiu 78.45; 83.38.

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 90 mostafa a. el-abbadi

We are fortunate that in this connection, we possess several testi-

monies written by contemporary or near contemporary eye witnesses
who all testify to the fact that the devastation was extensive. One,
Theodoret asserts that “the temple was destroyed to its foundations.”4
Another witness, Eunapius (d. 420 A.D.), said that Theophilus and his
followers “brought destruction on the temple, and made war upon its
contents;” he then proceeds, “only the foundations they could not take
away because of the magnitude of their stones which they were unable
to remove, but they spoiled and destroyed practically everything.”5
Yet apologists continue to resent the implications of such a total
destruction, and questioned whether it included the collection of books
which constituted a part of the Great Library, known as the ‘Daughter
Library.’6 Against such arguments we can seek a clue in the writings
of Aphthonius who visited Alexandria in the fourth century A.D. and
wrote a description of the Acropolis of Alexandria, by which he meant
the Serapeum. In the description, we read the following statement:
. . . on the inner side of the colonnade, were built chambers, some of which
served as book-stores and were open to those who devoted their life to
the cause of learning. It was these studies that exalted the city to be the
first in philosophy. Other rooms were set up for the worship of the old
gods. The colonnades were roofed and the roof was made of gold and
the capitals of the columns were made of bronze overlaid with gold.7
This statement was adopted by scholars of opposed opinions, as it
proves that Aphthonius actually saw the book-stores when he visited
the Serapeum. But disagreement arises about the time of his visit, the
exact date of which is unknown. In one opinion, it took place before
391 A.D. and cannot therefore be taken as evidence on what happened
to the temple during that year.8 Another opinion assumes that the visit
occurred after 391 and could thus be a proof that the books survived
the destruction of the temple.9
Unfortunately, very little is known about the life of Aphthonius. As
a pupil of the great rhetorician Libanius of Antioch (314–393 A.D.),
it is agreed upon that he lived in the second half of the fourth and

4
Theod. Hist. eccl. 5.22.
5
Eunap. V. Aedesii 77–8.
6
Parsons, Alexandrian Library, 359–361.
7
Aphth. Prog. 40.
8
Butler, Arab Conquest of Egypt, ed. Fraser, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1978), 382, 415.
9
Matter, Histoire de l’école d’Alexandrie, 319ff.

el-abbadi_f7_89-94.indd 90 1/25/2008 8:48:40 PM

 demise of the daughter library 91

the beginning of the fifth centuries. With no further details to guide

us on the date of his visit to Alexandria, we have to fall back on his
text. A careful reading reveals that the text does not justify either of
the two hypotheses. It is obvious that Aphthonius, in his description of
the temple is presenting to his readers an image of the past, as it once
had been and was no more at the time he wrote, hence his use of the
imperfect tense and the past participle. Nowhere, within this context,
does he use the present tense. From this observation, we may gather
that during his visit, Aphthonius had seen that the Serapeum had had
“rooms, some of which served as book-stores . . ., some others were set
up for the worship of the old gods.” It is surely unthinkable and unac-
ceptable to expect these words to be a description of the building after
its transformation into a church by Theophilus in 391. The continued
worship of the old gods would be quite impossible.
It follows from this argument that Aphthonius visited the Serapeum
and saw the book-stores and the places where the old gods were wor-
shiped some time before 391. But when he came to writing down his
‘Description,’ presumably some time after 391, those features were no
longer to be seen, hence his use of the past tense.
This grammatical argument finds further support in the writings of
yet another contemporary, Rufinus of Aquileia, who witnessed the events
of 391 in Alexandria. Writing in 399, he also uses the past tense to
describe what had existed in the Temple before its destruction and turns
to the use of the present tense for things that survived. For instance, he
speaks of structures above ground, “the exederae (meeting rooms) and
pastophoria/tabernacula (shrines) occupy the outer spaces of the whole
enclosure.” In his description of other parts pertaining to the Temple
and its functions he uses the past tense, such as:
On the upper level there extended habitations in which temple staff and
those whom they called hagneuontes, meaning those who are pure, nor-
mally resided. . . . In the middle of the entire area, there was the sanctuary
distinguished by its precious columns, in it was a statue of Serapis, so large
that its right hand touched one wall and its left, the other. That monster
was said to have been made of all kinds of metal and wood. The interior
walls of the sanctuary were believed to have been covered first with gold plate,
overlaid with silver and finally with bronze, the last as a protection for
the more precious metals.10

10
Ruf. Hist. eccl. 2.23 (Emphasis mine).

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 92 mostafa a. el-abbadi

Perhaps it is not out of place here to say a word about the general
atmosphere within the church itself. The division into conservative and
moderate parties was always present within the church—as within any
group of any faith—but during the troubled times of the fourth and
fifth centuries the division was bitter in the extreme.
One of the issues that divided opinion within the church was the
attitude that should be taken towards pagan learning of the past. The
rigid school of thought almost categorically prohibited that kind of
education. Their attitude is best summed up in the famous dictum, “One
mouth cannot couple the praise of Christ with the praise of Jupiter.”11
They argued that Christians should adopt a purely Christian course
of education uncontaminated by pagan philosophy and literature. The
Apostolic Constitution, a document of great popularity in the fourth and
fifth centuries, especially in the East, stated their argument as follows:
“Do you want history? There is the Book of Kings; and if you want
eloquence? The Book of Prophets. Lyrics? The Psalms. Cosmology,
law and ethics? The glorious law of God.”12
That rigid attitude left the moderate and more tolerant party in
an extremely uneasy position. They were fully aware that the whole
education system up until that time was based on principles of Greek
philosophy, rhetoric and logic. They even saw that such an education,
far from being dangerous, was in fact essential for the cultivation of
the minds of the Christians themselves. This school of thought was
best represented by the historian Socrates ‘Scholasticus’ of Constanti-
nople, who lived at the end of the fourth and the first half of the fifth
centuries. Socrates, very wisely, sets out by stating the arguments of his
opponents who claimed that:
the education of the Christians in the philosophy of the heathens, in
which there is constant assertion of polytheism, instead of being con-
ducive to the promotion of true religion, is rather to be deprecated as
subversive to it.
He then proceeds to refute this argument by appealing to Christian
religious feelings:
First, he says, Greek learning was never recognized by either Christ or
his Apostles as divinely inspired nor, on the other hand, was it wholly
rejected as pernicious. Second, there are many philosophers among the
Greeks who were not far from the knowledge of God. Third, the divinely

11
Gregory I, the Great Epistle 13.34.
12
Apostolic Constitution 1.6.

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 demise of the daughter library 93

inspired scriptures undoubtedly inculcate doctrines that are both admirable

in themselves and heavenly in their character; they also eminently tend
to produce piety and integrity of life in those who are guided by their
precepts . . . But they do not instruct us in the art of reasoning, by means
of which we may be enabled successfully to resist those who oppose the
truth. Besides, adversaries are most easily foiled when we can turn their
own weapons against them.13
Thus, we see the sharp division within the church itself with regard to
the whole of the classical heritage. In the troubled times of the fourth
and fifth centuries, extremists often won the upper hand. To say the
least, classical literature and philosophy were looked upon with grave
suspicion. In this connection, we may call to mind the troubled soul
of St. Jerome as the result of having surreptitiously read the texts of
Cicero. He reports in one of his Epistles a dream he had, that on
the Day of Judgement he was asked, “What kind of man are you?”
When he answered, “A Christian,” the retort came, “You lie, you are
a Ciceronian and not a Christian.”14
We can understand the trepidation felt by St. Jerome when we real-
ize that the extremists waged a war upon pagan books and learning,
not only in Alexandria, but throughout the Empire. In 364 A.D., we
are told, Emperor Jovian put to the fire the library of the Trajanum
Temple in Antioch.15 It is no coincidence that Ammianus Marcellinus,
almost at the same time, speaks of “certain people in Rome who hated
learning like poison” and that libraries “were closed forever like the
tomb.”16 Finally, the Christian historian Orosius, who visited Alexan-
dria in 415 A.D., records with sorrow, “There are temples nowadays,
which we have seen, whose book-cases have been emptied by our men.
And this is a matter that admits no doubt.”17 It is clear from the above
discussion that the war against pagan cults did not spare pagan books;
and in the light of Aphthonius’ account, there can hardly be any doubt
that the attack on the Serapeum in 391 A.D. put an end to the temple
and the Daughter Library.

13
Socr. Hist. eccl. 3.16.
14
St. Jerome Epistle 22.3.
15
See the Suda: Adler, Suidae Lexicon, s.v. “Jovian,” I 401.
16
Ammianus Marcellinus 28.4.14; 14.6.18.
17
Orosius Historiae adversus paganos 6.15.32.

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el-abbadi_f7_89-94.indd 94 1/25/2008 8:48:40 PM
 CE QUE CONSTRUISENT LES RUINES

Lucien X. Polastron

Une grande bibliothèque a cela de bon,

qu’elle effraie celui qui la regarde Voltaire

Au mois de mars 2003, un incendie éclate à la Bibliothèque d’Alexan-

drie: 45 minutes après l’évacuation de tous les lecteurs, des employés et
des touristes, le sinistre est maîtrisé. Seule la zone administrative a été
touchée. C’est donc un non-événement ou presque, mais dans l’heure
il fait la une de la presse internationale.1
De la même façon, une inondation s’est produite dans quatre éta-
ges de la Tour des Temps à la Bibliothèque nationale de France le
7 avril 20042 et a ranimé l’émotion qui avait déjà ravagé l’opinion en
1999 quand l’eau envahit les gigantesques sous-sols tout neufs.3 Le
communiqué officiel du 15 avril prétend que les dégâts sont minces,
mais l’inconscient collectif a pris bonne note de cette nouvelle péripétie
dramatique. Le contribuable français aussi d’ailleurs, même s’il admire
le talent de nos ingénieurs, qui parviennent à noyer le sommet d’une
tour tandis que le rez-de-chaussée reste bien sec.
Le concept de la Grande Bibliothèque a donc un épiderme sensible
et, si les illettrés eux-mêmes se sentent concernés par ses malheurs—
comme on l’a vu dans les tabloïds anglais quand la British Library fut
prise, la main dans le sac, en train de jeter des livres4—c’est que le
rassemblement des connaissances a “accablé d’une splendeur féroce
l’imagination des hommes.”5 Cette empreinte est d’autant plus vive
que les tout premiers établissements ont connu à leur naissance une
suite de spectaculaires destructions, autant à Xianyang, première capi-
tale de Chine, qu’à Alexandrie, encore que ce soit pour des raisons
diamétralement opposées.

1
BBC News, March 2, 2003.
2
Le Monde, April 10, 2004.
3
C’est d’ailleurs à la suite de cet incident de 1999 que fut soudainement décidé de
hisser une partie des magasins dans les huit derniers étages des quatre tours.
4
Polastron, Livres en feu.
5
“Babylone, Londres et New York ont accablé d’une splendeur féroce l’imagination
des hommes.” Borges, “Funes ou la mémoire.”

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 96 lucien x. polastron

Une bibliothéké est le dépôt des textes inscrits sur un support dont le
nom vient du cœur du papyrus, celui-ci étant une spécialité alexandrine
bien connue. On peut donc dire que la dénomination primitive du lieu
de la connaissance a son ombilic végétal sous nos pieds ici même et
que, chaque fois que “nous autres, au bout de l’Occident” (Voltaire)
prononçons le mot ‘bibliothèque,’ nous nous référons inconsciemment
non seulement à Aristote mais surtout à Ptolémée Soter.
On n’a pas assez dit le génie du fils de Lagos. Voilà un parvenu qui,
tout en guerroyant au loin contre ses anciens collègues devenus ses plus
dangereux rivaux, réussit à ne prendre de décisions que grandioses sur
le plan symbolique. Ainsi:

– la fabrication parfaitement cynique d’une nouvelle divinité et d’un

nouveau culte,
– le rapt du corps d’Alexandre et son enfouissement à Alexandrie pour
justifier la légitimité surnaturelle de la nouvelle dynastie,
– l’érection du monument à la puissance virile du roi,6 enseigne lumi-
neuse de la réussite politique et commerciale de la cité,
– et, au sommet de ces ambitieuses initiatives, l’établissement de la
première Grande Bibliothèque universelle et encyclopédique, ouvrant
les rayonnages grecs aux mots hébreux, persans ou recherchés dans
l’Inde lointaine.

Les trois premières mesures sont pharaoniques et pas tellement origina-

les; la dernière en revanche créa un choc chez les princes de l’époque,
qui virent bien ce qu’un tel signe extérieur de richesse pouvait peser
dans les relations internationales. On sait que plusieurs bibliothèques
fleurirent alors autour de notre chère Méditerranée, dont celle, fameuse,
de Pergame. La plus petite ne fut pas la moins coûteuse: elle se trou-
vait sur un navire de plaisance hors normes baptisé Dame d’Alexandrie,
que le tyran de Syracuse Hiéron II avait lancé avec la collaboration
d’Archimède, à ce que raconte le merveilleux Deipnosophistai.
Le contraste entre la démesure du projet et le peu qu’il en reste
suscite de temps en temps la question infâme: a-t-il réellement existé
une Grande Bibliothèque à Alexandrie?
Les banques de données actuelles regorgent de références: 39,600
sites en anglais, auxquels s’ajoutent les 4,460 en langue française, des
centaines de livres en papier. On juge la qualité d’une bibliothèque
disparue à ce qu’elle produit toujours des ouvrages.

6
Sur un îlot que le petit peuple de la ville a peut-être, dès lors, renommé Phallos.

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 ce que construisent les ruines 97

Mais cette pléthore d’études, vue de près, n’est qu’une forêt de points
d’interrogation:

– Qui doit être considéré comme le vrai fondateur de l’institution?

– Quel est l’emplacement, l’apparence et l’organisation de ses bâti-
ments? Chaque fois que des témoins les eurent sous les yeux ils
faisaient comme s’ils ne les voyaient pas,
– On ignore la quantité de livres qui y sont conservés, principalement à
cause d’une estimation basée sur les qualificatifs amigeis/summigeis que
chacun interprète à sa façon; à cause aussi d’une virgule baladeuse
qui aurait fait passer la volumétrie de 40,000 à 400,000 livres entre
Sénèque et Orose,

Timon, Hérondas, Strabon, Cicéron, Tite Live, Sénèque, Plutarque,

Dion Cassius, Aulu-Gelle, Ammien Marcellin, Orose, Athénée de Nau-
cratis et d’autres contribuent à la publicité: ils sont les auteurs le plus
souvent cités à l’appui de la recherche alexandrine, généralement pour
bien noter qu’ils ont ignoré le sujet, qu’ils n’en ont presque rien dit, ou
que leur témoignage est douteux. Quant aux sources les plus complètes
sur l’objet de notre enquête, toutes prêtent à la controverse: la Lettre
d’Aristée est un texte de propagande, Tzetzès a mille ans de retard, le
lexique de Suidas, à peine plus ancien, est d’origine obscure.
Le Mouseion avait été dédié aux neuf filles de Mnémosyne, la
mémoire omnisciente. D’une certaine façon, ce fut un mauvais choix:
il en reste plus d’oubli que de certitudes. Selon le canon bouddhique,7
“Les Dieux tombent du Ciel lorsque (. . .) leur mémoire s’embrouille.”
Or c’est justement l’accumulation des silences qui, loin de repousser
l’historien, va assurer le succès d’Alexandrie, au point qu’un auteur et
bibliothécaire de Buenos Aires, qui n’est pas aveugle, recense aujourd’hui
toutes ces contradictions et s’exclame que “si la Bibliothèque d’Alexan-
drie n’avait pas existé nous l’aurions inventée.”8
Voltaire nous apprend9 que “la ville fut peuplée d’Egyptiens, de Grecs
et de Juifs, qui tous de pauvres qu’ils étaient auparavant devinrent riches

7
Digha Nikaya, I, 19–22, cité par Eliade, Aspects du mythe, 147.
8
Parada, Alejandro E. “The Library of Alexandria: Time Retrieved,” Greek Mythol-
ogy Link, http://www.maicar.com/GML/003Signed/AEPAlejandria.html (accessed
July 2007).
9
Voltaire, Questions sur l’Encyclopédie, s.v. “Alexandrie,” 22–25. Par ailleurs la citation
que nous avons choisie pour épigraphe est tirée de la rubrique ‘Bibliothèque’ de ce
même ouvrage.

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 98 lucien x. polastron

par le commerce. L’opulence y introduisit les beaux-arts, le goût de la

littérature, et par conséquent celui de la dispute.”
Edward Gibbon le confirme: “Dans la tumultueuse cité d’Alexandrie,
le sujet le plus léger suffisait pour donner lieu à une guerre civile;” on
ne s’étonnera donc pas de ce que donnèrent les sujets les plus lourds,
comme les aspirations à s’approprier le pouvoir branlant de l’empire
et la féroce concurrence des religions. Aux premiers siècles de notre
ère, Alexandrie connaît une succession de troubles où le livre est sou-
vent une victime propitiatoire ou collatérale, quand il n’est pas le bouc
émissaire.
Au bout du compte, la mère des bibliothèques, qui semble avoir offert
une atmosphère remarquablement paisible à quatre ou cinq générations
de lecteurs, brille moins par la liste des brillantes découvertes qu’elle a
favorisées que par la glorieuse litanie de ses malheurs.
La première avanie enregistrée date de 145 av. J.-C., quand un mili-
taire nommé Kydas remplace Aristarque et dirige l’institution d’une
main plus apte à manier l’épée que le calame, sauf preuve du contraire,
pendant une trentaine d’années. Après quoi ne peuvent se succéder
que des “personnalités insignifiantes.”10 Déclin suivi de la décennie
hautement romanesque dont les péripéties, lacunes et hypothèses sont
connus de tous: incendie par César (48 av. J.-C.), probable pillage des
collections pour alimenter la lecture à Rome (47 av. J.-C.), cadeau
d’Antoine à Cléopâtre (41 av. J.-C.).
De 213 à 412, on n’y compte pas moins de huit occurrences néfastes11
et, finalement en 642—date que la postérité retiendra le plus, comme
une apothéose—il ne se passera rien. Si le général Amr ne trouve pas

10
El-Abbadi, Vie et destin de l’ancienne bibliothèque d’Alexandrie, 94.
11
Détails (Gibbon, Marlowe, et El-Abbadi):
– 213, Caracalla condamne à mort tous les Alexandrins et supprime les subsides du
Musée,
– 272, Aurélien envahit la ville, occupée par Zénobie, le quartier royal est ravagé, les
savants courent au Serapeum, fuient le pays,
– 296, Dioclétien met Alexandrie à feu et à sang après un siège de huit mois,
– 297 ou 298, il fait détruire tous les livres anciens des Egyptiens susceptibles de les
aider à fabriquer de l’or,
– 303, Galère, l’inspirateur de Dioclétien, fait brûler les écrits des prophètes chrétiens,
– 362, la Bibliothèque Fille est saisie par Constantinople, peut-être brûlée par Jovien
(Botti),
– 391 (389?) Théophile rase le Serapeum et, si elle subsiste, la Bibliothèque Fille,
– à partir de 412, l’archevêque Cyrille lance une campagne meurtrière contre les
tenants d’idées concurrentes du christianisme, que ce soient les juifs ou les derniers
représentants de l’hellénisme.

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 ce que construisent les ruines 99

de quoi contribuer à la bonne marche des hammams de la ville, c’est

qu’il a donné onze mois à ses riches habitants pour la quitter avec la
totalité de leurs biens. Les derniers rouleaux de valeur des bibliothèques
privées eurent tout le temps nécessaire pour rejoindre Constantinople,
comme on sait.12 Mais en restait-il sur des rayons plus officiels? Jean
Moschus dit Eucratès, qui venait de passer huit années sur place et
décrivit en détails des collections de livres dans son Pratum spirituale, n’en
dit mot.13 À moins de taxer ce moine sévère de ‘strabonisme’ (une sorte
de strabisme aggravé), il faut croire qu’il ne subsistait rien.
Parce qu’ils peuvent combler les larges trous de l’histoire avec leurs
propres (non moins larges) désirs, les beaux esprits s’enflamment à
l’évocation de la bibliothèque ancestrale. Et les anciens ne furent pas
les derniers.
Ibn al-Nadīm14 pense qu’Alexandre devait envoyer en Egypte les
livres des pays qu’il conquérait. Juste Lipse puise dans la destruction du
Serapeum par l’intolérance religieuse la conviction qu’une bibliothèque
publique doit être mise à l’abri de toute ‘orientation confessionnelle.’15
Ibn Khaldūn16 très curieusement n’en parle pas mais vole à al-Qiftī

12
Et finir peut-être à Moscou chez les tsars? Cf. Arans, “Note on the Lost Library
of the Moscow Tsars,” 304.
13
John Moschus Pratum Spirituale, ed. J. P. Migne (after Fronto Ducaeus and J.-B. Cote-
lier), with the Latin translation of Ambrose Traversari (“Fra Ambrogio”), 1346–1439,
the Florentine humanist; French translation by M.-J. Rouët de Journel: Moschus, Pré
spirituel, [1946]; Italian Translation by Riccardo Maisano: Mosco, Prato, 1982; English
translation by John Wortley: Moschos, Spiritual Meadow, 1992.
14
Le libraire du Quartier latin à Bagdad à qui l’on doit le Fihrist, répertoire de tous
les livres disponibles en 988 pour le lecteur arabisant, tient pour sûr qu’Alexandre
“envoya en Egypte les ouvrages de science, les bibliothèques et les savants qu’il
trouva au cours de ses campagnes.” Et encore que “Ptolémée Philadelphe, empereur
d’Alexandrie, rechercha les livres scientifiques et désigna Zamîrah pour ce soin. Celui-
ci réunit 54,120 livres.”
Ibn al-Nadīm Fihrist cité par Eche, Bibliothèques arabes publiques et semi-publiques en
Mésopotamie, en Syrie et en Egypte au Moyen-Age, 239–240.
15
L’humaniste néo-stoïcien d’origine flamande Justus Lipsius (Overijse, près de
Bruxelles, 1547–Louvain, 1606) a basé son enseignement sur le constat que la sagesse
est fille de l’érudition ; son approche de la bibliothèque indispensable à cet effet émane
des réflexions que lui a fournies l’exemple d’Alexandrie et la destruction de celle-ci par
l’intolérance religieuse. Paul Nelles montre que le De Bibliothecis va à contre-courant du
modèle dominant de la collection ecclésiastique et préconise “un lieu de recherches
sans orientation confessionnelle,” On note que l’archive parfaite contient “des livres de
toutes sortes, même des livres sacrés.” Cette première étude des bibliothèques antiques
coïncide avec la première formulation d’un “idéal de la bibliothèque publique.” Nelles,
“Juste Lipse et Alexandrie: Les origines antiquaires de l’histoire des bibliothèques.”
16
“Les sciences intellectuelles acquirent une grande importance chez les Perses,
et leur culture fut très-répandue; ce qui tenait à la grandeur de leur empire et à

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 100 lucien x. polastron

l’anecdote du général Amr pour l’appliquer aux livres de la Perse,

que Umar aurait ordonné a Sa d ibn Abī Waqqās de détruire avec le
même argument: “Jette-les à l’eau; s’ils renferment ce qui peut guider
vers la vérité, nous tenons de Dieu ce qui nous y guide encore mieux;
s’ils renferment des tromperies, nous en serons débarrassés, grâce à
Dieu!” Une autre licence remarquable est celle de l’auteur des Génie
du christianisme, qui modernise la célèbre épigraphe du Ramesséum
pour l’appliquer au Mouseion: “Un soir, j’étais resté presque seul dans
le dépôt des remèdes et des poisons de l’âme. Du haut d’une galerie de
marbre, je regardais Alexandrie éclairée des derniers rayons du jour . . .”
Ainsi parlait Cha-teaubriand,17 avant d’annoncer que “Cette superbe

sa grande étendue. On rapporte que les Grecs les apprirent des Perses à l’époque
où Alexandre tua Darius et se rendit maître du royaume des Caïaniens. Alexandre
s’empara alors de leurs livres et (s’appropria la connaissance) de leurs sciences. Nous
savons cependant que les musulmans, lors de la conquête de la Perse, trouvèrent dans
ce pays une quantité innombrable de livres et de recueils scientifiques, et que (leur
général) Saad Ibn Abī Oueccas demanda par écrit au khalife Umar ibn al-Khattāb
s’il lui serait permis de les distribuer aux vrais croyants avec le reste du butin. Umar
lui répondit dans ces termes: “Jette-les à l’eau; s’ils renferment ce qui peut guider vers
la vérité, nous tenons de Dieu ce qui nous y guide encore mieux; s’ils renferment des
tromperies, nous en serons débarrassés, grâce à Dieu!” En conséquence de cet ordre,
on jeta les livres à l’eau ou dans le feu, et dès lors les sciences des Perses disparurent
au point qu’il ne nous en est rien parvenu.” Ibn Khaldūn, Prolégomènes d’Ibn Khaldoun,
ed. de Slane, 3:125.
Ibn Khaldūn a donc trouvé à son goût et adopté l’image lue chez al-Qiftī, ou qui
flottait peut-être dans l’air du temps, mais ne l’applique point à Alexandrie, dont
il n’évoque d’aillleurs pas la bibliothèque. Par ailleurs, il rappelle dans kitab al-{ibar
(Beyrouth: Dar al-Kotob al- Ilmiyya, 1992), 1:225, 5:642 les destructions mongoles des
dizaines de bibliothèques bagdadies en 1258: là encore, c’est l’image des collections
jetées à l’eau, plutôt que dans le feu, qui semble parler davantage à l’imagination de
l’auteur.
17
«Avant de rejoindre Dioclétien dans la Haute-Egypte, je passai quelques jours à
Alexandrie pour en visiter les merveilles. La bibliothèque excita mon admiration. Elle
était gouvernée par le savant Didyme [Il y a deux Didyme, tous deux savants: le second,
qui vivait dans le IV e siècle, était chrétien et versé également dans l’antiquité profane
et sacrée. On peut supposer sans inconvénient que le second Didyme est l’auteur du
Commentaire sur Homère. Il occupa la chaire de l’école d’Alexandrie: c’est pourquoi
je l’appelle successeur d’Aristarque, qui corrigea Homère, et qui fut gouverneur du
fils de Ptolémée Lagus. J’ai voulu seulement rappeler deux noms chers aux lettres.
(N.d.A.)], digne successeur d’Aristarque. Là, je rencontrai des philosophes de tous
les pays, et les hommes les plus illustres des Eglises de l’Afrique et de l’Asie: Arnobe
[ L’apologiste, dont nous avons les ouvrages. (N.d.A.)] de Carthage [Continuation du
tableau des grands hommes de l’Eglise à l’époque de l’action: ce sont à présent ceux
de l’Eglise d’Orient. Il y a ici de légers anachronismes: encore pourrais-je les détendre
et chicaner sur les temps, mais ce n’est point de cela qu’il est question. (N.d.A.)], Atha-
nase [ Le patriarche. (N.d.A.)] d’Alexandrie, Eusèbe [L’historien. (N.d.A.)] de Césarée,
Timothée, Pamphile [Le martyr, maître d’Eusèbe. (N.d.A.)], tous apologistes, docteurs
ou confesseurs de Jésus-Christ. Le faible séducteur de Velléda osait à peine lever les

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 ce que construisent les ruines 101

Alexandrie périra à son tour comme son fondateur. Un jour, dévorée

par les trois déserts qui la pressent, la mer, les sables et la mort la
reprendront comme un bien envahi sur eux.”

yeux dans la société de ces hommes forts qui avaient vaincu et détrôné les passions,
comme ces conquérants envoyés du ciel pour frapper les princes de la verge et mettre
le pied sur le cou des rois.
“Un soir, j’étais resté presque seul dans le dépôt des remèdes et des poisons de l’âme
[note 54: On connaît la fameuse inscription de la bibliothèque de Thèbes en Egypte:
yuchz iatreion. N’est-il pas plus juste pour nous avec le mot que j’y ai ajouté? (N.d.A.)].
Du haut d’une galerie de marbre, je regardais Alexandrie [ J’ai souvent aussi contem-
plé Alexandrie du haut de la terrasse qui règne sur la maison du consul de France; je
n’apercevais qu’une mer nue qui se brisait sur des côtes basses encore plus nues, des
ports vides, et le désert libyque s’enfonçant à l’horizon du midi. Ce désert semblait,
pour ainsi dire, accroître et prolonger la surface jaune et aplanie dos flots; on aurait
cru voir une seule mer, dont une moitié était agitée et bruyante, et dont l’autre moitié
était immobile et silencieuse. Partout la nouvelle Alexandrie mêlant ses ruines aux
ruines de l’ancienne cité; un Arabe galopant au loin sur un âne, au milieu des débris;
quelques chiens maigres dévorant des carcasses de chameaux sur une grève désolée; les
pavillons des divers consuls européens flottant au-dessus de leurs demeures et déployant
au milieu des tombeaux des couleurs ennemies: tel était le spectacle. (N.d.A.)], éclairée
des derniers rayons du jour. Je contemplais cette ville habitée par un million d’hommes
et située entre trois déserts: la mer, les sables de la Libye et Nécropolis, cité des morts
aussi grande que celle des vivants. Mes yeux erraient sur tant de monuments, le Phare,
le Timonium, l’Hippodrome, le palais des Ptolémées, les aiguilles de Cléopâtre; je
considérais ces deux ports couverts de navires, ces flots témoins de la magnanimité du
premier des Césars et de la douleur de Cornélie. La forme même de la cité frappait
mes regards: elle se dessine comme une cuirasse macédonienne [Comment ai-je pu
traduire le mot chlamydes de l’original par cuirasse? Voilà bien ce qui prouve que mes
descriptions ne sont bonnes que pour ceux qui n’ont rien lu sur l’Egypte. Aurais-je
par hasard quelque autorité que je me plaise à cacher, ou n’ai-je eu l’intention que
d’arriver à l’image tirée des armes d’Alexandre? C’est ce que la critique nous dira.
(N.d.A.)] sur les sables de la Libye, soit pour rappeler le souvenir de son fondateur,
soit pour dire aux voyageurs que les armes du héros grec étaient fécondes, et que la
pique d’Alexandre faisait éclore des cités au désert, comme la lance de Minerve fit
sortir l’olivier fleuri du sein de la terre.
“Pardonnez, seigneurs, à cette image empruntée d’une source impure. Plein
d’admiration pour Alexandre, je rentrai dans l’intérieur de la bibliothèque; je découvris
une salle que je n’avais point encore parcouru. À l’extrémité de cette salle, je vis un
petit monument de verre qui réfléchissait les feux du soleil couchant. Je m’en approchai;
c’était un cercueil: le cristal transparent me laissa voir au fond du cercueil un roi mort à
la fleur de l’âge, le front ceint d’une couronne d’or, et environné de toutes les marques
de la puissance. Ses traits immobiles conservaient encore des traces de la grandeur de
l’âme qui les anima; il semblait dormir du sommeil de ces vaillants qui sont tombés
morts [ “Et non dormient cum fortibus cadentibus . . . qui posuerunt gladios suos sub capitibus suis.”
(Ezechiel, cap. XXXII, v. 27). (N.d.A.)] Et qui ont mis leur épée sous leur tête.
“Un homme était assis près du cercueil: il paraissait profondément occupé d’une
lecture. Je jetai les yeux sur son livre: je reconnus la Bible des Septante qu’on m’avait
déjà montrée. Il la tenait déroulée à ce verset des Machabées:
Lorsque Alexandre eut vaincu Darius, il passa jusqu’à l’extrémité du monde, et la terre se tut
devant lui. Après cela il connut qu’il devait bientôt mourir. Les grands de sa cour prirent tous
le diadème après sa mort, et les maux se multiplièrent sur la terre.

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 102 lucien x. polastron

Plus près de nous, l’inspiration débride aussi les poètes, voire les
brigands.
Un bibliothécaire de l’université de Toronto s’amuse à imaginer que
le bibliophylax chargé par Cléopâtre de préparer les 40,000 rouleaux
pour leur expédition à Rome les a remplacés par de la paille et que,
pendant que celle-ci flambait dans les docks, il a caché les livres dans
un endroit secret où ils dorment encore, à l’instar des manuscrits de
la Mer morte ou d’Oxyrhynchos.18 L’idée de la résurrection des textes
chatouille les angoisses secrètes de l’humanité et il est facile d’en tirer
de grands profits. Plusieurs écrits à coloration maçonnique du XVIIIe
siècle évoquent la perte des livres et la fondatrice de la Société théo-
sophique au XIXe siècle, Helena Blavatsky, en promet le retour pour
nous sauver.19
Mais l’univers ne pouvant être entièrement compris par l’hellénisme
seul, l’histoire de la Grande Bibliothèque occidentale doit s’éclairer des
événements qui se produisent simultanément dans l’Est lointain chez
sa grande concurrente en paradigme.
Si le savant alexandrin a une opportunité de prendre conscience de
la multiplicité des civilisations grâce à ses incursions en Inde, le contact
ne se fera pas encore avec la Chine. Que se passe-t-il alors, bibliothé-
cairement parlant, dans cette autre moitié du monde?
Au moment où Ptolémée s’active en son palais du Bruccheion, la
période dite des royaumes combattants (Ve–IIIe s.) touche à sa fin, cent
philosophes et ‘cent écoles’ se sont déjà succédé: Confucius (551–479),
Laozi, Mozi, Xunzi, Mencius et Zhuangzi sont les noms des maîtres
à penser qui nous sont conservés. La nouveauté est que, grâce à l’ar-
deur des disciples, leurs œuvres sont en train de se matérialiser sous
la forme de boisseaux de réglettes en bambou ligaturées ou parfois de
rouleaux de soie. Sur les rayonnages, elles viennent côtoyer ce qui sera

“Dans ce moment je reportai mes regards sur le cercueil: le fantôme qu’il renfermait
me parut avoir quelque ressemblance avec les bustes d’Alexandre . . . Celui devant qui
la terre se taisait, réduit à un éternel silence! Un obscur chrétien assis près du cercueil
du plus fameux des conquérants, et lisant dans la Bible l’histoire et les destinées de ce
conquérant! Quel vaste sujet de réflexions! Ah! si l’homme, quelque grand qu’il soit,
est si peu de choses, qu’est-ce donc que ses oeuvres? disais-je en moi-même. Cette
superbe Alexandrie périra à son tour comme son fondateur. Un jour, dévorée par les
trois déserts qui la pressent, la mer, les sables et la mort la reprendront comme un
bien envahi sur eux, et l’Arabe reviendra planter sa tente sur ses ruines ensevelies!»
Chateaubriand, Les Martyrs, Oeuvres complètes de Chateaubriand, vol. 11.
18
Blackburn, “Ancient Alexandrian Library: Part of It May Survive!” 23–34.
19
Blavatsky, Secret Doctrine, 1:xxiii–ix, 2:692, 763.

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 ce que construisent les ruines 103

standardisé, édité et intitulé ‘Classiques’ avec les Han.20 En outre, déjà,

sont présents les premiers livres d’histoire, sous la forme d’archive des
dynasties.21
On constate que les cartes et textes ne se séparent pas des autres
trésors que possède jalousement l’homme de pouvoir: jades, bronzes,
objets de divination. Aussi appellera-t-on d’abord la bibliothèque
impériale bifu, dépôt secret des archives, et, d’ailleurs, quand il y aura
des bibliophiles (à partir de l’apparition du papier), le mot choisi pour
collectionner les livres sera tout naturellement cang, dont le premier
sens est “cacher, dissimuler.”22
Parce que les premiers idéogrammes ont servi de vecteur aux oracles,
l’empereur et son peuple accordent à l’accumulation des écrits “des
vertus magiques et cosmologiques,”23 une “fonction symbolique, à la
fois sacrale et politique.”24
La logique de cette conception va être poussée à son extrême
conséquence en 213, où il est décrété que posséder les livres est une
exclusivité impériale.
Une telle décision s’appuie sur une théorie de la destruction qui
date d’époques reculées, où on ne savait régner sans tourner le dos à
l’histoire. Ainsi Mencius (372?–289?) rapporte-t-il que les rois de Zhou
(XIe–IIIe s.) se débarrassaient des archives car “leur contenu leur faisait
injure.”25 On dit que Shang Yang (390?–338) exhorta un dirigeant à
brûler tous les écrits afin de gouverner sans risque ni contrainte. Car
d’une part “celui qui étudie se noie dans ce qu’il apprend,”26 d’autre
part la destruction de la Bibliothèque seule “permet l’émergence des
lois et des ordonnances:” ce dernier précepte27 est développé par le
penseur Han Fei, mort en 233, vingt ans avant le grand autodafé
impérial: “Dans l’Etat du prince éclairé, pas de littérature, de livres

20
Classiques des Mutations (Yijing), des Poèmes (Shijing), de la Musique (Yuejing), ainsi
que les Livres des Rites et des Documents (Liji, Shangshu).
21
Comme le Chunqiu, “Printemps et Automne,” chronique du royaume de Lu entre
722 et 481 peut-être rédigée par Confucius.
22
Cf. Edgren, “Cangshu: The Tradition of Collecting Books in China.” En revanche, la
bibliothèque publique est aujourd’hui toujours nommée tushuguan, “salle des cartes et
des textes,” expression qui reste en vigueur également au Japon: toshokan.
23
Leys, L’Humeur, l’honneur, l’horreur: Essais sur la culture et la politique chinoises.
24
Dictionnaire de la Civilisation chinoise, s.v. “Bibliothèques.”
25
Sima Qian, Mémoires historiques de Se-ma Ts’ien, trans. Chavannes, vol. 3.
26
Comme le cite Sima Qian dans le Shiji, achevé vers 90.
27
Formulé dans le Shangjun shu, un écrit attribué à Shang Yang (390?–338) mais sans
doute rédigé près d’un siècle plus tard.

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 104 lucien x. polastron

ni de tablettes de bambou, la loi est la seule doctrine.”28 Or un de ses

disciples est Li Si, qui devient ministre de Shihuangdi, le “premier
auguste empereur;” c’est lui qui impose l’anéantissement de toute source
de contestation et met en pratique les théories bibliocides: “Tous les
livres des dépôts d’archives, à l’exception de l’histoire de Qin, doivent
être détruits; chaque personne dans tout l’empire (. . .) qui oserait pos-
séder des classiques ou des discussions des philosophes divers, doit se
rendre auprès des autorités civiles ou militaires de façon que ces livres
soient brûlés,”29 ceux qui n’obtempèrent pas sont envoyés construire
la Grande Muraille et les 460 intellectuels qui défient alors l’empereur
sont ensevelis vivants l’année suivante.
Le décret épargne les ouvrages de médecine, d’agriculture et d’as-
tronomie—comme d’ailleurs le feront plus ou moins tous les grands
biblioclastes de l’histoire: Alexandre en Perse, Scipion à Carthage ou
Cisneros à Grenade—au détriment de la philosophie, de la poésie et
de l’histoire, car ces dernières pourraient être imprégnées du message
confucéen selon lequel régner non par la force mais par la sagesse est
souhaitable, et les archives des Etats anciens sont nocives parce qu’on
pourrait y découvrir que cela s’est déjà produit.
Mais très vite l’empereur est mort; une révolte générale met un terme
à la courte dynastie Qin. La capitale, Xianyang, brûla dit-on pendant
trois jours (ou trois mois, suite sans doute à un coup de pinceau mal
placé) et là furent perdus tous les livres des ministres et du palais, para-
chevant ainsi l’autodafé impérial. Si on estime aujourd’hui à 20% ce
qui a subsisté, directement ou par recoupement, de la bibliographie des
Han, personne en revanche n’ose avancer de chiffre pour les périodes
antérieures, Qin et Zhou.

28
Hanfeizi, cité par Tsien, Written on Bamboo and Silk: The Beginnings of Chinese Books
and Inscriptions.
29
“I therefore request that all records of the historians other than those of the state
of Qin be burned. With the exception of the academicians whose duty it is to possess
them, if there are persons anywhere in the empire who have in their possessions copies
of the Odes, the Documents, or the writing of the hundred schools of philosophy, they
shall in all cases deliver them to the governor or his commandant for burning. Anyone
who ventures to discuss the Odes or Documents shall be executed in the marketplace.
Anyone who uses antiquity to criticize the present shall be executed along with his
family. Any official who observes or knows of violations and falls to report them shall
be equally guilty. Anyone who has failed to burn such books within thirty days of the
promulgation of this order shall be subjected to tattoo and condemned to ‘wall-dawn’
labour [chengdan: build the Great Wall during the day and stand guard until dawn]. The
books that are exempted are those on medicine, divination, agriculture, and forestry.
Anyone wishing to study the laws and ordinances should have a law official for his
teacher.” Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian: Qin Dynasty, 55.

