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Alexander conquered the vast Persian Empire and founded Alexandria before dying in his 33rd year in 323 BCE. In the aftermath, Greek literature, learning, and art intermingled with Egyptian, Persian, Babylonian, and Hebrew cultures. The interplay of cultures caused ethnic, artistic, and religious conflicts and convergence. Nowhere did this convergence of cultures emerge more dramatically than in Alexandria, which became the royal seat of Hellenistic Egypt. Its Great Library and Museum and its Lighthouse—one of the ancient wonders of the world--became magnets for travelers from all around the Mediterranean and beyond. Though Alexandria's original Library was destroyed long ago, another has risen from its ashes, and the luster of Hellenistic Civilization that flourished for three centuries after Alexander still endures.
Co-sponsored by the Center for Modern Greek Studies at San Francisco State University
Moderator: William S. Greenwalt (Professor of Classics, Director of University Honors, Director of Lead Scholars, and Director of Fellowships, Santa Clara University)
> Learn more about this program's presenters
> View our Suggested Reading and Resources for this program
Schedule of Events
Friday, February 5, 2010
8:00 until 10:15 pm
Introduction: Patricia Lundberg and Moderator William Greenwalt’s Overview of Program
Alexander the Great: Agent for Change?
Keynote Address
Eugene N. Borza (History, Pennsylvania State University).
Two things are certain about Alexander the Great. One is that he is among the greatest military commanders of all time. The other is that the eastern Mediterranean and western Asian worlds were transformed because of his passage, resulting in the penetration of Greek culture into previously non-Hellenic parts of the world. To what extent was the introduction of Greek culture into Egypt and the East the result of a deliberate policy of Hellenization? Did Alexander, a pupil of Aristotle who himself had made clear distinctions between Greeks and “barbarians,” have a deliberate policy of introducing Greek culture into the “barbarian” world? How do we go about attempting to answer these questions? And following from this, one must ask to what extent Hellenic culture—whatever its source—actually penetrated deeply into native cultures such as Ptolemaic Egypt during the Hellenistic Era.
Picturing Ptolemaic Egypt: The Nile Mosaic from Praeneste
Andrew Stewart (Art History, UC Berkeley).
The huge and spectacular Nile Mosaic from Praeneste (ancient Palestrina) in Italy, discovered in 1600, transferred to Rome in 1626, returned in 1640, and now heavily restored, remains our best guide not to Ptolemaic Egypt as such, but to Ptolemaic attitudes to Egypt. Labeled in Greek, it faithfully pictures many key elements of Ptolemaic material culture from drinking vessels to temples, and must echo a Ptolemaic painting of the third or second centuries BCE. This lecture examines its threefold image of the country: the Hellenized Delta; the Egyptian chora; and the wilds of Nubia.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
10:00 am until 12 noon & 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm
Recap of Friday. William Greenwalt, Moderator
The Ancient Library at Alexandria: Facts and Fictions
Susan Stephens (Classics, Stanford University).
Founded by Alexander in his conquest of the eastern Mediterranean and ruled by a line of his successors, the Ptolemies, Alexandria was the city from which Greeks now ruled over the land of the pharaohs. It was also a city in which Greek and Egyptian cultures must have mixed. The famous Alexandrian library is a case in point. To what extent was it inspired by previous Greek models? Could Egyptian temple libraries have played a role? What was the scribal culture like that enabled the collection and maintenance of so many books? What roles did scholar-poets like Callimachus or Apollonius play in shaping the culture of the early city? What happened to the library? Did the Romans destroy it by accident? The Christians? The Muslims? Or simply time itself?
Jewish Culture in Alexandria: The Hebrew Bible in Greek
Erich Gruen (History, UC Berkeley).
A wonderful and witty legend has it that Ptolemy II, the Hellenistic ruler of Egypt, summoned the most learned Jewish scholars from Jerusalem to his court to render the Hebrew Bible into Greek. The scholars performed that task with precision, earning the gratitude of the Greek-speaking Jewish community, and Ptolemy added the sacred translation to the shelves of his magnificent library in Alexandria. This lecture employs this tale, however fictitious it may be, as an illuminating window on the place of Jewish culture in the life of Alexandria and on the relationship between Jewish intellectuals and the Hellenistic monarchy in Egypt.
