The ‘Golden-Age’ of Alexandria and the "Decline of Neoplatonic Western Intellectualism": A Historiographical Re-assessment.

by Darcy R. Keim, MA


The city of Alexandria – located in Egypt – has long been the subject of periodic mythologizing within the historical record. Undoubtedly, its connection with Alexander the Great bestowed it with a degree of immortality. By the fifth-century A.D., Alexandria had developed as a city that claimed racial and linguistic diversity.[1] The half-million population was primarily made up of native Egyptians, Greeks, a substantial Jewish demographic; as well as other backgrounds sourced through the city’s occupation as a trading-port.[2] During the Late Antiquity, Alexandria boasted architectural splendour; with histories detailing a lighthouse that would later be remarked upon as one of the “Seven Wonders” of the Ancient world.[3] Reflective of these features, secondary narratives devised a ‘Golden-Age’ Alexandria. This is the product of both primary accounts, as well as long-term cultural movements; such as the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Romanticised within both academic and popular imagination, the city has been persistently remodelled by - what Nietzsche referred to as - “[…] a culture that chases after the Greeks […]”[4]

Central to this image of a ‘Golden-Age’ Alexandria is its historiographical role as the birthplace of Western intellectualism. An image often perpetuated – alongside the “fall” of the city – is the judgment that this carried the end of Neoplatonic practice in the West. Through observation, historiography has promoted a visible trajectory; highlighting three key events to evidence a dramatic decline - if not abolishment - of academic life in the city. The first of these is the death of the Platonic philosopher, Hypatia[5] in 415 A.D.; second to this is the destruction of the Great Library of Alexandria; and thirdly, the Siege of Alexandria in 641 A.D. A primary objective is to discern how – and to what extent – these episodes have been used to prop symbolic rhetoric concerning a “fall” of Alexandria. In order to provide a full assessment, this study will pursue the following lines of inquiry: (1) What historiographical components have contributed to each event being conceptualised as the “fall” of Alexandrian intellectualism? (2) How does this link to a concern regarding the “vanishing” of Greek-Macedonian identity? And lastly, (3) is it possible to ascertain whether Alexandria did experience a “fall”? This approach will set to evaluate life in Alexandria after each historical landmark.

The perpetuation of a ‘Golden-Age’ Alexandria – through Hypatia – is an enduring factor of contemporary historiography. Nineteenth-century historical study prompted a shift in Hypatia’s resurrection. Incorporating Victorian attitudes of progress, scholars shaped her to exemplify the practice of science over religious superstition.[6] From this developed a ‘Hypatia’ recognisable to twenty-first century interpretations. Stylistically, the design of Hypatia is one that personifies Western intellectual practice. Her significance within the academic community is drawn from evidence sourced during her own lifetime. From the survival of written correspondence between Synesius of Cyrene[7] and Hypatia, it is clear that her tutelage had been highly valued:

Concerning all of this I shall await your decision. If you decree that I ought to publish my book, I will dedicate it to orators and philosophers together. The first it will please, and to the others it will be useful, provided of course that it is not rejected by you, who are really able to pass judgment. If it does not seem to you worthy of Greek ears, if, like Aristotle, you prize truth more than friendship, a close and profound darkness will overshadow it, and mankind will never hear it mentioned.[8]

In his assessment of the philosopher, Stephen Greenblatt judged that “The murder of Hypatia signified more than the end of one remarkable person; it effectively marked the downfall of Alexandrian intellectual life […]”[9] Although this may read as popularised embellishment, Greenblatt’s phrasing is characteristic of leading narratives regarding Alexandria. Whilst re-examining Hypatia’s role as a modern symbol, Edward J. Watts maintained that Early Modern and Modern interpretations served to reduce the philosopher to a succession of dramatic imagery. This is largely the result of ongoing historiographical remodelling. As a result of limited source availability, scholars have failed to present a cohesive understanding of the philosopher. Rather, historiography has produced archetypal manifestations of her person; asserting that recurrent models include “[...] a beautiful woman, a learned philosopher, a good mathematician, an inspiring teacher, a resolute virgin, an honoured citizen, ultimately the targeted victim of a brutal murder [...]”[10].