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 ce que construisent les ruines 105

Le décret de Li Si ne sera aboli qu’en 191, soit vingt-deux ans plus

tard. Les décennies suivantes voient alors se dérouler, par réaction, de
vastes campagnes de reconstitution des fonds de livres, en particulier
sous l’empereur Wu des Han (Wu, ‘Le Martial,’ règne de 140 à 87),
qui envoie des émissaires sur l’ensemble du territoire à la recherche des
textes et organise des ateliers de copie, comme à Alexandrie. Mais ici
la prudence est de mise: reproduire trois exemplaires par titre est un
minimum, cinquante copies n’est pas rare.
Les livres dissimulés malgré la loi de Qin devaient être assez nom-
breux pour qu’à la suite de ces efforts, la collection impériale atteigne,
à la fin du IIe siècle avant notre ère, 677 titres couvrant environ 13,000
volumes.30 La première bibliographie et le premier catalogue descriptif
sont antérieurs à l’an 23 de notre ère.31
Mais la grande destruction des livres en 213 a profondément impres-
sionné l’imaginaire chinois. Aujourd’hui encore, on utilise couramment
la locution proverbiale fenshu kengju pour dire d’une décision trop radica-
le que c’est comme “brûler les livres et enterrer vivants les lettrés.” Le
vieil autodafé fait cependant partie des actes qui fondent la nation; la
société chinoise trouve sa cohésion dans le respect du texte manuscrit,
valorisé par sa qualité calligraphique, et ce respect se transformera en
culte du livre et de l’histoire pour les vingt siècles suivants.32

30
Ces chiffres passeront à 6,500 titres et 57,000 rouleaux à la fin du VIe siècle, cf.
Dictionnaire de la Civilisation chinoise, s.v. “Bibliothèques.”
31
“In 191 B.C. the criminal law against possession of books, which had been
initiated by the first emperor of Ch’in (Qin) was abrogated [ Ban, History of the Former
Han Dynasty, trans. Dubs, 1:182]. The next few decades brought the beginning of the
restoration of the Confucian classics destroyed by the Ch’in.
Systematic, large-scale recovery of ancient works was not begun, however, until the
reign of emperor Wu (r. 140–87 B.C.), who “set plans for restoring books and appointed
officers for transcribing them, including even works of various philosophers and the
commentaries, all to be stored in the imperial library” [Han Shu, 30/1b]. It is said that
after the strenuous efforts made by his minister Kung-sun Hung (Gongsun Hong), books
were piled up like hills [T’ai-p’ing yü-lan, 619/1a]. Official agents were sent to search out
all the surviving books, giving rewards, so they could borrow the books from private
collections for transcribing. In ancient times, books were preserved in archives which
were usually attached to the government offices where the documents were produced.
Now, for the first time in Chinese history, a centralized imperial library was established,
where a wide range of materials was systematically collected and administered.
The search for books throughout the country continued while they were being collated
and arranged in systematic order. (. . .) Liu Hsiang’s (Liu Xiang, ca. 80–8 B.C.) work
is the earliest known bibliography in China and Liu Hsin’s (Liu Xin, his son), the first
system of subject classification and descriptive cataloguing of Chinese books.” Tsien,
Written on Bamboo and Silk: The Beginnings of Chinese Books and Inscriptions, 13–14.
32
Sur le poids de l’histoire, de l’écrit et, en particulier, du manuscrit dans la civili-
sation chinoise, lire Chavannes, Leys, L’Humeur, l’honneur, l’horreur: Essais sur la culture et la

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 106 lucien x. polastron

A l’inverse donc du modèle alexandrin, le mythe chinois démarre par

l’enfermement superstitieux puis la destruction brutale de la Grande
Bibliothèque, un traumatisme tel qu’il entraîne une solide sacralisa-
tion de l’archive. L’acte de reconstituer les collections se produira à
de nombreuses reprises et de façon systématique, puisque, à chaque
changement de dynastie ou presque, la Bibliothèque Impériale est
annihilée ou endommagée.33
Grecque ou chinoise, l’institution se construit par ordre du potentat,
qui met à son service savants, commissionnaires, copistes et traducteurs;
de la même façon, l’arrangement des titres et du catalogue s’organise en
grandes branches du savoir. Mais, tandis que la mère des bibliothèques
occidentales n’en finit pas de succomber aux malheurs de toutes sortes,
et que le ciel médiéval se couvre des nuages monothéistes—autrement
dit monolivresques—le modèle chinois déclenche un vaste mouvement
bibliophilique dans les couches supérieures de la société puis dans les
monastères; les collections des lettrés prolifèrent à partir du IIIe siècle
de notre ère et, le jour où la bibliothèque de Cambridge peut aligner
122 volumes (1424), les bibliophiles chinois sont nombreux depuis
deux ou trois cents ans déjà à posséder chacun plus de 1,500 œuvres
manuscrites, sans compter les imprimés.34
Les ruines ne sont pas faites seulement de pierres mais aussi de papy-
rus: des lacunes dans les textes, des volumes disparus et des silences plus
ou moins innocents ouvrent la porte à l’interprétation, voire au vent de
la fantaisie. Le mythe n’attend que cela pour s’engouffrer. Le mythe,
selon la définition de Mircea Eliade, raconte les moyens surnaturels avec
lesquels “une réalité est venue à l’existence” et, en cela, il s’oppose aux
“histoires fausses,” que sont les fables et les légendes.
Plus troublante encore que l’assassinat du Roi, la destruction de
la Bibliothèque est un “meurtre du père” qui longuement traumatise
peuples et nations: en plus des trous dans l’histoire, elle laisse une large
ecchymose à l’inconscient collectif et procure à l’imagination philoso-
phique un de ses plus puissants ferments.
Homère dit que les dieux tissent des malheurs afin que les générations
futures ne manquent pas de sujets pour leurs chants.
Pour Borges, la Bibliothèque est interminable, l’infini est indestruc-

politique chinoises; ainsi que Kraus, Brushes with Power: Modern Politics and the Chinese Art of
Calligraphy. Et encore Lewis, Writing and Authority in early China.
33
Drège, Bibliothèques en Chine au temps des manuscrits: Jusqu’au X e siècle.
34
Edgren, “Cangshu: The Tradition of Collecting Books in China.”

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 ce que construisent les ruines 107

tible. Ce thème sous-tend La Bibliothèque de Babel, il est consolidé dans

l’idée de la réécriture du Quichotte. C’est toutefois le poème Alexandrie
641 a.d. qui l’exprime sans détours:
j’ordonne à mes soldats de détruire
par le feu la vaste Bibliothèque,
qui ne périra pas.35
En conséquence, “Qu’est-il arrivé à l’ancienne Bibliothèque d’Alex-
andrie?”
Edgar Poe pourrait inspirer une réponse acceptable: vous l’avez
évidemment sous les yeux, ici, maintenant.
Mais attention, dit l’histoire, son avatar actuel pourrait bien s’avérer
plus fragile que dans l’ancien temps.

35
“Les Infidèles affirment que, si elle brûlait,
brûlerait l’histoire. Ils se trompent.
Les veillées humaines engendrèrent
les livres infinis. Si, d’eux tous, il
n’en demeurait aucun, les hommes recommenceraient
à engendrer chaque page et chaque ligne,
chacun des travaux et des amours d’Hercule,
chaque variante de chaque manuscrit.”
Aussi le chef des vandales peut-il proclamer sans risque:
“j’ordonne à mes soldats de détruire
par le feu la vaste Bibliothèque,
qui ne périra pas.” Borges, “Alexandrie, 641 a.d.”

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el-abbadi_f8_95-108.indd 108 1/25/2008 9:23:06 PM
 THE NAG HAMMADI ‘LIBRARY’ OF COPTIC
PAPYRUS CODICES

Birger A. Pearson

I. Discovery and publication of the Nag Hammadi Codices

One day in December 1945, eight fellahin rode out on camel-back from
their village in the Nag Hammadi region of Upper Egypt, el-Kasr, and
stopped at the base of the Gebel et-Tarif some four kilometers away.
Their purpose was to dig for fertilizing nitrates (sebakh) for their fields.
One of them, Abu el-Magd, dug up a large earthenware jar sealed at
the top with a bowl. He left it up to his older brother, Muhammad Ali,
to decide what to do with it, and the latter finally broke the jar in the
hope of finding treasure. Much to his disappointment, out came thirteen
leather-bound papyrus books and a lot of papyrus dust. Muhammad
Ali divided the papyri into eight portions, but the other men declined
their shares, and Muhammad Ali brought them home to el-Kasr. There
he dumped them on the kitchen floor, and his mother, Umm Ahmad,
used some of the papyrus leaves as fuel for her bread oven.
The story of the find and the subsequent fate of the papyrus books
(codices, not scrolls) has been pieced together by James M. Robinson
of the Claremont Graduate University in California.1 They have come
to be known as the “Nag Hammadi Codices” or “Nag Hammadi
Library,” after the main town in the region some nine kilometers
from the find-site. They are now housed in the library of the Coptic
Museum in Old Cairo.
One interesting problem associated with the story of the discov-
ery of the codices is the question of precisely how many there were.
Muhammad Ali consistently maintained that thirteen bound books
were found in the jar. But what is now referred to as Nag Hammadi
Codex (NHC) XIII consists of eight leaves of papyrus that had been

1
Robinson et al., Facsimile Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices, vol. 12, Introduction,
3–31; Robinson, “From the Cliff to Cairo,” 21–58; cf. Birger A. Pearson, Anchor Bible
Dictionary, s.v. “Nag Hammadi Codices,” 4:984–93.

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 110 birger a. pearson

ripped out of a codex in antiquity and stuffed into the cover of Codex
VI. Our Codex XIII, therefore, cannot count as one of the thirteen
separate books found in 1945, for it was then part of Codex VI. Was a
complete codex destroyed in Umm Ahmad’s oven, together with leaves
of papyrus from other codices now incomplete? Or will it, or parts of
it, eventually turn up on the antiquities market?2
The Nag Hammadi manuscripts date from the fourth century and are
inscribed in Coptic.3 Several dialects of Coptic are reflected in them.
Several of the manuscripts have suffered severe damage and only exist
in fragments. All of the texts in the manuscripts are Coptic translations
of writings originally written in Greek. A few of them could have been
composed as early as the first century, but most date to the second or
third centuries. Many of the texts (perhaps most) were composed in
Greek in Egypt; the others would have been brought to Egypt from
Syria or elsewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
The manuscripts remained inaccessible to scholars until the 1950s
when the first publications appeared.4 In 1961 UNESCO became
involved in plans for publishing a complete facsimile edition, and several
hundred photographs were taken and sent to Paris. In 1970 an interna-
tional committee of scholars was appointed, with a subcommittee work-
ing on the technical problems of identifying and assembling papyrus
fragments for definitive photography. The first volumes of the facsimile
edition appeared in 1972, and the last of the codices were published
in 1977.5 The project was completed in 1984 with the publication of
addenda et corrigenda as part of the introductory volume.6

2
Robinson, “From the Cliff to Cairo,” 38–40.
3
The Coptic language is the latest manifestation of the ancient language of the
Pharaohs written in a modified Greek alphabet and incorporates numerous Greek
words into its vocabulary.
4
The most important of these is the Gospel of Thomas (NHC II,2); Guillaumont
et al., Gospel according to Thomas (in English, German, and French versions), all versions
were published in 1959 by Brill (Leiden), Collins (London), Harper & Brothers (New
York), Presses Universitaires de France (Paris). For a summary of the early publication
activity see Birger A. Pearson, Anchor Bible Dictionary, s.v. “Nag Hammadi Codices,”
4:985–986.
5
Robinson et al., Facsimile Edition of the Nag Hammadi Codices, vol. 1, Codex VI (1972);
vol. 2, Codex VII (1972); vol. 3, Codices XI, XII, and XIII (1973); vol. 4, Codex II (1974);
vol. 5, Codex V (1974); vol. 6, Codex IV (1975); vol. 7, Codex III (1976); vol. 8, Codex
VIII (1976); vol. 9, Codices IX and X (1977); vol. 10, Codex I (1977); vol. 11, Cartonnage
(1979); vol. 12, Introduction (1984).
6
Ibid., vol. 12, Introduction.

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 the nag hammadi ‘library’ of coptic papyrus codices 111

In 1966 Professor Robinson began to organize a group of scholars

who would produce critical editions and English translations of the Nag
Hammadi Codices, based on photographs he had obtained from the
UNESCO office in Paris. That project, based in Claremont, California,
was entitled ‘The Coptic Gnostic Library,’ and eventually involved some
38 scholars.7 The last of the sixteen volumes comprising the series was
published in 1995, 50 years after the initial discovery.8 However, a one-
volume translation of all of the Nag Hammadi Codices, plus two from
the closely related Berlin Gnostic Codex, prepared by the Claremont
team, was published several years earlier in 1977.9
While the Claremont project was in the initial stages of work a
group of doctoral students studying Coptic with Hans-Martin Schenke
at Humboldt-Universität in East Berlin began to focus their work on
the Nag Hammadi texts, and this was the genesis of the Berliner
Arbeitskreis für koptisch-gnostische Schriften, directed by Schenke.
The German project began to publish translations of selected texts in
Theologische Literaturzeitung, and continued with dissertations published
in the series, “Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchrist-
lichen Literatur.” The third phase of the project has recently been
completed with a two-volume translation of all of the Nag Hammadi
and Berlin tractates.10
In 1974 The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada provided an initial grant to a group of scholars associated with
Laval University in Québec for the purpose of publishing a complete
French-language critical edition of the Nag Hammadi and Berlin
texts, “Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi.” The first volume was

7
I joined the project in 1968, and was assigned to work on the highly fragmentary
codices IX and X. The edition was published in 1981; Pearson, Nag Hammadi Codices
IX and X. I was also editor of the last volume published in the series (see n. 8).
8
Pearson, Nag Hammadi Codex VII (1996) [published November 1995]. The series
(Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies) includes the four tractates contained in the
closely related Berlin Gnostic Codex (BG), purchased in an antiquities shop in Akhmim
in the nineteenth century and acquired by the Berlin Museum. It was finally published
in a first critical edition in 1955; Till, Gnostische Schriften des koptischen Papyrus Berolinensis
8502 (1955). “The Coptic Gnostic Library” series came to include two other volumes
of Coptic texts which were not part of the Nag Hammadi find, the Askew and Bruce
Codices first published in the nineteenth century; Schmidt, Pistis Sophia (1978); and
ibid., Books of Jeu and the Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex (1978).
9
Robinson, Nag Hammadi Library in English (1988).
10
Schenke et al., Nag Hammadi Deutsch (2001, 2003).

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 112 birger a. pearson

published in 1977, and the series now numbers some 30 volumes, with
additional ones projected.
Thus, over the years since the first publication efforts of the 1950s,
a growing number of texts, translations, and studies have accumulated,
numbering now in the thousands.11

II. Religious content of the Nag Hammadi Codices

The texts in the Nag Hammadi collection number 52 in all. Five of

these are represented by more than a single copy; the number of dif-
ferent tractates is 46. Of the four tractates in the closely related Berlin
Gnostic Codex, two are also represented in the Nag Hammadi collec-
tion. Most of the tractates are ‘Gnostic’ writings hitherto unknown to
scholars that shed important new light on ancient Gnosticism. Before
the discovery of the Coptic writings, scholars were largely dependent for
their knowledge of ancient Gnosticism on the polemical writings of the
church fathers, who roundly condemned what they called “knowledge
falsely so-called.” The most important of these fathers was Irenaeus,
Bishop of Lyon in Gaul, who wrote his five-volume work against
Gnostic heretics towards the end of the second century (ca. 185). In
the view of Irenaeus and the other church fathers adherents of ‘the
Gnostic heresy’ were Christian ‘heretics’ who posed a serious challenge
to emerging Christian orthodoxy.
What historians of religions now refer to as ‘Gnosticism’ is a reli-
gion that emerged around the turn of the first century.12 It originated
independently of Christianity, but soon took on Christian forms that
integrated the figure of Jesus Christ into their mythological systems.
Gnosticism is a religion of salvation based on the acquisition of a
special kind of gnosis (a Greek word for ‘knowledge’). Adherents of
Gnosticism regard gnosis (rather than faith, observance of law, etc.)
as requisite to salvation. The saving ‘knowledge’ involves a revelation
as to the true nature both of the self and of God; for the Gnostic

11
See Scholer, Nag Hammadi Bibliography 1948–69 (1971); ibid., Nag Hammadi
Bibliography 1970–1994 (1997). Annual supplements are provided in the journal Novum
Testamentum.
12
One of the best full-length treatments of Gnosticism is Rudolph, Gnosis: The
Nature and History of Gnosticism. On the scholarly issues involved in defining Gnosticism
see Pearson, “Gnosticism as a Religion,” chap. 7 in Gnosticism and Christianity in Roman
and Coptic Egypt, 201–23.

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 the nag hammadi ‘library’ of coptic papyrus codices 113

(a person in possession of gnosis) self-knowledge is knowledge of God.

Gnosticism has a characteristic theology according to which there is a
transcendent supreme God beyond the god or powers responsible for
the world in which we live. It has a radically dualist cosmology, accord-
ing to which the cosmos, having been created by an inferior power, is
a prison in which human souls are held captive. Gnosticism also has
a special anthropology, according to which the essential human being
is a divine spark that originated in the transcendent world and is now
held captive in a material body. This spark, co-substantial with the
transcendent God, can, through gnosis, be released from the cosmic
prison and return to its divine origins.
These ideas were given expression in elaborate mythological systems,
some of which were discussed by the church fathers. These mythologi-
cal systems are now much better understood, thanks to the discovery
of the Nag Hammadi Codices.
Several varieties of ancient Gnosticism are represented in the Nag
Hammadi tractates, and not all the tractates are typically ‘Gnostic’ in
character. The religious orientation of all of the treatises, including those
of the Berlin Gnostic Codex, can be described briefly as follows:

II.1. ‘Sethian’13 or ‘Classic’14 Gnostic texts

The most important of these texts, of which we have four copies, is the
Apocryphon of John (NHC II,1; III,1; IV,1; BG,2). In it is presented an
elaborate Gnostic myth describing the divine world, the “fall” leading
to the creation of the world, the creation of humans and their impris-
onment in a material body, and the means of their salvation. In this
myth a heavenly projection of the biblical figure of Seth, son of Adam,
plays an important role. The myth is presented in a dialogue between
Jesus Christ and his disciple John, but the narrative frame and dialogue
features are probably secondary additions effectively ‘Christianizing’
an earlier Jewish Gnostic myth.15 The other Sethian texts are the
Hypostasis of the Archons (NHC II,4), the Gospel of the Egyptians (NHC
III,2), the Apocalypse of Adam (NHC V,5), the Three Steles of Seth (NHC
VII,5), Zostrianos (NHC VIII,1), Melchizedek (NHC IX,1), the Thought

13
See esp. Turner, Sethian Gnosticism and the Platonic Tradition.
14
See esp. Layton, Gnostic Scriptures, 5–214.
15
Pearson, “The Problem of ‘Jewish Gnostic’ Literature,” chap. 7 in Emergence of
the Christian Religion, 122–46, esp. 126–34.

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of Norea (NHC IX,2), Marsanes (NHC X,1), Allogenes (NHC XI,3), and
the Trimorphic Protennoia (NHC XIII,1). In addition, several other Nag
Hammadi tractates, more difficult to classify, reflect the use of Sethian
Gnostic sources and/or traditions.

II.2. Valentinian Gnostic texts

The most important Gnostic Christian teacher known to us was
Valentinus, who was born in the Egyptian Delta and flourished as a
teacher in Alexandria and Rome in the early and mid-second century.
By adapting ‘Sethian’ or ‘Classic’ Gnosticism, he created a new inter-
pretation of the Christianity that had come to Alexandria in the first
century. Only fragments of his writings in Greek remain, but one of the
Nag Hammadi tractates may plausibly be assigned to him, the Gospel
of Truth (NHC I,3; XII,2). Other tractates representing the Valentinian
school are the Prayer of the Apostle Paul (NHC I,1), the Treatise on the
Resurrection (NHC I,4), the Tripartite Tractate (NHC I,5), the Gospel of Philip
(NHC II,3), the Interpretation of Knowledge (NHC XI,1), and a Valentinian
Exposition, with liturgical appendices (NHC XI,2). In addition, several
other Nag Hammadi tractates, more difficult to classify, reflect the use
of Valentinian sources and/or traditions.

II.3. Gnostic texts of uncertain affiliation

The earliest of these, Eugnostos the Blessed (NHC III,3; V,1), is thought
to be a first-century Alexandrian text of Jewish Gnostic origin. The
latest of them, probably dating from the late third or early fourth
century, are composite texts reflecting the use of various sources, the
treatise On the Origin of the World (NHC II,5: XIII,2) and the Concept of
our Great Power (NHC VI,4). Other Gnostic texts difficult to classify are
the Apocryphon of James (NHC I,2), the Exegesis on the Soul (NHC II,6),
the Sophia of Jesus Christ (NHC III,4; BG,3), the Apocalypse of Paul (NHC
V,2), the (First) Apocalypse of James (NHC V,3), the (Second) Apocalypse of
James (NHC V,4), Thunder: Perfect Mind (NHC VI,2),16 the Paraphrase of
Shem (NHC VII,1), the Second Treatise of the Great Seth (NHC VII,2), the
Apocalypse of Peter (NHC VII,3), the Letter of Peter to Philip (NHC VIII,2),

16
Layton includes this text among the “Classic” (Sethian) Gnostic writings; Layton,
Gnostic Scriptures, 77–85.

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the Testimony of Truth (NHC IX,3), Hypsiphrone (NHC XI,4), and the
Gospel of Mary (BG,1).

II.4. Hermetic texts

There is a whole corpus of writings in Greek which feature Hermes
Trismegistus (‘Thrice-Greatest’) as a revealer of gnosis. There are Coptic
versions of two of these among the Nag Hammadi tractates, the Prayer
of Thanksgiving (NHC VI,7) and Asclepius 21–29 (NHC VI,8). There is
also a Hermetic text previously unknown, the Discourse on the Eighth and
Ninth (NHC VI,6).

II.5. Texts of the Thomas Tradition

An Eastern Syrian tradition featuring Jesus’ ‘twin’ brother, Judas
Thomas, is represented by two of the Nag Hammadi texts, the Gospel
of Thomas (NHC II,2), and the Book of Thomas the Contender (NHC II,7).
Scholars differ on whether these should be included under the umbrella
term ‘Gnosticism.’

II.6. Miscellaneous non-Gnostic texts

These include a fractured Coptic translation of a passage from the
writings of Plato of Athens, (Republic 588A–589B; NHC VI,5); Christian
apocryphal works, the Dialogue of the Savior (NHC III,5), Acts of Peter
and the Twelve Apostles (NHC VI,1), and an Act of Peter (BG,4); a text
of second-century Christian Platonism, Authoritative Teaching (Authentikos
Logos, NHC VI,3); and two Christian ‘wisdom’ texts of moral philoso-
phy, the Teachings of Silvanus (NHC VII,4) and the Sentences of Sextus
(NHC XII,1).17
It can readily be seen that there is no theological unity reflected in
the Nag Hammadi collection as a whole. Most of them are ‘Gnostic,’
but the Gnosticism represented in the texts is of various types, and
many of them are not easily classified by sectarian origin as defined by
the polemical writings of the church fathers. Several of them are not

17
Only fragments remain of the Coptic version of Sentences of Sextus, but the origi-
nal Greek version is extant, and versions in several other languages also exist. There
are also two fragments of the highly damaged Codex XII which are incapable of
identification.

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 116 birger a. pearson

Gnostic at all, and one of them, the Teachings of Silvanus, is explicitly

anti-Gnostic.18 One can, nevertheless, see a certain degree of unity in
these disparate writings in terms of lifestyle. Many of the texts in the
collection advocate an ascetic lifestyle, and all of them could easily be
read in that light. That certainly has a bearing on who would have
been interested in copying, reading, and preserving these texts.

III. The Nag Hammadi corpus as a ‘Library’

The first Western scholar to study the Nag Hammadi manuscripts was a
Frenchman, Jean Doresse, and his impression was that they constituted
“nothing less than the sacred library of an ancient sect, to all appear-
ances complete.”19 He remarked on the ‘homogeneity’ of the writings,
“their undoubted unity,” indicating that most of the texts “belong to
the same religious body.” Noting the prominence of the name Seth
in a number of writings, he concluded that the sect was that of the
‘Sethians’ described by several church fathers.20
We now know that the supposed ‘unity’ of the writings was illusory, for
there is a great deal of diversity among them, as we have already noted.
That the manuscripts were part of a ‘library’ is certainly apparent, but
to whose library did they belong? There is considerable circumstantial
evidence that points to an answer to that question: The books belonged
to a Christian monastery near the site of their discovery, very probably
the one at Chenoboskion21 (modern el-Kasr) 4 kilometers away. That
monastery was one of a network of monasteries founded or organized
by Pachomius (ca. 290–346)22 in the early fourth century. Three major
factors point to this monastic connection.

18
The text warns against being “defiled by strange kinds of knowledge” (gnosis, 94,
29–33), and contains a polemic against those who regard the creator of the world as
an ignorant deity (116, 5–9).
19
Doresse, Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnostics, 120.
20
Ibid., 249–51. Doresse’s use of the term ‘library’ for the collection as a whole has
certainly impacted subsequent scholarship, as can be seen in the terminology used in
various editions and translations: ‘The Coptic Gnostic Library;’ ‘The Nag Hammadi
Library in English;’ ‘Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi.’
21
‘Goose-pasture’ in Greek, also called Chenoboskia (pl.); its Egyptian (Coptic) name
is Sheneset, ‘Trees of Set.’ St. Pachomius was born in that village, and was baptized
a Christian there.
22
On Pachomius, founder of “Coenobitic” monasticism, see esp. Rousseau, Pachomius.
Pachomius’ headquarters was eventually located at Phbow (or Pabau, modern Faw
Qibli), up the river from Chenoboskion.

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 the nag hammadi ‘library’ of coptic papyrus codices 117

First, there is the site of the discovery. The jar containing the codi-
ces had been buried midway up the talus of broken rock at the foot
of the Gebel et-Tarif. There is evidence that this area was used for
burials in the early Byzantine period. In addition, over 150 caves are
located in the cliff; the one nearest the site of the discovery has on one
of its walls a Coptic inscription, in red paint, of the opening lines of
several biblical Psalms.23 The caves in question were presumably used
by monks from the nearby monastery for retreat and meditation. The
burials were also probably those of monks. So it is highly likely that
Christian monks used a monastic burial site as a place in which to
deposit a cache of books. One can also posit that those monks buried
their books because their contents had come under suspicion in the
monastic community.24
Second, the cartonnage25 found in some of the book covers points to
a monastic context for the manufacture of the codices. This is at least
true in the case of the cartonnage found in Codex VII, which contains
fragments of a biblical codex and a homily, as well as private letters
indicating a monastic provenience, including one from a ‘Paphnoute’
to a ‘Pachomius’ (no. 6).26 There is a strong likelihood that the codi-
ces were manufactured by monks in one or more of the Pachomian
monasteries. It is equally likely that the blank codices were inscribed
by monks as well.
Third, the colophons and scribal notes in some of the manuscripts
contain pious Christian prayers and other expressions of Christian piety.
Such colophons and notes are indications of a monastic provenience
for the writings in the books. The scribes who copied from other books
the various texts now found in the Nag Hammadi Codices evidently
treated those texts as edifying religious literature.
So why did those monks bury their books? That story begins in
Alexandria in the year 367, when Archbishop Athanasius sent out
his annual encyclical letter to all the churches and monasteries in his
jurisdiction, setting the date for the up-coming Easter observance. He
included in that letter a vigorous condemnation of the use of ‘heretical’

23
Robinson, “Discovery of the Nag Hammadi Codices,” 206–24, esp. 213.
24
Wisse, “Gnosticism and Early Monasticism in Egypt,” 431–40, esp. 436–37.
25
Cartonnage consists of scraps of discarded papyrus glued into the leather covers
to stiffen them. Cartonnage was found in Codices I, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, and XI.
See Barns, Browne, and Shelton, Nag Hammadi Codices.
26
For a balanced discussion see Veilleux, “Monasticism and Gnosis in Egypt,”
271–306, esp. 278–83.

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 118 birger a. pearson

and ‘apocryphal’ writings in the churches, and a list of the 27 New

Testament writings which he declared to be authoritative for church
use. His letter was translated into Coptic and read in all the monas-
teries of Egypt. The abbots of the monasteries were expected to seek
out unacceptable books and destroy them, either by burning them or
throwing them into the Nile River. We can safely assume that some of
the monks at Chenoboskion did not want to see their favorite writings
destroyed in that way. So they stashed them in a large jar, sealed the
jar with a bowl,27 and buried the jar at the Gebel et-Tarif. There they
remained for some fifteen hundred years.
The aforementioned colophons and scribal notes not only reveal
something of the piety of the scribes, but also tell us something about
libraries and scriptoria in fourth century Christian monasteries in Egypt.
Let us take a look at the ones that we have in the Nag Hammadi
manuscripts.
A colophon usually occurs at the end of a book, and later colophons
usually tell us something about the scribes who wrote them.28 Codex
I29 has no colophon at the end, but has one on the verso side of the
front flyleaf of the codex (B,9–10), right after the short text that was
added to the codex after the last tractate was completed, the Prayer of
the Apostle Paul (NHC I,1). After the subscript title, written in Greek and
marked by decoration, the words ‘in peace’ occur. Further decoration
includes crosses and Egyptian ankh signs (life), and then the words
‘Christ is holy.’ ‘Christ’ is written with the standard chi-rho monogram
(see fig. 12), and the entire colophon is in Greek. It is possible that this
colophon was already found in a Greek codex from which the Coptic
translation was made.
Codex II has a colophon at the end (145, 20–23), enclosed in a
decorative rectangle marked by lines (see fig. 13). The text reads,
“Remember me, also, my brethren, [in] your prayers. Peace to the
saints and spiritual ones.” The scribe, unnamed, asks for prayers from
fellow-monks in his monastery.

27
The bowl used as a lid for the jar is still extant; it is red slipware of the fourth or
fifth century; Robinson, “Discovery of the Nag Hammadi Codice,” 213.
28
The standard work on Coptic colophons in the Sahidic dialect is Lantschoot,
Recueil des colophons des manuscrits chrétiens d’Égypte.
29
Codices III, V, VI, and VIII have no concluding colophons. The end pages of
Codices IX, XI, XII, and XIII are missing; so we don’t know if they had colophons.
The accompanying plates are taken from, Robinson et al., Facsimile Edition of the Nag
Hammadi Codices.

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 the nag hammadi ‘library’ of coptic papyrus codices 119

The second tractate of Codex III, conventionally called the Gospel of

the Egyptians, has its correct title at the very end, separated by decora-
tions: “The Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit. Amen.” After the
end of the tractate itself, but before the subscript title, there occurs
the following colophon (69, 6–17; see fig. 14), which pertains not to
the codex as a whole but only to the tractate:30
The Egyptian Gospel.31 The God-written, holy, secret book. Grace, un-
derstanding, perception, prudence (be) with him who has written it, Eugn-
ostos the beloved in the spirit—in the flesh my name is Concessus—and
my fellow lights in incorruptibility. Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, Ich-
thus.32 God-written, the holy book of the great, invisible Spirit. Amen.
In this colophon we have the name of the scribe who copied it,
Concessus (a Latin name), who has adopted a spiritual name that
means ‘well-knowing.’ He prays for special grace for himself and his
‘fellow-lights,’ presumably fellow monks enlightened by gnosis.
Codex VI, which lacks a concluding colophon, has an interesting
scribal note placed between tractate 7 and tractate 8 (65, 8–14), both
treatises attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. It is written with smaller
letters and framed in a decorated box (see fig. 15):33
I have copied this one discourse of his.34 Indeed, very many have come to
me. I have not copied them because I thought that they had come to you.
Also, I hesitate to copy these for you because they have perhaps (already)
come to you, and the matter may burden you, since the discourses of that
one, which have come to me, are numerous.
This notice is not very clear, but the anonymous scribe is probably
apologizing for copying into the codex the preceding tractate, the Prayer
of Thanksgiving (NHC VI,7), which is quite short. Interestingly, the rest
of the codex is written with smaller letters and lines with more words
per line. When the scribe got to the point of copying tractate 8, he

30
The translation is that of A. Böhlig and F. Wisse in The Nag Hammadi Library in
English, but modified.
31
Böhlig and Wisse translate, “The Gospel of <the> Egyptians,” “correcting” the
received text with a Coptic morpheme meaning “the.” This is the source of the (incor-
rect) title of the tractate now conventionally used.
32
Greek for “fish.” The initial letters are those of “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior,”
a widely used early Christian acrostic.
33
The translation is that of J. Brashler, P. Dirkse, and D. Parrott in The Nag Hammadi
Library in English, modified.
34
The reference is to Hermes Trismegistus, who is also referred to as “that one”
in line 14.

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 120 birger a. pearson

evidently decided to make room for tractate 7, a prayer that seems

to have had a special meaning for him. The people he is addressing
are monastic superiors who have engaged him for scribal work. It is
interesting that he remarks how copious the Hermetic literature is.
He implies that he has enough on hand for additional copying work
which, however, might not be necessary if his superiors already have
enough of this material.
Codex VII has a concluding colophon (127, 29–32; see fig. 16) follow-
ing the subscript title of the last tractate, the Three Steles of Seth (NHC
VII,5). It reads as follows:35 “This book belongs to the fatherhood. It
is the son who wrote it. Bless me, O father. I bless you, O father, in
peace. Amen.” Here the scribe identifies himself as a ‘son’ to a superior
monk, perhaps the abbot of his monastery. The ‘fatherhood’ probably
refers to the collective leadership of his monastery, or perhaps of the
entire network of Pachomian monasteries.
Codex VII has an additional colophon (118, 8–9) following the
conclusion of tractate 4, the Teachings of Silvanus. It is written in Greek,
and surrounded by ‘magical’ symbols consisting of three Greek phis,
three etas, and an ‘anchor’ symbol plus a tau and an upsilon (see fig.
17).36 The intelligible text of the colophon reads: “ichthus (fish),37 inde-
scribable wonder.” There is nothing in it that relates it specifically to
the Teachings of Silvanus. It was probably found at the end of another
codex in which the Teachings of Silvanus was the concluding tractate,
and used by the scribe of Codex VII as an exemplar for copying.38
This colophon is expressive of a mystical piety centered upon “Jesus
Christ, Son of God, Savior.”
The Berlin Codex has a colophon at the end (142, 1–3), the only
text inscribed on the last page. It reads: “God of Gods, God of Gods,
Lord of Lords, King of Kings!”39

35
The translation is that of James M. Robinson and James E. Goehring in Pearson,
ed., Nag Hammadi Codex VII, 421.
36
For an attempt to decipher these symbols see Williams, “Interpreting the Nag
Hammadi Library as ‘Collections’ in the History of ‘Gnosticism(s)’,” 3–50, esp.
18–19.
37
See n. 32, above.
38
Schenke et al., Nag Hammadi Deutsch, 2:604.
39
Till, Gnostischen Schriften des koptischen Papyrus Berolinensis 8502, 2nd ed. by Schenke,
320–21. I do not have a photograph of this colophon.

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 the nag hammadi ‘library’ of coptic papyrus codices 121

IV. Concluding Observations

The Nag Hammadi Codices constitute one of the most important

manuscript finds of the twentieth century, comparable in importance to
the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Study of these Coptic manuscripts
has opened up new vistas for scholarship in the fields of biblical studies,
early Christian history, and the general history of religions. Thanks to
that discovery we have ample primary evidence for ancient Gnosticism,
an important religious current in the Roman era. We also have acquired
new insights into the history of Middle and Neo-Platonism.
Before the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Codices, there were very
few scholars interested in the study of the Coptic language. Now there
are many institutions of higher learning in which Coptic is studied,
and great strides have been made in understanding the history of the
Coptic language and its dialects. There is now also an International
Association for Coptic Studies, founded in Cairo in 1976, with mem-
bers from all over the world. The IACS meets every four years, and
has its own journal.
The Nag Hammadi Codices reveal much, too, about fourth-century
monasticism in Upper Egypt. The texts reflect a great deal of religious
diversity, and show that strict lines between ‘orthodoxy’ and ‘heresy’
had not yet been established in the monasteries. As ‘apocryphal’ and
‘heretical’ books came to be proscribed in the monasteries, some monks
chose to hide their favorite books at a monastic burial site rather than
have them destroyed.
Finally, the Nag Hammadi find sheds a great deal of light on the
production, copying, and circulation of books in the monasteries, espe-
cially those in the network of monasteries organized by Pachomius and
his successors. The cartonnage in some of the manuscripts provides
evidence pertaining to the manufacture of papyrus books. There is also
considerable diversity in the writing styles used by the various scribes
who copied the Nag Hammadi texts, up to fourteen scribes in all,40 not
all of them from the same monastery. It would also appear that there
was a definite plan for each uninscribed codex as to which writings
would be copied into it.41

40
Some of the individual codices were copied by more than a single scribe. For
the estimate of fourteen see Emmel, “Nag Hammadi Codices Editing Project,” 10–32,
esp. 27–28.
41
Williams, “Interpreting the Nag Hammadi Library as ‘Collections’ in the History
of ‘Gnosticism(s)’.”

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 122 birger a. pearson

As noted above, it was first thought that the Nag Hammadi Codices
constituted a ‘library’ of sectarian books. It is now evident that the
books constituted part of a larger library in a monastery not far from
the find site. The evidence of the colophons surveyed above tells us
more. It would appear that several of the monasteries in the Pachomian
network each had its own library, and probably its own scriptorium,
where books were copied and then circulated. The monastic leadership
commissioned monks who had been trained as scribes to copy selected
writings into newly manufactured books, and these were then circulated
from one monastery library to another.
Unfortunately, those monastic libraries are irretrievably lost. The Nag
Hammadi ‘Library,’ important as it is, constitutes but a small part of that
larger whole. We also have that little bit thanks to a chance discovery
made by an Egyptian peasant digging for sebakh in the desert soil.

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 the nag hammadi ‘library’ of coptic papyrus codices 123

Figure 12. Nag Hammadi Codices: Prayer of the Apostle Paul (NHC I,1)

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 124 birger a. pearson

Figure 13. Nag Hammadi Codex (NHC II).

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 the nag hammadi ‘library’ of coptic papyrus codices 125

Figure 14. Nag Hammadi Codices: Gospel of the Egyptians (NHC III,2).

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 126 birger a. pearson

Figure 15. Nag Hammadi Codices (NHC VI,7–8).

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 the nag hammadi ‘library’ of coptic papyrus codices 127

Figure 16. Nag Hammadi Codices: Three Steles of Seth (NHC VII,5).

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 128 birger a. pearson

Figure 17. Nag Hammadi Codices: Teachings of Silvanus (NHC VII,4).

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 LEARNED WOMEN IN THE ALEXANDRIAN SCHOLARSHIP
AND SOCIETY OF LATE HELLENISM

Maria Dzielska

In our seminar we ask a question about the fate of the Ancient Library
of Alexandria and search for answers. Yet we should not forget that
mysterious signs of powerful fates marked the fortunes not only of
the city’s grand institutions but of distinguished Alexandrians as well.
Among the latter, divine power bestowed its unfathomable gifts on
certain Alexandrian women. It exercised its whimsical rule over the
energetic and ambitious queens who played a decisive historical role
under the Ptolemies, and under the Romans as well as over a new type
of heroines—women who shaped the intellectual milieu of Alexandria
in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D.
We know barely a few of them, some by name only, and others
in greater detail—such as in the case of Hypatia,1 whose tragic fate
continues to this day to inspire literary creation. Ever since the
Enlightenment of the eighteenth century, Hypatia has been quoted
by men like Voltaire and Edward Gibbon, as the symbol of a bygone
civilization, a pagan martyr, victim of the last struggle to save the
perfect world of Greek harmony and religion from the onslaught of
the new Christian faith. Nineteenth-century intellectuals followed her
dramatic biography in Charles Kingsley’s novel Hypatia or New Foes with
an Old Face; lovers of poetry read of her in the poems of the French
poet C. Leconte de Lisle, to whom she appeared as the embodiment
of the Hellenic ideal: beauty and wisdom combined. It was from his poem
titled Hypatie that a phrase was borrowed and used repeatedly with
reference to her: “The spirit of Plato and the body of Aphrodite.” It
is such a portrait of Hypatia that still lingers in contemporary litera-
ture, one of them being the Italian dramatist Mario Luzi’s play titled
Libro di Ipazia.2 In it, Hypatia falls dead in a church, in a house of the
Lord, torn limb from limb by a mob. But her death is justified by the

1
Cf. DPA, s.v. “Hypatia,” H 175, 3:814–817; Dzielska, Hypatia of Alexandria.
2
Luzi, Libro di Ipazia.

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 130 maria dzielska

highest rationale as it helps bring together the two hitherto incompatible

worlds: Greek thought is reconciled with the Christian logos. On the
soil of Alexandrian struggles and dramas, on the Hypatia’s sacrifice,
on the fanaticism of the mob and anguish of her disciples, Luzi says,
the structures and ideas of Christian Europe took root. The ancient
world had attained fulfillment in them.
In reality, Hypatia did not aspire either to be a pagan or a pagan-
Christian heroine, or a pivotal figure in historical transformations and
vocations as her legend would suggest. She was free from any enmity
towards Christianity; what polytheism she practiced arose from senti-
ment more than worship, Hellenism for her was more of a cultural
than religious nature.3 She was a trueborn daughter of the great Greek
culture of Alexandria. She spent all her life in that city and never once
set foot outside it. The walls of that magnificent city enclosed her
entire material and spiritual world. The city offered all she needed: the
Mouseion and the Great Library (still existing in one form or another),
temples of deities (subsequently closed) with the Great Serapeum4
(demolished during her lifetime together with the Daughter Library);
here flourished the sciences she practiced: mathematics, astronomy,
philosophy, medicine; here developed various sects and schools; here
thrived a sizeable Jewish community involved in the Alexandrian
economy and culture.
That was the city in which she lived with her father Theon, a notable
and respected figure, “the geometer and philosopher” as the Suda5 and
Socrates Scholasticus6 (as well as other sources) tell us. His elevated
status—that of a mathematician and a member of the Mouseion7 and
notably, the last member of the Mouseion known to us8—indicates that
Hypatia’s family belonged to the Alexandrian elite, to the primates,
first citizens who stood out for their wealth and culture, who were the
ruling class.

3
Cf. Cameron, Long, and Sherry, Barbarians and Politics at the Court of Arcadius, 58,
62.
4
Haas, Alexandria in Late Antiquity, 138–152.
5
Adler, Suidae Lexicon, 4:644, 1–2, Υ 166.
6
Socrates Historia ecclesiastica 7.15.
7
We read of this in the entry on Theon in the Suda; Adler, Suidae Lexicon, s.v.
“Theon,” Θ 205, 2:702.
8
See for example, Wilson, Scholars of Byzantium, 42.

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 learned women in the alexandrian scholarship 131

It was in such an affluent and illuminated Alexandrian family that

Hypatia “was born, brought up and educated,” Damascius writes.9 We
do not know her exact date of birth, but most probably, as I argue
in my book,10 it was about the year 355 A.D., and consequently she
was about sixty when she died. Quite naturally, she was educated in
mathematics by her father, from whom she inherited her mathemati-
cal passions and talents. Theon, like his daughter after him, nurtured
himself on the spiritual wealth of this intellectually affluent city and
devoted his scholarship to the study of his eminent Alexandrian prede-
cessors: Euclid and Ptolemy. She too, published and commented upon
the works of renowned Alexandrian mathematicians. As the Suda tells
us: “She wrote a commentary on Diophantus, the Astronomical Canon,
and a commentary on the Conica of Apollonius.” Thus, we know that
she wrote commentaries on the Arithmetic of Diophantus of Alexandria,
who lived probably around the middle of the third century A.D.,11
and to the Conica of Apollonius of Perge, who flourished in the third
century B.C. neither work has survived to our time, all we know of
are their titles.
The community of historians of science is busy developing various
theories and speculating on whether some comments by Hypatia can
be traced in the surviving writings of Diophantus and Apollonius of
Perge and in later commentaries on their works.12 The same applies to
the Astronomical Canon, her third work mentioned in the Suda, which is
believed to be Hypatia’s edition of the Handy Tables of Ptolemy, or astro-
nomical tables which supplemented his major work, the Almagest. Hypatia
collaborated with her farther on an edition of the entire Almagest. We
are informed about their collaboration in the debated heading to book
III of Theon’s commentary on the Almagest: “Commentary by Theon
of Alexandria on book III of Ptolemy’s Almagest, edition revised by my
daughter Hypatia, the philosopher.”13 A. Cameron, by analyzing this
inscription in philological parallels with the headings in the remaining
books of this work and in the texts by other late Alexandrian commen-

9
Damascius, Philosophical History, trans. Athanassiadi, frag. 43A, p. 129.
10
Dzielska, Hypatia of Alexandria, 67–68.
11
See G. J. Toomer, OCD3, s.v. “Diophantus of Alexandria,” 483.
12
Cf. Sesiano, Books IV to VII of Diophantus’ Arithmetica, 68–75; Knorr, Textual Studies
in Ancient and Medieval Geometry, 765ff.; Cameron, Long, and Sherry, Barbarians and Politics
at the Court of Arcadius, 47–49; Deakin, “Hypatia and Her Mathematics,” 234–243.
13
Rome, Commentaires de Pappus et de Théon d’Alexandrie sur l’Almageste, vol. 3, Théon
d’Alexandrie: Commentaire sur les livres 3 et 4 de l’Almageste, Studi e testi 106 (1943), 807.