Alexandria, the City of Imagination: Cavafy and the Ptolemies
The poetry of C. P. Cavafy set in Ptolemaic Alexandria. Readings and translations by Martha Klironomos (English and Modern Greek Studies, San Francisco State University).
Alexander's Pictorial Legacy
Ada Cohen (Art History, Dartmouth College).
Textual and visual sources suggest that Alexander the Great was not just a brutal conqueror but that he also possessed and exhibited a certain human complexity. The impression that he also aspired to the life of the mind contributes to his fame. This lecture addresses various layers of complexity embedded within works of art depicting Alexander or other "model" men of his cultural environment, which often highlight aggression. It also demonstrates the longevity of visual paradigms that became dominant in Alexander's era and explores aspects of the evolution of Alexander's image over time.
Synthesis and Panel Discussion with all Presenters and Written Questions from the Audience
Related Events
Two lectures by Dr. Ismail Serageldin
Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina
Presented by Stanford University Libraries
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
2:00 pm - 6 pm
Dinkelspiel Auditorium, Stanford University
Free and open to the public
2:00 pm: The New Library of Alexandria: A Beacon of Knowledge
4:30 pm: For a Better Dialog Between the West and Muslims
Getting Ready for Alexandria. Humanities West Book Discussion
Wednesday January 13, 2010
5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Commonwealth Club of San Francisco
595 Market Street, San Francisco
Free.
For more information: commonwealthclub.org
For reservations click here.
Co-sponsored with the Commonwealth Club Member-led Forum on the Humanities. Our topic this time is Alexandria, Egypt. We will discuss Justine, by Lawrence Durrell, the first book of his Alexandria Quartet. Set amid the corrupt glamour and intrigues of 1930s Alexandria, Durrell's novel gives a very vivid portrait of modern Alexandria. The discussion moderator will be Humanities West volunteer Lynn Harris.
Cleopatra as CEO: Bureaucracy and Scandal in the Hostile Takeover of a First Century Multinational
Dr. Janet Johnson (Oriental Institute, University of Chicago)
Sunday January 24, 2010
2:30 pm
Room 20, Barrows Hall, University of California Berkeley
Sponsored by Humanities West Partner, American Research Center in Egypt, Northern California Chapter
Fireside Chat with George Hammond
A Alexander/Alexandria Preview
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
7:00 pm
Orinda Library, Orinda
Free
The Library Of Alexandria And Its Revival
Professor Andrew G. Jameson
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
5:30pm Reception, 6pm Lecture
Mechanics’ Institute
57 Post Street, San Francisco
FREE to Members of Mechanics’ Institute and Friends of Humanities West
$15 general public
Reservations: 415-393-0100 or email the Mechanics' Institute.
The Library of Alexandria is regarded as the eighth ‘wonder’ of the ancient world and is the first great library in western history. The books on its shelves were the medium by which scientists, philosophers, poets, historians, and musicians of antiquity enriched human experience with their research and creativity. Its collections embodied the genius of classical Greece, and its loss is the greatest disaster in the history of learning. Professor Jameson will focus on the origin and history of the Library, on its collections and arrangement, on the scholar-librarians, and on its disappearance--as well as on the revival of the Bibliotheca Alexandria whose purpose is to restate the universal legacy of the ancient Library in modern terms.
The Cultural Policies of the early Ptolemies: Alexandria and Beyond
William Greenwalt (Santa Clara University Classics)
Thursday, February 4, 2010
5:30 pm Reception, 6:00 pm lecture
Commonwealth Club of San Francisco
595 Market Street, San Francisco
$8 for Commonwealth Club members
$15 for non-members
For more information: commonwealthclub.org
For reservations click here.
As Alexander's Empire dissolved and the Ptolemies established their control over Egypt and a few outlying areas, they were faced with many daunting challenges. Among these was the establishment of their dynastic legitimacy among different domestic constituencies while simultaneously facing international challenges. Several strategies were employed in the creation of a new legitimacy, but among the most important was their approach to culture(s). This talk will discuss some of the cultural strategies of the early Ptolemies, and, a few of their ramifications.
Post-Program Salon
Thursday, February 11, 2010
5:30 pm Reception, 6:00 pm Salon
Commonwealth Club of San Francisco
595 Market Street, San Francisco
$8 for Commonwealth Club members
$15 for non-members
For more information: commonwealthclub.org
For reservations click here.
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