By recognising Hypatia as a figure of academic proficiency, the eighteenth-century priced Alexandrian decline on religious doctrine. Glorified within this movement, the Hellenistic Age was marvelled for its contribution to Western political-theory and practice; as well as advancements in philosophy, mathematics, and the sciences.[11] As such, Hypatia is often represented as a pivotal scholastic figure within Later Classical Antiquity. Historians – like Voltaire and Edward Gibbon – synonymised Hypatia with Alexandrian disorder; devising her to be symbolic 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.”[12] More specifically, she has been constructed as an oppositional figure against pro-Catholic rhetoric. This is particularly noticeable in Voltaire’s approach to her; juxtaposing his portrayal of a moralistic and learned philosopher with the ignorant, dogmatic Christians opposing her:

I am content with remarking, that St. Cyril[13] was a man of parts; that he suffered his zeal to carry him too far; that when we strip beautiful women, it is not to massacre them; that St. Cyril, no doubt, asked pardon of God for this abominable action [...][14]

 
As a point of analysis, it may be judged that Voltaire served a contemporary political argument. The Enlightenment lent itself to a degree of critical deconstruction regarding Catholicism.[15] The brief visual produced by Voltaire declared that the fall of Alexandria resulted from overt Christian fanaticism.[16] Therefore, Voltaire’s ‘Hypatia’ as a model of learning denotes Alexandrian intellectual progress. Through conflating the murder of Hypatia with his own outlook, he suggests that Christian ideology prevents “truth and progress”[17].

Likewise, Gibbon stylised a ‘Hypatia’ whose tragic death pronounced the final-chapter of Hellenic Alexandria. Adopting this viewpoint meant writing a ‘Hypatia’ who embodied “the bloom of beauty” and “the maturity of wisdom”.[18] As a further incentive, Gibbon placed considerable emphasis on her physical chastity; declaring that “[…] the modest maid refused her lovers and instructed her disciples [...]”[19] Contrasting this is his lurid and pornographic description of her death. The advantage of which is not simply in its shock value, but in the manner by which Gibbon accounts a sadistic desecration of the ‘beautiful virgin’:

[…] Hypatia was torn from her chariot, stripped naked, dragged to the church, and inhumanly butchered by the hands of Peter the reader, and a troop of savage and merciless fanatics: her flesh was scraped from her bones with sharp cyster shells, and her quivering limbs were delivered to the flames.[20] 

His use of the prototypic ‘beautiful virgin’ presents an allegorical visual. By which Alexandria – via Hypatia – is illustrated as being pillaged by a radically religious collective. Despite the likelihood that Hypatia had been middle-aged at the time of her death, there remains a long-standing tradition of depicting her as a young, chaste woman.

The portrayal of a Christianised Alexandria – opportunistically using Hypatia’s death to eradicate Neoplatonism – is exaggerative. Additionally, the image erases fundamental events from Alexandrian history. A factor that is often disregarded from this is the impact made by Emperor Theodosius’ own jurisdictions. Specifically, the year 391 A.D. saw Theodosius demand that all pagan temples were to be closed.[21] The justification given was not a rejection of education, but that learning ought to be based in Christianity. Any form of academic philosophy pre-dating Christian doctrine was equated with paganism.[22] Thus, it is not simply through Hypatia’s death that Alexandria was submerged by Christian Platonism. Moreover, it is difficult to find primary evidence to judge the immediacy of the impact made by Christianised Alexandria. Twentieth-century classicist, Henry J. Blumenthal has argued likewise; affirming that if Neoplatonic philosophies appeared Christian this could “[...] be explained as the adoption of perfectly respectable, if in some cases no longer standard, Platonic positions.”[23] An equally important observation made by Blumenthal was his assertion that religious affiliation did not contribute to Alexandrian Neoplatonist grouping. In fact, the Alexandrian school would have featured ethnic and religious diversity.[24]

As such, Hypatia’s death does not decree an end to academic production in Alexandria. This is a quality evidenced by public historians, Justin Pollard and Howard Reid in their book, The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern Mind (2006). Although Pollard and Reid establish Hypatia’s death as the final knell for the Neoplatonic school of Alexandria, they nonetheless contend that the institute continued on after her:                                 