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tators of mathematical works, and also disputing with W. Knorr and

other students of Theon’s Almagest, concludes that Hypatia’s revision was
not merely confined to Book III, but that she actually edited the whole
text of the Almagest starting from book III.14 Thus, father and daughter
divided the work on the edition of the Almagest between them, Theon
writing the commentary and Hypatia revising an edition of Ptolemy’s
work. It is therefore possible, Cameron believes, that the surviving text
of the Almagest comes largely from Hypatia’s hand.15
However, Toomer in a review of my book judiciously states that
with regard to the content, due to Hypatia’s mathematical genius in
works of Diophantus, Apollonius of Perge, and Ptolemy, it is difficult
to say more than what has recently been said by scholars.16 After all in
writing on Hypatia’s mathematical and astronomical achievements, we
are treading on hypothetical ground. What we can state with certainty
is that her accomplishment as a creative mathematician, like that of
her father, lies in their attempting to keep alive and transmit to their
own and following generations of students the great mathematical and
astronomical tradition of Alexandria. At the time of the destruction
of the Serapeum and the closure of the Mouseion (which was prob-
ably connected with the demolition of that great Alexandrian Temple),
father and daughter believed that to uphold the scientific and cultural
heritage of Hellenism was a primary task set before them. Both of them
therefore, devoted much of their scientific efforts to bring that task to
fruition. It should be added that we have no evidence of philosophical
works of Hypatia, nor even titles of any such works are extant. Most
probably, she was not an original, creative philosopher but only of pro-
found erudition in classical philosophical thought. To her, philosophy
was primarily her way of life; she embraced the late Platonic vision
of the world and passed it on to her disciples, teaching them how to
attain higher levels of assimilation to the divine. Yet, there are scholars
who believe that her philosophical works were lost in the destruction
of the Library of Alexandria.17

14
Cameron, Alan, “Isidore of Miletus and Hypatia,” 103–127; Knorr, Textual Studies
in Ancient and Medieval Geometry, 755–803.
15
Cameron, Long, and Sherry, Barbarians and Politics at the Court of Arcadius, 48. Newest
edition of the Almagest: Toomer, Ptolemy’s Almagest (Princeton, 1998).
16
G. J. Toomer, review of Hypatia of Alexandria, by Maria Dzielska, Journal for the
History of Astronomy 27, no. 2 (1996): 174.
17
E.g. Richeson, “Hypatia of Alexandria,” 82.

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 learned women in the alexandrian scholarship 133

Such textbook commentaries and editions of the great mathemati-

cians and astronomers of the past were used by Hypatia in her teach-
ing at her private Neoplatonic school of philosophy operating in her
home from the late 380s. We understand from the words of Socrates
Scholasticus that she “succeeded to the Platonic school derived from
Plotinus.”18 As we hear from the correspondence of her famous dis-
ciple Synesius of Cyrene, her students were upper-class young men not
only from Alexandria and Egypt, but also from Syria, Cyrenaica, and
Constantinople. For it was she—Socrates writes—who “had achieved
such heights of erudition that she surpassed all the philosophers of
her time” and therefore, “everyone who wanted to study philosophy
flocked to her from all directions.”19 Damascius adds that, being an
uncommonly “gifted teacher” and orator “skilled and dialectical in
speech,”20 Hypatia also gave public lectures: “Though a woman she
wrapped herself in the philosopher’s cloak and went out into the midst of
the city (διὰ μέσοῦ τοῦ ἄστεος), publicly interpreting the works of Plato,
Aristotle and any other philosopher to those who wished to listen.”21
Sokrates also mentions that “she delivered all the philosophy lectures
to those who wished to listen.” Damascius does not tell us that she was
a street—corner philosopher as some scholars want to suggest treating
her as a latter—day Cynic.22 Damascius does not mock her but on the
contrary he informs us about the significance of her teaching.
We thus have source evidence to suppose that it was in the city’s lec-
ture halls,23 of whose educational significance we can read in Grzegorz
Majcherek’s article, that Hypatia gave her lectures in the form of
commentaries on the classics before a broader audience, addressing all
students in Alexandria who were interested in the legacy of the great
Greek philosophers, her predecessors. Probably also attending were
Alexandria’s intelligentsia: pagans, Christians, and Jews alike, city and
imperial officials too, lent her their ear. She would travel to the lecture
hall from her home, which must have been in the city center, by carriage

18
Socr. Hist. eccl. 7.15.
19
Socr. Hist. eccl. 7.15.
20
PH frag. 43A, 43E, pp. 128, 130.
21
PH frag. 43A.
22
Cf. Cameron, Long, and Sherry, Barbarians and Politics at the Court of Arcadius, 43.
23
E. Rodziewicz, “Late Roman Auditoria in Alexandria in the Light of Ivory
Carvings,” 269–279; Kiss, “Auditoria romains tardifs de Kôm El-Dikka (Alexandrie),”
331–338; Ibid., “Les auditoria romains tardifs?” In Alexandrie VII: Fouilles polonaises à
Kôm el-Dikka (1986–1987), ed. Kiss et al., 9–33.

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 134 maria dzielska

as was becoming her dignity, but dressed—as Socrates before her—in a

modest tribon, a grey philosopher’s cloak (it was not the stylish hima-
tion with which Alcibiades covered Socrates, himself donning a paltry
tribon of Socrates, as we remember from the Symposium of Plato!).
That Hypatia traveled the city’s streets in a carriage we know from
Socrates, and Damascius gives us to understand that there was noth-
ing surprising or inappropriate in seeing this distinguished lady freely
moving about the city. After all she was part of the cityscape and “the
entire city naturally loved her and held her in exceptional esteem.”24
Consequently, Damascius in stressing her exceptional status in the city
writes: “local officials (ἄρχοντες), on assuming their office, paid their
respects first to her, as indeed was the custom in Athens.” Of her con-
tacts with municipal officials and her influence in the city, we also hear
from Socrates, which suggests that urban clerks (βουλευταί) exercising
authority in the city—as well as imperial officials performing their duty
in Egypt—maintained contacts with her, turned to her for advice and
consulted important political and administrative decisions with her. With
this practice, Alexandria at that time, according to Damascius, became
similar to fifth-century Athens, where politicians used to visit famous
philosophers and follow their advice in the affairs of their polis. It was
through Hypatia’s authority, Damascius adds, that “even if philosophy
in practice was dead (because of Christianity!), its name at least still
seemed most honourable and worthy of admiration to those who ran
the affairs of the city.”25
Hypatia, Damascius reports, “had reached the summit of practical
virtue, was just and moderate.”26 Hers was the achievement of the high-
est level of practical sciences and virtues: that of political science and
political virtues (ἀρεταὶ πολιτικαί). She was “wise in her acts and politi-
cal”27 and it was due to her practical wisdom (φρόνησις) and political,
civic virtues that she engaged in Alexandria’s political life and served as
a counselor to the city’s rulers. But Socrates particularly extols her virtue
of self-restraint, moderation (σωφροσύνη), which manifested itself in
her dignified and composed conduct towards men, and especially men
exercising power, for “she came face-to-face even with the magistrates
without losing her moderation (σωφροσύνη), and felt no shame at being

24
PH frag. 43E, p. 130.
25
PH frag. 43E, p. 130.
26
PH frag. 34A, p. 128.
27
PH frag. 43E, p. 130.

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 learned women in the alexandrian scholarship 135

in the presence of men.” But Socrates tells us more in pointing out

that her (sophrosyne) inspired such respect and admiration as she was
outstanding and belonged to higher than political order of Neoplatonic
virtues. Hypatia, Damascius emphasizes, was superior to her father in
natural talents (φύσει); not content with mathematical knowledge, she
aspired to rise to the highest level of theoretical sciences, to theology
(metaphysics). Of course for her as a Neoplatonist, theoretical knowledge
corresponded to intellectual virtues, to divine-like life. She knew after
Plotinus, that political virtues are merely characteristics for the life of
the good man, while higher virtues are for those of the divine man
that is a life assimilated to gods that is our destiny.28 In his efforts to
live a life ascending to divinization (θέωσις), a Neoplatonic philosopher
reached, past the stage of political virtues, the stage of purificatory
virtues (ἀρεταὶ καθαρικαί), at which ethical/political virtues acquired
a divine character, then ascended even higher to theoretical (ἀρεταὶ
θεωρητικαί) and finally paradigmatic virtues (ἀρεταὶ παραδειγματικαί).
At this stage, he was only living the life of the Intellect, had completely
forgotten practical wisdom, acquired contemplative wisdom (σοφία
θεωρητική) acquired in enlightening cognitive ecstasy as he became
united with the divine Intellect and the One. Faithful to the requirements
of the virtue of moderation (σωφροσύνη), on the purificatory and
theoretical levels, Hypatia persevered complete chastity (she remained
a virgin all her life), led a modest and ascetic life despite family wealth,
completely free of bodily and material dependencies.
The remark in the Suda referring to her as the “wife of the philoso-
pher Isidorus” is simply a historical error, repeated after an entry on
Hypatia in Hesychius of Miletus’ Onomatologus.29 After all Isidore of
Alexandria was not born until long after Hypatia’s death in 445/450 and
flourished in the late fifth century. No less surprising is Damascius’ claim
that Isidore and Hypatia were “not only as man differs from woman,
but as a true philosopher differs from a mathematician.”30 Isidore
was also a mathematician like all Neoplatonists of the Iamblichean
type (it was required as we know in order to understand Neoplatonic
ontology and cosmology) and probably not inferior to Hypatia. The
reason Damascius extols Isidore as a philosopher is that he, more than

28
Plotinus Enneads 1.2, 7.19–28; Cf. O’Meara, Platonopolis, 40–60.
29
See Dzielska, Hypatia of Alexandria, 114–115.
30
PH frag. 106A, p. 254.

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Hypatia, followed the theurgic way of Iamblichus in the understanding

of Platonic theology. Damascius describes Isidore as a devotee pagan,
immersed in theurgic activity, invoking epiphanies of gods, gifted with
the talent of dream divination and other theurgic powers.31 Except for
a single source, more on which will follow, our sources are silent about
Hypatia’s pagan ritualism, material theurgy, her divination, miracle-
working, and her sacrifices to gods. There is no doubt, however, that
this “divine guide,” whose philosophical mysteries Synesius describes
using terminology borrowed from the Chaldean Oracles, employed in her
teaching an immaterial, higher theurgy to establish contact (σύστασις)
with the divinity. It was mathematical theurgy, mysticism of numbers
and geometrical figures; it was prayers, hymns, incantations, sacred
silences and other noetic means. Damascius simply found in Isidore
the model of a pagan philosopher-priest, much more appealing than
Hypatia’s and hence he called him a “true philosopher.”
Through the hierarchy shown above of practical and higher, intel-
lectual virtues and sciences in displaying to them her moral perfection,
Hypatia led her disciples to true assimilation with the divine. Students
attending Hypatia’s private school in her home came from higher social
strata, from urban and manorial families (predominantly Christian).
With time, they rose to prominent positions in the state and church
(e.g. two of them, Synesius of Cyrene and his brother Evoptius became
bishops). They created around their mistress a kind of Pythagorean
community united by sacred bonds of friendship (ἱερὰ φιλία).32 Synesius’
letters to Hypatia and to his colleagues tell us how great an inspired
teacher of Neoplatonic philosophy she was, a mystic who ardently taught
her disciples to treat philosophy as a sort of religious mystery as “to be
the most ineffable of ineffable things” (Ep. 137). Her students gathered
around their mistress and called her “the lady who is a genuine guide in
the mysteries of philosophy” (Ep. 137), a “blessed lady” whose “divine
spirit” they felt near wherever they went (Ep. 10), a “mother, sister,
teacher, and withal benefactress and whatsoever is honoured in name
and deed . . .” (Ep. 16). The feeling of attachment to the philosopher
Hypatia is so deep that an absence of correspondence from Hypatia
drives Synesius to the depth of despair (Ep. 10). While complaining of
the immensity of calamities and losses he suffered in his family life and

31
PH, Section II (Isidore: frag. 5–38), pp. 83–121.
32
Synesius Ep. 143; Garzya, Opere di Sinesio di Cirene, 348.

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 learned women in the alexandrian scholarship 137

in his civic and bishop’s duties in Libyan Pentapolis, he confesses to

Hypatia that “the greatest loss of all, however, is the absence of your
divine spirit” (Ep. 10). In another letter, he would say that he was will-
ing to abandon for her all that was dearest to him and even in Hades
he would remember his beloved Hypatia (Ep. 124).
At the side of such an exalted teacher, disciples felt they were the
chosen few. Synesius writes to his dear friend Herculianus that their
trip to study under Hypatia changed into a supernatural journey to the
divine, available to them only: “a voyage in which it was granted to you
and me to experience marvelous things, the bare recital of which had
seemed to us incredible” (Ep. 137). For at Hypatia’s, in joint strenuous
work to uncover in their inner selves the sources of the divine, to open
“the intellectual eye buried within us,” as Synesius calls it (Ep. 137),
they attained a state of contemplation (θεωρία), the bliss of being filled
with the divine (ένθουσιασμός), divinization (θέωσις). But Hypatia also
instructed her students that the wisdom that encouraged a study purely
of the divine elevated the person to supracorporeal perfection. Hypatia
taught that in order to reach the farthest limit of cognition, where Beauty
and pure Good reign supreme, one must be morally beautiful, free of
emotions and bodily passions, indifferent to worldly things. Towards
those students who would not understand this fundamental truth, she
knew how to use very brutal disciplinary measures, as we learn from
Damascius.33 Educated in such a grueling school of moral education,
Synesius, in Ep. 140 addressed to his friend Herculianus, asks him to
remember in his mature life to live a different and higher life, to prac-
tise spiritual exercises in higher-level virtues, third and fourth degrees,
theoretical and paradigmatic. For manliness of soul (or political virtue)
“which springs from the first and earthly quaternion of the virtues,”
he reminds Herculianus, is inferior to them and constitutes merely a
step leading up the soul to assimilation with the divine.
Surrounding their divine guide, as Synesius says, like so many cho-
risters around their leader (Ep. 5), Hypatia’s disciples were united by a
bond of secret knowledge bestowed on them by their divine teacher.
Convinced that cognition of the supernatural reality towards which
they were being guided is incommunicable, they despised those who
took divine philosophical truths outside the elitist circles of those chosen
to practice them. After all, Hypatia taught them that the mob could

33
PH frag. 43A, 43C, p. 128.

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never understand the secret of god and cosmos. As Synesius puts it: “To
explain philosophy to the mob is only to awaken among men a great
contempt for things divine” (Ep. 143). It meant replacing divine truth
with popular story. Synesius persevered in his belief in the secretiveness
of god and philosophy also when he became a priest. It was then that
he said: “What can there be in common between the ordinary man
and philosophy? Divine truth should remain hidden, but the vulgar
need a different system” (Ep. 105). Nor did any member of that rabble
Hypatia and her disciples so despised hasten to her aid when she was
attacked and slain.
Enjoying such a great prestige in the city, noted for her “majestic
outspokenness” (παρρησία) and independent opinion, Hypatia took
part in a conflict of power over the city that broke out in the years
from 412 to 415 A.D. between bishop Cyril (elected patriarch of
Alexandria in 412) and the imperial prefect of Egypt Orestes. It led
to unrest among the Alexandrian plebs, series of murders, vandalism,
strife between Jews and Christians, monks and the prefect’s guard. In
the clash, Hypatia sided with the lay authority. The support of such a
popular and respected person in the city now having former disciples
in positions of power in the imperial services, exerting much influence
on pagans and Christians alike, provoked panic in church circles on
the other side. As we read in Socrates, a slander, calumny (διαβολή)
arose (and was helped to spread among the Christian populace) “that it
was she who prevented Orestes from being reconciled to the bishop.”34
Socrates reveals that Hypatia’s fame and success gave rise to envy ( phtho-
nos), while Damascius adds that Bishop Cyril envied her the respect and
influence she enjoyed especially among the Alexandrian intelligentsia
who flocked to her home.35 Damascius goes on to indicate that it was
the bishop who planned for her to be killed. But since Damascius is our
only source directly accusing Cyril, and a source emphatically hostile
to Christianity, we must refrain from fully trusting him. We can take
it as read, however, that the appearance of a faction centered around
the imperial prefect in which Hypatia played a large part caused Cyril
to feel threatened and people of various groups connected with the
church made efforts to help him.

34
Socr. Hist. eccl. 7.15.
35
PH frag. 43E, p. 130.

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 learned women in the alexandrian scholarship 139

As regards the slanders that were spread about Hypatia, we know

of them from the Chronicle of John, Bishop of Nikiu in Lower Egypt
late in the seventh century, it is a valuable work as it is the product of
a local author who had access to records of the Alexandrian church,
no longer extant. It was spread among the Alexandrian people, John of
Nikiu tells us, that a noted woman philosopher in the city was in fact an
abominable emissary from hell, “devoted at all times to magic, astrolabes
and instruments of music.”36 It was alleged that with her “satanic wiles”
she beguiled many people and used her magic to control the prefect
who “honoured her exceedingly” himself a Christian. Under her magic
spell “he ceased attending church” and what is more “he drew many
believers to her and received the unbelievers at his house.” As we can
see in Ep. 81 written by Synesius in 413, Hypatia still, as civil strife in
the city unfolded, maintained her elevated status and served as patroness
and benefactress, he asked her to intercede for two young casualties with
her powerful friends, “both private and magistrates alike,” Synesius, well
familiar with Hypatia’s political connections and her influence within
the city, repeats: “You always have power (δύνη), and you can bring
about good by using that power (δύνασθαι).” Importantly, the letter
contains authentic words of Hypatia. In fact, we have two sentences
spoken by her. Owing to the patronage and benefactions performed by
Synesius to his local community first when he was a curialis of Cyrene
and then as a bishop of Libya’s Pentapolis, Hypatia called him “a good
thing for other people.” Furthermore, it was during his studies with
her that he had acquired the (ἀρεταὶ πολιτικαί) and had learned that
a Neoplatonic philosopher must introduce the highest moral standards
to political life and act for the good of the citizens.
That (diabole), the slanderous rumor of Hypatia’s sorcery and its
conflict-rousing effects on the city, Socrates notes, had the effects desired
by its masterminds, far from that company emerged a group that
resolved to kill the philosopher. They were probably the ( parabalanoi), a
body of strong, healthy men chosen by the bishop and accountable to
him, serving as hospital attendants for the Alexandrian church. These
men incited against Hypatia the Alexandrian mob, which was noted
throughout the empire for its savagery that could be easily a roused into
all manner of riot. The leader was, Socrates says, Peter the Reader (a

36
John of Nikiu, Chronicle, trans. Charles, 84.87–88, pp. 101–102.

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church lector) or a magistrate named Peter as John of Nikiu identifies

him. The monks had by then left Alexandria. The criminals, whom
Damascius calls “a crowd of bestial men—truly abominable—those
who take account neither of divine vengeance nor of human retribu-
tion,”37 and John of Nikiu terms “a multitude of believers in God”
(referring to Peter as “a perfect believer in all respects in Jesus Christ”38)
assaulted her—in the words of Socrates—one day in March 415, dur-
ing the fast “when she was returning home from somewhere” in her
carriage (according to Damascius “as soon as she left her house in her
usual manner”). They dragged her down the streets of Alexandria all
the way to the Caesareion cathedral church near the Great Harbour.
Here “they stripped off her clothes and then killed her with tiles” (or
shells), piercing her eyes in the process—as Damascius reports. Her
body was then carried outside the city to a place called Kinaron and
burnt there.
A different account of Hypatia’s assassination is offered by John of
Nikiu.39 The murderers first “learned the place where she was” in the
city, “proceeded to her and found her seated on the [lofty] chair” and
from there they dragged her through the streets to the great church
named Caesareion.” Archeological discovery of the lecture halls at Kom
el-Dikka helped me decipher John of Nikiu’s oblique story. Is John of
Nikiu not telling us that the scene where those people under Peter’s
command found Hypatia was an Alexandrian lecture room where she
was giving a usual lecture, sitting on an elevated stone seat between
listeners seated in rows? She was thus attacked during a lecture, dragged
from her speaker’s chair (and not dragged down from the chariot) and
murdered in a way described by John of Nikiu similarly to Socrates.40
This reading of John of Nikiu’s description of Hypatia’s death enables
us to trace her “last route,” and identify the streets and squares along
which she was dragged from the city center (and thus from Kom el-
Dikka) to the Caesareion.

37
PH frag. 43A.
38
Joh. Nikiu Chronicle 84.100, p. 102.
39
Joh. Nikiu Chronicle 84.101–102, p. 102.
40
Joh. Nikiu Chronicle 84.102, p. 102.

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 learned women in the alexandrian scholarship 141

The account of Hypatia’s death handed down by John of Nikiu is

consistent with Damascius’ information discussed above which indicates
that Hypatia gave public lectures in philosophy in the midst of the city.
The killers found her, after all, in a lecture room situated, as recent
archeological discoveries demonstrate, near to the agora. Neither does
Damascius’ description make any mention of Hypatia being assailed
in her carriage. We are only told that it happened when she was out
of home. Socrates is alone in his version. It would thus seem that
the discovery of university halls at Kom el-Dikka casts new light and
complements the scant literary sources speaking of Hypatia’s teaching
and the circumstances of her death. At the same time, material sources
acquire a semblance of life as the imagination fills the ruins of the
Alexandrian Academy with students and seats a lecturing Hypatia on
a stone “throne” elevated above them.
Despite John of Nikiu’s tendentious statement that with Hypatia
dead Cyril “had destroyed the last remains of idolatry in the city,”41
the remaining sources make the criminal act appear as the murder of
a political, not religious nature (with an admixture of envy caused by
Hypatia’s status in the city), connected with social tensions and conflicts
fought at the time in Alexandria between rival groups within lay and
church authorities. As we analyse the event that has bred legends in
modern writing, we should bear in mind—as the Suda points out—that
such exterminatory practices were pursued by pagans and Christians
alike in Alexandria, as a kind of local ritual exercised there against
those deemed criminal seditionists threatening the city’s very existence.
Hypatia’s murder was not the exception to a rule, as is sometimes
suggested in historiography. Similar events took place in Alexandria
during anti-Jewish pogroms (e.g. in 38 A.D.), or during persecution of
Christians in 250 A.D., under Emperor Gaius Decius, when martyrs
were dragged along the streets and put to death. Similar fate befell
two bishops imposed on Alexandria by emperors: in 361 George, the
Arian bishop named by Constantius II, and in 457 Proterius appointed
by emperor Leo I.42 They too, suffered the customary ordeal of being
dragged through the whole town, burned before a crowd, finally to
have their remains thrown into the sea. The same rough treatment was

41
Joh. Nikiu Chronicle 84.103, p. 102.
42
Cf. Haas, Alexandria in Late Antiquity, 86–88; 313.

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executed on pagan idols, (e.g. the majestic figure of the god Serapis
following the destruction of the Serapeum in 391/2).
It was thus a common criminal’s summary justice that was meted out
on her disciples’ beloved “divine guide” who had conducted them to
a contemplation of ultimate Good and Beauty. This heinous crime was
committed on one who, according to Neoplatonic political theory, had
been as though a Platonic philosopher-queen shared her participation
in supreme Good also in her political involvement, playing an active and
providential role in the city. But her renunciation of living the life of
the higher levels of virtue in favor of sharing with others the knowledge
of the transcendent Good, her descent from the divine to the human,
to the earthly world of ignorance and opinion, ended in a tragic fail-
ure. The rabble to which she refused to speak of virtue, for she knew
that nothing was more senseless than that, showed her its primitive,
mindless facet, having been persuaded by its leaders, manipulating this
dark fearful force that it was acting “pro publico bono.” All our source
records, except John of Nikiu, refer with indignation to the murder of
an elderly, about-60-year-old woman, a widely respected mathemati-
cian and philosopher, and paint a resentful picture of a depraved
Alexandrian people. Damascius writes that those who perpetrated the
act “thus inflicted the greatest pollution and disgrace on the city,”43
while Socrates concludes: “This deed brought no small blame to Cyril
and to the Alexandrian church. For murder and fighting and other such
things are completely alien to those who profess Christianity.”44
I said above that Theon annotated his commentary to book III of
the Almagest with an inscription devoted to Hypatia. Earlier still, Theon’s
elder colleague, the noted mathematician Pappus of Alexandria, liv-
ing at the beginning of the fourth century, like Theon a commentator
of Euclid and Ptolemy, addressed book III of his Collectio mathematica
(Συναγωγή) to a certain “most illustrious Pandrosion”45 (Kratiste Pandrosion).
Apart from this brief mention, we know nothing of her identity. We
can only conclude that some two generations before Hypatia, there had
also been a woman mathematician active in Alexandria.

43
PH frag. 43E, p. 130.
44
Socr. Hist. eccl. 7.15. The impunity of Hypatia’s murderers, through bribery of an
imperial official named Aedesius, a question impossible to reconstruct due to fragmen-
tary text of Damascius (PH frag. 43E) was recently treated by Zuckerman, “Comtes
et ducs en Égypte autour de l’an 400,” 142–143.
45
K. Ziegler, RE, s.v. “Pandrosion,” (18, 3), col. 553; PLRE, s.v. “Pandrosion,”
1:664.

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 learned women in the alexandrian scholarship 143

After Hypatia’s death, Greek intellectualism and scholarship did not

die in Alexandria as is tendentiously alleged in various publications,
some of them, unfortunately, scholarly. On the contrary, intellectual life
in the city became singularly vigorous. In the fifth century and later, we
have here a whole academic dynasty, numerous philosophers of religious
Neoplatonism of the Iamblichean type and at the same time Aristotle’s
commentators, rhetors, and grammarians. It was in Alexandria that the
young philosopher Proclus (born 410) studied the logic of Aristotle with
Olympiodorus,46 the commentator of Aristotle’s works, and mathematics
with Heron,47 a devout pagan, who introduced him to the mysteries
of Pythagorean philosophy. Olympiodorus educated his daughter, whose
name is now lost, to be a philosopher and insisted that Proclus marry
her. The latter declined, preferring, like Hypatia, to remain celibate for
the sake of philosophy.48
Neither did Proclus accept the hand of Aedesia,49 la grande dame alex-
andrine who was bent on marrying him, herself “the most beautiful
and noble of the Alexandrian women,”50 a relative of the philosopher
Syrianus of Alexandria. Syrianus, who was a successor of Plutarch of
Athens in the Athenian School from 432, became a master of theurgic
Neoplatonism for Proclus when the latter arrived in Athens in 430 to
study. In return for the gift of opening his eyes to the divine mysteries
of Plato’s philosophy, Proclus called Syrianus his “true father,” lived
in his house in Athens, and took part in pagan religious rites practiced
by Syrianus. We can therefore imagine how hard it must have been
for Proclus to refuse his “father” to marry his learned relative, but “it
was some god who had prevented him from this marriage,” Damascius
says, and certainly Syrianus understood that reason! Aedesia ended up
marrying Hermeias, Proclus’ fellow pupil under Syrianus at Athens,
who later taught in Alexandria, where he ran an official philosophy
chair with a city salary. Aedesia, like her husband Hermeias, was gifted
with a “simple and honorable character,” and endowed with ethical
virtues (ἀρεταὶ ἠθικαί) among which Damascius emphasizes justice
(δικαιοσύνη) and moderation (σωφροσύνη). Above all, Damascius extols
her pagan sainthood, her deep devotion to god. It was so deep that

46
PLRE, s.v. “Olympiodorus 2,” 2:799.
47
PLRE, s.v. “Heron 1,” 2:552.
48
Cf. Marinus Vita Procli 9; Ibid., Vita di Proclo, trans. Masullo, 66.
49
PLRE, s.v. “Aedesia,” 2:10–11; DPA, s.v. “Aidésia d’Alexandrie,” A 55, 1:74–75.
50
About Aedesia: PH frag. 56, pp. 156–159.

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 144 maria dzielska

for her reverence towards the gods, her piety (εὐσέβεια) and holiness
the gods loved her so much that they often revealed themselves to her,
“that she was blessed with many divine epiphanies.” Such grace the
gods bestowed—we know—only on those Neoplatonic philosophers (or
admirers of this philosophy) divine men and women, who following the
theosophy of Iamblichus, performed religious rites and practices and
used theurgic methods to make contact with the gods.
After all, Aedesia, like Hypatia and Proclus, belonged to the circle of
the last of the Hellenes, as they called themselves, philosopher-priests,
uncompromisingly devoted to the pagan past and entrusted with the
task of saving the traditional religion and Platonic philosophy.51 After
she quickly became widowed, she did not renounce this holy obliga-
tion. To perpetuate a succession of the “holy, sacred race” of the first
rank of humans, the philosophers of the greatest Platonic tradition, she
extended loving care onto her orphaned sons Ammonius and Heliodorus
“wishing to hand down to them their father’s professional skills as if it
were an ancestral inheritance.” Lavished with exceptional respect and
honour in Alexandria, “she managed to retain for her children the
public maintenance given to their father” and then she brought them
to Athens where none other than the “Great” Proclus, from 435 the
Scholarch of the Platonic School, took care of them. In Athens, as in
Alexandria, “her virtue was admired by an entire chorus of philoso-
phers,” and so by disciples of Proclus and their leader, Proclus himself.
Later she returned with them to Alexandria, where Ammonius assumed
the chair of philosophy previously held by his father, and Heliodorus
also taught philosophy.
Aedesia and Hermeias had one more son who died as a little child.
To an extraordinary extent, he inherited his parents’ divine qualities.
Damascius tells us elsewhere52 that when he was seven months old,
Aedesia once called him tenderly “babion” or even “little child.” As
soon as he heard it, he “became angry and castigated these childish
diminutives, pronouncing his criticism in a clear and articulate voice.”
By the age of seven years old, he had grown so weary of bodily exis-
tence that he decided to leave this pitiable world as, Damascius adds,
“his soul could not be contained in this earthly region.”

51
Athanassiadi, “Persecution and Response in Late Paganism,” 1–29.
52
PH frag. 57A, p. 159.

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 learned women in the alexandrian scholarship 145

A learned and divine woman, Aedesia in her devotion to god did

not forget her obligations to human beings. It was from her love of
god (τὸ φιλόθεον) that sprung her love for people, her philanthropia.
Her charity, for which she was celebrated in Alexandria, she extended
to “holy and good men,” to her pagan compatriots living in dire mate-
rial circumstances. She probably also extended financial assistance
in her circle to Alexandrian philosophers she knew and students in
their schools. Her generosity was so famous that Damascius, hostile to
Christianity as he was, admits that she was loved for it even by “the
most wicked” of the citizens, a code word used by the late Platonic
philosophers for Christians. After all, like Hypatia, she was interested
in the fate of her soul after death, spiritual immortality, blissful unity
with god; she was filled with a desire to escape from the world rather
than a mere lust for material well-being, triviality, or an earthly love
of money. She extended her charity oblivious to the fact that she was
spending beyond her means, encumbering her sons with debts they
actually had to pay back after she died.
Damascius met Aedesia in the early 480s when she was already an
old lady and he, “very young, a mere boy,” was just beginning stud-
ies in Alexandria at the famous school of rhetoric and philosophy of
Horapollon, a center of paganism. Here, in Horapollon’s circle, he
encountered all the major Alexandrian philosophers and scientists of
the day while he probably remained under the special influence of
Aedesia’s spirituality and pagan religiousness. Subsequently, he was
asked by her sons and friends to deliver a funeral oration on her grave,
which he tells us, he adorned with heroic verses (and thus probably
Homer) to honor her piety to gods and other ethical virtues. The pious
and learned Aedesia passed on to her sons the duty to guard inviolable
the holy mysteries of the philosophy of Plato and harmonized with
him Aristotle, who, we know, was particularly generously commented
on by Alexandrian Neoplatonists. Ammonius taught many distinguished
disciples (like Eutocius, John Philoponus, Olympiodorus, Simplicius,
Asclepius) who made Alexandria famous throughout the Eastern empire
as a center for philosophy and science in the sixth century and later in
the first half of the seventh century until the Arab conquest.
To conclude, I would like to mention Theodora,53 to whom Damascius,
himself a disciple of Ammonius and Heliodorus, dedicated his

53
PLRE, s.v. “Theodora 6,” 2:1085.

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Philosophical History, better known under its alternative title of the Life
of Isidorus.54 For it was Theodora, his disciple and the daughter of
Kyrina and Diogenes, descended like the ‘divine’ Iamblichus from the
royal house of Emesa, who, together with other students of Damascius,
turned to him to describe the life and views of the extraordinary phi-
losopher and theurgist that Isidore had been.55 Damascius probably
needed little encouragement, as Isidore had been his beloved teacher
who had made Damascius abandon rhetoric for philosophy, and thanks
to whom he had undergone a philosophical conversion.56 Theodora,
too, knew Isidore well, as she along with her younger sisters had studied
philosophy at his school in Alexandria at different times. We do not
know exactly when that took place. Perhaps she was his pupil in the
480’s, when Isidore was already an influential person in the Alexandrian
intellectual milieu, which Aedesia covered under in her protective care
as an honorary leader, or in the late 490’s when Isidore had returned
to his school in Alexandria from Athens, where he had briefly served
as a diadochus in the Platonic School.57

Intellectually formed by Isidore, and then by his faithful disciple

Damascius, Theodora was a Neoplatonist of the Iamblichean type,
and thus also a deeply devout pagan; she performed pagan rites and
theurgical operations.58 She was also an expert at poetics and grammar,
a mathematician versed in geometry and higher arithmetics. We know
nothing more of Theodora’s scientific accomplishments or of any works
she might have written, nevertheless, her contribution to Alexandrian
scholarship is invaluable. Through her creative inspiration and motive
power, a work was composed in the period 517–526 which, though not
extant in its entirety, is our uniquely comprehensive source on the profes-
sors and university life in fifth-century Alexandria. Without it, we would
be left with meager fragments.59 The learned women of Alexandria
of the fourth and fifth centuries (Hypatia, Aedesia, Theodora, and

54
PH, pp. 39–42.
55
Ibid. Testimonia 3:334–336; Photius Bibliotheca Codex 181.1–18; Ibid., Bibliothèque,
trans. Henry.
56
DPA, s.v. “Damascius,” D 3, 2:545; PH, pp. 35–36, 39.
57
DPA, s.v. “Isidore,” I 31, 3:870–276.
58
Since Photius describes her as a “Hellen by religious persuasion,” and her ances-
tors as “all of them first prize winners in idolatrous impiety,” See PH, p. 335.
59
See PH, Introduction, pp. 19–70.

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 learned women in the alexandrian scholarship 147

nameless others like Olympiodorus’ daughter) fulfilled their Hellenic

mission and helped ensure that Platonic philosophical truths were saved
and the achievements of the “sacred race” of late Platonic divine men
and women were not forgotten.

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 SYNESIUS OF CYRENE AND THE CHRISTIAN
NEOPLATONISM: PATTERNS OF RELIGIOUS AND
CULTURAL SYMBIOSIS

Dimitar Y. Dimitrov

I. The question of the three objections in Letter 105 and the religious and
philosophical views of Synesius

The three main philosophical and theological objections, as they

were posed in Letter 105, were traditionally considered as an evidence
of Synesius’ affiliations to pagan Neoplatonism as well as an act of
non-acceptance of the main doctrines of Christianity. Crawford was
the author—who in a more detailed way—developed such a thesis
in the already remote year 1901. Synesius was declared to be a non-
original philosopher, who did not succeed in solving the controversial
issues between Christianity and Neoplatonism; moreover, he did not
even realize them. According to the English author, Christianity and
Neoplatonism were very different, to the extent even of being opposite
doctrines, diverging radically on at least twelve points. Concerning
Synesius, he was not a Christian thinker, but rather remained all the time
devoted to pagan Neoplatonism and Hellenism. Crawford labeled his
eclectic and chaotic doctrine in a witty way as Synesianism. Nevertheless,
we should bear in mind that Crawford was not well acquainted with
Neoplatonism and knew Plotinus only through the medium of the
French philosopher De Pressensé.1
Later scholars were more tolerant towards the person of Synesius,
but anyway, they continued to repeat the arguments from Letter 105 as
an evidence of his pagan or at least crypto-pagan views.2 H.-I. Marrou

1
Crawford, Synesius the Hellene, 122ff. The work on Neoplatonism and Christianity,
used by him, was of De Pressensé, Histoire des trois premiers siècles de l’Église Chretiénne.
2
Here I allude mostly to the British translator of the letters of Synesius, A. Fitzgerald—
Synesius of Cyrene, Letters of Synesius of Cyrene—as well as to the French scholar
Lacombrade, Synésios de Cyrène. I have used predominantly the edition of the whole
literary inheritance of Synesius, done by Garzya, Opere di Sinesio di Cirene: Epistole, operette,
inni. Some references were made to the new edition of the letters by A. Garzya and
D. Roques; Synesius, of Cyrene. Synésios de Cyréne: Correspondance: Lettres I–CLVI.

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 150 dimitar y. dimitrov

was the first to divide the problem into two different levels of reason-
ing.3 The posed questions are quite difficult to solve, they were the
key-problems dividing pagans and Christians, but they were far from
being settled even in the Church at the time when Synesius lived. The
charge of paganism seems to be unjustifiable. The discussion continued
in R. T. Wallis, Barbanti and Vollenweider, but without any explicit
conclusion.4
I would like to add something which could change the angle of
treatment and evaluation of these three objections and for a better
understanding of Letter 105 in general. Synesius undoubtedly raised
questions to Patriarch Theophilus, but did he set forth positions as well?
And if there were such positions, how to define them? Not to prolong
too much my presentation, I will pass to the concrete parameters of
the problem.
After explaining why he accepted the bishopric with fear and reluc-
tance, but also with a notion of duty and dignity, Synesius moved on
to difficillimae quaestiones, very important and crucial. “It is difficult, if
not quite impossible, that views should be shaken, which have entered
the soul through knowledge to the point of demonstration.”5 After
such a definite position, concerning the importance of the rational
and scientific methods, the future bishop of Ptolemais stated something
no less important, although generally neglected: “You know that phi-
losophy rejects many of these convictions which are cherished by the
common people.”6 Could it be Christianity that he meant, especially
if we consider the fact that Synesius was writing, though in an oblique
way, to the rigorous patriarch of Alexandria? It could hardly be so.
The man from Cyrene was an elitarian by all means, but I think that
such a statement is to be a key to important conclusions.
Concerning the objections, here is the first of them: “For my part I
can never persuade myself that the soul is of more recent origin than
the body.”7 Plato already had defended the immortality of the soul and

3
Marrou, “Synesius of Cyrene and Alexandrian Neoplatonism,” 126–50.
4
Wallis, Neoplatonism, 101–5; Di Pasquale Barbanti, Filosofia e cultura in Sinesio di Cirene,
114–148; Vollenweider, Neuplatonische und christlische Theologie bei Synesios von Kyrene.
5
Χαλεπόν ἐστιν, εἰ μὴ καὶ λίαν ἀδύνατον, εἰς ψυχὴν τὰ δι’ἐπιστήμης εἰς ἀπόδειξιν
ἐλθόντα δόγματα σαλευθῆναι. I used the English translation of Fitzgerald as well, but
very often with disagreement and serious changes from my side.
6
Οἶσθα δ’ὅτι πολλὰ φιλισοφία τοῖς θυλλομένοις τούτοις ἀντιδιατάττεται δόγμα-
σιν.
7
Ἀμέλει τὴν ψυχὴν οὐκ ἀζιώσω ποτὲ σώματος ὑστερογενῆ νομίζειν.

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 synesius of cyrene and the christian neoplatonism 151

this view was developed by the later (Neo)Platonic tradition. To accept

that the soul was created after the body meant to place on the same
footing the highest life principle with the transient of the material world.
This point was one of the main objections in pagan criticism against the
Christian theory of Creation.8 Anyway, what Synesius stated with this
first objection was that he could not agree with the view that the soul
had been created after the body. That he meant after was obvious from
the word he had used—ὑστερογενῆ. In his writings, the erudite from
Cyrene was quite fond of the Neoplatonic tradition of the immortality
of the souls and their descent into the bodies, sometimes even mingling
his theories with Gnostic stereotypes of thinking. Unlike bodies, souls
are not produced by the material parents; their generative source (πηγήv)
is different. Moreover, they descend from two distinctive sources, which
explain their principal differences here on earth.9 Once fallen down
into matter, the soul has to do everything possible to ascend up again
to the divine prime source. Quite often the misfortunes of this mate-
rial world are even a stimulus for ascension.10 Bodies are principally
different from the immortal soul.11 Such literary and philosophical
treatises, as On providence and On dreams, reveal a noticeable influence
of Porphyry. There is, however, one main difference; Porphyry’ views
were more pessimistic concerning the fortunes of the material world,
whereas, in the case of Synesius, the negative attitude towards matter
was balanced by a positive evaluation of Christ’s descent as a guarantee
for salvation.12
With his first objection, Synesius entered into the dispute concern-
ing the origin and the fate of souls in their descent from and ascent to
God. In that context we can notice an important detail, missed even
by such scholars of Synesius, as Marrou and Vollenweider. Synesius
did not agree with the thesis of the later origin of souls compared to
bodies indeed, but he thus has left opened a loophole for two possible
interpretations: 1. that he has been defending the pre-existence of souls;
2. that he has been inclined to accept the simultaneous act of creation
for both body and soul.

8
See Origen Contra Celsum 5.14; Porphyry Contra Christianos frag. 94; Augustine De
Civitate Dei 10.31. See also Gen. 2:7.
9
Synesius De providentia 1.2.
10
Syn. De insomniis 6–7. See also the Sententiae of Porphyry.
11
Syn. De ins. 9.
12
For the descent of Christ as a philosophized and positive image of Incarnation (posi-
tiven Abstiegs), see Vollenweider, Neuplatonische und christlische Theologie, 155–60, 173–6.

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 152 dimitar y. dimitrov

Volkmann was the first to express the view of a possible chain of

influence from Origen to Synesius.13 I agree, however, with the later
scholars, that it is very difficult to trace a real word-by-word influence,
neither is it very clear what the true teaching of Origen was, if we
are to base our opinion on the later intentional writings, mostly from
the sixth century. It is not clear too, if Origen himself was an Origenist
according to the anathemas before and during the Fifth Ecumenical
Council of 553 A.D.14 What we know from De principiis, concerning the
free will as a main reason for the descent and fall of souls, does not
fit too much with Synesius’ philosophy (and theology), where free will
occupies only a modest place. If we agree that Origen did not recognize
the autonomous existence of the world of ideas out of the imagina-
tion, it makes him too spurious a follower of Plato, while Synesius kept
that tradition nearly intact.15 Moreover, in Synesius we notice neatly
presented Iamblichus’ scheme νοητός—νοερός—αἰσθητικός (κόσμος).
The ideas of the pre-existence of souls, which most of the scholars
ascribed to Origen, could be an attempt to react in a still undeveloped
theological system against two popular teachings in the third century—I
mean traducionism and creationism. Similar opinions have been shared
in the fourth century by Apollinarius and Eunomius respectively.
According to the creationism, supported by the followers of Eunomius,
the soul, although a non-corporeal substance, was created in the body.
Every individual soul is built up in an already created embryo enter-
ing it. “But if we accept,” wrote Nemesius, the Bishop of Emesa in
the early fifth century, “that the soul was created in the body, we have
therefore to recognize that it was created after the body.”16 Such a the-
sis, however, seems to be far from the truth. “Eunomius will have to
admit,” continues Nemesius, “that either the soul is mortal, or that it

13
Volkmann, Synesius von Cyrene, 208–17.
14
Kuraev, Rannee khristianstvo i pereselenie dush [The early Christianity and the migra-
tion of souls], 209–20; in Russian. The author has even supported the idea that at least
part of Origen’s writings had been forged. We could find a certain kind of ‘defense’
of Origen from the point of orthodoxy in Crouzel, Origen. See also Dillon, “Origen
and Plotinus,” 7–26. According to Dillon, Origen has been influenced by Platonism,
but, however, he has subdued all these influences and borrowings to his specific vision
of God and the world.
15
Origen De principiis 2.3.6.
16
Nemesius De natura hominis 2.46: εἰ δή ἐκ τοῦ μετὰ τὴν διάπλασιν τοῦ σώματος
ἐμβεβλῆσθαι τήν ψυχήν ἡγοῖτο μετὰ τὸ σῶμα γεγενῆσθαι αὐτήν διαμαρτάνει τῆς
ἀληθείας. See also the old, but not obsolete translation into Russian of T. Vladimirsky
(Pochaevsko-Uspenskaja Lavra, 1904).

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 synesius of cyrene and the christian neoplatonism 153

was not created in the body.” According to Apollinarius, who shared

traducionist (or generationist) opinions, souls were born one from another,
like bodies. Following such logic, our soul is a product of our parents,
which also contradicts the idea of the immortality of souls. Finally,
Nemesius concluded that the soul, being imperishable and immortal,
combined indivisibly with the body.17 In that case, the soul logically
pre-exists the body, accordingly the soul is not enclosed in the body,
but rather the opposite. Thus, the bishop of Emesa, who was almost
a contemporary of Synesius, was an extreme supporter of the thesis
for the autonomous and leading role of the soul.18 We also see how
Origen and Nemesius, being divided by approximately two centuries,
reached, in their fight against traducionism and creationism, similar
conclusions concerning the pre-existence of the soul. Even Augustine
of Hippo demonstrated hesitation, in his Retractationes, when discussing
the origin of souls and their binding with bodies.19 All the problems
started from the interpretation of Genesis 2:7, especially when the
Neoplatonic way of thinking and argumentation was applied, which
was the most popular conceptual system among the intellectual elite of
the Late Empire. In Dialogus de anima et resurrectione, Gregory of Nyssa
rejected the idea of pre-existence and tried in his turn to solve this very
complicated theological issue.
Gregory wrote: “If we accept that the soul lives somehow before the
body, we will necessarily have to acknowledge that those stupid doctrines
(δογματοποιίας) which put the soul in the body are tendentious in thinking
that this happens for some evil purposes. Nobody who is sensible enough
would admit, moreover, that it happens after birth (ἐφυστερίζειν), so that the
souls are newer than the created bodies. It is clear to everybody that some-
thing inanimate cannot contain a moving and growing force within itself.
But there is no doubt that the embryo in the womb demonstrates growth
and movement. Therefore, nothing remains than to accept the simultane-
ous beginning of soul and body.”20

17
Nemesius De natura hominis 2.47–54; 3.57. Gregory of Nyssa has detached in his
De opificio hominis an intermediate level between the body and the reasonable soul—this
is αἰσθανομένη, the sensible force.
18
Nemesius De natura hominis 3.58.
19
Augustine Retractationes 1.1.3 (difficillima quaestio), see Marrou, “Synesius of Cyrene
and Alexandrian Neoplatonism,” 146; Crouzel, Origen, 169ff.
20
Gregory of Nyssa Dialogus de anima et resurrectione 125a–c. Gregory has disputed
obliquely with a passage from Origen C. Cels. 3.75.

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Thus, Gregory defended through words which he put into the mouth
of his sister Macrina, the simultaneous creation of body and soul. His
criticism alluded to the supporters of the pre-existence of the soul and
also to the creationists (in that case, the Eunomeans), as well as to the
teaching of Methodius of Olympus, who went so far in his refutation
of Origen’s doctrines as to start defending the post-existence of the
soul. Gregory of Nyssa expressly criticized such a view in De opificio
hominis (229b–233b).
Synesius, too, refused to accept the post-existence of the soul compared
with the body. This was his main objection. Based on scientific methods,
the future bishop of Ptolemais maintained the Neoplatonic conception
of the soul’s descent into bodies, without, however, explicitly supporting
the pre-existence theory, thus contradicting orthodox Christianity of
the day. The theories, which he supported, were criticized by Gregory
of Nyssa yet on another occasion, both Gregory and Synesius fought
together in a battle against the simplistic and heretic views, “cherished
by the common people.”
Let us return to Letter 105. After the body-soul problem, Synesius
passed on to another definite statement: “Never will I admit that the
world and the parts (τἄλλα μέρη), which make it, must perish at a
certain moment.”21 Was the man from Cyrene ready to defend in front
of Theophilus the pagan concept of the world’s eternity?
The Neoplatonic philosophers have always defended such a thesis
energetically, rejecting the Christian notion of a single and unique act
of God’s Will. For the pagan followers of ancient cosmogony and Plato,
the creation proceeds from itself in eternity, as an out of time act of
descent from the higher to the lower levels of existence according to the
well known scheme μονή, πρόοδος, ἐπιστροφή. Christians held quite a
different view: according to them the world has its beginning and end
in God, to be in the likeness of Him is only possible for man through
His blessing. As Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa stated, as the
world has its beginning, it will be necessary to conclude that it also has
an end.22 This problem started to be an important dividing line between
pagan philosophers and Christian theologians, although they usually
had received a similar educational and world-view background.

21
Τὸν κόσμον οὐ φήσω καὶ τἄλλα μέρη συνδιαφθείρεσθαι.
Basil the Great Homiliae in Hexaemeron 1.4; Gregory of Nyssa De opificio hominis
22

229b.

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 synesius of cyrene and the christian neoplatonism 155

Within the framework of Christian theology, this question was far

from being unanimously solved. Let us go back once more to the much
disputed texts of Origen. The letter of Emperor Justinian I to Patriarch
Menas, concerning De principiis (1.2.10) presumed that Origen was dis-
posed to accept some kind of eternity of the world. He had supposedly
maintained the idea of the existence of numerous worlds changing each
other, until the final break of this chain of periodical re-establishments
(ἀποκατααστάσεις).23 In justification of Origen’s propriety as an author,
we have to say that he did not answer this question conclusively, at least
according to what remained from his writings. He offered to his readers
three different, but plausible, hypotheses without decisively supporting
any of them.24 According to the first hypothesis, only the material and
mortal world will be definitely destroyed. The second hypothesis implies
that it would be possible for the material nature to be transformed into
some ethereal condition, while the third postulates complete destruc-
tion of the world together with all its elements. Though the Christian
outlook prevailed in Origen’s writings, yet the lack of an authoritative
Christian theory of Creation in the third century, (at least on the level
of philosophical and theological speculations) drove him—if not to
the point of merely accepting the Biblical fact—to fall back on the
(Neo)Platonic theories of emanation, subordination and the concept
of the ‘eternal reversal.’25 Feeling justified in his uncertainty, Origen
preferred to expostulate different theories in order to reject the Gnostic
and Manichaean views.

23
Origen Princ. 1.6.2–3, 2.3.1, 3.5, based on Isaia 66.22 and Ecclesiast I.9–10.
24
Origen Princ. 2.3.6.
25
Ivanka, Platonismo cristiano, 110–3. Dillon has found out some parallels between
the subordinationist doctrine of Origen, concerning the levels of penetration and influ-
ence in the framework of the Trinitarian model, and the respective interpretations of
Proclus two centuries later in the Elements of Theology (Institutio Theologica). The great
scholar of Neoplatonism has concluded that both Origen and Proclus had followed
conceptions, laid down already in the tradition of the Middle Platonism, especially in
Numenius. It is not impossible that Origen would have been influenced by the spiritual
atmosphere of his own time, in particular by the popular Gnostic ideas, which he has
otherwise refuted in De principiis. See Dillon, “Origen’s Doctrine of the Trinity and
Some Later Neoplatonic Theories,” in Golden Chain, XXI. For more detailed exposé
of the Neoplatonic motifs in Origen, see also Weber, Origenes der Neuplatoniker, who has
held the view, that it should be some other Origen, a Neoplatonic philosopher and
pupil of Plotinus, different from the Christian Origen. Crouzel has ‘defended’ the
Christian theologian Origen against all accusations, from crypto-paganism to heresy
or the spurious existence of two Origens.

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 156 dimitar y. dimitrov

If Synesius had defended in front of Theophilus such heretical, and

even pagan, views of the world’s eternity, or if he had exposed his
hesitation, following Origen at a time when the Patriarch of Alexandria
had started a real war against his followers, why did the author from
Cyrene miss to mention the Creation, but only the (eventual) end? Why
did he add this καὶ τἄλλα μέρη?
According to Marrou, Synesius expressed some reservations concern-
ing the possibility of the destruction of the sun, the moon and the stars.26
Did he actually mean the eternity of the noetic world in contradistinction
from the material world? It is a plausible hypothesis, but the laconic
character of the statement prevents us from any definite answer. What
we can do is to compare this objection with Hymn 3, where the praise
of the Creator and the creation is expressed in these words:
You, Leader of the worlds, cleansed from any filth, You are the Nature of
natures. You give warmth to nature, the creation of things mortal and the
visible images of eternity, so that even the latest part of this world receives
the gift of life in its own turn. The law of God will not allow the filth of
the world (τρύγα τὰν κόσμου) to be equal with the heights of heaven.
Never will perish completely (ὅλως) what has been put in order in the
choir of the existing beings,27 so far as each one depends on another and
all of them taste the benefit from their common existence. From elements
destined to death the eternal circle has been formed, whose spark of life is
drawn from Your breath. (Synesius Hymn 3.309–332).28
This fragment from Hymn 3 raises a lot of questions. The influence
of Neoplatonism is noticeable, especially the hierarchical structure
of beings as a result of emanational descent. When existing beings are
opposed to non-being and matter is unanimously accepted as non-being
everywhere in the hymns, then what really exists can never perish com-
pletely, having in itself a spark from the higher entities. However, the
fragment could not so easily be deciphered. God’s breath (πνοιαῖς) gives
life even to things which are mortal and destined to death (ὀλλυμένων),
and warms them so that they form an eternal circle (κύκλος ἀίδιος).
Searching helps interpretation, we should, therefore, examine different
texts as well. In On providence (2.7), Synesius presented the Werdung of
events in the world in the following manner: “If there is generation in

26
Marrou, “Synesius of Cyrene and Alexandrian Neoplatonism,” 147.
27
The word used is ὄντων (gen. pl.) ‘Beings,’ that have existence as opposed to
non-beings.
28
Translation is mine from the edition of Garzya.

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 synesius of cyrene and the christian neoplatonism 157

the realm about us, the cause of generation is in the realm above us.
It is from this source that the seeds of events arrive here.”29 Moreover,
events recur periodically, which gives the wise man opportunity to
realize the truth. Thus, the author from Cyrene developed an idea
of cyclical movement, which reminds us of the Stoic teaching of the
seminal logoi, and also of the apokathastaseis of Origen. At the end of
this part of On providence, Synesius was wise enough, nevertheless, to
call these teachings myths and allegories, just to ensure himself against
possible accusations of the non-Christian or at least heretical theory
of the eternal reversal.
As I have already mentioned, the dispute on eternity or the neces-
sary destruction of the world was quite a current and pressing issue
in the fifth and sixth centuries, provoking many polemical works.
Proclus defined 18 arguments in favor of the world’s eternity and John
Philoponus later did his best to refute them.30 Zacharias Scholasticus,
already referred to, was the author of a polemical dispute, probably ficti-
tious, with his pagan teacher, the Alexandrian philosopher Ammonius,
and with another opponent hidden under the name of Iatrosophistus.
Defending the Christian idea of Creation and the end with different
arguments, Zacharias made this statement: “God is good even when
destroying the visible world, so far as He does not intend to remove
the cosmos away, nor to will its full destruction, but to transform it
and change it to the better.”31 For a Christian and Neoplatonist, like
Synesius, such a thesis would be more acceptable, while the full-scale
destruction of the world would have necessarily implied the inevitable
destruction of the forms-ideas as well, which would sound absurd for
the pupil of Hypatia.
Such a view could find modus vivendi with Christian orthodoxy about
the beginning of the fifth century, the objections of Synesius, being
harmless and current, even in the context of the Cappadocian synthesis,
in comparison with Nemesius, also Platonic and a bishop, who floruit
one or two decades later.

29
Εἰ δὲ γένεσις ἐν τοῖς περὶ ἡμᾶς, αἰτία γενέσεως ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς, κἀκεῖθεν
ἐνταῦθα καθήκει τὰ τῶν συμβαινόντων σπέρματα.
30
The classical edition of H. Rabe still remains trustworthy; Philoponus, De aeternitate
mundi contra Proclum, Edidit Hugo Rabe, (1899).
31
Translation into Bulgarian of the fragments from the disputes of Zacharias was
made by I. Hristov and V. Marinov from Zacaria Scolastico, Ammonio. Zacaria Scolastico
(1973). (English translation is mine).

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 158 dimitar y. dimitrov

Here follows the third objection in Letter 105: “As for the resurrec-
tion, which is an object of common belief, I consider it as a sacred
and mysterious allegory, being far from sharing the views of the vulgar
crowd thereon.”32
This statement by no means implies that Synesius refuted the act
of resurrection, though he defined it as “a sacred and mysterious alle-
gory.” Even in his extremely Platonic writing On dreams, he affirmed that
principally nothing could impede, in certain conditions, the corporal
substance (σωματικὴν οὐσίαν) to ascend to higher “regions,” to resur-
rect (ἀναστᾶσαν) from its fallen position and together with the soul to
reach the light and the heavenly spheres.33 This is that εἴδωλον, thanks
to which not only the soul, but even the lower elements can enter into
contact with the divine. If Synesius was protesting against something,
it was undoubtedly the rough and vulgarized understanding of that
act. His intentional resentment of rough naturalism in presenting the
resurrected bodies was close to what Origen had written in De principiis
(2.10.3). The language of Synesius is (Neo)Platonic, but such a style
was also used by Gregory of Nyssa. In describing the resurrection as a
recovery of the combination of elements and building up again what
had been destroyed, Gregory emphasized the role of the ‘God-seeing
soul’ (θεοειδὲς), striving towards similar entities, but ‘covered up by
body and nailed in it.’ Such Neoplatonic imagery with elements of a
dualistic thinking can also be found in Synesius.34
If we are to understand Synesius’ position, additional details should
be put into consideration. The last 20 years of the fourth century were
the ‘golden period’ of the Egyptian monasticism in Nitria and Scetis.
Different ideas grew rank there. A certain Hierax of Leontopolis in
the Delta had refuted the resurrection of bodies all together. A new
trend, usually called anthropomorphism, became popular among the
monks, especially among the illiterate or the insufficiently educated
among them. God was thought of as being in a human form, and this
conception was connected with different chiliastic views and expecta-
tions. A serious conflict had arisen between the “intellectuals” and the
“villagers” among the monks, which to a great extent coincided with
the traditional misunderstanding between the Copts and the Hellenized

32
Τὴν καθωμιλημένην ἀνάστασιν ἱερόν τι καὶ ἀπόρρητον ἤγημαι, καὶ πολλοῦ δέω
ταῖς τοῦ πλήθους ὑπολήψεσιν ὁμολογῆσαι.
33
Syn. De ins. 10.
34
Gregory of Nyssa Dialogus de anima et resurrectione 76a–80a, 97a–100b.

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 synesius of cyrene and the christian neoplatonism 159

(and also Romanized) foreigners. In his Pascal letter for the year 399,
Theophilus, the Patriarch of Alexandria, a friend and supporter of
Synesius, had ultimately forbidden anthropomorphism as a wrong and
heretical infatuation. This letter was positively accepted by the “intel-
lectuals,” but negatively by the anthropomorphites.35 Synesius was a witness
of those events and, as far as we know from his Dion, clear-sighted with
regard to Egyptian monasticism. In the aforementioned treatise, the
future bishop of Ptolemais showed himself as a man with intellectual
affiliations, who emphasized the priority of the rational approach to
knowledge above imitation of the divine. Anthropomorphism together with
the rough physical notion of resurrection was always unacceptable to
him, being part of what he usually labeled as ‘vulgar conceptions.’ That
there were many common features between Augustine and Synesius
should not be accepted with surprise. Augustine himself confessed that
for a long period of time he had been thinking of God in human form.
Only his occupation with philosophy had made him change this wrong
view which was so popular among the ordinary people.36 The man
from Cyrene never made such a mistake. He was a loyal Christian,
but also an elitist intellectual, pretending to be a philosopher more
than anything else.37
In conclusion, we have no reason to regard the three objections of
Synesius in his Letter 105 as a testimony for his formal belonging to
paganism; neither should we consider his way of thinking as incompat-
ible with Christianity. It is important to re-emphasize that these objec-
tions were not an obstacle for Theophilus to be the active promoter
of his ordination. My opinion is that in the case of Synesius, we have
to deal with a representative of the highly educated intellectual strata
in the Christian church at that time. Those people were not prone to
abandon the Neoplatonic stereotypes of thought and behavior, but
nevertheless, they took part in the formation of a refined and cultivated
philosophical and theological system, which obtained its perfection in
the following few centuries. Notwithstanding his (Neo)Platonic back-
ground and affiliations, Synesius was a Christian, interested in the deep

35
These events were fairly examined in the well known work of Chitty, Desert a
City, esp. 53ff.
36
Augustine Confessiones 7.1.1.
37
This elitist attitude could be summarized in his rhetorical question in Letter 105:
“What can there be in common between the ordinary people and philosophy?” (∆ήμῳ
γὰρ δὴ φιλοσοφίᾳ τί πρὸς ἄλληλα;).

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foundations of faith, probably not so profound in pure theology, as

the Cappadocians were, but an active supporter of the union between
faith, Empire and civilization. When discussing his beliefs, we should
not miss the hymns.

II. Neoplatonic and Christian motifs in the hymns of Synesius

I have already discussed this problem elsewhere,38 so that my intention

is to present it here in brief. It is impossible, however, to summarize the
main aspects of religious, philosophical and cultural symbiosis without
the poetic inheritance of Synesius.
The hymns were written in a Doric dialect, as a sign of respect to
the traditions of Cyrene, the only Spartan colony from the time of the
Great Greek Colonization.39 The language is difficult to understand,
archaic and revealing erudition as well as a certain eclecticism of
thought. This is the reason why the hymns were always a stumbling
block for scholars. The problems concerned with the dating and the
true order of the nine genuine hymns reveal some even more important
questions: Are they pagan or Christian, or do they point to a gradual
process of accommodation to Christianity by their author? What can
they reveal from their author’s views?
All the hymns are devoted to a general idea—the raising of the
author’s soul from the bonds of material existence to the higher spheres
of the Divine. The hymns can be divided into two main groups: the
first six (according to the order proposed by Vollenweider)40 are mainly
concerned with the Trinitarian problem, while the last three (8, 9 and
7) are mostly Christological. We can trace different influences, from
the Middle Platonism and Neoplatonism of Plotinus, Porphyry, and
Iamblichus, to the Chaldean Oracles and the contemporary Christian
thought. There are especially extensive borrowings of thoughts and
terminology from the Chaldean Oracles, so far as we know them from
the remaining fragments and Porphyry’ exegesis (through Augustine). In

38
Dimitrov, “Neoplatonic and Christian Motifs,” 1:112–28 [in Bulgarian, with
English summary].
39
The hymns were translated and cited by the edition of Garzya, but some refer-
ences and verifications were made in other editions as well; Garzya, Opere di Sinesio
di Cirene.
40
Vollenweider, Neuplatonische und christlische Theologie, 25–7, 70–88.

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 synesius of cyrene and the christian neoplatonism 161

some places, we recognize a number of Plotinus’ statements and ideas.

Synesius stands close to Plotinus, Porphyry and the Neopythagoreans
in his attitude towards matter. In all the hymns, matter is mentioned
in a negative context as a prison for the soul. In Hymn 3, he invokes
the Father to have mercy on his soul and not to allow the once escaped
soul to return to the body (Hymn 3.375–380). The very expression σῶμα
φυγοῖσαν reminds us of Porphyry’ principle omne corpus fugiendum, criti-
cized by Augustine (De civitate Dei 10.29, 22.25–28).41 The liberation of
the soul from the fetters of matter was, indeed, the main motive in all the
literary inheritance of the man from Cyrene and the hymns were the
best illustration of this.42
However, there are important differences as well. Synesius was
far alien to the subordination of the hypostaseis, so typical of the
(Neo)platonic tradition.43 The three Persons of the Godhead in the
hymns are considered equal and coexisting together out of time and
beyond human understanding. The descent of the Divine (the Son, the

41
O’Meara, Porphyry’s Philosophy from Oracles in Augustine, 134–9; Di Pasquale Barbanti,
Filosofia e Cultura in Sinesio di Cirene, 71–84. For the negative appreciation of matter in
Plotinus see Enneades 2.4.16; 1.8.3.
42
A possible influence from Numenius could be traced, especially in the latter’s
definition of matter as something evil and separated by God (usually called Good in
Itself, the Pythagorean Monas). According to the triadic construction of Numenius the
First God is totally transcendent. With the sensible world and the evil matter contacts
the Second God, The Son-Demiurge. We should realize, however, that together with
some slight parallels there are a lot of differences between Numenius and Synesius. We
cannot find any sign of negativism towards the second hypostasis in Synesius, while in
Numenius this is the “undefined Dyas,” the Demiurge. The World Soul of Numenius
is identical with Evil—such an idea would by necessity have sound blasphemous for
the (future) bishop of Ptolemais. See Numenius, Fragments, trans. Édouard Des Places
(Paris, 1973), frags. 21, 11, 14–15, 52, 64–75. For Numenius’ influence on Plotinus see
Porphyry, Vita Plotini. See also Bogdanov, “Neoplatonic Trinitarian Schemes,” 1:9–22
[in Bulgarian, with English summary].
43
Barbanti was disposed to recognize in the Son the third hypostasis of Neoplatonism,
notwithstanding His explicit binding with the Reason and the Wisdom of God; Di
Pasquale Barbanti, Filosofia e Cultura in Sinesio di Cirene, 116–126. This confusion is a
result, according to my modest opinion, of the very strictly followed presumption, that
Synesius has used and created a synthesis in a nearly unchanged manner of the higher
entities of Plotinus, Porphyry and the Chaldeans. An attentive and unbiassed reading
of the hymns would clearly indicate that the author used the language and the ideas,
but freely and accordingly to his main concept of presenting the Divine simultaneously
as Unity and Trinity, as presence in the world and absence from it in the same time (time
being not the proper word for God). Synesius’ views of Trinity differed too much from
the emanational theory of Plotinus, according to which the divine grows weak and
worsens its quality (τὴν χείρονα, Enn. 5.2.2) when proceeding downward in various
emanations. The monistic theory of Porphyry could not be fully identified with the
total equality of the hypostasis, present in the hymns of Synesius.

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 162 dimitar y. dimitrov

Holy Spirit) was presented not so far as a diminution and degradation,

but as an act of God’s Will to save His creatures from the material
bonds. Synesius, moreover, did not debase the Holy Spirit to the level
of the Chaldean World Soul, but rather represented it as a hypostasis
equal to the other two.
Synesius’ language and style strongly followed the ancient tradi-
tions. Conservative traditionalism, anyway, was a typical feature of
an intellectual snob as the author from Cyrene certainly was. He tried
very often not to mention the relatively new Judaic and Christian ter-
minology, being attached to the classical, sometimes to archaic Greek
terms and notions of religious and philosophical poetry. But however
complex his language and style are and however rich of Neoplatonic
and Chaldean terminology, they reveal a sincere Christian religiosity, even
if not pretending to be Orthodox in the sense of the later Byzantine
religious and theological literature. If Synesius had lived in the eleventh
century, let us say, he would have been in danger of being accused of
Sabelian or Manichaean heresy because of the tendency to equate
the hypostases to a level of erasement of differences, or because of his
negative attitude to matter. In the very beginning of the fifth century,
however, when Christian theology was still in the making, he was well
set in his place.
The hymns were created somewhere between 402/3 and the death
of Synesius (413 or 414). If there was any development at all, it was
not from paganism to Christianity, but rather from Trinitarian topics
with strongly anti-Arian sentiment, connected probably with his policy
against the Eunomeans, to more Christocentrical, and connected with
the liturgical cycle. In one of the earlier hymns (Hymn 3)—the longest
of all, Synesius quite openly mentions the act of his own baptism,
already in mature age, as it was typical for the time.44

III. Religious, philosophical and cultural synthesis in Synesius’ literary legacy

Synesius received a rich education at the school of Hypatia in

Alexandria, which included the then fashionable Neoplatonism. This
influence is obvious with regard to his language and stereotypes of think-

44
Syn. Hymni 3.528–539: Ναί, πάτερ, ἀγνᾶς/παγὰ σοφίας/λάμψον πραπίσιν/ἀπὸ
σῶν κόλπων/νοερὸν φέγγος/στράψον κραδίᾳ/ἀπὸ σᾶς ἀλκᾶς/σοφίας αὐφάν/κἀστὰν ἐπὶ
σὲ/ἱερὰν ἀτραπὸν/σύνθημα δίδου/σφραγῖδα τεάν. See also Syn. Hymn. 3.619–621: Ἤδη
φερέτω/σφραγῖδα πατρὸς/ἱκέτις ψυμά.

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 synesius of cyrene and the christian neoplatonism 163

ing in all his writings, prose and hymns alike. The religious concepts
were presented as well, in a highly philosophized form. According to
Synesius, philosophy alone could give a meaning and dignity to human
life, ensuring a true contact with God through ἀλήθεια, against the
erroneous views of the mob. The wise man is akin to God—this is
the concept, which Synesius supported and had once openly stated in the
treatise On dreams.45 The typical Plotinian notions of advent (πρόοδος)
and return (ἐπιστροφή) are present in the hymns.
On dreams was the most purely philosophical writing of Synesius,
based generally on Sententiae of Porphyry, on Iamblichus and Chaldean
literature.46 We find in it, different topics and notions, frequent in the
Neoplatonic milieu from the third to the sixth centuries, including the
problem of the Divine Reason (Νους) and Its sinking into the sensual
world (De insomniis 1, 7–8), the descent and ascent of souls (De insomniis
5–6, 8–10), their bearer (ὄχημα) (De insomniis 5–6);47 the phantasms and
the possibility of soothsaying (De insomniis 2, 5, 7, 14–17). The trea-
tise is imbued with certain pantheism. Following Plato (Timaeus 30b),
Plotinus (Enneades 2.3.7), and Iamblichus (De Mysteriis), Synesius defended
soothsaying (μαντεία) through dream-interpretation, starting from the
principle, that in the cosmos all is in all, but everything, according to
its properties, can contact only with a similar.48 Wise is the man, who
realizes the unity of the cosmos, so that he can be able to use it.49

45
Syn. De ins. 1: οἰκεῖος θεῷ.
46
For ἱερῶν λογίω as a source of wisdom Synesius has mentioned in chapter 4 of
De insomniis. One of the citations in chapter 5 we find as a fragment 118 in the edition
of Des Places, Oracles chaldaïques. For a possible Chaldean influence on Synesius see
Theiler, Chaldäischen Orakel und die Hymnen des Synesios, 1–40.
47
N. Aujoulat has concluded, that the word ὄχημα had been firstly used by Iamblichus
and later by Synesius in a sense of being some kind of shining envelope of the soul, its
boat-bearer, while Porphyry had preferred to use another word—πνεῦμα. See Aujoulat,
Néo-Platonisme Alexandrin, 230. Actually Synesius has used both words in his De insomniis,
so it would not be impossible that he has used πνοία in the hymns in order not to
confuse it with the well known (from Porphyry) meaning of the word πνεῦμα.
48
See the wonderful book of Shaw, Theurgy and the Soul; and the older, but still
relevant book of Lewy, Chaldæan Oracles and Theurgy.
49
Syn. De ins. 2: διὰ πάντων πάντα . . . τῷ κόσμῳ; Syn. De ins. 2: σοφὸς ὁ εἰδὼς τὴν
τῶν μερῶν τοῦ κόσμου συγγένειαν; Syn. De ins. 7: ὁμοίῳ γὰρ τὸ ὅμοιον ἥδεται. Syn.
De prov. 2, 7: καὶ οὐκ ἀσυμπαθῆ πρὸς ἄλληλα τὰ μέρη θησόμεθα. This treatment
concerning the unity of cosmos, the reciprocal similarities, the sympathetical magic
and the possibility of soothsaying sounds very much like the defense of theurgy in De
mysteriis of Iamblichus. See my article Dimitrov, “Theurgy of Iamblichus,” 1:83–93 [in
Bulgarian, with English summary] and also the fragments of De mysteriis, translated by
myself in the same edition, 189–92.

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 164 dimitar y. dimitrov

The idea of the middle (τι μέσὸν; Hymn 3.234–44), the mediating prin-
ciple (μεσάτη ἀρχή) and God’s Will (ἰότας) as a middle nature (μέσα φύσις
ἄφθεγκτος; Hymn 3.217–20) is noticeable in the hymns. This idea fits in
perfectly with the context of Porphyrian Neoplatonism, so far as the phi-
losopher from Tyrus had put the Soul as a hypostasis between the One
and the Reason in the souls’s capacity of being a mediator in the
context of the monistic trend towards ‘telescoping’ the hypostaseis.50
The mediating principle between the transcendent one (the Ineffable
of Iamblichus) and the development into the plurality of generation
finds its place in later Neoplatonism as a possibility of overcoming the
otherwise insurmountable barrier between full transcendence and the
creative principle.51 Like all the Neoplatonicians, Synesius defended
the dichotomy in the structure of man. The body, being material, con-
stitutes the lower register of human entity, while the soul is immortal
and divine by nature. Falling down, nevertheless, the soul becomes filthy
and prone to serve the mistress-earth (χθονὶ θητεῦσαι; Hymn 3.573).
Only with effort and God’s help, enhanced by prayers and philosophical
pursuits, can the soul escape from its unhappy existence here and reach
spheres free from the ‘jurisdiction’ of material nature and the laws of
fortune (εἰμαρμήνη).52 But woe to the sinful soul that will not be able
to ascend after its first fall!
The concepts of the boundary character of souls and the two kinds
of souls (intelligible and fallen in matter) betray the concrete influ-
ence of Plotinus.53 Souls descend from the world of light, of the clear
and simple forms, into the world of becoming and diversity.54 These
topics—of the different kinds of souls, of the imaginary and fortune-
telling abilities of ψυχή φανταστική, of its ethereal envelope (πνεῦμα)
and bearer (ὄχημα)—take a central part in the aforementioned treatise
On dreams, confirming Synesius’ interest in traditional topics of ancient
philosophy, which received popularity in the context of (and because
of) Neoplatonism and Chaldean literature.55 As a Neoplatonic, we can

50
The word “telescoping” was used by A. C. Lloyd in Armstrong, Cambridge History
of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy, 283–96.
51
See Proclus Institutio Theologica 27, 100.
52
Syn. De ins. 8–9.
53
Syn. Hymn. 3.549–608, 714–717; 4.202–295; Plotinus Enn. 6.4.14.
54
Syn. Laus calvitii 7: Τὰ πρῶτα τῶν ὄντων ἁπλα κατιοῦσα δὲ ἡ φύσις ποικίλλεται.
Ἡ δὲ ὕλη τῶν ὄντων τὸ ἔσχατον ̀ ταύτῃ καὶ ποικιλώτατον.
55
In De Civitate Dei 9 Augustine has attributed the idea of anima spiritualis, a medium
for soothsaying, to Porphyry. For the word φαντασία and the possible influence of

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 synesius of cyrene and the christian neoplatonism 165

define his specific attitude towards eternity versus the liquidation of the
world, as has already been discussed, with all the important reserva-
tions and additions. Without opposing Christian opinions, Synesius kept
intact some principles, based on his education, like the eternity of at
least the highest part of God’s creation. His Christian belief, which I
cannot doubt at all, was too intellectualized and elitist, but this was an
important facet of Synesius mentality. We cannot, therefore, escape the
feeling that, for the pupil of Hypatia, philosophy and culture were an
end in themselves, far from the specific ethos of humbleness, notice-
able, for example, in the writings of the great Cappadocians. It would
probably be more correct to designate Synesius as a traditionalist and
elitarian Christian Neoplatonician, but not a Christian theologian.
We have to realize, however, that an intellectualized belief does not
mean a lack of belief. The hymns of Synesius are a good example of
that. He was prone to divide the philosophical truth as a part of a
sophisticated religious system, from the vulgar beliefs of the common
people. But such a snobbish attitude is not unique in the Christian
tradition. Origen used to state in Contra Celsum (1.9), that πίστις was
necessary for the common people insofar as only a small number of men
were endowed with the capacity to be reasonable and deeply involved
in thought and understanding. The mass of the people were strongly
influenced by the material conditions and the nearly inevitable human
weaknesses. In his First homily, Synesius states the following: “Our God
is Wisdom and Word.” While explaining the holy act of the Eucharist
with the help of philosophical language, the bishop of Ptolemais called
for modesty and sobriety of reason.56 Even when summoning the flock,
he put intellectual principles first.
From everything written until now two questions arise logically.
The first is connected with the philosophical and theological sys-
tem of Synesius, if any. The second question is: Was it a Christian
Neoplatonism or anything else? What is the justification for using such
a label?
Extensive research of his writings will convince us not to speak of
a system in the proper sense of the word. I would not, however, agree
with Crawford’s negative evaluation of Synesius as a chaotic and

Iamblichus see Aujoulat, “Avatars de la phantasia dans le Traité des songes de Synésios
de Cirène,” Koinonia 7 (1983): 157–77; 8 (1984): 33–55.
56
Ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν σοφία καὶ λόγος. Κρατὴρ ὁ παρακινῶν τὸ φρονοῦν, ὁ ταράττων τὸ
λογιζόμενον οὐδὲν προσήκει τῷ λόγῳ.

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 166 dimitar y. dimitrov

eclectic dilettante, far from real philosophy and even farther away from
Christian theology.57 To my understanding, we witness in Synesius an
interesting combination of philosophical schemes and Christian founda-
tions of faith. We can hardly find such a combination of philosophy,
religious belief and poetics elsewhere in late antique literature. Being
a different author from the Cappadocians and Augustine, for example,
Synesius possessed features, which made him akin to them. They all
received a similar type of education in the framework of a curriculum,
bequeathed from pagan Hellenism. Through his Hymns and Letters
the author from Cyrene enlisted himself among the fighters for the
developing post-Nicaean orthodoxy. Moreover, these writings reveal
not only commitment, but also a deep knowledge of the essence of the
problems. The language of Synesius was philosophical and traditional-
ist, and he never pretended to be, or to be considered as, a theologian
par excellence—just the opposite, he all the time emphasized his desire to
be thought of as a philosopher.58 His approach was just another kind of
approach to the questions of faith and their treatment for himself as
well as for others. In Dion (4) it is clearly stated, moreover, that Synesius
would never accept to be treated only in this emploi. He was a many-
sided person, active in spite of his contemplative nature and a great
lover of belles-lettres. Such pieces of literature and cultural polemics, like
Dion, Laus calvitii (Praise of baldness) and the lost Cynegetica, witness that
inclination is combined with a fine sense of humor.
Like Augustine and the Cappadocians, Synesius also became a bishop
in the last years of his short life. He was, moreover, an active bishop
who took care of his congregation for the good weal of the faith, for
higher morality and for more education. At the beginning he hesitated
and later accepted the bishopric unwillingly, but with a clear sense of
duty. His hesitations were connected with a deep sense of obligation so
far as it implied a total change of life style. Such hesitations, nonethe-
less, can also be noticed in the case of Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory
of Nyssa and Augustine. If there were something which radically dif-
ferentiates Synesius from them, it is the lack of any tension between
paganism and Christianity, at least in his writings. But it was not so,

57
Wallis has described him in a witty manner as a “gentleman-farmer-cum-amateur-
philosopher;” Wallis, Neoplatonism, 131.
58
For the Neoplatonic language and its possible symbolic application, even
beyond any discursive expression, see the wonderful research of Ahbel-Rappe, Reading
Neoplatonism.

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 synesius of cyrene and the christian neoplatonism 167

because Synesius was a crypto-pagan. Simply such a problem did not

exist in his mental arrangement at all.
According to Lloyd, the Platonism of Synesius was of a simple
kind, going back to the Middle Academy, being too far removed from
the Neoplatonism of the time.59 We have already traced some influ-
ences from Plotinus, Porphyry and Iamblichus, but the assertions of
the English scholar are not lacking reason. The author from Cyrene
used the imaginary language of the Neoplatonicians on the descent
of the higher entities into bodies and the reversal ascent of the souls,
but nowhere in his writings did he develop, in a full scale, the emana-
tional theory, neither did he discuss different levels of existence except
the well known Trinity of Father—Son (Logos, Nous)—Holy Spirit
(The World Soul, Will, Force). Neoplatonism solved, to a great extent,
Plato’s original dualism, creating a conception for linking through dif-
ferent units the higher world of Ideas with the world of “shades.” The
lower reality is already present as a necessary form of emanation of
the higher Forms and not just an antipode.60 In the case of Synesius,
we notice a more openly expressed dualism, the same as in Porphyry,
the most inclined Neoplatonician, to dualism, with possible borrowings
from Middle Platonism, including Plutarch and Numenius.
The last question, which I have partly answered so far, or at least
tried to do so, is focused on the philosophy of Synesius as seen through
actual Christian theology. It will be accompanied by some conclusions
as well. Moreover, we have to realize how Christian Neoplatonism was
possible at all?
In the Christian way of thinking, the Creation was a conscious and
unique act of God’s Will, while in the case of (pagan) Neoplatonicians,
the Creation proceeded from higher to lower levels in eternity. Moreover,
in Neoplatonism the act of descent and generation (Werdung) was evil
to a certain extent, being a worsening by necessity and by no means a
conscious act of God. The idea of original sin was totally alien to the
Neoplatonic philosophy/theology. The Neopythagorean ideas of Monas
and Dyas (One/Itself/Unity as opposed to Two/Another/Plurality)
have supposed a certain dichotomy, not only in the process of gen-
eration, but also in the highest spheres of the Divine, while Nicaean

59
Armstrong, Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy, 314: “The
Platonism that appears in Synesius, who was her (Hypatia’s) pupil, is of a simple kind
and is supposed to go back to the Middle Academy, perhaps through Porphyry.”
60
Ivanka, Platonismo cristiano, 49–68.

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 168 dimitar y. dimitrov

Christianity has always insisted on the Monas and Trias as an essential

part of Trinitarian theology. The depersonalization of the creation, as
an out of time phenomenon, did not allow Neoplatonism to imagine
some clear and personalized relationship between God and the world.
In Christian theology, God’s advent, here on earth, was the most
important moment and the focus of the Christian soteriology without
any decrease from Father to Son and the Holy Spirit.61
Following these important points of divergence, the British scholar
McEvoy defended the idea of the very impossibility of Christian
Neoplatonism, being a contradiction in itself.62 However, it is a well
known fact that Christian theology developed in the context of
Neoplatonic philosophy. Augustine of Hippo was the first to show
similarities and the possible paths of influence from Platonic and
Neoplatonic philosophy towards Christian theology. The Cappadocian
synthesis was a good example of that, too. According to Augustine,
there were similar points between the two doctrines, like the Logos-
teaching, Trinity and the levels of intelligence, on the other hand, there
were main differences concerning Incarnation, Redemption and God’s
Will.63 Moreover, Augustine found certain similarities with Christianity,
even in the teaching of Porphyry, a great enemy of Christianity. These
similarities were connected with the notion of the three main hyposta-
seis, with the real catharsis through philosophy, allowing a union with
God’s Reason, and, surprisingly, with the teaching of Good, which the
philosopher from Tyrus had been willing to interpret in a sense not far
from that of Christianity.64 In the context of his oblique dispute with
Porphyry, Augustine announced him to be the closest pagan philosopher
to Christianity. The Cappadocians also borrowed from Neoplatonism
in order to create a new language of theology and a new symbolism,
without any doubt being cast on their Christian affiliation.65

61
Because of its subordinationist trends Arianism could be considered as a conces-
sion to the Platonic models of thinking.
62
McEvoy, “Neoplatonism and Christianity,” 155–70. See also Armstrong, “Man
in the Cosmos: A Study of Some Differences between Pagan Neoplatonism and
Christianity,” in Plotinian and Christian Studies, XXII.
63
August. Conf. 7.9.
64
August. De civ. D. 10.23, 28–9.
65
Hristov, “Platonic Elements in the Cappadocian Synthesis,” 1:94–111 [in
Bulgarian, with English summary]. For the exaggerated influence of Plotinus on the
Cappadocians in the works of many scholars, see also Rist, “Plotinus and Christian
Philosophy,” 386–413.

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 synesius of cyrene and the christian neoplatonism 169

In the case of Synesius, we do not notice any tension between his

(Neo)Platonic and Christian positions. Intentionally or not, the author
from Cyrene cast off any possible conflict between them. His lan-
guage was predominantly Neoplatonic, while his thoughts lacked the
depth and spirit, characteristics of the great Cappadocians.66 Indeed,
Christian motifs and conceptions predominated in his writing, such
as the idea of the Creation as an act of God’s Will, the equality of
the hypostasis in the Holy Trinity, the immortality of the soul and the
underworld. The three persons of the Holy Trinity he treated in a way
close to Christian orthodoxy of the fourth century. The connection
between God and the created world is presented directly everywhere
in the hymns. The world of Ideas (the pure Forms) is considered to
be a part of the Creation, not an ontologically compulsory mediator
in the connection between God and the beings. The created world is
a “product” of God’s Will and dependent on God’s Law, not just an
outcome of necessity. What differentiated Synesius from the well-known
examples of Christian theology is a more abstract and depersonalized
approach to the Divine. However, this approach is more personal than
any pagan Neoplatonician would be able to acknowledge. For Synesius,
Jesus Christ is the Savior who descended into hell in order to overcome
death and devil. If Synesius has demonstrated some leanings towards
Neoplatonism and the school of Hypatia, it was in his willingness to
think of the rescuing role of Christ in a cosmological and out of time
context, not in a concrete historical plan. One can also trace such an
inclination in Origen as well.
The end of the world is the doctrine that Synesius was least of all
prone to accept, being trained in the fairway of the ancient tradition.
Synesius interpreted the end as a partial, not absolute event, so far as
the higher entities should survive, when bringing sparks from the Divine.
Concerning the Christian idea of Good (χάρις), it was mentioned in
letters 147 and 41 (57), but its importance for Synesius was lesser than
for the Fathers of the Church.