With the death Hypatia, her city also began to die. Philosophers were still to be found in the city's streets, and the "Alexandrian school" continued quietly – ever more quietly – to refine pagan Neoplatonism. Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus were still read and talked of [...][25]

It is clear to observe that the Alexandrian school – as well as values of Neoplatonic learning – remained in the city. Philosophical works continued to be produced both within the school, as well as around it. Writers, such as Damascius returned to Alexandria as a Neoplatonic centre. With regard to this continued scholastic activity, Blumenthal reflected that Alexandria remained one of two major centres of pagan Neoplatonism – the other being Athens – until the latter half of the sixth-century.[26] If Blumenthal’s theory is accurate, this would see academia continue to thrive in the city over a century after Hypatia’s death.

Evidently, Hypatia is not alone in being memorialised as a fragment of ‘Golden-Age’ Alexandria. Details regarding the destruction of a Library of Alexandria has remained a key feature in historiography. Despite the fact that there is no classical account of the Library[27], it has maintained a presence at the forefront of cultural scholarship. Historiographical examples of the Library feature over a long-standing trajectory. The late-medieval period saw fifteenth-century scholar, Richard de Bury produce a sombre lament at the loss of this institution. He detailed the event as “[…] the dreadful ruin which was caused in Egypt by the auxiliaries in the Alexandrian war, when seven hundred thousand volumes were consumed by fire.”[28] Further embellishment is added by de Bury; expressing that the loss was a “[…] a hapless holocaust, where ink is offered up instead of blood, where the glowing ashes of crackling parchment were incarnadined with blood […]”[29] This emotive style extends throughout Early-Modern and Modern imagery. By the nineteenth-century, scholars had begun to write of an Alexandrian library riddled with figurative meaning.[30] Motifs present in George Bernard Shaw’s, Caesar and Cleopatra (1901) is representative of this. For example, he writes of a scene between Caesar and Theodotus of Chios; in which Theodotus exclaims to Caesar: “What is burning there is the memory of mankind.”[31] Literary historian, Jon Thiem observes this excerpt as Shaw adapting “[…] the figure of the burning Alexandrian library to chastise the historicism of the age.”[32] Moreover, Shaw’s work is indicative of convincing historiographical distortion. The importance of the Library is in its image; less as a literal location than a product of Alexandrian mythos.

If the Library of Alexandria had existed, it was not a sole-standing emblem. Rather, it is thought that the institute was made up of two prominent buildings. Located in the Brucheum quarter of the city – within the Mouseion (Museum) – had been the “Mother” library; founded in 300-390 B.C.[33] The “Mother” library is theorised to have held the largest collection of ancient material. Second to the “Mother” library had been the “Daughter” library; thought to have been founded before 200 B.C. According to archaeological finds, this would have been located in another section of the city; near the Serapeum (the Temple of Serapis).[34] A factor that remains visible in secondary texts is that many modern historians fail to distinguish between the two. Instead, the “Mother” and “Daughter” Library have often been combined to feature as a single Library of Alexandria. With regard to this, the Library often referred to by historians – in studies concerning the fifth-to-seventh centuries – is the “Daughter” library. The Alexandrian Library (both the Museum and Serapeum libraries) have featured in recurrent narratives regarding the “destruction” of it. First is the aforementioned burning of the Museum by Julius Caesar in 47 B.C.[35] Second is the burning of the Serapeum library in 390 A.D.; prompted by Emperor Theodosius.[36] Third is the destruction of the Serapeum library in 642 A.D., as the result of the Arab Conquest.[37] From this, it is palpable that the loss of the Library cannot be attributed to one destructive event.