66
According to Barbanti, the hymns of Synesius were Christian in their form
and pagan, when concerning their content; Di Pasquale Barbanti, Filosofia e cultura in
Sinesio di Cirene, 142. I’m prone to support just an opposite conclusion. Neoplatonic
(and Chaldean) phraseology has permeated all the hymns, but besides this phraseol-
ogy, however, we could find relatively clear Christian conceptions as, for example, the
redemptive role of God’s Son, the Incarnation, the relationship among the hypostaseis
of the Holy Trinity, and finally, the fate of the souls in the underworld.

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 170 dimitar y. dimitrov

There is no chain-like descent from God to the higher and lower

entities in so far as God is everywhere, in every created being. At the
same time, God is beyond every being so that beings can receive par-
ticipation only through His Good Will. This is the statement, which
summarizes the Christian teaching of the Cappadocians as a result of
their disputes with the Arians and Eunomeans. Although supporting
orthodoxy and the general Christian outlook, Synesius stood apart from
this trend, staking more on the divine onset, deeply hidden in the soul,
which like a spark, kindles the will for living in God and wisdom. Thus,
he supported the human initiative towards the Divine more than expect-
ing God’s Will to fall on men. As a defender of intellectual freedom,
the man from Cyrene would not like to be set in the chains of strict
definitions.67 That is why he so painfully hesitated before accepting
the bishopric as a new role, which he was not eager to play, but God
showed him that he would have to. For souls fell down because of free
will, but for Synesius this was an unhappy event of merging with filthy
matter. He personally wanted to keep his soul clean and intact, but the
new obligations made this intention impossible.68
In conclusion, I would say that, even towards this world of ours,
Synesius was not always so negatively predisposed. How can we explain
otherwise his humanistic attitude, his appreciation of the weal of life:
books, hunting dogs, family, friends, even the social burdens, when it
is the result of God’s Will and his own resolution.
Finally, I shall permit myself to consider Synesius as one of the Fathers
of Byzantinism for three main reasons: his skillful melting of pagan and
Christian motifs in his writing, his contribution to Christian Hellenism in
a cultural form and to Christian Neoplatonism in a philosophical man-
ner and finally his political theories which bridged the old Hellenistic
examples and the typical Byzantine doctrine in the structure of which
the author from Cyrene occupied a very important place.

67
Dion, or how to live according to his ideal is a nice piece of polemic literature with
a clear message for more education and freedom. See my article, Dimitrov, “Dio of
Synesius,” 8:165–217 [in Bulgarian, with a translation of the treatise].
68
As it became obvious from the Letter 105.

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 DAMASCIUS AND THE COLLECTIO PHILOSOPHICA
A CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF
PHILOSOPHICAL SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES
IN THE NEOPLATONIC TRADITION1

Georges Leroux

The history of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina has benefited in recent years

from the work of scholars mostly interested in literary matters, and the
importance of the Library as an institution where philological tools
were developed for the transmission of texts has been duly stressed.
Although our knowledge of the content of the first Library remains
very partial, we know from later editions of such classical works as
the Greek tragedies that the Library served not only as a conserva-
tion deposit, but also as an institution that we could identify today
as a scholarly edition program. This, already, is much clear from the
founding work of P. M. Fraser on the Ptolemaic period,2 and when we
turn to the transmission of philosophical texts, we are entitled to work
our way towards a similar hypothesis. The Library must have played a
crucial role in the process of editing the texts that would become later
part of the philosophical canon of the schools. We are well acquainted
with the Platonic tradition that was very lively in Alexandria from the
beginning to the end,3 and we know from both pagan and Christian
authors that philosophical Platonism was the foundation of the schools
in the city with no interruption from Philo to Hierocles; and from this
starting point we can suggest that the Platonic corpus of texts and

1
I wish to thank Dr. Richard Goulet, from the CNRS in Paris, who read an ear-
lier version of this essay and was kind enough to comment on many aspects of the
discussion. In a forthcoming essay (see infra, note 31), he discusses the formation of
philosophical libraries in Late Antiquity, and he brings forward important new results
on the transmission of philosophical texts. He also discusses the Library of Caesarea,
see infra, note 56. I am of course fully responsible for all that remains speculative in
my effort to grasp the phenomenon of school libraries in their relation to institutional
or civic libraries such as the Alexandrina.
2
Fraser, “Alexandrian Scholarship,” in Ptolemaic Alexandria, 447–478.
3
See Whittaker, “Platonic Philosophy in the Early Centuries of the Empire,” in
Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, ed. Temporini and Haase, (Berlin: W. de Gruyter,
1987), vol. 2, bd. 36, 1, 81–123.

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 172 georges leroux

commentaries was part of the scholarly enterprise in the Library from

the beginning to the end. The other hypothesis, suggesting that these
philosophical texts were confined to the schools where they were matter
of study and debate, seems less plausible than the one we are about to
discuss here. We are also aware of the importance of the Aristotelian
tradition, since the Library owes its very origin to a disciple of Aristotle,
and although there is still much discussion on the influence of the
philosophical program of the Lyceum on the research program of the
first Library, this influence cannot be underestimated.
The question I wish to discuss is the following: what knowledge
concerning the fate of the later Library, from the fourth to the sixth
centuries A.D., can we gain from a study of the transmission of the
philosophical texts discussed in the schools at that period? To begin
with, I would like to put before our eyes the great figure of the philoso-
pher Damascius, who was born in Damascus in the mid fifth century
(c. 460) and came to study in Alexandria when he was sill young.4 He
is the author of a Treatise on the First Principles, which came down to us
complete and is an important example of philosophical transmission
for our subject. He was living in Athens for sometime, most probably
a few years already, when Proclus died in 485, but like Hierocles, who
lived and taught before him, he was trained and began teaching in
Alexandria. He was a master of rhetorics, and had studied under Theon
(fl. 464) in Alexandria.5 There is some debate concerning the reasons
behind his decision to leave Alexandria for Athens, since the growing
influence of the Christian schools cannot be considered a clear motiva-
tion. There he converted to philosophy, in the year 491/2, under the
influence of Isidorus. For some time, he studied under Marinus and
Zenodotus. As we know, after the famous Justinian decree of 529, he

4
On the life and works of Damascius, see in the first place, Philippe Hoffmann,
DPA, s.v. “Damascius,” D 3, 2:541–593. This article gives all the evidence and presents
a complete bibliography; it stands by itself as an independent monograph. The text of
the Life of Isidorus is known to us through seven hundred fragments, preserved in part
by Photius and for the remaining by the Suda, and must have been written, accord-
ing to Westerink, between the death of Ammonius after 517 A.D. and the death of
Theodoric, 526 A.D. See the edition by Zintzen, Damascii Vitae Isidori reliquiae (1967). An
English translation with notes is available in the edition by Polymnia Athanassiadi (1999),
published under another title transmitted by the tradition, Philosophical History; see also
an interesting review of this edition by Brisson, “Dernier anneau de la chaîne d’or,”
269–282. In this review, Brisson discusses several aspects of the life of Damascius.
5
Photius Bibliotheca Codex 181, 126b40–127a14, where we can read that Damascius
was in charge of rhetorical formation during nine years.

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 damascius and the ‘COLLECTIO PHILOSOPHICA’ 173

fled with many friends to Persia, where his presence is attested in 532.
A full biography of this extraordinary figure has yet to be written.6
Why should we turn to Damascius to discuss the question of the
Library in Alexandria in Late Antiquity? The main reason is very
simple: the most important works of Damascius, his Treatise on the First
Principles and his commentary on the Parmenides have been transmitted
in a Greek manuscript that once belonged to Cardinal Bessarion, the
Marcianus graecus (246), and that was part of a collection of a group
of canonical texts in the Platonic tradition, later known as the Collectio
philosophica. What is exactly this Collectio philosophica?7 It is a great col-
lection of Platonic and Neoplatonic texts, but not exclusively, that has
survived from the Alexandrian school, including Plato, Plotinus and
Proclus, as well as the great series of late commentaries from Simplicius
and Damascius. The group of manuscripts assembled in the collection
is made up of six manuscripts from one and the same hand, as well as
another group of thirteen others, coming out of the same scriptorium.
The content of the Collectio can be described with a fair degree of
precision,8 but this is not our topic in this paper: our question is how
this collection could have been copied by a Byzantine scholar in the
second half of the ninth century, without having been first assembled
at a much earlier date in Alexandria? The process of collecting these
manuscripts is of course a matter of debate, but the unity of content
is made clearer when we present the whole as a collection assembled
for teaching purposes.
In the present paper, we shall suggest that it was assembled so that
Damascius could bring it from Alexandria to Athens in the late fifth
century, from where it was at a later date brought to Constantinople.
The argument for the Alexandrian origin has already been put forward
by L. G. Westerink,9 and of course other hypotheses would be worth
discussing; for example, that some of these manuscripts could have
been copied in libraries in Constantinople. What do we know about
the transfer from Alexandria to Athens, since some of these texts are
considered to be later than Damascius? Should we try to isolate the

6
See for a preliminary survey of the material Trabattoni, “Per una biografia di
Damascio,” 179–201.
7
For a short introduction, see Wilson, Scholars of Byzantium, 37ff.
8
See the discussion of L. G. Westerink, in his edition prepared with J. Combès;
Damascius, Traité des premiers principes, 1:LXXIII–LXXX.
9
Ibid., 1:LXXVI.

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kernel of the collection in Alexandrian teaching? Another question

is the following: what sort of library did Damascius have access to in
Alexandria in order, if our hypothesis is sound, to put up this collection?
To answer this question, which has a great significance in relation to
the whole question of the transmission of philosophical canons in this
late period, we must try to understand the variety of institutions which
gave rise to collections of this sort. The present essay is of course an
attempt to follow a path in the dark, and in doing so we try to shed
some light on the hypothesis put forward by L. G. Westerink in his
introduction to his edition of the Treatise of Damascius. One is invited
to read this essay as an effort in speculative history, since so many ele-
ments remain obscure, but we do think that in the process of analysing
the knowledge we can gain from these texts, some new understanding
of what a library might have been in these later times can be at least
put forward as a new hypothesis.

1. Our first question is to assert the philosophical background of

Damascius in Alexandria and his connection with Neoplatonic circles.
Born at a date near 460, he was a close friend of Aedesia,10 the widow
of Hermeias,11 who had been a great commentator and whose com-
mentary on the Phaedo had been transmitted to us in complete form.
The art of Platonic commentary was the center of philosophical teach-
ing, and Hermeias mastered it beautifully.12 This Hermeias must have
been the most famous Alexandrian teacher, after having been trained in
Athens under Syrianus. Damascius of course knew very well their two
sons, Ammonius and Heliodorus, who also became philosophy teach-
ers in Alexandria after having been trained in Athens under Proclus.
Aedesia herself is an intriguing figure; she had been proposed as a wife
to Proclus, who preferred to remain single. We get all this information
from a life of the philosopher Isidorus, written by Damascius13 and
although there is still some discussion on the exact chronology of his
philosophical formation and the succession of his masters, the portrait
of Damascius as a philosopher emerges with clarity: he was trained in

10
See R. Goulet, DPA, s.v. “Aidésia d’Alexandrie,” A 55, vol. 1, who quotes
Damascius Vita Isidori frag. 124.
11
See R. Goulet, DPA, s.v. “Hermeias d’Alexandrie,” H 78, 3:639.
12
See on this matter the introduction of Westerink, “Alexandrian Commentators
and the Introductions to their Commentaries,” 325–348.
13
On Theodoric 526. See Zintzen, Damascii Vitae Isidori reliquiae.

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 damascius and the ‘COLLECTIO PHILOSOPHICA’ 175

all the main fields of rhetorics, science and dialectics, following what
seems to have been an ideal curriculum in that period.14 When we study
this period, which seems filled with an impression of intense anxiety to
maintain the pagan heritage in a Christian society such as Alexandria,
we cannot escape the fact that most of these figures lived in two dif-
ferent worlds at the same time: Athens and Alexandria. They seem to
have been able to travel, frequently and without difficulty, moving from
a Christian society to a city where pagan thought was still flourishing.
Recent findings, for example in the House of the Philosophers in Athens
before 529, suggest a certain prosperity of the School15 and a feeling
that it was not about to vanish.
Proclus was of course the great Athenian figure, but all his pupils
traveled to Alexandria and came back. Isidorus for example, had
been mandated from Alexandria to make sure that the succession of
the Platonic school should proceed correctly and the story of how
he declined to stay on in Athens, remains obscure. Later, Damascius
himself was mandated from Athens to go back to him in Alexandria
and try to persuade him to come back to take responsibility of the
School in Athens,16 mainly because Marinus’ health was declining.
As we learn from the Life written by Damascius, Isidorus did not stay
long in Athens, most probably in the company of Damascius, who
was like him much displeased with the prevalence of theurgy in the
Athenian school.17 At a much later date, Damascius traveled again to
Athens to assume the leadership of the Academy, somewhere around
515.18 There must have been in Athens a feeling that the Alexandrian
schools, despite their vitality, were more in danger than the Athenian

14
According to Tardieu, Paysages reliques, 21f.
15
Philippe Hoffmann has discussed the evidence, see his article in the DPA, based
on recent archaeological surveys in Athens, particularly on the houses of the philoso-
phers and the much discussed “House of Proclus;” Hoffmann, DPA, s.v. “Damascius,”
D 3, 2:548–555.
16
This trip has been the object of some discussion, after the publication of the study
of M. Tardieu (1990), who argues for another interpretation of the motives behind
the decision of traveling on land; according to him, it was more from a desire to visit
a number of pagan shrines along the road through Syria than the project of getting
back to academic responsibilities in Athens, that motivated the long travel extending
to eight months. See also Brisson, “Dernier anneau de la chaîne d’or,” 273f.
17
Dam. Isid. frag. 292.6–11. A fragment that J. Combès compares with a note
in Dam. Commentary on the Phaedo 1.172.1–5, where the philosopher distinguishes
between the two traditions: the philosophers, like Porphyry, Plotinus and others, and
the hieratics, like Iamblichus, Syrianus and Proclus.
18
See Glucker, Antiochus and the Late Academy, 155ff.

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Academy. The stories about violence with the Christians19 had certainly
made their way to Athens, but the Greek city was not itself free from
such an ideological conflict, at least of what we know from the story
of a man like Hierocles.20
Let us go back to the youth of Damascius in Alexandria: as already
mentioned, he was first trained in the field of rhetorics, and around the
age of thirty, he converted to philosophy. We must try to figure what
this conversion meant: of course, it must have meant that he started
to assist in the teaching of a master, but in which institutional context?
What exactly was a school in those times, and how did the students
gain access to the texts? What were the relations of the philosophical
schools with other institutions, like libraries, if anything had survived
from the 391 destruction of the Serapeum?21 Poetry and rhetoric had
been in Alexandria the main research field of the Mouseion, if we
trace it back to the Hellenistic period. All the great scholars, even if
they were mostly preoccupied with astronomy and physics, had an
inclination towards literary learning. But the connection between the
sciences in their research remains for us quite a mystery. For example,
when we try to represent the scholarly enterprise in Alexandria, even
if as early as the foundation years of the Ptolemaic rule,22 we still
have no model of the structure of knowledge like the model inherited
from the Aristotelian classification of the sciences. According to some
scholars, philosophy was not an important part in the first period of
the Library, but with the renaissance movement initiated within the
Academy in Athens, things became different.23 The testimony of Cicero
on Antiochus of Ascalon24 allows us to see in him maybe the first figure

19
A very impressive portrait of Alexandria in those times, written from the per-
spective of archaeological evidence can be found in the work of Christopher Haas,
Alexandria in Late Antiquity. In this study, Haas relies, among other findings, on the work
of the Polish team on the amphitheatres, which can be viewed as lecture halls for the
philosophers of the schools. See Rodziewicz, “Late Roman Auditoria in Alexandria,”
269–279.
20
See my discussion of the travels of Hierocles, “Hiéroclès d’Alexandrie: Pluralisme
et violence à la fin de l’Antiquité;” Boulad-Ayoub and Cazzaniga, Traces de l’autre,
299–320.
21
See on the later history of the Library, and especially on the so called ‘Daughter
Library’ the study of El-Abbadi, Vie et destin de l’ancienne bibliothèque d’Alexandrie,
160–167.
22
See Fraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria, 1:480ff.
23
See El-Abbadi, Vie et destin de l’ancienne bibliothèque d’Alexandrie, 124ff.
24
On this important figure, see Glucker, Antiochus and the Late Academy. Antiochus
was in Alexandria in the years 84 to 87, approximately.

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 damascius and the ‘COLLECTIO PHILOSOPHICA’ 177

of the inspiration of later Alexandrian philosophy, which is a preoccu-

pation with the synthesis of Platonic and Aristotelian perspectives. The
main structure seems to have been Platonic, with a bias for astronomy,
but as time passed, the integration of the Aristotelian corpus leads us
to the curriculum of the Neoplatonic schools, as we can reconstruct it
from the order of reading the Platonic dialogues.25 This uninterrupted
history of the philosophical commentary rested on a canon formed
by convergent traditions. This leads us in turn to the question of the
work on the texts inside the schools. Damascius himself seems to have
written his commentaries on Plato in Athens, but other parts of his
work stem from his teaching in Alexandria.
We still have to explore the evolution of the Library in Alexandria,
from a research perspective: for example, how is it that an institution
which was started as a scientific enterprise, dominated by the Aristotelian
ideals of natural science through the inspiration of Demetrius and the
scholarchs of the Lyceum, opened at a later period to literary matters?
This is a first difficult question, but the second is even more complex:
how is it that philosophy as a discipline seems to have rapidly severed its
links with the Mouseion and led an independent life in private circles?26
What can we know of the relations between these philosophical circles
and the Library before its final destruction under Christian rule, around
391? as studied by Garth Fowden.27 Was there after 391 any remnant of
a scholarly institution able to work in connection with the philosophical
circles? Since the Library was a state supported institution, and was led
by great head-librarians, such as Callimachus, it is most important to
try to understand how a collection such as the Collectio philosophica could
have been assembled without the support of the Alexandrina when it was
still functioning? The collection was most certainly gathered after the
destruction of the Serapeum Library, but my suggestion is that it could
rely on the wider collections that influenced the schools at the period
that would stimulate their interaction. Alexandria was a city of books
and reading, it was also a city of debate and learning and the later
period cannot be understood without a constant reference to the role
of the Library before 391 A.D. It is altogether wholly improbable that

25
See Festugière, “Ordre de lecture des dialogues de Platon aux V e–VIe siècles,”
281–296.
26
See the stimulating description of Fowden, “Platonist Philosopher and His Circle
in Late Antiquity,” 359–383.
27
Fowden, “Pagan Holy Man in Late Antique Society,” 48–51.

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the work being done inside the philosophical circles would have been
totally disconnected from the activities of the main Library, whatever
that institution had become during the fourth century.

2. So much for the problems, all of them quite awesome, but we can
still try our best to get a glimpse into the intellectual life of this late
period and for this purpose, we must now turn to the discussion of
the transmission of the philosophical canons. Damascius was trained
in literary matters; we know that he could comment on Demosthenes
and also on the Treatise on style 28 by Hermogenes. In his Life of Isidorus,
he alludes to his respect for the ancient tradition of Egyptian wisdom,
and we also know that under Marinus, he gave himself a very good
training in geometry and other sciences. The wide extension of his
learning is of course very impressive and since he was always in contact
with Isidorus, it is only natural, as an Alexandrian, that he should have
been mandated to accompany his master from Alexandria to Athens
to succeed Marinus. As we have just recalled, they finally made the
trip together through Syria and Asia Minor. At that time, the Athenian
school was in a sort of philosophical crisis, due to some excess in the
practice of theurgy, and Isidorus, trained in the most classical man-
ner, must have been shocked when he arrived there. The story goes
that he was much displeased with what he saw in Athens and soon
traveled back to Alexandria, where the practice of a more spiritually
orientated Platonism was still encouraged by the masters. There is still
much discussion on this orientation, and there is no reason to look at
this difference in philosophical practice as a difference separating an
Athenian and an Alexandrian school, but it must have influenced the
form of the teaching and the relation to texts.29 Damascius followed him
to Alexandria, where he resumed work with Ammonius on the Physics
of Ptolemaeus. It is during this period that we must examine with utter
scrutiny the way the Collectio philosophica was assembled, because after
this period, he himself was called to Athens as a scholarch, and here we
might suggest that he assembled the collection for that reason, with a
prevision of his long stay in Athens. On what type of resources could he
rely for that task, if not on the existing libraries in Alexandria? At this

28
See the discussion of his formation in Hoffmann, DPA, s.v. “Damascius,” D 3.
29
This discussion stems mainly from a comparison between Simplicius and Hierocles;
see the important discussion in I. Hadot, who gives all the necessary background;
Hadot, Problème du néoplatonisme alexandrin.

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point, we cannot prove beyond doubt that there was still an important
central Library remaining in the city,30 but we can suggest that most
schools had their collections completed and copied from originals that
were first in the Library.

3. At that time, i.e. around the end of the fourth century, much of the
literature that has not survived for us was still available. We can estimate
that around one text out of forty has been preserved and transmitted
to us.31 This is of course a very imprecise estimate, drawn mainly from
the corpus of historical works, but we can think of it as a proportion
applicable to all categories. When we read that the destruction of the
Serapeum at the end of the fourth century resulted in the burning of
many pagan texts, we can of course only try to measure the loss, but
we can also suggest that many collections had already been copied from
originals in the Library before its ultimate destruction. But we have very
few mentions of planned destruction of texts in Antiquity and as the
recent work of Christopher Haas on Alexandria has shown,32 the city
was known for its reputation both of political intensity and ideologi-
cal tolerance. Emperors like Constantius and Theodosius II are also
known for having taken measures to ensure the protection of texts. But
there is another factor that has to be mentioned to complicate mat-
ters: during the period from the fourth to the sixth centuries, a great
amount of the texts that had been collected in the libraries on rolls of
papyrus were copied on parchment codex. This was of course the main
material condition of transmission, most probably the most important
factor of the structure of new collections:33 the texts that we have not
retained must have perished more for material reasons than planned
destruction, especially the ones which were not copied. If the papyrus
copy had not been copied on parchment, there is slight chance that it

30
On this question, see El-Abbadi, Vie et destin de l’ancienne bibliothèque d’Alexandrie,
162. The discussion of the testimony of Aphtonius of Ephesus, after his visit to the
Serapeum which he described as containing study rooms which were proof of the
philosophical glory of Alexandria is very important.
31
See the forthcoming essay by Richard Goulet, “Conservation et la transmission
des textes philosophiques grecs,” 29–61, who discusses the conditions of transmission
of philosophical texts in Late Antiquity, with an interesting chart on the proportions
of texts that have been transmitted according to schools. Although he has some interes-
ting remarks on the Collectio philosophica, his main focus lies on the Library of Caesarea
and its neoplatonic background.
32
Haas, Alexandria in Late Antiquity.
33
See under the direction of Cavallo, Biblioteche nel mondo antico e medievale.

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would survive. There is also at a later date the change from uncial to
minuscule. Since we know that, from the beginning, the Alexandrina had
collected in every field of knowledge and that the collection was on
rolls, we can ask what portion of that collection survived the repeated
assaults on the Library? If we go back to Demetrius, we note that he
figured that a universal library would require at least 500,000 rolls.
Crews of copyists and translators were hired to transmit into Greek
all the collection. This story has been told in the works of the main
historians of the Library,34 and we shall now concentrate on the con-
sequences for philosophy.

4. We must now try to figure out what the place of philosophy was in
this collection. We know that, in the beginning of the Hellenistic period,
Theophrastus bequeathed his collection to Neleus, a disciple of Aristotle,
but we know that due to his conflict with Straton of Lampsacus, he
sold only part of Aristotle’s library to the Alexandrina. Therefore the
nature of the first philosophical collection is already problematic. When
we study the Catalogues (Pinakes) of Callimachus, we notice more of
an inclination towards the literary disciplines in the formation of the
first collections.35 There are six sections for poetry, and five for prose.
But as many scholars have noted, the Aristotelian scientific project,
as it had been elaborated in the main part of the philosopher’s work
concerning physics, seems to have been lost in the process. All that was
transmitted through Demetrius was split into different categories, and
philosophy, comprising dialectics and physics as such, was not a part
of these categories. A close study of the redaction of the catalogues,
from the doxographical tradition, up to Aristophanes and Didymus,
shows us in fact that literary texts had gained the privilege of being
placed in the kernel of conservation. This we know for example from
the description of Diodorus Siculus, who got most of his information

34
El-Abbadi, Vie et destin de l’ancienne bibliothèque d’Alexandrie.
35
See ibid., 103–142. In his important study, History of classical Scholarship (Pfeiffer
1968, 123–151), Pfeiffer discusses the work and method of Callimachus; he also discusses
a fragment of a work of Callimachus, Against Praxiphanes, a peripatetic philosopher who
is quoted as his master by an ancient source, the Life of Aratus. He summarizes his view
as follows: “The learned collections and also the Pinakes may give the impression of
being rather Aristotelian in subject-matter, despite their new purpose; but in literary
criticism Aristotle’s theory and Callimachus’ views are plainly incompatible” (ibid.,
136). For a more recent discussion and summary, see R. Goulet, DPA, s.v. “Callimaque
de Cyrène,” C 22, 2:171–174.

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from double copies of the Alexandrina original, that had been stored in
the Temple of Serapis. Later, after the Roman conquest, the description
of Strabo, studied in Alexandria under the patronage of Xenarchus, an
Aristotelian, confirms this orientation towards the literary commentary.
This description is also confirmed, as the historian Luciano Canfora
has already noted, by a mention of Posidonius that in the stoic milieu
of Roman expatriates, there was a feeling of surprise. If the library of
Aristotle was the kernel of the Alexandrina, why is it that the Library
apparently became so indifferent to philosophy?

5. The answer to this question is not so simple, since the facts tend
to show that this was not quite the case. We know from Plutarch, a
Platonic philosopher, priest in Delphi in the second century, that there
was widespread concern about the Aristotelian legacy up to his time.
Plutarch tells us the story of Sulla, and how coming to Athens, he took
for himself the library of Apellicon of Teos, the Aristotelian philosopher
who had just then died. This explains why the collection ended up in
Rome, where it was edited by Andronicus of Rhodes.36 I do not wish
to discuss in detail the subject of the Aristotelian collection, but only to
stress the fact that philosophical preoccupation was not forgotten with
regard to libraries at that time. Now, why should it have been forgotten?
Because, from the beginning in the Hellenistic period of formation in
Athens, the structure of the philosophical schools was different according
to each of them: some schools like the Stoic and the Aristotelian gave
priority to erudition and scientific projects, this orientation resulting in
the priority of physics; while others like the Epicurean and Platonic
schools were oriented more towards spiritual experience and inner
wisdom, which led to a more metaphysical and ethical enterprise. This
remains of course a matter of priority or accent, and all philosophers
did not practice their discipline with the same fidelity to programs of
reading and teaching.
The place of books in different traditions might have differed widely:
the Aristotelian canon is much more important in the perspective of
controlling the accuracy and breadth of the Alexandrina project, since
we can try to measure by comparison the lists of the Librarians and
the other lists in circulation. We must then presume that the Library,

36
This part of the history of the Library has been told in the book of El-Abbadi,
Vie et destin de l’ancienne bibliothèque d’Alexandrie, 95–99.

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in its first phases and until the first destruction, played a great role at
least in the transmission of the Aristotelian canon and the expansion of
the Aristotelian research program. But what was its role in the Platonic
tradition, for which Alexandria as a centre of schools was so widely
known at a later period? In the case of the Neoplatonic tradition,
beginning in the third century A.D., it seems that books were widely
available: the greatest testimony to this is, of course, the Vita Plotini by
Porphyry, where the Syrian philosopher takes great care in detailing
the works available to the school in Rome when he was taking part in
the discussions led by Plotinus.37
If the books were available, we must then draw a distinction to try
to understand their preservation and the principles of their collection:
some of them were only copies circulating mainly in the schools; others
were preserved in public libraries as in the Alexandrina, where they were
classified in collections. On the basis of wide evidence, we must ask: first,
what were the relations, if any, between the schools and the Library?
Second, which of these institutions succeeded most in transmitting texts
to later generations? According to some historians, the schools might
have possessed smaller collections of texts, and in most cases already
very specialized, but since they were isolated, and in no way linked to
institutional or political power, they must have been less at risk in the
transmission of texts.38 They would, for example, not be prime targets
for fire or assault. In other words, a collection such as the Collectio
philosophica would have been preserved mainly because of its presence
in a scholarly milieu, otherwise it would have vanished. Here we must
bring in the figure of Damascius.

6. The Alexandrian school is mainly a Neoplatonic school, and its most

important characteristic is the abundance of commentary activity as a
philosophical exercise necessary for the practitioners, young and older.39

37
Porphyry’s Vita Plotini has been edited with an important series of studies by Luc
Brisson, and a group of scholars. See Marie-Odile Goulet-Cazé, “Arrière-plan scolaire
de la Vie de Plotin,” in Vie de Plotin, ed. Brisson, 1:277–280.
38
See Canfora, bibliothèque d’Alexandrie et l’histoire des textes, 44, 55; and the note of
R. Goulet, “Conservation et la transmission des textes philosophiques grecs,” who
writes: “Les fonds des écoles philosophiques, plus spécialisés et plus restreints, étaient
moins susceptibles de disparaître au hasard d’un siège. Ils pouvaient être plus facile-
ment reconstitués.”
39
See Hoffmann, “Fonction des prologues exégétiques dans la pensée pédagogique
néoplatonicienne,” 209–245.

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Now, this commentary bears mainly on the Platonic and Aristotelian

corpus, of which the Neoplatonic school examined the coherence and
would tend to demonstrate the harmony. Their main goal was to assert
that there was no contradiction between the two canonical traditions, fol-
lowing the model that was set for example in Porphyry and Dexippus.40
Now, as Richard Goulet has noted,41 following a suggestion by Luciano
Canfora, we see no text from the stoic tradition, nor from the Garden
of Epicurus in the transmitted corpus of philosophical texts at this later
date. According to this scholar, this is proof enough that the tradition
does not stem from an institutional library such as the Alexandrina, but
directly from the schools. The tradition of texts would have been much
richer if it had been derived from institutional libraries.
This is a very provocative statement, but can we understand why this
domination of two traditions imposed itself as the main characteristic
of later Greek philosophy? And can we infer from this domination
anything that could lead us to a more precise description of what was
collected in central institutions and what was gathered only in schools?
Tragic as it is, the disappearance of all other traditions, including the
Presocratics that we know mainly through the quotations of Simplicius
in his commentary on the Physics and on the De Caelo, is not to be
explained solely by the selection of the Neoplatonic school. We have
to consider on a wider scale the convergence of the Alexandrina scho-
larship and the preferences in the schools. And here, it seems to me
clear enough that the Alexandrina Library, which from the beginning
had been inspired by an Aristotelian program, at first mainly scientific
and in a second phase, transformed into a more literary program, was
also subject to a more complex evolution at a later date, especially
during the period which saw the flowering of Neoplatonic philosophy.
In this perspective, the process which has still to be explained is the
philosophical activity of the Alexandrian scholars as commentators on
physical matters: in my opinion, as the Hierocles and the Damascius
later examples show clearly, it is the interest of the Alexandrians in
cosmological and metaphysical matters that contributed the most to
the constitution of the Collectio philosophica. The constitution of a body
of doctrines later known as ‘Neoplatonic’ relies mainly on a systematic
view of the Principles and their relation with the Universe. And in this

40
See the discussion in Hadot, Problème du néoplatonisme alexandrin, 73ff.
41
R. Goulet, “Conservation et la transmission des textes philosophiques grecs.”

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enterprise, they have certainly benefited from the conservation activ-

ity of the Alexandrina from the beginning to the end, where they could
rely on perfect copies of canonical texts of both the Platonic and
Aristotelian traditions. The example of Galen of Pergamum is a very
good illustration of this, since his commentaries, written from a syncretic
perspective, all bear on scientific matters (e.g., the creation of the soul
in the body according to the Timaeus, the natural faculties, medicine,
etc.) and all have been preserved. Many commentaries, of course, were
lost, but when we look at the tradition of commentaries, we must note
how they bear on the structure of the doctrine.
Can we be more precise on this process? Alexandria had remained the
most active city in matters of philosophy, and the interaction between the
Serapeum (the external Library for scholars), the Mouseion, as described
by scholars like P. M. Fraser, and the philosophical fraternities or pri-
vate schools could not have been anything else than very intense. We
know that this way of combining institutions of learning towards better
scholarship and spiritual proficiency was the trademark of Alexandria,
and even after the Christian destruction it remained an ideal, as shown
for example, in the story of the philosopher Hypatia.42
Now the process of conservation must distinguish between preserving
the ancient copies, or archetypes, and working on the edition of newer
copies: the Alexandrina must have been, with the passage of time, first
and foremost a Library of conservation, where the Librarians kept busy
with collecting and cataloguing. On the other hand, the schools needed
new copies for their incoming students and therefore the Library had to
edit these texts and furnish new collections leading to the constitution
of canons. Since none, if we except Herculanum,43 of these libraries
has survived, we have to reconstruct the process though the extant
collections, even small like the Collectio philosophica, and mention of the
process in extant literature.
For example, we know that after the burning of the Libray of the
Portico of Octavia in Rome, in 80 A.D., Domitian sent a delegation
to Alexandria to get new copies of quality. In the fourth century,
Themistius, a Neoplatonic philosopher, wrote an apology of libra-
ries (c. 357) in his fourth oration, Discourse to the Emperor.44 He argues

42
On this exceptional figure, see Dzielska, Hypatia of Alexandria.
43
See the recent work by Sider, Library of the Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum.
44
Themistius, Orationes quae supersunt, ed. Schenkl, Downey, and Norman.

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 damascius and the ‘COLLECTIO PHILOSOPHICA’ 185

in favor of the transmission of Plato and Aristotle, and he calls for

the responsibility of the Emperor to gain for these works immortality
through the founding of libraries. This is a good indication of the role
of institutional libraries in later times. It is therefore by no means easy
to say that the transmission of texts resulted mainly, or exclusively, from
the selection of the schools. In the case of Alexandria, it is clear enough
that the interest for Stoic or Epicurean philosophy had never penetrated
the program of the Library as profoundly as the Platonic-Aristotelian,
and therefore the absence of their tradition in the extant literature
is not the result of the selection of the Neoplatonic school, but the
combined effect of ideological factors in the intellectual life of the City
from the beginning to the end of the fifth century. Zeno, Chrysippus
and Epicurus were probably collected much more seriously in Rome.
Diogenes Laertius who has given us complete lists of their works enables
us to measure, by comparison with the Platonic-Aristotelian canon,
the vast amount of philosophical literature which does not seem to
have ever traveled to Alexandria. The same can be said for Johannes
Stobaeus, a compiler posterior to Themistius, who quotes Epictetus for
example. These authors were not important in Alexandria, and this
observation applies not only to the schools, but also to the institutions
of the Library. This comparison between different traditions is of vast
importance when we turn to the discussion of the conservation of the
texts of the Platonic-Aristotelian canon, including the commentaries.
We cannot identify which texts of this canon were formally present in
the Alexandrina, but we must surmise that most of them were, if only
from the study of the subject matter of the commentaries.
We must now turn back to the constitution of the Collectio philosophica.
We know from the fragments of a lost commentary of Porphyry on
Aristotle’s Categories that the perspective of harmonizing Plato and
Aristotle had been for a long time an Alexandrian practice, even a prin-
ciple for philosophical exercise.45 Porphyry takes it back to Ammonius
Sakkas, the Alexandrian master of both Plotinus and Origenes the
Platonician, and the tradition shows that it was transmitted to Athens
with the help of all the Alexandrian scholars who traveled and taught
there, as did at a later date Damascius. This principle explains for

45
This position we can read in a Porphyrian commentary, written by Dexippus; see on
the question the discussion of Hadot, “Harmonie des philosophies de Plotin et d’Aristote
selon Porphyre dans le commentaire de Dexippe sur les Catégories,” 31–47.

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 186 georges leroux

example the constitution of the tradition of the commentary on the

Categories, with the preservation of the important work by Simplicius
based on a tradition of more than twenty philosophers between Plotinus
and himself. This commentary is the work that exemplifies the most,
the ideal of harmonization that was typical of Alexandria and then
transmitted to Athens. It is then by no means surprising that the Collectio
philosophica would borrow this principle from Alexandria to transfer it
to Athens. This seems to have been the work of Damascius, or at least
took place through his influence. One could object that this collection
shows few traces of some great Neoplatonic scholars, like Iamblichus,
or literary traditions so important for the Neoplatonic schools, like the
Orphic Poems or the Chaldean Oracles. Both were not transmitted directly,
but only by quotations. How can we explain that they were not copied
at the same time and integrated into the Collectio?
The study of the philosophical work of Damascius is made rather
easy by the fact that many of his great treatises and commentaries
have been preserved. Even if Photius does not seem to have read or
taken any interest in these great works and restricted his reference to
Damascius to the Life of Isidorus, we must take into serious consideration,
following an indication by L. G. Westerink, that the greater part of the
Collectio philosophica was copied in the second half of the ninth century
in Constantinople.46
To study this in detail, we have to examine the whole series of
manuscripts in the Collectio philosophica, and this is beyond our immedi-
ate purpose here, but we can rely on the study of the Marcianus graecus
(246), by L. G. Westerink, or of the Parisinus graecus (1962), by John
Whittaker.47 In this latter case, the table shows most of the collec-
tion: beginning with Alcinous, the Lessons of Gaius, and others up to
Damascius, Olympiodorus, the Proclus commentaries and of course
Simplicius. This manuscript (Parisinus graecus) plays an important part
in my analysis concerning the problem of transmission, since it was
copied like the other parts of the collection in the ninth century, in
Constantinople, from originals copied in Alexandria at an earlier date.48

46
See Westerink, “Rätsel des untergründigen Neuplatonismus,” 105–123.
47
Whittaker, “Parisinus graecus 1962,” a series of three articles published first in
Phoenix 28 (1974), for the study of Albinus, no. 1 and 2, and 31 (1977), for the study
of Janus Lascaris, then reprinted in 1984 in: ibid., Studies in Platonism and Patristic
Thought, 320–423.
48
See on this movement the important article of Irigoin, “Survie et renouveau de
la littérature antique à Constantinople (IXe siècle),” 189–192.

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 damascius and the ‘COLLECTIO PHILOSOPHICA’ 187

Now, let us follow the main thread of the argument: if the selection of
the collection had been purely a matter of school preference, we would
not have found in it the early Hellenistic Platonists, such as Alcinous,
who were held in low esteem by a man like Proclus and by all later
Scholarchs who would have favored Plotinus as a starting point; and
even for Plotinus there is a widespread perplexity stemming from what
seems on his part (Proclus) a real indifference to Plotinus. The collec-
tion then must have had its starting point in an institutional Library
in Alexandria, and if not, in pagan circles in Alexandria.49 Some of
them were linked to schools, others might have been religious. Now, the
date of the presence of Damascius in Alexandria and his preparation
to travel to Athens coincides perfectly with the copy of the originals
and scholia in Alexandria. The hypothesis of a copy made in Athens,
before the final form of the collection in Constantinople, is also part
of this complex story.
The modern editor of Damascius, L. G. Westerink, cannot but suggest
to look in this direction, and this is exactly where we started from: he
suggests that the whole of the philosophical library, that is the library
of the school of Hermeias and Ammonius, could have been transferred
from Alexandria to Constantinople by Stephanus of Byzantium in the
early seventh century.50 According to him, the copy was ordered by a
Byzantine scholar, whom we cannot identify. But one could object that
the collection might have existed independently of the command of
some later patron, and that its composition indicates an earlier process
of assembly, that is the need to put together, in order to save them for
further transmission, the kernel of the Neoplatonic canon. One could
also suggest that such a collection was intended mainly for the Athenian
School, where Alexandrian scholars traveled quite frequently. Damascius
seems to have been the right person to take the responsibility of doing
so, if only from the fact that the collection included all of his main
treatises. The commentaries of philosophers who wrote at a later date
might have been added either in Athens or Constantinople.

49
This much has been suggested by Whittaker, “Proclus and the Middle Platonists,”
281.
50
Westerink, in his introduction to his edition of the treatise of Damascius on the
Frist Principles, argues in favor of an already assembled collection, since it represents
“une collection de copies très soignées d’un fonds existant.” Damascius, Traité des
premiers principes, 1:LXXVII.

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 188 georges leroux

There is a very strong argument to follow this path: it is the work of

Damascius himself as a philosopher, as P. Hoffmann has rightly stressed,
to reinforce the coherence and the rigor of the Platonic tradition.
Was he not the philosopher who had worked towards the restoration
of the full program of philosophical teaching that is the commentary
of the complete list of canonical Platonic dialogues, together with
Aristotelian philosophy?51 In his Life of Isidorus, we find a deep inter-
est in the continuity of the School and a plea for responsibility in the
process of transmission.52 We can find a clear example of this process
in his commentary on the Phaedo (in Phaedonem).53 This series of notes
for students was transmitted in a manuscript which was part of the
Collectio philosophica (Marcianus graecus, 196), and so was also the text of
Damascius’ Treatise on the First Principles and his commentary on the
Parmenides (Marcianus graecus, 246). Of course, one could suggest also
that private collections, taken generally and without the consideration
of a particular curriculum in the schools, could have been the base of
this corpus, and that the elimination of so many traditions cannot be
explained only by institutional practices in the Alexandrian scholarly
milieu. But when we consider the content of the collection, stem-
ming from the efforts of a ninth-century scholar and great copyist,54
we cannot avoid the conclusion that the texts copied in these codices
vetustissimi existed as an assembled whole for a long time, and we must
follow the suggestion of Westerink: it must have been the result of an
already existing collection, and this collection is of Alexandrian origin.
The Plato and Olympiodorus manuscripts must have come from the
library of the school of Hermeias and Ammonius, but the rest illustrates
the philosophical concerns of the Alexandrian school. Of course, we
must surmise that it was at a much earlier date that the collection of
the Library (Mouseion and Serapeum) must have granted preference
to this type of work over others, but we cannot ascertain the owner
of the collection in Constantinople.55 But in the period in between,

51
Hoffmann, DPA, s.v. „Damascius,“ D 3, 2:571, 580ff.
52
See the discussion of the edition by P. Athanassiadi. Brisson, “Dernier anneau
de la chaîne d’or,” 269–282.
53
Westerink, Greek Commentaries on Plato’s Phaedo, vol. 2, Damascius.
54
Westerink speaks of one principal copyist, leaving open the hypothesis that there
might have been several others; see his edition of Damascius. Damascius, Traité des
premiers principes, 1:LXXVII.
55
Westerink discusses several possibilities, but he excludes Photius and Arethas, and
he presents no clear hypothesis as to who was the patron owner of the collection.

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 damascius and the ‘COLLECTIO PHILOSOPHICA’ 189

that is from the time of the first Alexandrian Platonic schools and the
trip of Damascius to Athens, the preservation of the collection is a
direct result of interaction between institutional and school libraries.
This conclusion, thin as it may look, is already a research program on
the relations between the school libraries, when they were developed
for teaching purposes, and the greater Library, since it is during this
period that the schools would need good copies of the important works
for their use. Where could they find them if not in the Library? This
intricate process testifies for the intensity of Alexandrian scholarship
during the flourishing period of the Alexandrian Platonic schools, from
Plotinus to Damascius. Precise studies of all the manuscripts brought
together in the Collectio philosophica, together with a historical analysis
of the Life of Isidorus, should bring more light on this fascinating period
of intellectual history.56

56
The parallel example of the Library of Caesarea, founded around 230 by Origenes
or Pamphylus, according to a note in a letter of Jerome (Epistle 34, Ad Marcellam), rein-
forces our argument: this institutional Library was in fact in relation with the schools.
This Library was studied recently by Carriker, Library of Eusebius of Caesarea (2003),
who suggests that Origenes had established a school in Caesarea, a hypothesis which
would deserve a discussion we cannot offer here. In his study, Carriker has shown that
the collection of Origenes was transported from Alexandria to Caesarea and copied
again there. Part of this collection was of course the whole corpus of Philo, and we
learn from Eusebius that Isidorus, the Bishop of Sevilla, speaks of 30,000 volumes in
this Library. A comparison with other great Libraries (Pergamon, Athens, Hadriana
in Rome and Athens, Constantinople, etc) tells the same story: the number of books
is impressive and shows direct relations with contemporary schools. These institutional
libraries could not have been put up if they had been without scholarly relations with
schools, and conversely the schools could not have gained access to good-quality origi-
nals if they could not have relied upon institutional libraries, such as state supported
libraries or municipal libraries.

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EL ABBADI_f12-171-190.indd 190 1/25/2008 4:59:26 AM
 ACADEMIC LIFE OF LATE ANTIQUE ALEXANDRIA:
A VIEW FROM THE FIELD

Grzegorz Majcherek

The Alexandrian Library has always been a great, living legend

that archaeology has tried vainly to come to terms with. Ever since
Mahmoud el-Falaki began a comprehensive digging for ancient remains,
the finding of the ruins of the Library has been a challenge, matching
that of discovering the tomb of Alexander the Great, and emotions
have invariably run high among scholars and the general public laity.
Archaeology has proved almost completely powerless in the face of
this myth, failing to keep step with changing reality. The Bibliotheca
Alexandrina stands rebuilt in new form, as an ultra modern library, yet
we are still looking for an answer to a couple of simple questions of
key importance: Where was the original Library? And what happened
to it ultimately?1
It is a great pity that efforts to resolve these two issues have ended
in almost total failure for the moment. Neither excavations nor even
the relative wealth of historical sources has brought us any closer to
solving the mystery. Current views on the subject have never really
passed beyond the stage of more or less unproved theories. A find that
was the source of hope and controversy in equal degree, a find that
had prompted even Mahmoud el-Falaki to suspect that the Ancient
Library was situated in the spot where it was discovered, the stone
block bearing an inscription of Dioscorides has been shown recently
by Roger Bagnall not to have been a book container at all, but simply
a base for a statue.2
The recent discovery of lecture halls at the Kom el-Dikka site, which
has generated much popular interest, has been also hastily and errone-
ously linked by some journalists with the Library, again raising fruitless

1
On the fate of Library in general, cf.: Canfora, Vanished Library; El-Abbadi, Life
and Fate of the Ancient Library of Alexandria.
2
Bagnall, “Dioskourides: Three Rolls,” 11–25, with a detailed overview of previ-
ous hypotheses.

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 192 grzegorz majcherek

hopes that it could be found.3 But even if the discovery does not bring
us any closer to determining the actual location of the Library, at least
it throws entirely new light on the nature of academic life in Alexandria
of Late Antiquity.
The excavations of the joint Polish-Egyptian expedition, working on
the site for the past forty plus years, brought to light the only extensive
section of ancient urban architecture to be seen in Alexandria to date.4
Most of the excavated area is occupied by public monuments of the
Late Roman age with the bath constituting the main architectural
complex. This large, symmetrical edifice designed on a rectangular
plan was constructed most probably at the end of the fourth century
as an imperial foundation.5 The huge elevated structure of the cistern
that supplied it with water occupies the central part of the site. In the
western part of the area, a residential district combining industrial and
domestic functions was unearthed.6
But perhaps the best advertised of the Kom el-Dikka discoveries
was the theatre or to be more precise an odeum opening off a long
portico, 180m of which have been explored on the site, running from
north to south.7 It is in this part of the site that a set of surprisingly
well preserved lecture halls was recently uncovered.
All of the newly discovered halls line the back wall of the portico,
which is in itself a monumental setting for these structures (fig. 18). The
halls are rectangular and follow the same orientation, differing only in
size.8 Five of the halls ( J-M) located directly to the north of the the-
atre are of approximately the same dimensions. Their length runs in
the range from 9 to 12 m. Hall (H) is clearly different; at 7 m length,
it is obviously the smallest of the lot (fig. 19). All five of the halls are
bordered on the east by a long casing wall; as a result, all of them are
slightly over 5 m wide. The wall separates the auditoria from an area
that had already been abandoned in the period of their functioning

3
See Los Angeles Times, May 9, 2004; Sydney Morning Herald, May 10, 2004; BBC
News, May 12, 2004, http://news.bbc.co.uk/.
4
For the general topography of the site, cf. Tkaczow, Topography of Ancient Alexandria,
85–90, 94–102.
5
Koł[taj, Imperial Baths at Kom el-Dikka.
6
M. Rodziewicz, Habitations romaines tardives d’Alexandrie.
7
For the theatre, cf. Koł[taj, “Recherches architectoniques dans les thermes et le
théâtre de Kôm el-Dikka à Alexandrie,” 189–190.
8
Majcherek and Koł[taj, “Excavations and Preservation Work, 2001/2002,”
19–31; Majcherek, “Kom el-Dikka: Excavations and Preservation Work, 2002/2003,”
25–38.

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 academic life of late antique alexandria 193

and had become a dumping ground for rubbish and debris, one of
the typical kopriai, several examples of which have been recognised in
other parts of the town.9 Our mound extends well to the north and
east towards the bath complex, culminating some 7–8 meters above
the level of the Theatre Portico.
The biggest differences are to be observed in the case of halls lying
nearer to the northern end of the portico. Auditorium (N) is definitely
the longest of the complex, reaching 14 m in length (fig. 20). Auditorium
(P) to the south of it evidently departs from the described scheme, not
only in size and orientation (E-W axis), but also in the internal layout.
Instead of the benches lining three of the walls, there are two distinct
tribunes rising high on two opposite walls and, separately, benches
inside the apse projecting to the east, closely recalling a synthronon, and
suggesting a function quite unlike a regular auditorium (fig. 21). The
building might have been used for ceremonial purposes, while remain-
ing part of the complex as a whole. The similarity with some church
layouts may be largely superficial and misleading. Although it gener-
ally recalls a conventional church design, the absence of any kind of
evidence for an altar speaks against such a theory. Moreover, even a
summary review of known church plans from Egypt reveals no close
parallels for such an arrangement.10
In spite of the variations of sizes, the internal arrangement of the
halls is virtually the same. All are entered from the portico, the doorways
pierced in the thick back wall of the portico, invariably closer to the
northern end of each of the rooms. This creates a kind of functional
vestibule that was occasionally even emphasised by the introduction of
poorly built partition walls, of which faint traces have been recorded in
a few cases, in halls (M) and (N), for example. The floors in the newly
discovered halls are just as varied, from limestone pugging (hall M) to
painstakingly laid limestone slabs (halls H and N).
The benches are undoubtedly the most important and conspicuous
furnishing. The three tiers of benches lining the wall (although there
are exceptions to this rule) are c. 35–40 cm high and almost as wide.
They can seat comfortably from 20 to 30 persons. Some benches follow

9
M. Rodziewicz, Habitations romaines tardives d’Alexandrie, 31, 252.
10
Grossmann, Christliche architektur in Ägypten. One should note, however, that churches
with lateral benches extending well into the aisle are known from Jordan and Palestine,
cf. Duval, “Architecture et liturgie dans la Jordanie Byzantine,” 35–114; Dayr Ayn
Abata, fig. 13; Esbus, fig. 17; Gerasa, fig. 39 a–c.

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 194 grzegorz majcherek

a rectangular layout (halls H and M) (fig. 22), but in most cases, they
take on the form of an exedera (halls J, K, L and N) (fig. 20). Benches
are usually made of a single row of large blocks, but very often, smaller
randomly set irregular stones were used. In several cases, larger seg-
ments of brick walls cut from abandoned structures, most probably
the bath or the cisterns, were reused—a phenomenon previously noted
also in other constructions of the Late Roman age.11 The benches were
normally plastered over, covering all the irregularities.
The central seat at the end is a distinctive feature in all of the halls.
It could be an ordinary block of stone elevated somewhat above the
neighbouring seats, but very often it takes on a more imposing form
with separate steps leading up to it. The most monumental one was
unearthed in auditorium (K), featuring seven steps flanked with low
sidewalls, and giving access to the seating placed some 1.60 m above
the floor level (fig. 23). Another significant feature found in almost all of
the halls is a low pedestal projecting above floor level. It is invariably in the
centre of the room, opposite the prominently positioned main seat,
and it is most commonly a stone block covered with plaster; although
in one case a marble capital was used for this purpose (hall L).
The latter two features seem to be of key importance for identifying
the function of the newly discovered halls. The central seat was des-
tined undoubtedly for the most important person heading the gather-
ing. Associations come to mind with a lecturer’s ‘chair’—a customary
fitting of lecture halls.
Available ancient iconographic sources largely confirm this hypothesis.
The high chair is an almost invariable attribute of existing represen-
tations of teachers and philosophers. Representations of professors
seated in such chairs, undoubtedly based on actual scenes, were quite
common and widespread in Late Antique art. Later they were also
adopted on a large scale in Christian art, usually depicting Christ as
a teacher. The best evidence of this is a series of ivory plaques and
pyxides, some of them even attributed to Alexandrian workshops.12
Of special significance is a wall-painting preserved in the Via Latina
catacomb in Rome, showing a teacher seated in an exedera and sur-

11
M. Rodziewicz, Habitations romaines tardives d’Alexandrie, 249, 276, 299.
12
Cf. recent discussion of such representations in E. Rodziewicz, “On Alexandrian
School for Ivory Carving,” 49–69, where some of the examples are discussed in the
context of the lecture halls from Kom el-Dikka.

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 academic life of late antique alexandria 195

rounded with disciples during a lesson of anatomy.13 That seats of this

kind were not exclusively movable furniture is demonstrated by this
stone pulpit of striking similarity, discovered in the monastery of Apa
Jeremias in Saqqara.14
How far all these compositions are firmly rooted in the realities
of the period is also well attested by literary sources. Libanius in a
short but very significant passage in his Chreiai describes the teacher
as “established in an imposing chair, like judges are.”15 In the same
fragment, the author also added that students were obliged to present
their written or memorized orations before their professor, standing up
in the middle of the ‘classroom.’
This short description appears to correspond very well with the
functional layout of the interior of the lecture halls. It could also be
viewed as a possible clue to the purpose of the low blocks positioned
invariably in the centre of almost all of the auditoria. They would have
been used by students during their rhetorical exercises or declamations
(μελέται).
There is no need to emphasize at this point that in Late Antiquity,
besides the obvious conflict between paganism and Christianity, the
nature of higher education was left literally unchanged. Students still
read Homer and Cicero, not only the Bible, and rhetorical education
remained at the core of the system.16
The dating of the complex of lecture halls is still far from precise.
The chronological evidence available is still quite modest and somewhat
ambiguous. No finds that could be directly associated with the function
of the halls were recorded. Our preliminary conclusions are based on
examination of pottery, some glass finds and a small number of severely
corroded and largely illegible coins found in layers sealed under the
benches. Overall, the available material points to the late fifth-early
sixth century A.D. as the most probable time for the construction of
this complex.

13
Du Bourguet, Early Christian Painting, fig. 111.
14
Quibell, Excavations of Saqqara (1908–9, 1909–10), pl. XIV.
15
Libanius Chreiai 3.7 in ibid., Libanii Opera, recensuit Foerster, (1915) 8:84–85. It is
also worth recalling that, in his report of the tragic death of Hypatia, John of Nikiu
said that the mob “found her seated on the lofty chair,” cf. John, Bishop of Nikiu.
Chronicle of John, Bishop of Nikiu, trans. Charles, LXXXIV 101.
16
For the literary culture of Late Antiquity, cf. Kaster, Guardians of Language;
Cameron, “Education and Literary Culture,” 665–707; in Egypt: Cribiore, Gymnastics
of the Mind.

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 196 grzegorz majcherek

Significantly, all of the cleared halls are adaptations of earlier struc-

tures. With some slight modifications, they use extant architecture,
the original function of which remains undetermined. It is not to be
excluded that they had served the same role throughout and the avail-
able chronological evidence concerns only the last stage of the rebuild-
ing. While the exact chronology of particular lecture halls is yet to be
established, it is clear that the whole complex was expanded over the
time. The auditoria forming the southern run, adjoining the theatre
(halls H-M), are certainly the earliest. Those located further north (halls
N and P) were apparently added later. The finds from structure (P),
are fortunately quite explicit and exact in this respect. The fill trapped
under the benches yielded quite a numerous collection of imported
tableware, consisting mostly of African Red Slip and Cypriot Red Slip
forms, assigned to the late sixth century, surprisingly late in time.
The date of the abandonment and destruction of the lecture halls
is still provisional at best. In the superimposed strata, a stratigraphic
sequence from the Mamluk down to Umayyad period was identified.
In all the investigated halls graves of the earliest, late seventh-eighth
century phase of the Arab cemetery were recorded, in many cases cut
into the pavement or the benches of the auditoria, from which it can
be reasonably inferred that they were abandoned rather late in time,
quite shortly before the earliest internments.17 The graves were dug in
relatively thin (ca. 0.60–0.80 cm) strata of loose soil, apparently accu-
mulated there shortly after the structures lost their roofs, but significantly
still within walls that were standing quite high. In hall (L), a large section
of the eastern wall was found collapsed over the graves.
The datable material from the fill consists mostly of residual pottery
obscuring possible chronological conclusions; however, the absence of
glazed wares is conspicuous. It seems that the auditoria were not aban-
doned earlier than in the second half of the seventh century. This is
in turn rather surprising, especially in view of the fact that the nearby
bath complex was destroyed in all likelihood in consequence of the
Persian invasion and was never rebuilt.18 The lecture halls, however,
appear to have survived all the political tribulations of the first half of
the seventh century and continued in use for quite some time still. A

17
For the dating of the so called Lower Necropolis, cf. Promińska, Investigations on
the Population of Muslim Alexandria, 46–50.
18
Koł[taj, “Dernière periode d’utilisation et destruction des thermes romaines tardifs
de Kom el-Dikka,” 218–229.

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 academic life of late antique alexandria 197

terminus ante quem is provided by an Arab inscription dated to the very

beginning of the eighth century A.D., found on one of the pedestals in
the theatre.19 Its presence may presumably indicate the time of the final
abandonment of not just the theatre, but the entire adjoining complex
as well. If that was indeed the case, it raises wider issue of linking our
chronological findings with the evidence supplied by Arab historiogra-
phers. According to some sources, in A.D. 718, by order of Umayyad
Caliph Umar ibn Abdel Aziz, ‘the Alexandrian Academy’ was moved
to Antioch, to be closer to the then capital in Damascus.20
Lecture halls of similar character had been excavated earlier on the
Kom el-Dikka site. Four similar structures (building 32) were discovered
in the early 1980s at the northern edge of the site.21 Here, too, in two
rooms, the benches formed a kind of hemicycle in the southern end,
while the third one featured a rectangular layout. In one of them, a
stone pedestal located in the middle of the floor, opposite the main
seat, is still preserved in situ.
An almost identical arrangement of the interior is also demonstrated
in the case of three subsequently excavated auditoria (A, B and C)
situated by the south entrance to the bath complex.22 At present, there
can be no doubt that all these structures constituted part of the same
complex including as many as 15 already discovered auditoria.23
The newest discoveries also throw new light on the function of the
nearby theatre, which was excavated in the early 1960s. Excavators
have ascertained that the building, most likely built as an odeum in the
fourth century, underwent a comprehensive rebuilding in the first half
of the sixth century A.D.24 The stage building was then removed and
the interior was transformed quite radically. New rows of seats appeared

19
Kubiak and Makowiecka, “Polish Excavations at Kom el-Dikka in Alexandria in
1965 and 1966,” 102.
20
Saffrey, “Chrétien Jean Philopon et la survivance de l’école d’Alexandrie au VIe
siècle,” 396–410.
21
M. Rodziewicz, “Excavations at Kom el-Dikka in Alexandria 1980–1981,”
233–245. For yet another presumed lecture hall uncovered by the southern wall of
the theatre, cf. M. Rodziewicz, “Review of the Archaeological Evidence Concerning
the Cultural Institutions in Ancient Alexandria,” 317–332.
22
Kiss et al., Alexandrie VII: Fouilles polonaises à Kôm el-Dikka (1986–1987).
23
It should be expected that the lecture halls lined the entire length of the portico,
thus their number could exceed 20 in all.
24
Koł[taj, “Recherches architectoniques dans les thermes et le théâtre de Kôm el-
Dikka à Alexandrie,” 187–194; ibid., “Theoretical Reconstruction of the Late Roman
Theatre at Kom el-Dikka in Alexandria,” 631–638.

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 198 grzegorz majcherek

in place of the blocked lateral parodoi. The classical semicircular plan

of the cavea was thus changed into a horseshoe-shaped arrangement
that one can easily recognize as similar to that found in the auditoria.
The rebuilding was apparently necessitated by the need to adapt the
structure to a new function. Zbigniew Borkowski, in his publication of
circus factions graffiti preserved on the theatre seats, linked them to
the Heraclius revolt and accordingly dated the whole corpus to A.D.
608–610.25 He argued convincingly that the Theatre in its latest phase
was rebuilt to serve as a meeting hall for the faction of the Greens.
While this view is not to be entirely rejected, it appears now that the
theatre might well be seen as part of the newly excavated complex of
auditoria, the biggest lecture hall of them all intended to seat a larger
audience.26 Theatres in Late Antiquity were after all a common venue
for public lectures by prominent orators.
The most important issue now is to understand what exactly did this
complex represent. The entire evidence, so far, indicates that we are
dealing with a large educational institution operating in Late Antique
Alexandria. The central location of the complex in the ancient town
further corroborates the conclusions drawn based on the characteristic
functional arrangement of particular halls.
It might prove instructive to reconsider the topography of the com-
plex as a whole. The great portico cutting through the area appears
now to have been one of the colonnades surrounding the great square
located in the very centre of the city, at the intersection of the Via
Canopica with street R5 (fig. 24). Fragments of similar colonnades were
discovered in the 1930s on the south27 and west, in Nabi Daniel Street,
which repeats the course of the ancient R5 Street.28 It seems that these
colonnades surrounded a grand square located at the crossing of the
main arteries of the ancient city. However, excavations conducted in
the northern part of this presumed square have shown that the square
was never paved being left most likely as a green area.29 The idea is
hardly surprising: after all, palm groves and gardens were not the least

25
Borkowski, Inscriptions des factions à Alexandrie, 82–86; for a dissenting view,
cf. A. Cameron and R. S. Bagnall, review of Inscriptions des factions à Alexandrie, by
Z. Borkowski, BASP 20 (1983): 75–84.
26
For the probable function of the theatre as an auditorium, cf. Kiss, “Les auditoria
romains tardifs de Kôm el-Dikka (Alexandrie),” 331–338; E. Rodziewicz, “Late Roman
Auditoria in Alexandria in the Light of Ivory Carvings,” 269–279.
27
Adriani, Annuaire du Musée Gréco-Romain (1935–1939), 55–63.
28
Ibid., Annuario del Museo Greco-Romano (1932–1933), 1:19–27, pl. IV.
29
M. Rodziewicz, Habitations romaines tardives d’Alexandrie, 241.

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 academic life of late antique alexandria 199

unusual in the landscape of Late Antique Alexandria, and John Moschus

describes such urban paradeisai as quite a common feature.30
The location of our lecture-hall complex in a square of such monu-
mental proportions suggests special status, further emphasized by the
nearby presence of imperial baths. This entire urban district—encom-
passing a vast square, baths, odium and finally a set of what looks like
municipal lecture halls—should be considered perhaps as the centre
proper of social life in Alexandria of Late Antiquity, taking over the
role of the Ptolemaic Gymnasium.31
The existence and activities of Late Antique institutions of higher
education are quite well recorded in historical sources, although it must
be stressed that there was no one binding model of organization and the
schools in particular regions and even cities differed considerably.32
A famous school of law in Beirut, theological and philosophical
schools in Gaza and Edessa, not to mention the Neo-Platonian Academy
in Athens, are only a few known examples to validate such a view. Cities
in both the eastern and western part of the empire were constantly
competing for academic prestige, aspiring to attract the best teachers
for their municipal schools.
An educational function is willingly attributed to a number of
known residential buildings. Houses discovered in Athens, near the
Agora and the Areopagus, especially the so-called ‘House of Proclus,’
are supposed to be archaeological evidence for private teaching as
mentioned above.33 Several big rooms ending in apses found in these
structures are interpreted as lecture halls existing in connection with
the Neo-Platonian Academy. A house with an exedera decorated with
portraits of philosophers, and interpreted as a teaching venue was
also discovered in Aphrodisias.34 However, one should keep in mind,
after all, that apsed halls for official ceremonious use (oecus) are rather
a typical feature of house and residence plans in Late Antiquity, in the
East, as well as in the West.35

30
John Moschus Pratum Spirituale 207. On urban gardens, cf. also Haas, “John
Moschus and Late Antique Alexandria,” 47–60.
31
For a recent study on the Alexandrian Gymnasium, cf. Burkhalter, “Gymnase
d’Alexandrie,” 345–373.
32
Vössing, “Staat und schule in der spätantike,” 243–262.
33
Frantz, Late Antiquity, A.D. 267–700, 42–44.
34
Smith, “Late Roman Philosopher Portraits from Aphrodisias,” 127–155.
35
Cf. Duval, “Maisons d’Apamée et l’architecture ‘palatiale’ de l’antiquité tardive,”
468; Sodini, «Habitat urbain en Grèce à la veille des invasions,” 344–397.

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 200 grzegorz majcherek

On the other hand, it was common pratice to make use of public

buildings for lectures and oratorical performances.36 At Antioch, for
example, this function was served by the Mouseion, which was situated
near the Agora.37 The imperial university at Constantinople, established
by Theodosius II, sported a similar location ‘in Capitolio,’ that is again in
public space.38 A large body of extant normative texts provides excel-
lent grounds for understanding structure and operating rules of ancient
schools. The education was based largely on private tutoring with only
a handful of lecturers attaining the position of municipal teachers. The
Codex of Theodosius preserves quite a number of edicts and rulings
concerning the status of teachers and students alike.39 A decree, dated
to A.D. 425, is particularly interesting for understanding the function-
ing of the Alexandrian complex. Besides giving the number of Greek
and Latin chairs of rhetoric, grammar, philosophy and law established
at the time, it also informs that each teacher should have a separate
lecture hall for his didactic purposes.
Unfortunately, the relative wealth of extant historical sources does
not balance nearly total archaeological ignorance. So far, no physical
traces of any of these renowned, already mentioned institutions have
been discovered. Could our complex be anything like an academy of
this sort? Quite possibly, although further excavations are essential before
more specific and univocal conclusions are drawn.
The intellectual and academic life of Late Antique Alexandria is
surprisingly well documented in the written sources.40 Perhaps the
most vivid description can be found in the Res Gestae of Ammianus
Marcellinus. Although his somewhat exaggerated, nonetheless valuable
account apparently anticipates the revival of Alexandrian scholarship
that was to come at least one century later, it is still often quoted as
the best evidence of the continuity of learning in the Late Antique
City.41

36
Libanius gave lectures even in the town bath, while public performances by orators
were often given also in the bouleuteria, cf. Libanius. Autobiography and Selected Letters,
ed. and trans. Norman, 1:117, 135, 153.
37
Ibid., 1:169; Downey, History of Antioch in Syria, 622.
38
Codex Theodosianus 14.9.3.
39
Cod. Theod. 13.3.1–19, 14. 9.1.
40
Roques, “Alexandrie tardive et protobyzantine (IV e–VIIe s.),” 203–236; Gascou,
«La vie intellectuelle alexandrine à l’époque byzantine (IV e–VIIe siècles),” 41–48; Haas,
Alexandria in Late Antiquity.
41
Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae 22.16.17–18; cf. for the critical view cf.
Bowersock, “Late Antique Alexandria,” 263–270.

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 academic life of late antique alexandria 201

Somewhat later written sources, referring to the period of interest

to our discussion, supply solid, even if scattered, evidence. A diligent
reading of surviving biographies, such as Life of Severus written by
Zacharias Scholasticus, or Life of Isidorus by Damascius, as well as
numerous letters and other literary sources, provides us with an insider’s
view of the academic life of the epoch. The gallery of celebrities, both
students and professors, referred to in those sources is quite extensive. It
includes, among others, philosophers, men of letters and scholars, such
as Olympiodorus, Boethius, Stephanus, Elias, and John Philoponus, as
well as Paul of Aegina, author of medical treatises, to list only some
of the most prominent figures.42 The picture of academic and intellec-
tual life revealed by this extensive corpus of sources leaves little doubt:
Alexandria in Late Antiquity continued to be one of the great centres
of education in the fields of philosophy, law and above all medicine,
attracting students and professors from all over the ancient world.
Unfortunately, none of these records brings any direct topographical
references helpful in identifying our complex, with perhaps one excep-
tion. In his commentary to the Isagoge, Elias in apparent reference to
a school building uses the unexpected term diatribe, writing that the
lecture rooms, “in similarity to theaters are often rounded in plan, so
that the students can see one another, as well as the teacher.”43 It is
a marginal nevertheless valuable note, because it is more than likely
that the author was referring to obvious realities of the world around
him. Thus, it is an appealing idea, even if unverifiable, to think that
this sixth-century Alexandrian intellectual was actually describing one
of the lecture halls on our site, where, in theory, he could even have
been teaching.
The size of the complex discovered at Kom el-Dikka and its localiza-
tion in public space leaves no doubt that it was an investment project of
municipal importance. Even assuming it was not connected directly with
a formal educational institution, it is proof of the importance attached
by the city to cultivating the traditions of ancient paideia and at the same
time the city’s image as a centre of learning and education.
The newly excavated complex of lecture halls at Alexandria thus
appears to be an astonishing piece of evidence for the continuation

42
The list of students and professors active in Late Antique Alexandria is much
longer obviously, cf. PLRE, 1:217–223.
43
I would like to thank Ms. El1zbieta Szabat for calling my attention to this important
passage. Cf. Elias In Porphyrii isagogen 21.30.

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 202 grzegorz majcherek

and intellectual vitality of the tradition of Alexandrian learning, best

symbolized by the great institutions of the Ptolemies. Quite obviously,
Alexandrian academic life did not end with the destruction of the
Library. It continued well into the seventh century, and acted as a vital
‘bridge’ between the classical and the medieval worlds.

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 academic life of late antique alexandria 203

Figure 18. General plan of the Kom el-Dikka site. (Drawing by W. Koł[taj).
Polish-Egyptian Mission at Kom el-Dikka, Alexandria, Polish Centre of
Mediterranean Archaeology in Cairo.

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 204 grzegorz majcherek

Figure 19. Auditorium H at Kom el-Dikka. Polish-Egyptian Mission at Kom

el-Dikka, Alexandria, Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology in Cairo.

Figure 20. Auditorium N at Kom el-Dikka. Polish-Egyptian Mission at Kom

el-Dikka, Alexandria, Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology in Cairo.

EL ABBADI_f13-191-206.indd 204 1/25/2008 5:00:25 AM

 academic life of late antique alexandria 205

Figure 21. Auditorium P at Kom el-Dikka, looking north-east. Polish-Egyptian

Mission at Kom el-Dikka, Alexandria, Polish Centre of Mediterranean
Archaeology in Cairo.

Figure 22. Auditorium M at Kom el-Dikka. Polish-Egyptian Mission at Kom

el-Dikka, Alexandria, Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology in Cairo.

EL ABBADI_f13-191-206.indd 205 1/25/2008 5:00:26 AM

 206 grzegorz majcherek

Figure 23. Auditorium K at Kom el-Dikka. View from the north. Polish-
Egyptian Mission at Kom el-Dikka, Alexandria, Polish Centre of Mediterranean
Archaeology in Cairo.

Figure 24. The great portico in front of the Theatre at Kom el-Dikka. View
from the north-west. Polish-Egyptian Mission at Kom el-Dikka, Alexandria,
Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology in Cairo.

EL ABBADI_f13-191-206.indd 206 1/25/2008 5:00:26 AM

 THE ARAB STORY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE
ANCIENT LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA

Qassem Abdou Qassem

The Ancient Library of Alexandria, built by the Ptolemies in the third

century B.C., played a very important role in the development of
scientific and intellectual activities of the Mediterranean world over
several centuries. In some ways, this Library with its annexations can
be considered a kind of continuation of the temple libraries of ancient
Egypt,1 but undoubtedly, it was by far the most important and renowned
Library in the ancient world.
Since Edward Gibbon first started the debate about the fate of the
Ancient Library of Alexandria in the eighteenth century, this subject
has aroused vehement controversies among historians during the last
two centuries. The revival of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a few years
ago, has stimulated the debate once more and this paper deals with the
Arab version of the story of the fate of the Ancient Library.
Notably enough, the Arabic story did not appear until the last decade
of the sixth century A.H./twelfth A.D. The earliest Arabic source was
by the Muslim physician and traveler, Abd al-Latīf al-Baghdādī who
visited Egypt in 595 A.H./1200 A.D.; he mentioned that he saw some
of the monuments in Alexandria, including what he believed to have
been the Library, “set up by Alexander when he founded his city,” and
that it was the place where “Aristotle and his successors taught.” He
continues to mention in a brief statement that it was, “the book-store
which was burnt by Amr, by order of Caliph Umar.” This report
cannot be taken seriously as it is undocumented, besides stating inac-
curate historical facts.2
More important with regard to the story of the destruction of the
Ancient Library of Alexandria, is the account given by Jamāl al-Dīn
ibn al-Qiftī who lived during the Ayyubid era and died in the year 646

1
Cf. Haikal, “Private Collections and Temple Libraries in Ancient Egypt,” see
chap. 2 in the present volume.
2
Abd al-Latīf al-Baghdādī al-Ifādah wa-al-i tibār fī al-umūr al-mushāhadah wa-al- awādith
al-mu āyanah bi-ar Mi r [ Journey to Egypt] 42.

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 208 qassem abdou qassem

A.H./1248 A.D. He came from a family of Qadis (judges), his father

was appointed judge for Jerusalem and Jamāl al-Dīn himself, was at
one time, judge in Aleppo; he is also the author of an alphabetically
arranged biographical lexicon.
In his lexicon, History of Wise Men, (Ikhbār al- ulamā bi-akhbār
al- ukamā ) Ibn al-Qiftī mentions the end of the old Library when
he presents the biography of John the Grammarian (Yahia al-Nahwī)
who was identified as John Philoponus. He mentions that Yahia was
a Jacobite, Coptic priest and a disciple of Severus (Shawary) but that
he was deprived of his office owing to his rejection of the dogma of
the Trinity. He lived and saw the capture of Alexandria by Amr ibn
al- Ās. Ibn al-Qiftī goes on to narrate how Amr was impressed by the
erudition and intellect of Yahia and listened with admiration to his
logical arguments concerning the Trinity, as well as his other philosophi-
cal opinions that were as yet unknown to the Arabs. Emboldened by
Amr’s favor, Yahia one day remarked, “You have examined the whole
city and have set your seal on every object of value. I make no claim
for aught that is useful to you, but things of no use to you, may be
of service to us.” He then mentioned the “books of wisdom” in the
Royal treasuries which the Arabs had no use for, while he could make
use of. He then described how they had been collected by Ptolemy
Philadelphus from far and wide and that he had spared no cost in
acquiring them. He had appointed Zomeira (Demetrius of Phaleron)
to be in charge, and the collection grew till it reached the number of
54,120 books. Still, the King’s hunger for more books was not abated
and he ordered that books should continue to be gathered from India,
Persia, Georgia, Armenia, Babylonia, Mosul and Greece.
Amr’s reply was that he could not dispose of the books without
asking for permission from the Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattāb. A letter
was dispatched, and the answer soon came, “Touching the books you
mention, if what is written in them agrees with the Book of God, they
are not required, but if it disagrees, they are not desired. Destroy them
therefore.” Accordingly, Amr ordered the books to be distributed among
the baths of Alexandria and used as fuel for heating. It took six months
to consume them. “Listen and wonder” concludes the writer.3
Subsequent Arab writers like Abū al-Faraj, known as Ibn al- Ibrī
(Barhebraeus), Abū al-Fidā and al-Maqrīzī, repeated the account of Ibn

3
Ibn al-Qiftī Ikhbār al- ulamā bi-akhbār al- ukamā [History of Wise Men] 232–234.

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 the destruction of the ancient library of alexandria 209

al-Qiftī either in full or abridged. Therefore to get the full story of the
burning of the Alexandria Library by Amr, as related by the Arabs,
one has to turn to Ibn al-Qiftī who was the first to relate it in full.
As mentioned above, the story first appeared in Ibn al-Qiftī’s bio-
graphical lexicon. When compared with other biographies of the time
written by Ibn Khallikān, al-Sāfādī, Ibn Shākir al-Kutubī, al-Dhahabī
and others, it is of second-rate value due to summarized material and
inaccurate information. The story itself, as M. El-Abbadi has shown,4
is a compound of at least three distinct parts. The first part relating
to Yahia al-Nahwī, was mentioned earlier by Ibn al-Nadīm and it is
possible that both of them were quoting a third source. The second
part dealing with the number of books was mentioned literally in some
Byzantine sources as El-Abbadi demonstrated. But these two parts of the
story are irrelevant to the subject of the fate of the Library, even though
Ibn al-Qiftī has made them an integral component of his account. The
third part is the important one, as it attributes the destruction of the
Ancient Library of Alexandria to the Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattāb and
his governor in Egypt, Amr ibn al- Ās. It is noteworthy that this part
was written as a dialogue between Yahia and Amr covering several
days and this bears the marks of fiction rather than actual history. It
is most probable that the author heard it as part of an oral tradition
then prevalent.
Furthermore, the first appearance of the Arabic story of the fate of
the Library occurred in the late sixth and early seventh centuries A.H.
(twelfth & thirteenth centuries A.D.) whereas the Arab conquest of Egypt
and Alexandria took place six centuries earlier. It is highly unlikely
that such eminent historians as Ibn Abd al- akam (d. 253 A.H.), al-
Balathurī (d. 279 A.H.), al-Tabarī (d. 310 A.H.) and al-Kīndī (d. 350
A.H.) should have ignored the existence of such a famous Library and
its fate. These historians and their successors reported the details of the
Arab conquest of Egypt and Alexandria; but no mention was made of
what Abd al-Latīf al-Baghdādī, Ibn al-Qiftī and Ibn al- Ibrī reported
about the destruction of the Library by Amr ibn al- Ās.
Moreover, the Coptic historian John, Bishop of Nikiu, who lived the
greater part of his life in the second half of the seventh and the early
eighth centuries A.D., was a near contemporary of the Arab conquest
and recorded many of its events, but he did not mention or even hint

4
El-Abbadi, Life and Fate of the Ancient Library of Alexandria, 169ff.

EL ABBADI_f14-207-212.indd 209 1/25/2008 5:03:45 AM

 210 qassem abdou qassem

at such an event happening, despite his obvious hostility towards the

Muslims.5 In fact, none of the contemporary Byzantine historians did
that either.
What is most probable is that the Royal Library was destroyed dur-
ing the war of Alexandria in the year 48 B.C., as El-Abbadi argued,
when Julius Caesar burnt some fifty ships in the harbour of Alexandria
and the flames spread to the shore and burnt down the Royal Library.6
But the Daughter Library, a branch of the Royal Library that formed
part of the Serapeum, survived until the year 391 A.D. when Emperor
Theodosius the Great (379–95 A.D.) proclaimed Christianity the formal
and sole religion of the Roman Empire. In fulfillment of the terms
of the decree, Bishop Theophilus launched an onslaught on the
Serapeum that completely destroyed it.7 In view of these developments
it becomes self-evident that when the Arab conquest took place, neither
the Royal Library nor the Daughter Library, were there. It also explains the
reason why early historians, Arab and non Arab, who dealt with the
conquest of Egypt, made no mention what so ever of any events con-
cerning a library.
The story as reported by Ibn al-Qiftī has repeatedly been criticized,
but there is little doubt that A. J. Butler, himself an eminent Arabist,
was the best qualified scholar to do so. One of his strongest arguments
against the credibility of the story is that he was able to identify John
the Grammarian (Yahia al-Nahwī) with John Philoponus who lived
and wrote around 540 A.D. It would therefore be impossible that he
should survive and be active one hundred years later at the time of
the Arab conquest.8
One major question needs to be answered. Why should al-Baghdādī
and Ibn al-Qiftī make up the story about Amr’s burning of the Ancient
Library of Alexandria at the order of Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattāb?
El-Abbadi argued that after Saladin overthrew the rule of the Fatimids,
he found himself in dire need of money to carry on his campaigns
against the Crusaders and to pay off those who had co-operated with
him and served him. He therefore donated as well as offered for sale
many of the treasures he had confiscated; we know that among these
treasures, were great public libraries of the Fatimids. Consequently,

5
John, Bishop of Nikiu, Tarikh Yohana al Niqiousy, trans. Saber (2003).
6
El-Abbadi, Life and Fate of the Ancient Library of Alexandria, 146–156.
7
Ibid., 160–167.
8
Butler, Arab Conquest of Egypt (1902), 400ff.

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 the destruction of the ancient library of alexandria 211

there was a widespread feeling of resentment and discontent at the loss

of such priceless legacies of learning. Saladin was accordingly exposed
to bitter criticism, especially by the survivors of the old Shiite regime
whom he sought to suppress.
To defend such an action, Ibn al-Qiftī, who was a close associate of
Saladin, wrote this fictitious story to show that selling when in need, is
a lesser crime than the burning of pagan books as Umar did.9
To conclude, the Arabic story of the destruction of the Ancient
Library of Alexandria, whatever was the true motive behind it, is an
obvious example of the abuse of history for political purposes; in the
past as well as in the present.

9
El-Abbadi, Life and Fate of the Ancient Library of Alexandria, 176ff.

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EL ABBADI_f14-207-212.indd 212 1/25/2008 5:03:46 AM
 THE ARAB DESTRUCTION OF THE LIBRARY OF
ALEXANDRIA: ANATOMY OF A MYTH

Bernard Lewis

Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, some writers are still
disposed to believe and even repeat the story of how the Great Library
of Alexandria was destroyed by the Arabs after their conquest of the
city in 642 A.D., by order of the Caliph Umar. This story—its origins,
purpose, acceptance and rejection—provides an interesting example of
how such historical myths arise and, for a while at least, flourish.
This story first became known to Western scholarship in 1663,
when Edward Pococke, the Laudian Professor of Arabic at Oxford,
published an edition of the Arabic text, with Latin translation, of part
of the Compendious History of the Dynasties of the Syrian-Christian author
Barhebraeus, also known as Abū al-Faraj.1 According to this story, Amr
ibn al- Ās, the commander of the Arab conquerors, was inclined to
accept the pleas of John the Grammarian and spare the library, but
the Caliph decreed otherwise: “If these writings of the Greeks agree
with the book of God, they are useless and need not be preserved; if
they disagree, they are pernicious and ought to be destroyed.”2 The
books in the library, the story continues, were accordingly distributed
among the four thousand bathhouses of the city, and used to heat the
furnaces, which they kept going for almost six months.
As early as 1713, Father Eusèbe Renaudot, the distinguished French
orientalist, cast doubt on this story, remarking, in his history of the
Patriarchs of Alexandria, published in that year, that it “had something
untrustworthy about it.”3 Curiously, although Father Renaudot’s text
is in Latin, the word “untrustworthy” is in Greek—perhaps a security
precaution. The great English historian Edward Gibbon, never one
to miss a good story, relates it with gusto, and then proceeds: “For
my own part, I am strongly tempted to deny both the facts and the

1
Barhebraeus, Historia compendiosa dynastiarum, trans. Pococke (Oxford, 1663).
2
For text, see ibid., 180; translation, 114.
3
Renaudot, Historia patriarcharum Alexandrinorum Jacobitarum a.D. Marco usque ad finem
sæculi XIII (Paris, 1713), 170.

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 214 bernard lewis

consequences.”4 To explain this denial, Gibbon gives the two principal

arguments against authenticity—that the story first appears some six
hundred years after the actions which it purports to describe, and that
such action is in any case contrary to what we know of the teachings
and practice of the Muslims. Both arguments are, to say the least,
convincing, but the story still survives.
Since then, a succession of other Western scholars have analysed
and demolished the story—Alfred J. Butler in 1902,5 Victor Chauvin
in 1911,6 Paul Casanova7 and Eugenio Griffini,8 independently, in 1923.
Some have attacked the inherent improbabilities of the story. Paper
was not introduced to Egypt until centuries after the Arab conquest,
and many if not most, of the books at that time would have been
written on vellum, which does not burn. To keep that many bathhouse
furnaces going for that length of time, a library of at least 14 million
books would have been required. Another difficulty is that John the
Grammarian who, according to the Barhebraeus story, pleaded with
Amr for his library probably lived and died in the previous century. In
any case, there is good evidence that the Library itself was destroyed
long before the Arabs arrived in Egypt.
Another curious detail: the fourteenth century historian Ibn Khaldūn
tells an almost identical story concerning the destruction of a library of
Persian, presumably Zoroastrian, books in Persia, also by order of the
Caliph Umar, with the very same words.9 This again strongly suggests
a mythic or folkloric origin.
By far the strongest argument against the story is the slight and late
evidence on which it rests. Barhebraeus, the principal source used by
Western historians, lived from 1226 to 1289. He had only two predeces-
sors, from one of whom he simply copied the story, and both preceded
him by no more than a few decades. The earliest source is a Baghdadi
physician called ‘Abd al-Latīf, who was in Egypt in 1203, and in a brief
account of his journey refers in passing to “the library which Amr ibn

4
Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1911), 5:482.
5
Butler, Arab Conquest of Egypt, ed. Fraser, 2nd ed. (1978), 401ff.
6
Chauvin, Le Livre dans le monde arabe, 3–6.
7
Casanova, “L’incendie de la bibliothèque d’Alexandrie par les Arabes,” 163–
171.
8
Eugenio Griffini, “Fī sabīl al-haqq wa t-ta rīkh: al-haqīqa fī harīq maktabat al-
Iskandariyya,” Al-Ahram, January 21, 1925. Summarized in Furlani, “Sull’incendio
della biblioteca di Alessandria,” 205–212.
9
Cf. Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 5:483 n. 141.