Like Hypatia, the Library has retained its position as a hub of academia. This is noticeable within both academic and popular imaginations. The Museum and Library is regarded as the crux of Greek culture and scholastic activity within Alexandria.[38] Importantly – as ancient historian, Andrew Erskine is quick to note – in its own day, “[…] these institutions would still be important symbols of Greekness.”[39] Primarily, its presence demonstrated a dynastic link to its founder, Alexander the Great; therefore providing Greek-Macedonians in Egypt a connection to their history.[40] Whether this statement is applicable to the average Alexandrian Greek remains debatable. However, the nature of identity – and “Greekness” – is crucial in assessing the historiographical attachment toward these establishments. An argument for this prevalence is that it marks a connection to Hellenic ideals.[41] Similar to Hypatia, the Library and Museum has undergone long-term reinvention. The purpose of this is inferred by its placement as a symbol of the Hellenistic period. Furthermore, the Library represents intellectual inquiry[42]; as well as a depository for a plethora of knowledge. This paradigm is briefly exemplified within Etymologiae; with its outlining of the Library’s set-up under Ptolemy II:

This Ptolemy, moreover, seeking from the pontifex Eleazar the writings of the Old Testament, was responsible for the translation from Hebrew into Greek, by seventy scholars of those writings that he held in the Alexandrian library[43]

Similarly, it is argued that – through the Museum and Library – Alexandria had formed a united Greek identity. Erskine’s perspective maintains that each held a wide-reaching influence on the makeup of Greek cultural heritage. Describing this shift as “the new Hellenistic world” where “[…] as far as the scholars of Alexandria are concerned it is a Greek cultural heritage, not one divided into Athenian, Theban, etc.” [44] In his comparative review of Greek and Roman identity, Ronald J. Mellor noted that – unlike the Romans – “Greekness” orbited paideia.[45] Greek culture ranked the study of language, literature, and philosophy as core facets of their collective image. In acknowledging the systemic inclusion of paideia, the Museum and Library play a thematic role in secondary material. Namely, the provision of a Greek identity provides a basis by which historians may rationalise – if not encourage – enduring romanticisation. More importantly, the Library serves as a physical prop; conceptualising the Greek pantheon of values.[46] These principles – if they ever were a tangible element of Greek-Macedonian life – resurfaced within Early Modern philosophical practice; such as Humanism. Illustrated by scholars like French Humanist, Louis Le Roy’s in his work, De La Vicissitude ou variete des choses en l'univers (1575). Le Roy actively reveres the Library as a symbol of – what Thiem has referred to as – “[…] the ecstatic annihilation of the memory of historical man.”[47]

For many, the image of an Alexandrian library engulfed by fire conceptualises the demise of a ‘Greek identity’; alongside subsequent values of learning. Accompanying this is a visible narrative of opposition between knowledge and religion. “Knowledge”, writes Pollard and Reid, “has always been the enemy of extremism, and for most radical elements among Alexandria's Christians, the books in the Serapeum were a threat. […]”[48] Despite this approach – which has also been demonstrated by Voltaire and Gibbon respectively – the Library did not disappear. Firstly, as has been previously iterated, the institution of an Alexandrian Library did not fall as a result of a single, pivotal event. Additionally – unless recorded on more durable material – the knowledge encased within the Library would have been lost nonetheless. Classical Scholar, Roger Bagnall argued that although Papyrus was “[...] acid free and highly durable [...]”, Alexandrian climate was too humid to properly maintain it.[49] For this, the papyri would not be remotely presentable for present-day examination; if it were to have survived at all.[50] Secondly, on a metaphysical level, the Library has been immortalised within historiography. As an image, it surpassed Alexandria’s status as a centre of Neoplatonic learning; influencing art movements across Europe, and leading to the disciplined study of the humanities.

Both Hypatia and the Library stand equally throughout historiography. Each utilised to justify the end of learning and Neoplatonic education in Alexandria. However, historiography does not merely feature acts of symbolism to demonstrate a “fall” of the city. An event often used to illustrate the descent of the city is the Siege of Alexandria in 641 AD. Comparatively, the Siege has not been formatted as a figurative statement. Instead, it is regarded as a conclusive shift from the city’s Greek and Christian identity to an extension of Middle-Eastern conquest. Even so the Muslim Conquest does not feature as heavily in secondary accounts, it is nonetheless a defining landmark in Alexandrian history. Like the Library, the Muslim Conquest has been viewed as the final demolition of Greek-Macedonian presence in the city. This is predominantly supported by primary accounts; such as Al-Baladhuri’s The Conquest of Alexandria (completed in the ninth-century). Al-Baladhuri chronicled that the Greek population experienced marginalization under Islamic leadership. One such example wrote that, “The Greeks wrote to Constantine, son of Heraclius, who was their king at that time, telling him how few the Moslems in Alexandria were, and how humiliating the Greeks' condition was, and how they had to pay poll-tax.”[51]