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 anatomy of a myth 215

al- Ās burnt with the permission of Umar.”10 An Egyptian scholar, Ibn

al-Qiftī, wrote a history of learned men in about 1227, and included a
biography of John the Grammarian in the course of which he told the
story on which the legend is based. His narrative ends: “I was told the
number of bathhouses that existed at that time, but I have forgotten it.
It is said that they were heated for six months. Listen to this story and
wonder!”11 Barhebraeus merely followed the text of Ibn al-Qiftī, omit-
ting his final observation on the number of bathhouses. This number
is provided by other Arabic sources, in quite different contexts.
To accept the story of the Arab destruction of the Library of
Alexandria, one must explain how it is that so dramatic an event was
unmentioned and unnoticed not only in the rich historical literature
of medieval Islam, but even in the literatures of the Coptic and other
Christian churches, of the Byzantines, of the Jews, or anyone else
who might have thought the destruction of a Great Library worthy of
comment. That the story still survives, and is repeated, despite all these
objections, is testimony to the enduring power of a myth.
Such myths usually come into existence in one of two ways, and
are used to serve one of two purposes. Some arise in what one might
describe as a spontaneous manner—folklore, legend, even poetry;
others are deliberately invented, and often supported with falsified or
fabricated written evidence. Such fabrications sometimes have a surpris-
ingly long life. Some serve a defensive purpose—to defend and justify
a person, a cause or an action. Others serve an offensive purpose, to
delegitimize and attack a perceived enemy. To use the modem term,
such stories and fabrications might be described as propaganda. And
for the propagandist, effectiveness and persuasiveness are what matter,
not truth or accuracy.
Two examples of fabrication may suffice. A famous and for a long
time very effective historical fabrication was the so-called Donations
of Constantine, a document said to have been issued by Constantine,
the first Christian Roman emperor, to Sylvester, the Bishop of Rome.
This was used as a basis for the temporal power of the pope in the city
of Rome, as distinct from his ecclesiastical authority. This document
purports to have been written in the fourth century, first appeared in

10
Abd al-Latīf al-Baghdādī, Kitāb al-ifādah wa-al-i tibār, ed. Sabānū (1983), 52. For
earlier editions, see ibid., Abdollatiphi historiæ ægypti compendium, ed. White (1800), 114;
ibid., Relation de l’Egypte, trans. Silvestre de Sacy (Paris, 1810), 183.
11
Ibn al-Qiftī, Tarīkh al- ukamā , ed. Lippert (1903), 354.

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 216 bernard lewis

the eighth century, and was finally demonstrated to be a forgery in the

fifteenth century. A remarkable long run.
A more recent example, this time of offensive, not defensive forgery,
is the so-called Protocols of the Elders of Zion.12 These were concocted in
France in the late nineteenth century, on behalf of the Czarist Russian
secret police. The forgers adapted them from a French propaganda
tract against Napoleon III and a minor nineteenth century French
novel, neither making any mention of Jews. With this weapon, the
Czarist secret police were able to discredit their two favorite enemies
at the same time, by attributing revolutionary designs to the Jews and
Jewish inspiration to the revolutionaries. The so-called ‘Protocols’ were
extensively used in the propaganda campaigns of the Nazis in Germany
and of their disciples and imitators elsewhere, to justify hatred and,
where convenient, persecution. Though their falsity has been repeatedly
demonstrated by historical analysis and even proved in courts of law
in several countries, they remain a favorite of propagandists seeking
to prove a point and not unduly concerned about the authenticity of
their evidence.
The myth of the Arab destruction of the Library of Alexandria is
not supported by even a fabricated document. One may wonder what
purpose it served. One answer, often given and certainly in accord with
a currently popular school of epistemology would see the story as anti-
Islamic propaganda, designed by hostile elements to blacken the good
name of Islam by showing the revered Caliph Umar as a destroyer
of libraries. But this explanation is as absurd as the myth itself. The
original sources of the story are Muslim, the only exception being the
Syrian-Christian Barhebraeus, who copied it from a Muslim author.
Not the creation, but the demolition of the myth was the achievement
of European orientalist scholarship, which from the eighteenth century
to the present day has rejected the story as false and absurd, and thus
exonerated the Caliph Umar and the early Muslims from this libel.
But if the myth was created and disseminated by Muslims and not by
their enemies, what could possibly have been their motive? The answer
is almost certainly provided in a comment of Paul Casanova. Since
the earliest occurrence of the story is an allusion at the beginning of
the thirteenth century, it must have become current in the late twelfth

12
There is an extensive literature on the Protocols. An excellent recent book is Ben-
Itto, Lie that Wouldn’t Die (2005).

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 anatomy of a myth 217

century—that is to say, in the time of the great Muslim hero Saladin,

famous not only for his victories over the Crusaders, but also—and in
a Muslim context perhaps more importantly—for having extinguished
the heretical Fatimid Caliphate in Cairo, which, with its Ismā īlī doc-
trines, had for centuries threatened the unity of Islam. Abd al-Latīf
was an admirer of Saladin, whom he went to visit in Jerusalem. Ibn
al-Qiftī’s father was a follower of Saladin, who appointed him Qadi
in the newly conquered city.
One of Saladin’s first tasks after the restoration of Sunnism in Cairo
was to break up the Fatimid collections and treasures and sell their
contents at public auction. These included a very considerable library,
presumably full of heretical Ismā īlī books. The break-up of a library,
even one containing heretical books, might well have evoked disapproval
in a civilized, literate society. The myth provided an obvious justification.
It is unlikely that the story was fabricated from the whole cloth at this
time. More probably, those who used it adopted and adapted folkloric
material current at the time. According to this interpretation, the mes-
sage of the narrative was not that the Caliph Umar was a barbarian
because he destroyed a library, but that destroying a library could be
justified, because the revered Caliph Umar had approved of it. Thus
once again, as on so many occasions, the early heroes of Islam were
mobilized by later Muslim propagandists to give posthumous sanction
to actions and policies of which they had never heard and which they
would probably not have condoned.13
It is surely time that the Caliph Umar and Amr ibn al- Ās were
finally acquitted of this charge which their admirers and later their
detractors conspired to bring against them.

13
See for example “Historical Precedents of Imam’s Ruling against Rushdie,” Tehran
Times International Weekly, February 23, 1989.

EL ABBADI_f15-213-218.indd 217 1/25/2008 4:31:29 AM

EL ABBADI_f15-213-218.indd 218 1/25/2008 4:31:29 AM
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Sources

1. Egyptian texts
Abydos Stela
Abusir Papyri
Ashmolean Ostrakon
Book of the Dead
‘dialogue between a man and his soul’
Famine Stela at Seheil
Inscription of Mes
Palermo Stone
Papyrus Anastasi
Papyrus Salt
Pyramid Texts
Ramesseum Papyri
‘Story of the Herdsman’
‘Tale of Hay’
‘Tale of Horus and Seth’
‘Tale of Sinuhe’
‘Tale of the Eloquent Peasant’
‘Tale of the Princess of Bakhtan’
‘Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor’

2. Classical texts
Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae
Aphthonius Progymnasmata
Apollonius of Perge Conica
Apostolic Constitution
Aristophanes Acharnians
Arrian Anabasis
Augustine De civitate Dei
—— Confessiones
—— Retractationes
Basil of Caesarea Homiliae in Hexaemeron
Callimachus Pinakes1
—— Against Praxiphanes
Caesar, Bellum Civile
Chaldean Oracles
Cicero Epistulae ad Atticum

1
Callimachus’ Pinakes is cited in the Suda according to Hesychius under the detailed
title of: Πίνακες τῶν ἐν πάσῃ παιδείᾳ διαλαμψάντων, καὶ ὧν συνέγραψαν (‘Tables of
those who distinguished themselves in all branches of learning and their writings’), Blum,
Kallimachos, 151, 161 n. 2; Adler, Suidae Lexicon, s.v. “Kallimachos,” Κ 227, 3:19f.

EL ABBADI_f16-219-240.indd 219 1/25/2008 4:31:51 AM

 220 bibliography

Clement of Alexandria Protrepticus

Codex Theodosianus
Damascius Commentary on the Categories
—— Commentary on the Parmenides
—— Commentary on the Phaedo
—— Treatise on the First Principles
—— Vita Isidori
Dio Cassius Roman History
Diodorus Siculus
Elias In Porphyrii isagogen2
Eunapius Vita Aedesii3
Florus Epitoma de Tito Livio4
Gellius Noctes Atticae
Gregory I, the Great Epistulae
Gregory of Nyssa Dialogus de anima et resurrectione
—— De opificio hominis
Hermogenes of Tarsos, Treatise On Style
Hesychius of Miletus, Onomatologus
Hirtius, Bellum Alexandrinum
Hypatia Commentary on the Arithmetic of Diophantus of Alexandria
—— Commentary on the Astronomical Canon of Diophantus of Alexandria
—— Commentary on the Conica of Apollonius of Perge
—— Edition of the Handy Tables of Claudius Ptolemy
—— Revised edition of Theon’s third book of his commentary on the Almagest of
Claudius Ptolemy
Iamblichus De mysteriis
Jerome Epistulae
John Chrysostom Homiliae
John Moschus Pratum spirituale
John of Nikiu Chronicle
Libanius Chreiai
Livy Periochae
Lucan Pharsalia
Marinus Vita Procli
Nemesius De natura hominis
—— Frangmenta
Origen Contra Celsum
—— De principiis
Orphic Poems
Orosius Historia adversus paganos
Oxyrhynchus Papyri
Pappus of Alexandria Collectio mathematica

2
[Commentary on the Isagoge of Porphyry], see PLRE, s.v. “Elias 6,” 3:438. For the
title of his work in Greek (προλεγόμενε τῆς Πορφυρίου εἰσαγωγῆς ἀπὸ φωνῆς Ἠλίου
φιλοσόφου), See also Kroll, RE, s.v. “Elias 2,” (5, 2), col. 2366.
3
The title of Eunapius’ work is Vitae sophistarum (Lives of the Sophists). See John F.
Matthews, OCD3, s.v. “Eunapius,” 568.
4
Florus’ work is commonly known under the title of: Epitome bellorum omnium annorum
DCC (‘Abridgement of all the Wars over 700 Years’). Some manuscripts describe it as
an epitome of Livy; but it is sometimes at variance with Livy. See Edward S. Forster,
Gavin B. Townend, and Antony J. S. Spawforth, OCD3, s.v. “Florus,” 602.

EL ABBADI_f16-219-240.indd 220 1/25/2008 4:31:56 AM

 bibliography 221

Photius Bibliotheca Codex

Plato Symposium
—— Timaeus
Pliny Naturalis historia
Plotinus Enneades
Plutarch Antonius
—— Caesar
—— De Iside et Osiride
Polybius Historiae
Porphyry Commentary on the Categories of Aristotle
—— Contra Christianos
—— Sententiae
—— Vita Plotini
Proclus Institutio theologica
Rufinus Historia ecclesiastica5
Seneca De tranquillitate animi
Simplicius Commentary on the De caelo of Aristotle
—— Commentary on the Physics of Aristotle
Socrates Historia ecclesiastica6
Sozomen Historia ecclesiastica7
Strabo Geographia
Suetonius De vita Caesarum
Synesius Cynegetica
—— De insomniis
—— De providentia
—— Dion
—— Epistulae
—— Homiliae
—— Hymni
—— Laus calvitii 8
Themistius Discourse to the Emperor9
Theodoret Historia ecclesiastica
Theon of Alexandria Commentary on the Almagest of Claudius Ptolemy
Velleius Paterculus
Zacharias Scholasticus Vita Severi
Zonaras

5
Rufinus of Aquileia extended Eusebiues’ Historia ecclesiastica (‘Church History’) to
A.D. 395 by adding two extra books. See C. P. Bammel, OCD3, s.v. “ Rufinus,” 1337.
6
Socrates Scholasticus continued the Historia ecclesiastica of Eusebius from A.D. 305
to 439. See Jill D. Harries, OCD3, s.v. “Socrates Scholasticus,” 1337.
7
Sozomen wrote a continuation of Eusebiues’ Historia ecclesiastica to A.D. 439. See
Jill D. Harries, OCD3, s.v. “Sozomen (Salamanes Hermeias Sozomenus),” 1337.
8
PLRE, s.v. “Synesius 1,” 2:1050.
9
Themistius’ fourth oration (delivered in 357 A.D.), entitled: Εἰς τὸν αὐτοκράτορα
Κωνστάντιον. See PLRE, s.v. “Themistius 1,” 1:893.

EL ABBADI_f16-219-240.indd 221 1/25/2008 4:31:56 AM

 222 bibliography

3. The Bible
Old Testament
Genesis
Numbers
Psalms

New Testament
John (Gospel)

4. Nag Hammadi Codices (NHC)10

I,1 Prayer of the Apostle Paul
I,2 Apocryphon of James
I,3 Gospel of Truth
I,4 Treatise on the Resurrection
I,5 Tripartite Tractate
II,1 Apocryphon of John
II,2 Gospel of Thomas
II,3 Gospel of Philip
II,4 Hypostasis of the Archons
II,5 On the Origin of the World
II,6 Exegesis on the Soul
II,7 Book of Thomas the Contender
III,1 Apocryphon of John
III,2 Gospel of the Egyptians
III,3 Eugnostos the Blessed
III,4 Sophia of Jesus Christ
III,5 Dialogue of the Savior
IV,1 Apocryphon of John
IV,2 Gospel of the Egyptians
V,1 Eugnostos the Blessed
V,2 Apocalypse of Paul
V,3 (First) Apocalypse of James
V,4 (Second) Apocalypse of James
V,5 Apocalypse of Adam
VI,1 Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles
VI,2 Thunder: Perfect Mind
VI,3 Authoritative Teaching
VI,4 Concept of our Great Power
VI,5 Plato, Republic, 588A–589B
VI,6 Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth
VI,7 Prayer of Thanksgiving
VI,8 Asclepius 21–29
VII,1 Paraphrase of Shem
VII,2 Second Treatise of the Great Seth
VII,3 Apocalypse of Peter
VII,4 Teachings of Silvanus
VII,5 Three Steles of Seth
VIII,1 Zostrianos
VIII,2 Letter of Peter to Philip

10
Including the Berlin Gnostic Codex (BG).

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 bibliography 223

IX,1 Melchizedek
IX,2 Thought of Norea
IX,3 Testimony of Truth
X,1 Marsanes
XI,1 Interpretation of Knowledge
XI,2 Valentinian Exposition
XI,2a On the Anointing
XI,2b On Baptism A
XI,2c On Baptism B
XI,2d On the Eucharist A
XI,2e On the Eucharist B
XI,3 Allogenes
XI,4 Hypsiphrone
XII,1 Sentences of Sextus
XII,2 Gospel of Truth
XII,3 Fragments
XIII,1 Trimorphic Protennoia
XIII,2 On the Origin of the World
BG,1 Gospel of Mary
BG,2 Apocryphon of John
BG,3 Sophia of Jesus Christ
BG,4 Act of Peter

5. Arabic texts
Abd al-Latīf al-Baghdādī al-Ifādah wa-al-i tibār fī al-umūr al-mushāhadah wa-al- awādith
al-mu āyanah bi-ar Mi r [ Journey to Egypt].
Barhebraeus, Historia compendiosa dynastiarum, Arabic text and Latin translation by
Edward Pococke. Oxford, 1663.
Ibn al-Qiftī Ikhbār al- ulamā bi-akhbār al- ukamā [History of Wise Men].
Ibn al-Nadīm Fihrist.

II. Lexical Works

The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by David Noel Freedman. 6 vols. New York:
Doubleday, 1992.
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Edited by William Smith. 2 vols. London,
1854–1857.
Dictionnaire de la civilisation chinoise. Paris: Encyclopaedia universalis, 1998.
Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques. publié sous la direction de Richard Goulet. Paris:
Editions du Centre national de la recherche scientifique, 1989–.
Der Kleine Pauly: Lexikon der Antike. Edited by Konrat Ziegler and Walther Sontheimer.
5 vols. München: Deutscher Taschenbuch, 1979.
The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Edited by Simon Hornblower and Antony Spawforth.
3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Real-Encyclopädie der classischen altertumswissenschaft. Edited by A. Pauly, G. Wissowa, and
W. Kroll. Stuttgart, 1893–.
Suidae Lexicon. Edited by Ada Adler. 5 vols. Lipsiae: in aedibvs B. G. Tevbneri,
1928–38.
Calderini, Aristide. Dizionario dei nomi geografici e topografici dell’Egitto greco-romano. Vol. 1.
Rome, 1935.
Jones, A. H. M., J. R. Martindale, and J. Morris. The Prosopography of the Later Roman
Empire. 3 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971–1992.

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J. White, . . . Oxonii, 1800.
——, Kitāb al-ifādah wa-al-i tibār fī al-umūr al-mushāhadah wa-al- awādith al-mu āyanah bi-ar
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——, Relation de l’Egypte. suivi de divers extraits d’écrivains orientaux, et d’un État des
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 GENERAL INDEX

Abd al-Latīf al-Baghdādī, 6, 207, 209, 97, 98, 98n11, 99n15, 100, 100n16,
210, 214, 217 100–102n17, 105, 114, 117, 129,
Journey to Egypt (al-Ifādah wa-al-i tibār 130, 132, 133, 134, 140, 141, 142,
fī al-umūr al-mushāhadah 143, 144, 145, 146, 162, 171, 172,
wa-al- awādith al-mu āyanah bi-ar 173, 174, 175, 176, 176n19, 176n24,
Mi r), 207, 214–215 177, 178, 179, 179n30, 181, 182,
Abū al-Faraj. See Barhebraeus 184, 185, 186, 187, 189n56, 191,
Abū al-Fidā, 208 192, 198, 199, 200, 201, 201n42,
Abusir Papyri, 40 203–206 figs. 18–24, 207, 208, 209,
See also archives 210
Abydos, 43 academic life, viii, 5, 93, 132, 146,
Stela of, 42 174–175, 178, 182, 188, 191, 192,
academic, 46, 143, 199 200, 201, 202 (see also academic;
life, viii, 5, 191, 192, 200, 201, 202 Alexandria: intellectual life;
(see also under Alexandria) scholarship: Alexandrian)
responsibilities, 175n16 Acropolis of, 75, 78 fig. 1, 89, 90 (see also
See also education; scholarship temples: Serapeum)
Academy. See Athenian Academy. agora, 141, 200
See under Alexandrian Alabaster Tomb, 80n8
Acheminid period, 47 Antirrhodus, Island of, 62n24
Acropolis. See under Alexandria Arab conquest of, vii, viii, 6, 7, 75, 88,
Aedesia, 143, 144, 145, 146, 174 145, 209, 210, 213 (see also Amr ibn
Aedesius, 142n44 al- Ās; see also under Egypt)
Aegis, 82 Arsinoeion, 71
Africa, 61, 100n17 baths of, 75, 192, 193, 194, 196, 197,
African, xviii 199, 200n36, 208, 213, 214, 215
Red Slip (see under tableware) (see also Kom el-Dikka)
agora. See under Alexandria; Athens Bruccheion, 2, 7, 54, 63, 66, 68,
agriculture, 33, 104, 104n29 68n49, 72n70, 75, 76, 80, 86, 87,
Akhmim, 43, 111n8 101n17, 102
al-Baghdādī, Abd al-Latīf. See Abd Eastern Harbour, 2, 56, 61, 62, 63,
al-Latīf al-Baghdādī 64, 65, 67, 68, 70, 71, 72n70, 75,
al-Balathurī, 209 101n17, 140, 210
Alcibiades, 134 Emporium, 64, 70, 71n63
Alcinous, 186, 187 Gabbari, 80n8
al-Dhahabī, 209 Gymnasium, 77, 199
Aleppo, 208 Heptastadion, 65, 72n70, 87
Alexander the Great, 58n8, 80, 96, 99, House of Medusa, 2, 81, 82, 83 fig.
100n16, 101–102n17, 104, 207 7, 84 fig. 9, 86, 87 (see also Centre
tomb of, 87, 191 d’Études Alexandrines; Medusa)
Alexandria, vii, viii, ix, xi, xviii, 1, 2, intellectual life, xvii, 1, 3, 4, 129,
3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 20n29, 36, 39, 52, 58, 131, 133, 143, 146, 178, 185, 189,
58n8, 59, 60, 62, 63, 64, 64–65n35, 200, 201, 202 (see also Alexandria:
65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71n67, 72n70, academic life; scholarship:
75, 76, 77, 77n4, 79 fig. 3, 80, 80n6, Alexandrian)
81 fig. 5, 82n9, 83 figs. 7–8, 85 figs. Jewish community, 130
10–11, 86, 88, 89, 90, 91, 93, 95, 96, Jewish quarter, 68n49

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 242 general index

Kinaron (burial place of Hypatia), apothiki (storehouses of books), 3, 64,

140 65, 67, 72n71, 75, 76, 90, 91, 207
kopriai (dumping ground for rubbish collections of, 55, 56, 72, 72n71, 73,
and debris), 193 77, 180, 181, 188
library of (see Alexandria, Ancient Daughter Library, viii, 3, 4, 7, 54, 71,
Library of; Alexandria, New 76, 89, 90, 93, 98n11, 130, 176,
Library of) 177, 210
Lochias, peninsula of, 68 destruction of, viii–ix, 1, 3, 6, 55,
map of, 82n9, 86, 87 71n67, 72–73n71, 75, 76, 87, 88,
monuments of, 2, 3, 80, 86, 96, 89–94, 99, 106, 107n35, 129, 132,
101n17, 192, 194, 199, 207 142, 176, 177, 179, 184, 202, 207,
Nabi Daniel Street, 198 208, 209, 210, 211, 213, 214,
naval dockyard (νεώρια), 63, 64, 215, 216 (see also Alexandria: Arab
65, 65n38–39, 67, 71n67, 72n70, conquest of; Alexandrian: Fire;
73n71, 102 Alexandrian: War; Theodosius I;
Neapolis, 70 Theophilus of Alexandria)
Necropolis, 80, 101n17, 196n17 finding the ruins of, 72n70, 77, 88,
Patriarchs of, 100n17, 138, 150, 155, 191
156, 159, 213 historians of, 6, 55, 87, 89, 93, 97,
Pharos: 100n17, 180, 181, 182, 207, 209,
Island of, 36, 59, 62 210, 213, 214
lighthouse, 2, 86, 101n17 Librarians of, 53, 56, 177, 181, 184
Pompey’s Pillar, 86 (see also (see also Aristarchus of Samothrace;
Alexandria: Acropolis of; temples: Kydas)
Serapeum) location of, 68, 72, 76, 77n4, 192
Poseidon Peninsula, 62n24, 71 Royal Library, viii, 2, 3, 7, 54, 72,
Rhakotis, 70n59 210
Serapeum (see under temples) See also Alexandria, New Library of;
streets of, 59, 76, 77n4, 82n9, 134, librarians; library; Mouseion;
140, 141, 198 scholarship
Canopic Way, 77, 198 Alexandria, New Library of, vii, ix, xi,
Temple of Dionysus (see under 1, 36, 37, 95, 191
temples) Alexandria Project, vii, xii, xx, xxi, 1
Timonium, 64, 71, 101n17 Librarian of Alexandria, vii, ix, 1
Villa of the Birds, 2, 82, 82n10, 85 (see also Serageldin, Ismail)
figs. 10–11 (see also Kom el-Dikka; librarians, xi, xii, xx
Polish Centre of Mediterranean Alexandrian, 5, 6, 66, 71n67, 79 fig. 3,
Archaeology in Cairo) 114, 129, 130, 131, 132, 138, 139,
war of (see Alexandrian: War) 140, 141, 142, 143, 145, 146, 157,
warehouses, 2, 64, 64n33, 65, 67, 71, 173, 174, 175, 177, 178, 182, 183,
71n67 185, 187, 188, 189, 194, 200, 201,
See also Alexandria, Ancient Library 202
of; Kom el-Dikka; Mouseion Academy, 141, 197, 200 (see also
Alexandria Library. See Alexandria, scholarship)
Ancient Library of Alexandrians, 66, 75, 80, 87, 129,
Alexandria, Ancient Library of, vii, viii, 183
xviii, xx, xxi, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 36, church, 139, 142 (see also church;
37, 39, 47, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, Christianity)
68, 71, 72, 72n70, 73, 75, 76, 77, 80, Fire, 55, 57, 61, 68, 70 (see also
87, 88, 90, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99n15, Alexandria, Ancient Library of:
100n16, 102, 106, 107, 130, 171, destruction of; Hirtius, Aulus:
172, 173, 176, 177, 178–179, 180, Bellum Alexandrinum)
181, 181n36, 182, 183, 184, 185, Library (see Alexandria, Ancient
187, 188, 189, 191, 191n1, 207, 209, Library of)
213, 214 orator, 77, 79 figs. 3–4, 133

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 general index 243

scholars, viii, 3, 53, 102, 145, Apostles, 92

157, 183, 184, 185, 187, 201 Apostolic Constitution, 92
(see also Alexandria: academic apothiki. See under Alexandria, Ancient
life; Alexandria: intellectual life; Library of
scholarship; education) Arab conquest. See under Alexandria;
Temple (see temples: Serapeum) Egypt
War, vii, 2, 58n7, 64-65n35, 71n66, See also Amr ibn al- Ās
72–73n71, 210 (see also Caesar, Arab story of the destruction of the
Julius; Hirtius, Aulus) ancient library of Alexandria. See
See also under philosophy; scholarship Alexandria, Ancient Library of:
Alexandrina. See Alexandria, Ancient destruction of
Library of Arabic sources. See under sources
al-Kīndī, 209 Arabs, viii, 1, 6, 7, 20, 208, 209, 213,
al-Maqrīzī, 208 214
al-Qiftī. See Ibn al-Qiftī archaeology, xvii, xviii, xix, 2, 77, 88,
al-Sāfādī, 209 191
al-Tabarī, 209 archaeologists, 55, 80, 82, 88
Amarna period, 42 excavations, xvii, xviii, xix, 49, 76,
Amasis I (pharaoh), 47 77, 80, 80n8, 82, 191, 192, 198,
Amenemhat I (pharaoh), 13 200
Amenhotep III (pharaoh), 41n5, 50 underwater, xviii, 80
Amennakht son of Ipouy, 50 See also Centre d’Études Alexandrines
Ammianus Marcellinus, 2, 56n2, (CEAlex); Polish Centre of
72–73n71, 86, 93, 200 Mediterranean Archaeology in
Res Gestae, 200 Cairo
Ammonius (Alexandrian philosopher), Archimedes, 96
144, 145, 157, 172n4, 174, 178, 185, archives, 2, 3, 9, 11, 13, 19, 26, 35,
187, 188 35n64, 35n67, 36, 40, 41, 47n26, 50,
school of, 187, 188 50n40, 51, 51n42, 77n4, 78 figs. 1–2,
Ammonius Sakkas, 185 79 figs. 3–4, 81 figs. 5–6, 83 figs. 7–8,
Amr ibn al- Ās, 6, 75, 76, 87, 98, 100, 84 fig. 9, 85 fig. 11, 99n15, 103, 104,
207, 208, 209, 210, 213, 214, 217 105n31, 106
See also Alexandria: Arab conquest of; Abusir, 51n42 (see also Abusir Papyri)
Egypt: Arab conquest of; Umar Amarna, 47n26
ibn al-Khattāb (caliph) family, 50
anatomy. See under medicine Gebelein, 51n42
Andronicus of Rhodes, 181 governmental, 40, 41, 104n29,
ankh signs (life), 118 105n31
anthropomorphism, 158, 159 Hall of Written Documentation, 26,
Antioch, 86, 90, 93, 197, 200 35n67, 41
Antiochus of Ascalon, 176 temple, 35n64, 50, 51
Antirrhodus, Island of. See under Areopagus, 199
Alexandria Arethas of Caesarea, 188n55
Antonius, Marcus, 71 Arians (followers of Arius), 141, 170
Apellicon of Teos, 181 anti-arians, 162
Aphrodisias, 199 arianism, 168n61
Aphrodite, 129 Aristarchus of Samothrace, 98, 100n17
Aphthonius of Ephesus, 3, 90, 91, 93 See also Alexandria, Ancient Library
Apollinarius, 152, 153 of
Apollonia in Cyrenaica. See under Aristeas, Letter of, 97
harbours, Hellenistic Aristophanes, 64n30, 180
Apollonius of Perge, 131, 132 Acharnians, 64n30
Conica, 131, 132 Aristotle, 88, 96, 133, 143, 145, 172,
See also Hypatia 176, 177, 180, 180n35, 181–182, 183,
Apollonius of Tyana, xvii 184, 185, 207

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 244 general index

Categories, 185 Compendious History of the Dynasties

classification of sciences, 176 (Historia compendiosa
collection of, 181–182, 183, 184, 185 dynastiarum), 213
commentators of, 143, 145 Basil of Caesarea (saint), 154
corpus, 177, 183 Basil the Great. See Basil of Caesarea
disciples of, 172, 180, 181 Beirut, 199
grammarians of, 143 Bellum Alexandrinum. See under Hirtius,
library of, 96, 180, 181, 185 (see also Aulus
Alexandria, Ancient Library of; Berlin, 111
library) Humboldt-Universität in East Berlin,
philosophy of, 143, 145, 181, 188 111
rhetors of, 143 Museum, 111n8
school of, 180, 181 (see also Lyceum) Berlin Collection, 50
arithmetics. See under mathematics ‘dialogue between a man and his
Armenia, 208 soul’, 50
Arsinoeion. See under Alexandria ‘story of the herdsman’, 50
art, 30, 98 ‘tale of Sinuhe’, 50
Christian, 194 ‘tale of the eloquent peasant’, 50
Late Antique, 194 See also collections
Asclepius, 115, 145 Berlin Gnostic Codex, 111, 111n8, 112,
Asia Minor, 178 113, 120
astronomy, 1, 4, 36, 104, 130, 176, 177 Act of Peter, 115
See also science See also Nag Hammadi Codices
Aswan, 64n35 Bessarion (cardinal), 173
Athanasius (archbishop), 117 Bible, 20, 20n27, 101–102n17, 195
Athenaeus of Naucratis Old Testament:
Deipnosophistai, 96 Genesis, 111, 153
Athenian Academy, 143, 167, 167n59, Kings, 3, 92
175, 176, 178, 187, 199, 200 Psalms, 92, 117
See also Alexandrian: Academy; New Testament, 118
philosophy; Plato; scholarship Bibliotheca Alexandrina. See Alexandria,
Athens, 5, 115, 134, 143, 144, 146, Ancient Library of; Alexandria, New
172, 173, 174, 175, 175n15–16, 176, Library of
177, 178, 181, 185, 186, 187, 189, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, 95
189n56, 199 Blavatsky, Helena, 102
agora, 199 Boethius, 201
House of the Philosophers, 175 Book of the Dead, 46
auditoria. See under Kom el-Dikka books, viii, ix, xvii, xviii, xix, 3, 4, 5,
Augustine of Hippo, 153, 159, 160, 7, 15, 24n37, 26, 31n55, 35, 39, 44,
161, 166, 168 45, 56, 64, 72–73n71, 88, 90, 93, 95,
De civitate Dei, 161, 164n55 96, 97, 98, 98n11, 99, 99n15, 100,
Retractationes, 153 100n16, 101n17, 102, 109, 110, 116,
Aulus Gellius. See Gellius, Aulus 117, 118, 121, 122, 133, 170, 177,
Aulus Hirtius. See Hirtius, Aulus 181, 182, 189n56, 191, 208, 209,
Aurelian (emperor), 2, 86 213, 214
Ausfeld, Adolf, 70 apocryphal, 4, 121
Ayyubid era, 207 book-stores (see Alexandria, Ancient
Library of: apothiki)
Babylonia, 208 Chineese, 103, 104, 105
Bagnall, Roger S., 72n71, 191 circulation of, 121, 122, 182
baptism, 162 cataloguing of, 184
See also Christianity classification of, 182
Barbanti. See Di Pasquale Barbanti, M. collecting of, 3, 7, 90, 103, 184
Barhebraeus, 6, 208, 213, 214, 216 (see also collections)

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 general index 245

copying of, 7, 116, 119, 120, 121, Cambyses (emperor), 48

122, 187 Cameron, Alan, 131, 132
divine, 44, 48, 99n15, 119, 208, 213 Canaan, 20n27
(see also Bible) Canada, viii, xviii, 111
heretical, 4, 121, 217 Social Sciences and Humanities
illustrated, 51 Research Council, 111
Ismā īlī, 217 Université du Québec à Montréal,
preservation of, viii, 182, 189 xviii
pagan, 93, 211 University of Toronto, 102
production of, 26–27 Canfora, Luciano, 181, 183
reading, 181 Cappadocian, 157, 168, 168n65
religious, 39, 46, 120 Cappadocians, 160, 165, 166, 168,
Borges, Jorge Luis, 106 168n65, 169, 170
Alexandrie, 107 capsa (metal box for carrying books), 77
Borkowski, Zbigniew, 198 Caracalla (emperor), 98n11
bouleuteria, 200n36 Carthage, 100n17, 104
British, 149, 168 cartonnage, 117, 117n25, 121
Consulate, 80 Casanova, Paul, 214, 216
Library, 95 Cassius Dio. See Dio Cassius
Bruccheion. See under Alexandria cavea, 198
Buenos Aires, 97 cemeteries, 80n8, 196
Butler, Alfred J., 210, 214 Centre d’Études Alexandrines (CEAlex),
Byzantine, xvii, 162, 170, 209, 210, 215 xi, xviii, 80
period, 117 See also Alexandria: House of Medusa;
scholars, 173, 187 archaeology; Empereur, Jean-Yves
See also under sources Chaldean Oracles, 136, 160, 186
Chauveau, Michel, 47
cachette, 47 Chauvin, Victor, 214
Caesar, Julius, vii, 2, 53, 56, 56n2, 57, Chenoboskion (modern el-Kasr, Egypt),
58, 58n3–6 59, 59n14, 60, 61, 66, 67, 116, 116n22, 118
68, 71, 71n67, 75, 76, 88, 210 Chicago, Illinois, xvii, 69
Bellum Civile, 56n2 China, 3, 105n31, 106n32
Caesarian troops, 59 Chinese, xix, 3, 105n31
See also Alexandrian: War; Hirtius, See also under books
Aulus: Bellum Alexandrinum chi-rho monogram, 118
Caesarea, 171n1, 179n31, 189n56 Christ, 92, 100n17, 118, 140, 151,
Caesareion, 71, 71n63–66, 140 151n12, 169, 194
See also church: Caesareion cathedral Ichthus, 119, 120
Cairo, xi, xviii, xix, 64n35, 85 fig. 10, Jesus, 112, 113, 114, 119, 119n32,
109, 121, 203 fig. 18, 204 figs. 19–20, 120, 140, 169
205–206 figs. 21–24, 217 Savior, 115, 119, 119n32, 120, 169
calendar, 48, 52 Son of God, 119, 119n32, 120
Gregorian, 58, 60, 61, 62 Christian, viii, 4, 5, 6, 43, 75, 76, 92,
Julian, 59, 60, 61 93, 112, 114, 115, 116, 116n21,
mythological, 48, 112, 113 117, 118, 119n32, 121, 129, 130,
Pre-Julian, 58, 59, 59n14, 60 136, 138, 139, 149, 151, 154, 155,
Roman, 59n14 155n25, 157, 159, 160, 162, 165,
calligraphy, xix 166, 167, 168, 169, 169n66, 170,
Callimachus of Cyrene, 177, 180, 171, 172, 175, 177, 184, 194, 213,
180n35 215, 216
Against Praxiphanes, 180n35 apocryphal works, 115
Pinakes, 180 heresy, 112, 121, 155n25, 157
See also Alexandria, Ancient Library orthodoxy, 112, 154, 157, 169, 170
of theory of Creation, 151, 155, 157

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 246 general index

See also Gnosticism 58n5, 73, 90, 98, 99, 99n15, 100n16,
See also under art; education; 105, 106, 173, 174, 177, 178, 179,
Neoplatonism 180, 182, 184, 186, 187, 189
Christianity, xvii, xix, 98n11, 100, 112, East Indian, 72n71
114, 130, 134, 138, 142, 145, 149, Egyptian, 72n71
149n1, 150, 154, 159, 160, 162, 166, Fatimid, 217
168, 195, 210 Mesopotamian, 72n71
Christians, 4, 92, 133, 138, 141, 145, Persian, 72n71, 214
150, 154, 176 private, 2, 39–54, 105n31, 188
See also baptism; church; theology of schools, viii, 7, 177, 179, 182, 182,
Chrysippus, 185 184, 187, 188
Chrysostom, John (bishop), 87 See also archives; Berlin Collection;
church, 3, 89, 91, 92, 93, 100n17, 117, books; Collectio philosophica; el-Lahun
118, 129, 136, 138, 139, 140, 141, Collection; Nag Hammadi Codices;
142, 150, 159, 193, 193n10, 215 papyri; texts
Caesareion cathedral, 140 See also under Alexandria, Ancient
Coptic, 215 Library of; Aristotle; Plato
Fathers of, 88, 112, 113, 115, 116, colonnades, 90, 198
169 colophons, 117, 118, 118n28–29, 122
See also Christianity Compendious History of the Dynasties.
See also under Alexandrian See under Barhebraeus
Cicero, 93, 97, 176, 195 Concessus, 119
Cisneros, 104 Confucius, 102, 103n20
Claremont, California, xix, 111 Conics. See Apollonius of Perge: Conica
Claremont Graduate University in Constantine (emperor), 215
California, 109 Constantinople, viii, 5, 87, 98n11, 99,
Classic Gnostic texts. See texts: Sethian 133, 173, 186, 187, 188, 189n56,
Gnostic 200
Classic Gnosticism. See Gnosticism: Constantius II (emperor), 141, 179
Sethian Coptic
Claudius I (emperor), 76n3 inscription, 110, 117
Cleopatra VII, 64–65n35 language, 110, 110n3, 111, 111n8,
Codex of Theodosius. See Codex 112, 115, 115n17, 116n21, 117,
Theodosianus 118, 118n28, 119n31, 121
Codex Theodosianus, 3, 75, 89, 200 manuscripts, 121
See also Theodosius I (emperor) papyri, 4, 109
codices priest, 209
Askew, 111n8 studies, 115, 121
Bruce, 111n8 See also historians: Byzantine;
See also Berlin Gnostic Codex; Nag International Association for Coptic
Hammadi Codices Studies
codices vetustissimi, 188 See also under church
coins, 82, 195 Coptic Gnostic Library, 111, 111n8,
Collectio mathematica. See under Pappus of 116n20
Alexandria See also Claremont, California; Nag
Collectio philosophica, viii, 5, 171, 173, Hammadi Codices
177, 178, 179n31, 182, 183, 184, Coptic Museum, xix, 109
185, 186, 188, 189 Coptos, 43
Marcianus graecus 196, 188 See also temples: of Min in Coptos
Marcianus graecus 246, 173, 186, 188 copyists. See scribes
Parisinus graecus 1962, 186 Crawford, William S., 149, 165
See also collections; Damascius; Greek: crosses, 118
manuscripts Crusaders, 210, 217
collections, viii, xxi, 3, 5, 7, 35, 56, cuneiform, 47n26

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curialis, 139 Dio Cassius, 56n2, 71n67, 72n71, 75,

See also Synesius of Cyrene 97
Cyrenaica, 65n38, 133 Roman History, 56n2
See also Libya Diocletian (emperor), 2, 86, 98n11,
Cyrene, 4, 133, 136, 139, 149, 149n2, 100n17
150, 151, 154, 156, 157, 159, 160, Diodorus Siculus, 43, 45, 180
161, 162, 166, 167, 169, 170 Diogenes, 146
See also Libya Diogenes Laertius, 185
Cyril of Alexandria (bishop), xvii, 4, 75, Dionysus, Temple of. See under temples
98n11, 138, 141, 142 Diophantus of Alexandria, 131, 132
Czarist Russian secret police, 216 Arithmetic, 131
Astronomical Canon, 131
Damascius, 5, 131, 133–138, 140–146, See also Hypatia
171–178, 182, 183, 185–189, 201 Dioscorides of Anazarbus, 77, 78 fig. 2
Commentary on the Categories, 186 inscription of, 191
Commentary on the Parmenides, 173, Djedi, 44
188 Domitianus, Domitius, 2, 86
Commentary on the Phaedo, 174, Doresse, Jean, 116, 116n20
175n17, 188 dream interpretation, 52, 163
Treatise on the First Principles, 172, 173, See also Synesius of Cyrene:
187n50, 188 De insomniis (On Dreams)
Vita Isidori (Life of Isidorus), 146, See also under texts
172n4, 178, 186, 188, 189, 201 Dresden, 68n54
(see also Isidore of Alexandria) dynasties (Chinese)
See also Collectio philosophica Han, 3, 103, 104
Damascus, 5, 172, 197 Qin, 104, 105
Darius, 47, 99–100n16, 100–101n17 Zhou, 103, 104
Daughter Library. See under Alexandria, dynasties (Pharaonic)
Ancient Library of first, 19, 24n38, 25
Day of Judgement, 93 fourth, 44
Dayr Ayn Abata, 193n10 fifth, 35n64, 40
De Pressensé, Edmond, 149 sixth, 20n26, 42
Dead Sea Scrolls, 102, 121 twelfth, 13
Decius, Gaius (emperor), 141 thirteenth, 50
Decree of Theodosius. See Codex eighteenth, 35n64, 41
Theodosianus nineteenth, 43
Deir el-Medineh, 46, 50 Dynasty, Ptolemaic, 96, 129, 176, 202,
Delphi, 181 207
Delta, 58n8, 68n49, 114, 158
Demetrius of Phaleron, 208 Eastern Harbour. See under Alexandria
See also Alexandria, Ancient Library economics, 52
of Ecumenical Council (Fifth, 553 A.D.),
Demosthenes, 178 152
destruction of the library of Alexandria. Edessa, 199
See Alexandria, Ancient Library of: Edfu, 43
destruction of See also temples: of Edfu
Dexippus, 183, 185n45 education, 5, 43, 92, 137, 162, 165,
Di Pasquale Barbanti, M., 150, 161n43, 166, 170n67, 195, 199, 200, 201
169n66 Christian, 92, 154, 166, 195
diadochus, 146 curriculum, 177, 188
dialectics, 175, 180 educational institutions, 5, 198, 199,
diatribe, 201 200, 201, 202 (see also schools)
Didymus, 100n17, 180 paideia, 201

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students, 5, 145, 176, 184, 188, 201 Egyptians, 14n6, 16, 17n14, 18n23, 23,
(see also Alexandrian: scholars; 28, 33, 34, 40, 61, 97, 98n11, 113,
Byzantine: scholars) 119, 122, 125 fig. 14
teachers, 5, 6, 53, 136, 157, 174, 194, El-Abbadi, Mostafa, viii, xii, xvii, xx, 1,
199, 200, 201 3, 89, 98n10, 209, 210
teaching, 43, 75, 88, 133, 174, 178, el-Amarna, 42, 43, 47n26
181, 188, 189 el-Bersheh, 42
See also academic; scholarship; texts: El-Falaki, Mahmoud, 82, 82n9, 191
educational el-Hibeh, 50
Egypt, viii, xvii, xviii, xix, xx, 1, 2, 6, Eliade, Mircea, 106, 201
9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15n7, 17, 19, 20, Elias, 6, 201
20n25–29, 22, 22n33, 23, 24, 25, 27, In Porphyrii isagogen, 201
35, 36, 39, 40, 41, 43, 47, 47n26, 49, el-Kasr. See Chenoboskion
50, 51, 53, 58n5, 64–65n35, 75, 76, el-Lahun Collection, 50
77, 86, 89, 99, 99n14, 100–101n17, ‘tale of Hay’, 50
193, 195n16, 207, 209, 210, 214 ‘tale of Horus and Seth’, 50
Arab conquest of, vii, viii, xix, 7, 209, priestly documents, 50
210, 214 (see also Amr ibn al- Ās; See also collections; Petrie Museum
see also under Alexandria) el-Tod, 42
Lower, 14, 139 Emesa, 146, 152, 153
Middle, 50 Empereur, Jean-Yves, xi, xvii, 1, 2, 3,
Persian invasion of, 196 71n67, 75
Roman conquest of, 181 See also Centre d’Études Alexandrines
Upper, 14n3, 21n31, 100n17, 109, (CEAlex)
121 Emporium complex. See under Alexandria
Egyptian army, 58, 58n4–8, 59, 61, Epictetus, 185
66 Epicurus, 183, 185
fleet, 2, 56, 57, 59, 60 Epistates, 53
Egyptian deities epistemology, 216
Aten, 42 Esbus, 193n10
Geb, 43 Esna, 43
Horus, 43, 44, 45, 46, 50 Etesian winds, 2, 58, 60, 61, 62,
Isis, 43, 45 64–65n35
Khnum, 42, 45 Eucharist, 165
Maat, 14, 14n5 Euclid, 131, 142
Min, 42 Eugnostos. See Concessus
Nephthys, 43 Eunapius, 3, 89n3, 90
Nut, 43 Vita Aedesii, 89n3
Osiris, 43, 44, 45, 46 Eunomeans, 154, 162, 170
Ptahotep, 17n16 Eunomius, 152
Re, 42, 44 Europe, 36, 54, 130
Sekhmet Bastet, 43 Eusebius, 189n56
Seshat, 45 Eutocius, 145
Seth, 50 Evoptius (bishop), 136
Shu, 44 exedera, 91, 194, 199
Thoth, 43, 44, 45
See also Serapis Famine Stela, 48
Egyptian language, 17, 22, 27–29, 47, fate of the library of Alexandria.
116n21, 118 See Alexandria, Ancient Library of:
Hieroglyphic, xi, 47, 48 destruction of
Hieratic, 2, 29–30 Fatimids, 210
Egyptian literature, 15n8, 42 Faw Qibli. See Phbow
Demotic, 47, 48 Fayence labels, 41
Hieratic, 48 Fayoum, 15n7

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fire, 55, 98n11, 99–100n16, 107 Great Library. See Alexandria, Ancient
Alexandrian fire of 48 B.C. (see under Library of
Alexandrian) Greece, xvii, 39, 208
Great Chicago Fire of 8–10 October Greeks, 25n40, 36, 39, 48, 92, 97,
1871, 57, 67n46, 68, 69, 70, 73 99–100n16, 213
Great Fire of London 1666, 57 Greek, 47, 110, 110n3, 112, 114, 115,
Great Fire of Rome in 64 A.D., 57, 115n17, 116n21, 118, 119n32, 120,
70 162, 180, 200, 213
San Francisco Fire of 1906, 57 Doric dialect, 160
First Intermediate Period, 13, 14, inscriptions, 76
35n69, 47n26 manuscripts, 173 (see also Collectio
Florus (Lucius Annaeus Florus), 56n2, philosophica)
71 texts (see under texts)
Epitoma de Tito Livio, 56n2 tragedies, 171
Fowden, Garth, 177, 177n26 See also philosophy
France, xviii, 95, 100–101n17, 216 Gregory of Nazianzus, 166
Fraser, P. M., vii, 2, 52, 64n33, 67n48, Gregory of Nyssa, 153, 153n17,
68n51, 71, 72, 171, 184 153n20, 154, 158, 166
furnaces. See Alexandria: baths of De opificio hominis, 153n17, 154
Dialogus de anima et resurrectione, 153,
Galen of Pergamum, 184 153n20
Galerius (emperor), 98n11 Griffini, Eugenio, 214
Gardiner, Alan H., 42
Gaza, 199 Haas, Christopher, 176n19, 179
Gebel et-Tarif, 109, 117, 118 hagneuontes, 91
Gebelein, 51n42 Hall of Written Documentation.
Gellius, Aulus, 56n2, 72–73n71 See under archives
Noctes Atticae, 56n2 Hamburg, 68n54
geography, 36, 48, 52, 76 Han Dynasty. See under dynasties
geometry, 33, 36, 48, 52, 146, 178 (Chinese)
See also science Han Fei, 103
George (Arian bishop), 141 harbours, Hellenistic, 65n38
Georgia, 208 Apollonia in Cyrenaica, 65n38
Gerasa, 193n10 Oeniadae in Acarnania, 65n38
Germany, 216 Piraeus, 65n38–39
Gibbon, Edward, viii, 6, 98, 129, 207, Sunium, 65n38
213, 214 See also Alexandria
Gnosticism, 4, 112, 112n12, 113, 114, Harris, James R., 42, 77n4
115, 121 Heliodorus (Alexandrian philosopher),
Sethian, 113, 114, 114n16, 116 144, 145, 174
(see also texts: Sethian Gnostic) Heliopolis, 43
See also Valentinus Hellenism, 4, 129, 130, 132, 149, 166,
Goulet, Richard, 171n1, 183 170
Graeco-Roman Museum of Alexandria, Hellenistic period, 54, 54n52, 176, 180,
77n4, 79 fig. 3, 80, 81 fig. 5 181
Graeco-Roman period, 47, 47n26, 50, Heptastadion. See under Alexandria
51, 51n41–42 Heracles, 107n35
graffiti, 47n26, 198 Heraclius, 198
grammar, 146, 200 Herculanum, 77n5, 184
grammarians, 143, 208, 210, 213, 214, Herculianus, 137
215 Hermes Trismegistus, 115, 119,
Granada, 104 119n34
Great Harbour. See Alexandria: Eastern Hermeias, 143, 144, 174
Harbour school of, 187, 188

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Hermogenes of Tarsus, 178 Commentary on the Conica of

Treatise On Style, 178 Apollonius of Perge, 131
Herodotus, 72n71 Edition of the Handy Tables of
Heron of Alexandria, 143 Claudius Ptolemy, 131
Herondas, 97 Revised edition of Theon’s third
Hesychius of Miletus, 135 book of his commentary on the
Onomatologus, 135 Almagest of Claudius Ptolemy, 131,
Hierax of Leontopolis, 158 132
Hierocles, 171, 172, 176, 176n20, school of, 133, 136, 162, 169
178n29, 183 See also Theon of Alexandria
Hieron II (king), 96 Iamblichus, 136, 144, 146, 152, 160,
Hirtius, Aulus, 66, 71n67 163, 163n47, 163n49, 164,
Bellum Alexandrinum, 2, 56, 57, 70, 164–165n55, 167, 175n17, 186
71n67, 72 (see also Alexandrian: De mysteriis, 163, 163n49
War; Caesar, Julius) See also Neoplatonism: Iamblichean
Historia compendiosa dynastiarum. Iatrosophistus, 157
See under Barhebraeus Ibn Abd al-akam, 209
historians, viii, xix, 6, 9, 55, 87, 89, 92, Ibn al- Ibrī. See Barhebraeus
93, 97, 100n17, 104n29, 112, 131, Ibn al-Nadīm, 99, 99n14, 209
180, 181, 182, 207, 209, 210, 213, Fihrist, 99n14
214 Ibn al-Qiftī, 6, 99, 207, 208, 209, 210,
Byzantine, 209, 210 211, 215, 217
medievalists, xix, 6 History of Wise Men (Ikhbār al- ulamā
orientalists, viii, 6, 213, 216 bi-akhbār al- ukamā ), 208, 209,
See also under Alexandria, Ancient 215
Library of Ibn Khaldūn, 99, 214
history, vii, viii, xvii, xviii, xix, 1, 3, 9, Ibn Khallikān, 209
10n1, 11, 16, 23, 25, 33, 34, 40, 43, Ibn Shākir al-Kutubī, 209
47n26, 48, 52, 68, 86, 92, 99, 99n15, Ichthus. See under Christ
102, 102n17, 103, 104, 105, 105n32, India, 96, 102, 208
106, 107, 107n36, 121, 171, 174, Inscription of Mes, 26
176n21, 177, 181n36, 189, 209, 213, International Association for Coptic
215 Studies, 121
abuse of, 6, 211 Irenaeus (bishop), 112
of religions, 121 Isidore of Alexandria, 135, 136, 146
Hoffmann, Philippe, 172n4, 175n15, school of, 146
188 See also Damascius: Vita Isidori
Homer, 100n17, 106, 145, 195 Isidorus. See Isidore of Alexandria
Honorius (emperor), 89 Islam, xviii, 215, 216, 217
Horapollon, 145 Ismā īlī doctrines, 217
school of, 145 Shiite regime, 211
horologues, 48 Sunnism, 217
House of Life. See under library Ismail (khedive), 82n9
House of Medusa. See under Alexandria Israel, xvii, 22n33
House of Papyrus Rolls. See under library
House of Proclus, 175n15, 199 Jamāl al-Dīn Ibn al-Qiftī. See Ibn
See also Athens: House of the al-Qiftī
Philosophers Japan, 103n22
Hypatia, viii, xvii, 4, 76, 129–147, 157, Jerome (saint), 93, 189n56
162, 165, 167n59, 184, 195n15 Epistle 34, Ad Marcellam, 189n56
Commentary on the Arithmetic of Jerusalem, 208, 217
Diophantus of Alexandria, 131 Jews, 133, 138, 215, 216
Commentary on the Astronomical Canon John Chrysostom. See Chrysostom, John
of Diophantus of Alexandria, 131 (bishop)

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John Moschus. See Moschus, John Leblanc, Christian, 43

John of Nikiu (bishop), 139, 140, 141, Leconte de Lisle, Charles-Marie, 129
142, 195n15, 209 lecture halls. See Kom el-Dikka:
Chronicle, 139 auditoria
John Philoponus. See Philoponus, John Leo I (emperor), 141
John the Evangelist (saint), 75, 113 Li Si, 104, 105
John the Grammarian, 208, 210, 213, Libanius of Antioch, 90, 195, 200n36
214, 215 Chreiai, 195
See also Philoponus, John librarians, 53, 97, 177, 181, 184
Jordan, 193n10 ‘Master of the secrets of the House
Journey to Egypt. See under Abd al-Latīf of Life’, 42, 46
al-Baghdādī ‘Overseer of writings in the House of
Jovian (emperor), 93 Life’, 42, 46
Julius Caesar. See Caesar, Julius See also Aristarchus of Samothrace;
Jupiter, 92 Kydas
Justinian I (emperor), 155, 172 See also under Alexandria, Ancient
Library of; Alexandria, New
Khufu (pharaoh), 44 Library of
Kinaron. See under Alexandria library, vii, viii, ix, xix, xxi, 1, 2, 3, 4,
Kingsley, Charles, 129 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41,
Knorr, Wilbur Richard, 132 43, 45, 47, 49, 50, 50n40, 51, 52, 53,
Kom el-Dikka, ix, xi, xviii, 2, 5, 77, 80, 54, 55, 56, 57, 68, 71, 72, 73, 75, 76,
82, 82n10, 85 fig. 10, 140–141, 191, 77, 80, 87, 88, 89, 90, 93, 95, 96, 97,
192, 194n12, 197, 201, 203–206 figs. 98, 98n11, 99, 99n15, 99–101n16–17,
18–24 102, 103, 105n31, 106, 107, 109,
auditoria, ix, 4, 5, 6, 133, 140, 111, 116, 118, 122, 129, 130, 132,
176n19, 191, 192, 193, 194, 171, 171n1, 172, 173, 174, 176, 177,
194n12, 195–199, 200, 201, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184,
203–206 figs. 18–24 185, 187, 188, 189, 191, 192, 202,
bath of (see under Alexandria) 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 213, 214,
odeum, 192, 197 215, 216, 217
Theatre Portico, 192, 193, 196, 197, of Apellicon of Teos, 181
198, 206 fig. 24 of Aristotle (see under Aristotle)
See also Alexandria: Villa of the Birds; in Athens, 189n56
Polish Centre of Mediterranean of Babylon, 107
Archaeology in Cairo of Caesarea, 171n1, 179n31, 189n56
Kung-sun Hung (Gongsun Hong), catalogues, 45, 105, 106, 180
105n31 cataloguing, 105n31
Kydas, 98 in Constantinople, 173, 189n56
See also Alexandria, Ancient Library dar el- eloum (House of Sciences), 43
of dar el-hekmah (House of Wisdom),
Kyrina, 146 43
dar el-kotob (House of Books), 43
Laozi, 102 of Hadrian in Athens, 189n56
Late Antiquity, ix, xvii, 1, 3, 5, 7, of Hadrian in Rome, 189n56
171n1, 173, 179n31, 192, 195, 198, House of Life, 2, 35, 41, 42, 43, 44,
199, 201 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 53, 54
Late Period, 47, 47n26, 48, 50 House of Papyrus Rolls, 2, 26, 41,
Latin, 86, 99n13, 119, 200, 213 44
texts (see under texts) institutional, viii, 1, 2, 5, 7, 41–42,
law, 5, 92, 104n29, 105n31, 200, 201 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 53, 54,
school of law in Beirut, 199 171, 171n1, 183, 185, 187, 189,
learning. See scholarship 189n56, 202
leather rolls, 40 monastic, viii, 4, 54, 116, 118, 122

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of Pergamum, 96, 189n56 See also Polish Centre of

in Persia (Zoroastrian), 214 Mediterranean Archaeology in
of the Portico of Octavia in Rome, Cairo
184 Mamluk period, 196
private, 2 Marcianus graecus. See under Collectio
public, 54, 99, 103n22, 182, 210 philosophica
public libraries of the Fatimids, 210, Marinus (philosopher at Athens), 172,
217 175, 178
of Ramesseum, 35, 43, 45 Marrou, H.-I., 149, 151, 156
royal, 2 mathematics, 4, 12, 12n2, 23n35, 27,
school, viii, 5, 7, 171, 171n1, 179, 33, 35, 36, 130, 131, 132, 133, 135,
182, 187, 189 136, 142, 143, 146
temple, 2, 39, 41, 43, 49, 50, 51, arithmetics, 23, 31, 146
51n41, 52, 207 See also science
of Thebes, 41n5, 101 McEvoy, James J., 168
See also Alexandria, Ancient Library measuring time, 1
of; Alexandria, New Library of; See also calendar
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, medicine, 5, 36, 43, 48, 52, 104,
British: Library; Lyon: University 104n29, 130, 184, 201
Library of anatomy, 195
Libya, 101n17, 137, 139 medical treatises (see texts: medical)
See also Cyrenaica; Cyrene; Pentapolis; medico-magical texts (see under texts)
Ptolemais in Cyrenaica See also science
Life of Isidorus. See Damascius: Vita Mediterranean, 61, 65, 96, 110, 207
Isidori Medusa, 82
Lipsius, Justus, 99n15 House of (see under Alexandria)
literary criticism, 180n35 mosaic of, 2, 82, 83 fig. 8
literature, 92, 93, 98, 103, 120, 129, Memphis, 43, 58n8
162, 166, 170n67, 179, 180, 184, Menas (patriarch), 155
185, 201, 215 Mencius, 102, 103
Chaldean, 163, 164 Mesopotamia, 20n28, 21n32, 23n35,
See also Egyptian literature 25n40, 72n71
Liu Hsiang (Liu Xiang), 105n31 metaphysics, 36, 135, 181, 183
See also Liu Hsin Methodius of Olympus, 154
Liu Hsin (Liu Xin), 105n31 Middle Ages, ix
See also Liu Hsiang Middle Kingdom, 15n7, 17, 35, 36n70,
Livy (Titus Livius), 56n2, 58n3, 71n67 40, 42, 44, 49
Periochae (summeries), 58n3, 71n67 Minerva, 101n17
Lloyd, A. C., 164n50, 167 Monasteries, 4, 54, 75, 106, 116, 117,
Lochias, peninsula of. See under 118, 120, 121, 122
Alexandria of Apa Jeremias in Saqqara, 195
logic, 92, 143 monasticism, 116n22, 121, 158,
Lucan, 2, 56n2, 57, 68, 70, 71n67, 75 159
Pharsalia, 56n2, 68, 70 Pachomian, viii, 4, 116, 117, 120,
Luzi, Mario, 129 121, 122 (see also Pachomius)
Lyceum, 172, 177 Montuhotep (prince), 42
See also Aristotle monuments, xviii, 2, 3, 41, 47n26, 50,
Lyon, 88, 112 80, 86, 96, 101n17, 192, 194, 199,
University Library of, 87 207
See also under Alexandria
Macrina, 154 Moschus, John, 99, 199
magic, 44, 45, 48, 52, 120, 139, 163n49 Pratum spirituale, 99
Majcherek, Grzegorz, ix, xi, xviii, 1, 5, Mosques, 54
6, 133 Mosul, 208

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Mouseion, 3, 39, 52, 53, 54, 68, 72, 76, Prayer of the Apostle Paul, 114, 118, 123
77n4, 87, 97, 98n11, 100, 130, 132, fig. 12
176, 177, 184, 200 Second Treatise of the Great Seth, 114
See also academic; Alexandria: Sentences of Sextus, 115
academic life; Alexandria, Ancient Sophia of Jesus Christ, 114
Library of; Alexandrian: Academy; Teachings of Silvanus, 115, 116, 120,
Athenian Academy; Lyceum; 128 fig. 17
scholarship; schools Testimony of Truth, 115
Mozi, 102 Thought of Norea, 113–114
Musae, 53, 54 Three Steles of Seth, 113, 120, 127
Muses. See Musae fig. 16
Thunder: Perfect Mind, 114
Nabi Daniel Street. See under Alexandria Treatise on the Resurrection, 114
Nag Hammadi, 109 Trimorphic Protennoia, 114
Nag Hammadi ‘Library’. See Nag Tripartite Tractate, 114
Hammadi Codices Valentinian Exposition, 114
Nag Hammadi Codices, viii, xi, xix, 4, Zostrianos, 113
109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, See also Berlin Gnostic Codex
116, 117, 118, 121, 122, 123 fig. 12, Nag Hammadi manuscripts. See Nag
124 fig. 13, 125 fig. 14, 126 fig. 15, Hammadi Codices
127 fig. 16, 128 fig. 17 Nag Hammadi tractates. See Nag
Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles, Hammadi Codices
115 Nagasaki, 68n54
Allogenes, 114 Napoleon III (emperor), 216
Apocalypse of Adam, 113 Nazis, 216
Apocalypse of James (First), 114 Neleus, 180
Apocalypse of James (Second), 114 Nelles, Paul, 99n15
Apocalypse of Paul, 114 Nemesius (bishop), 152, 153, 157
Apocalypse of Peter, 114 De natura hominis (On the Nature of
Apocryphon of James, 114 Man), 152n16
Apocryphon of John, 113 Neoplatonism, xviii, 121, 135, 136, 142,
Asclepius 21–29, 115 143, 144, 149, 151, 153, 154, 155,
Authoritative Teaching, 115 156, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163,
Book of Thomas the Contender, 115 164, 167, 168, 169, 171, 174, 182,
Concept of our Great Power, 114 183
Dialogue of the Savior, 115 Christian, 149, 165, 167, 168, 170
Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth, 115 Iamblichean, 135, 143, 146 (see also
Eugnostos the Blessed, 114 Iamblichus)
Exegesis on the Soul, 114 Neoplatonic philosophers, 5, 135,
Gospel of Mary, 115 139, 143, 144, 145, 146, 154,
Gospel of Philip, 114 155n25, 157, 164, 165, 167, 169,
Gospel of the Egyptians, 113, 119, 125 184, 186
fig. 14 Neoplatonic schools, 133, 136, 159,
Gospel of Thomas, 110n4, 115 177, 182, 183, 185, 186, 199
Gospel of Truth, 114 Porphyrian, 164 (see also Porphyry)
Hypostasis of the Archons, 113 Neoplatonic texts (see under texts)
Hypsiphrone, 115 See also philosophy
Interpretation of Knowledge, 114 New Kingdom, 17, 31n54, 34, 42,
Letter of Peter to Philip, 114 47n26, 50
Marsanes, 114 New York, 69, 95
Melchizedek, 113 Nile, 1, 13, 15, 18, 19, 58n8, 64n35,
On the Origin of the World, 114 118
Paraphrase of Shem, 114 Nitria, 158
Prayer of Thanksgiving, 115, 119 Numenius, 155n25, 161n42, 167

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Oeniadae in Acarnania. See under leather-bound papyrus books, 109

harbours, Hellenistic leaves of, 26, 109, 110
Old Kingdom, 14, 20, 20n25, 35n64, manufacture of, 26, 121
42, 44, 45n21, 49, 51 See also Abusir Papyri; library: House
Olympiodorus, 143, 145, 147, 186, 188, of Papyrus Rolls; Oxyrhynchus
201 Papyri; Nag Hammadi Codices;
opus tesselatum, 82 Papyrus Salt 825; Papyrus Westcar;
opus vermiculatum, 82 Ramesseum Papyri
Orestes (prefect), 4, 138 See also under Coptic
Origen, 152, 152n14, 153, 154, 155, Papyrus Salt 825, 43, 47, 48
155n25, 156, 157, 158, 165, 169, Papyrus Westcar, 44
185, 189n56 paradeisai, 199
Contra Celsum, 165 parchment, 179
De principiis, 152, 155, 155n25, 158 Paris, 110, 110n4, 111, 171n1
Orosius, 56n2, 71n67, 72n71, 93 Parisinus graecus. See under Collectio
Historia adversus paganos, 56n2 philosophica
Orphic Poems, 186 parodoi, 198
ostraca, 26, 29, 43, 46, 50 pastophoria, 91
Ashmolean Ostrakon, 42 Paul of Aegina, 201
literary, 43 Peftuaneith, 47
Ottomans, 87 Pella in Macedonia, 80
Oxyrhynchus Papyri, 64n35, 102 Pelusium, 58, 58n3, 58n8
Pentapolis, 137, 139
Pabau. See Phbow See also Libya
Pachomius, viii, 4, 116, 116n21, 117, Pepi II (pharaoh), 42
121 Persia, 5, 173, 208, 214
See also Monasteries: Pachomian Peteese (priest), 48
paganism, 136, 144, 145, 146, 150, Peter the Reader, 140
151, 154, 155n25, 159, 162, 166, Petrie Museum, 50
175, 195 See also el-Lahun Collection
pagan learning, 92, 93, 187 (see also pharmacy, 52
education; scholarship; books: drugs, 52
pagan; texts: pagan) medicinal plants, 48
pagan cults, 3, 75, 89, 93, 142, 143, See also medicine; science
175n16 Pharos Island. See under Alexandria
pagans, 4, 75, 89, 129, 130, 133, Pharos lighthouse. See under Alexandria
136, 138, 141, 143, 146, 150, 154, Pharsalus, 58n5
171 Phbow (modern Faw Qibli), 116n22
palaeoclimatology, 61 Philo Judaeus, 37, 171, 189n56
Palermo Stone, 19, 24n38, 34 philologists, 55
Palestine, 193n10 philology, 171
Palmyra, 82n10, 86 Philon of Alexandria. See Philo Judaeus
Pamphilus, 100 Philoponus, John, 145, 157, 201, 208,
Pandrosion, 142 209, 210
Paphnoute, 117 See also John the Grammarian
Pappus of Alexandria, 142 Philosophical History. See Damascius
Collectio mathematica, 142 philosophy, xviii, 4–5, 36, 53, 75, 92,
papyri, xix, 1, 4, 27, 29, 31n54, 35, 36, 93, 104, 115, 132, 133, 136, 138,
40, 41, 42, 45, 46, 49, 50, 51, 64, 70, 141, 143, 146, 150, 159, 163, 164,
73n71, 75, 77, 78 fig. 2, 79 figs. 3–4, 165, 166, 167, 168, 172, 176, 177,
88, 95, 106, 109, 110, 117n25, 179 180, 181, 200, 208
blank, 76 Alexandrian, 90, 134, 145, 157, 177,
carbonized, 77 179n30, 183, 184, 201
illustrated, 51 Alexandrian Neoplatonic school,

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133, 136, 145, 162, 174, 177, Plato, 39, 88, 115, 129, 133, 150, 154,
182–183 163, 173, 185
Alexandrian Platonic schools, 171, collections of, 88, 115, 133, 134, 171,
175, 189 173, 177, 183, 184, 185, 188
Alexandrian schools, viii, 7, 130, commentaries on, 174, 177
134, 143, 144, 146, 171, 173, Platonic philosophers, 142, 144, 145,
175, 178, 179, 182, 183, 184, 152, 157, 181, 185, 187
185, 187, 188, 189, 201 Platonic school, 133, 143, 144, 145,
Chinese, 3 146, 147, 175, 181
Epicurean, 185 Republic, 115
Greek, xviii, 92, 133, 183, 200 Symposium, 134
Middle Platonism, 121, 155n25, 160, Timaeus, 39, 163, 184
167 See also Athenian Academy;
philosophers, 3, 5, 77, 88, 92, philosophy
100n17, 102, 104, 105n31, 130, Plotinus, 133, 135, 149, 155n25, 160,
131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 161, 161n41–43, 163, 164, 167,
139, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 154, 168n65, 173, 175n17, 182, 185, 186,
155n25, 159, 164, 166, 168, 172, 187, 189
174, 175n17, 176n19, 180n35, 181, Enneades, 163
182, 184, 186, 187, 188, 194, 199, Plutarch, 56n2, 71n67, 73n71, 75
201 (see also Athens: House of the Caesar, 56n2
Philosophers) Plutarch of Athens, 143, 167, 181
philosophical schools, 3, 104n29, 171, Pococke, Edward, 213
172, 176, 176n19, 182–183, 184, poetry, 103n20, 104, 107, 129, 160, 162,
189n56, 199 176, 180, 215
of Ammonius (see under Ammonius) poetics, 146, 166
Aristotelian (see Aristotle: school of ) poets, 102, 129
Athenian, 143, 175, 178, 181, Polish Centre of Mediterranean
187 Archaeology in Cairo, xi, xviii, 85
Epicurean, 181 figs. 10–11, 203–206 figs. 18–24
Gnostic (see Valentinus: Valentinian Polish-Egyptian Mission at Kom
school. See also Gnosticism) el-Dikka, Alexandria, xi, xviii, 2,
of Hermeias (see under Hermeias) 71, 80, 82, 85 figs. 10–11, 176, 192,
of Horapollon (see under 203–206 figs. 18–24
Horapollon) See also archaeology; Kom el-Dikka;
of Hypatia (see under Hypatia) Majcherek, Grzegorz
of Isidore (see under Isidore of polytheism, 92, 130
Alexandria) Pompey (Pompeius Magnus, Gnaius),
Neoplatonic (see under 58n3
Neoplatonism) Pompey’s Pillar. See under Alexandria
Platonic (see under Plato) pontifex maximus, 59n14
Stoic, 181, 185 See also Caesar, Julius
philosophical treatises (see texts: Porphyrius. See Porphyry
philosophical) Porphyry, 151, 160, 161, 161n43, 163,
Platonism, 115, 132, 136, 143, 144, 163n47, 164n55, 167, 167n59, 168,
145, 147, 152n14, 167, 167n59, 175n17, 182, 183, 185
168, 171, 177, 178, 182, 188 Commentary on the Categories of
Presocratic, 183 Aristotle, 185
Stoic, 183, 185 Sententiae, 151n10, 163
See also Neoplatonism; Pythagorean Vita Plotini, 161n42, 182, 182n37
Photius, 146n58, 172n4, 186, 188n55 See also Neoplatonism: Porphyrian
physics, 176, 178, 180, 181 Posidonius, 181
See also science Pothinus, 58
Piraeus. See under harbours, Hellenistic Proclus, 143, 144, 155n25, 157, 172,

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173, 174, 175, 175n15, 175n17, 186, Roman period, 1, 3, 52, 72n70, 121
187 Late Roman age, 192, 194 (see also
Institutio theologica (Elements of Byzantine period; Late Antiquity)
Theology), 155n25 Rome, 20, 21n32, 22n33, 57, 68n52,
See also House of Proclus 86, 93, 98, 102, 114, 181, 182, 184,
prose, 180 185, 189n65, 215
Proterius (bishop), 141 catacomb in Via Latina, 194
Psammetichus II (pharaoh), 48 Roman army, 61, 89
pterophores, 48 Roman emperor, 215
Ptolemaic Alexandria. See Alexandria Roman Empire, 210
Ptolemaic Gymnasium. See Alexandria: Romans, 129
Gymnasium royal palaces. See Alexandria:
Ptolemaic period, 1, 72, 171 Bruccheion
Ptolemaic rule. See Dynasty, Ptolemaic Rufinus of Aquileia, 89n3
Ptolemais in Cyrenaica, 4, 150, 154, Historia ecclesiastica, 89n3
159, 161n42, 165
See also Libya S’ankhkare (pharaoh), 42
Ptolemies. See Dynasty, Ptolemaic Sa d ibn Abī Waqqās, 100
Ptolemy I Soter (king), 39, 96, 100n17, Saint Basil. See Basil of Caesarea
102 Saladin, 210, 211, 217
Ptolemy II Philadelphus (king), 99n14, See also Crusaders
208 Saqqara, 50, 195
Ptolemy XII Auletes (king), 58n5 See also under tombs
Ptolemy XIII (king), 58n7, 59, 65n35 Sarapis. See Serapis
Ptolemy, Claudius, 131, 132, 142 Scetis, 158
Handy Tables, 131 (see also Hypatia) Schenke, Hans-Martin, 111
Almagest, 131, 132, 142 (see also scholarch, 5, 144, 177, 178, 187
Hypatia; Theon of Alexandria) scholarship, vii, xxi, 43, 116, 121, 207,
Publius, Aelius (prefect), 86 213, 216
Pyramid Texts, 12, 16n11, 39, 40, 41, Alexandrian, viii, ix, xxi, 4, 5, 36,
51 53, 88, 90, 100n17, 129, 130,
See also texts 131, 143, 145, 146, 171, 176,
Pythagorean, 143, 161n42 183, 184, 189, 200, 201, 202
community, 136 (see also Alexandria: academic
Neopythagoreans, 161, 167 life; Alexandria: intellectual life;
See also philosophy Alexandria, Ancient Library
of; Alexandrian: Academy;
Qenherchepeshef, 50 Alexandrian: scholars; Kom
Qin Dynasty. See under dynasties el-Dikka: auditoria)
(Chinese) Greek, xvii, 88, 92, 143 (see also
Québec, 111 Athenian Academy; Lyceum)
Laval University, 111 See also academic; books; Byzantine:
scholars; education; library;
Ramesseum Papyri, 49 philosophy; schools; scribes; texts
Ramses II (pharaoh), 43, 49 schools, viii, 7, 43, 130, 145, 171, 172,
Ramses IV (pharaoh), 43 176, 177, 179, 182, 183, 184, 185,
Renaudot, Eusèbe (father), 6, 213 187, 188, 189, 199, 200, 201
Rhakotis. See under Alexandria kuttab, 43
rhetoric, 36, 92, 145, 146, 159n37, 172, municipal, 199
175, 176, 195, 200 of temples, 43
rhetors, 90 (see also Aristotle: rhetors See also education; Neoplatonism:
of) Neoplatonic schools; philosophy:
school of (see under Horapollon) philosophical schools; scholarship;
Robinson, James M., 109, 111, 120n35 Valentinus: Valentinian school

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See also under Ammonius (Alexandrian Gnostic (see under texts)

philosopher); Aristotle; collections; historical, 191, 199, 200, 215
Hermeias; Horapollon; Hypatia; iconographic, 194
Isidore of Alexandria; law; library; literary, 5, 63, 64, 72, 141, 195, 201
rhetoric Sethian Gnostic (see under texts)
Schott, Erika, 41 Valentinian (see under texts)
science, 1, 3, 4, 6, 11, 12, 36, 39, 52, Sozomen, 89n3
53, 99n16, 130, 131, 132, 134, 135, Historia ecclesiastica, 89n3
136, 145, 146, 175, 176, 177, 178, St. Jerome. See Jerome (saint)
180, 181, 183, 184, 207 St. John Chrysostom. See Chrysostom,
See also astronomy; geometry; John (bishop)
mathematics; medicine; physics Stephanus of Byzantium, 187, 201
Scorpion King (pharaoh), 15n7 Stobaeus, Johannes, 185
scribes, 11, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, storehouses of books. See Alexandria,
32n57, 33, 34, 35, 44, 45, 48, 49, 50, Ancient Library of: apothiki
51, 54, 106, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, Strabo, 53, 67, 70, 71, 76, 77n4, 97,
122, 180, 188 181
of the House of Life, 42, 43, 44, 47, Geography, 76
48, 50, 53 Straton of Lampsacus, 180
scriptoria, 43, 45, 51 Suda Lexicon, 97, 130, 130n7, 131, 135,
See also books; library; schools; texts 141, 172n4
Seheil. See Famine Stela Sulla, 65n39, 181
Senate, Roman, 58n5 Sunium. See under harbours, Hellenistic
Seneca, 56n2, 72–73n71, 75 Sylvester (bishop), 215
De tranquillitate animi, 56n2, 72n71 Synesius of Cyrene, 4, 5, 133, 136,
Serageldin, Ismail, xii, 1 137, 138, 139, 149–154, 156–167,
See also Alexandria, New Library of 169–170
Serapeum. See under temples Cynegetica, 166
Serapeum library. See Alexandria, De insomniis (On Dreams), 5, 151, 158,
Ancient Library of: Daughter Library 163, 163n46, 164
Serapis, 75, 76, 78 fig. 1, 89, 91, 142, De providentia (On Providence), 151,
181 156, 157
See also temples: Serapeum Dion, 159, 166, 170n67
Seth, son of Adam, 113, 116 Epistulae, 136, 137, 139, 149n2, 166
See also Gnosticism: Sethian Letter 5, 137
Severus (Shawary), 201, 208 Letter 10, 136, 137
Shang Yang, 103 Letter 16, 136
Shihuangdi (emperor), 104 Letter 41, 169
Simplicius, 145, 173, 178n29, 183, Letter 57, 169
186 Letter 81, 139
Commentary on the De caelo of Letter 105, 5, 138, 149, 150, 154,
Aristotle, 183 158, 159, 170n68
Commentary on the Physics of Letter 124, 137
Aristotle, 183 Letter 137, 136, 137
Socrates (Athenian philosopher), 134 Letter 140, 137
Socrates Scholasticus of Constantinople, Letter 143, 138
89n3, 92, 130, 133, 134, 135, 138, Letter 147, 169
139, 140, 141, 142 Homily 1, 165
Historia ecclesiastica, 89n3 Hymns, 5, 136, 156, 160, 161, 162,
Solon, 39, 47 163, 163n47, 164, 165, 166, 169,
sources, 50, 76, 97, 70, 71n67, 72n71, 169n66
114, 130, 133, 136, 138. 141, 142, Hymn 3, 156, 161, 162, 164
146, 180n35, 197, 200, 201 Hymn 7, 160
Arabic, 207, 209, 214, 215, 216 Hymn 8, 160
Byzantine, 209 Hymn 9, 160

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Laus calvitii (Praise of baldness), on dream interpretation, 52

164n54, 166 editing of, xviii, 116n20, 131, 132,
synthronon, 193 133, 171, 184, 213
Syria, xviii, 48, 86, 110, 115, 133, educational, 12, 27, 31 (see also
175n16, 178, 182, 213, 216 education)
Syrianus of Alexandria, 143, 174, foreign, 47
175n17 fragmentary, 142n44
funerary, 12, 49, 51, 52
tabernacula, 91 geographical, 39, 52
tableware, 196 on geometry, 52
African Red Slip, 196 Gnostic, viii, 4, 113, 114 (see also Nag
Cypriot Red Slip, 196 Hammadi Codices)
tale of the Princess of Bakhtan, 48 Greek, 48, 76, 110, 173
tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor, 15 Hermetic, 4, 115, 120
technology, 1, 68 historical, 39, 52, 215
Tell el-Amarna. See el-Amarna Latin, 48, 213
Temple of Serapis. See temples: legal, 26, 35, 40
Serapeum literary, 12, 15, 18n23, 27, 35, 40, 41,
temples, 11, 18, 35n64, 39, 40, 41, 42, 45, 46n25, 47, 49, 50, 50n40, 151,
43, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 180, 181
66, 89, 130 on magic, 35, 52
of Aten, 42 mathematical, 12, 27, 35, 132
of Dionysus, 89 medical, 27, 52, 201
of Edfu, 45, 46 medico-magical, 40, 49, 50
of Min in Coptos, 42 multilingual, 47, 47n26
of Philae, 39 Neoplatonic, 173, 187
Ramesseum, 35, 50, 43, 100 originals of, viii, 7, 41, 179, 181, 186,
schools of (see under schools) 187, 189n56
of Sekhmet Bastet at Bubastis, 43 pagan, 179
Serapeum, viii, 3, 4, 7, 71, 75, 76, pharmaceutical, 52
78 fig. 1, 89, 90, 91, 93, 98n11, philosophical, 132, 151, 171, 171n1,
99, 130, 132, 142, 176, 179, 172, 174, 178, 179n31, 180, 182,
179n30, 181, 184, 188, 210 (see also 183, 185
Alexandria, Ancient Library of: Platonic (see Plato: collections of )
Daughter Library; Serapis) religious, 12, 25, 27, 35, 36n70, 39,
stelae of, 47 40, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 117,
Trajanum, 93 162, 215
See also under archives scientific, 40, 47, 49, 52, 99n14
texts, viii, xviii, 4, 11, 14n3, 32, 36n70, Sethian Gnostic, 113, 114 (see also
40, 41, 42, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 58, Gnosticism: Sethian)
91, 93, 95, 97, 102, 105, 106, 110, of temples, 52
111, 112, 115, 116, 117, 118, 120, of the Thomas Tradition, 115
121, 155, 156, 174, 176, 177, 178, translation of, 47, 112, 213
179, 182, 200, 213, 215 transmission of, 40, 41, 43, 102,
administrative, 35, 40, 50, 51, 52 105n31, 131, 132, 133, 171, 171n1,
Aramaic, 47 172, 173, 174, 177, 178, 179,
astronomical, 52, 131, 132 179n31, 181, 182, 183, 184, 185,
bilingual, 51 186, 187, 188
canonical, 173, 184, 185, 188 Valentinian Gnostic, 114 (see also
copies of, 5, 7, 26, 27, 35, 41, 42, Valentinus)
45, 47, 50, 51, 105, 112, 113, 116, veterinary, 52
117, 119, 120, 121, 122, 179, 181, See also books; collections; Pyramid
182, 184, 186, 187, 188, 189 Texts; sources
Coptic, 4, 110, 111n8, 117, 121 Thebes, 41n5, 43, 50, 101n17

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Themistius, 184, 185 Tyrus, 164, 168

Discourse to the Emperor, 184 Tzetzes, Joannes, 53, 97
Theodora, 145, 146
Theodoret, 3, 89n3, 90 Umar ibn Abdel Aziz (caliph), 197
Historia ecclesiastica, 89n3 Umar ibn al-Khattāb (caliph), viii, 6,
Theodoric, 172n4, 174n13 75, 100, 100n16, 207, 208, 209, 210,
Theodosius I (emperor), 3, 75, 89, 211, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217
210 See also Amr ibn al- Ās
imperial decree in 391 A.D. (see Codex Umayyad period, 196, 197
Theodosianus) UNESCO, xix, 110, 111
Theodosius II (emperor), 179, 200
Theodosius the Great, Emperor. See Valentinus, 114
Theodosius I (emperor) Valentinian school, 114
theology, 136, 149, 154, 162, 165, 166, See also Gnosticism; texts: Valentinian
167, 168, 199 Gnostic
Theon of Alexandria, 4, 130, 130n7, Velleius Paterculus, 58n3
131, 132, 142, 172 vellum, 214
Commentary on the Almagest of Via Canopica. See Alexandria: streets of:
Claudius Ptolemy, 131, 132, 142 Canopic Way
See also Hypatia Villa dei Papiri at Herculanum, 77n5
Theophilus of Alexandria (patriarch), See also papyri
4, 75, 78n1, 89, 90, 91, 98n11, 150, Villa of the Birds. See under Alexandria
154, 156, 159, 210 Volkmann, Richard von, 152
Theophrastus, 180 Vollenweider, Samuel, 150, 151, 160
theosophy, 144 Voltaire, 96, 97, 129
Theosophical Society, 102
Thomas, Judas, 115 Wallis, Richard T., 150, 166n57
Timon, 97 warehouse of books. See Alexandria,
Timonium. See under Alexandria Ancient Library of: apothiki
Timotheus, 100n17 Wedjahorresnet, 47
Titus Livius. See Livy Westerink, L. G., 5, 172n4, 173, 173n8,
Tokyo, 68n54 174, 186, 187, 188, 188n54–55
tombs, 17, 18, 20n25, 29, 32, 39, 40, Whittaker, John, 186
46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 93, 101n17 wooden tablets, 40
of Khnoumhotep, 14n3 Wu des Han (emperor), 105, 105n31
of Rekhmire, 41
of Saqqara, 50 Xenarchus, 000
of Thay, 41, 45 Xianyang, 95, 104
private, 45n21, 49, 51 Xunzi, 102
royal, 51
See also Alexander the Great: tomb Yahia al-Nahwī. See Philoponus, John
of; Alexandria: Alabaster Tomb;
Alexandria: Kinaron (burial place Zacharias Scholasticus, 157, 201
of Hypatia); Alexandria: necropolis; Vita Severi (Life of Severus), 201
cemeteries; Rome: catacomb in Via Zeno of Elea, 185
Latina Zenobia (queen), 2, 86, 98n11
Toomer, G. J., 132 Zenodotus (philosopher at Athens), 172
Trinity, 155n25, 160, 161n42–43, 162, Zhuangzi, 102
167, 168, 169, 169n66, 208 Zomeira. See Demetrius of Phaleron
Tutankhamon (pharaoh), 44 Zonaras, Johannes, 56n2, 71n67

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