Nonetheless, this argument neglects a quintessential factor of Alexandrian life – the initial diversity of its inhabitants. Following Erskine’s judgement on the matter; he maintains that there was no centralised Greek-Macedonian identity within Alexandria. Instead, the populace held a wide variety of racial, cultural, and religious backgrounds. This was made up of native Egyptians, a mixture of Greek identities (each practicing different civic, social, and religious traditions depending on their background); as well as Jewish, and Middle-Eastern settlers.[52] Even so Alexandria was the leading Greek centre in Egypt, its economic value was tied to its function as a major port city. This in itself ensured its standing as a hub of ethnic heterogeneity. To which Erskine - reflective of this - remarked that Alexandria had “[...] no one tradition to look back to [...]”[53] Life in the city after the Arab Conquest demonstrated little alteration to this diversity. In fact, opinions that sought to counter this often lie within a fabric of imperialistic ideology. Imagery encapsulating the loss of Western identity - as a result of the Siege - is a recurring symbolic gesture made by historians; primarily conducted by a belief that the Islamic Conquest had witnessed the collapse of Western rule. Tenth-century chronicler, Severus Ibn al-Muqaffa wrote that Amr (the Arab conqueror of Egypt) opted to stabilise Alexandria by permitting different religious and administration practices to continue:

Then Amr turned to him [Father Benjamin], and said to him: "Resume the government of all your churches and of your people, and administer their affairs. And if you will pray for me, that I may go to the West and to Pentapolis, and take possession of them, as I have of Egypt, and return to you in safety and speedily, I will do for you all that you shall ask of me.[54]

As previously evidenced, Alexandrians were not a composition of Western identities. More impressively, the population had been a unique mixture; illustrating trade-links and migration routes of Late Antiquity. Furthermore, it is imperative to acknowledge that the aftermath of the Muslim Conquest saw a reconciliation of identities. Blumenthal noted that – despite the clear shift in governance – a “[...] characteristic shared by the Greek philosophers of late antiquity and their Arabic successors is that most of them were neither Greeks nor Arabs.”[55] Even so Alexandrian administration had exchanged from Byzantine to Islamic hands, the Siege of Alexandria did not descend the city into a cultural evacuation. It may be argued that Islamic influence did not have a notable impact on Alexandrian identity until the eleventh-century; when the principal language was formally changed to Arabic.

Additionally, historiography has built a paradigm of pro-Christian, anti-Muslim sentiment.[56] These largely revolve around inaccuracies present in the record. Similar to the narratives provoked by the destruction of the Library, it was written that Amr led a final demolition of the Library in 642.[57] This attack has been credited to orders given by the Caliph Omar. Originating from a medieval Arabic source (translated in 1650), this six-month affair was circulated within academic groups during the Enlightenment.[58] Describing this, Gibbon wrote of the episode as a massacre of knowledge. The depiction afforded in his writing endorsed the event as an irretrievable loss of Platonic activity in Alexandria:

The sentence was executed with blind obedience; the volumes of paper or parchment were distributed to the four thousand baths of the city; and such was their incredible multitude that six months were barely sufficient for the consumption of this precious fuel.[59]

Assessing Gibbon’s retelling, Thiem noted the stylistic narratives held toward Amr and Omar; observing that Omar is written as a person “[...] inspired by the ignorance of a fanatic.”[60] In addition to this is Gibbon’s confidence in his belief that Omar fundamentally rejected Neoplatonic learning; writing that Omar had justified his order by asserting, “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.”[61] Despite the fact that this event was chronicled centuries after the Siege, it remains a widespread popularised image. However, the conceptualisation of a group fuelled by anti-intellectualism is not only inauthentic, but charged with racial bias. Although it has been labelled as objective ignorance; it is difficult to ignore underlying socio-political currents that profoundly influenced this perspective. Persevering throughout historiography, anti-Islamic and pro-Western attitudes continue to feature in accounts detailing the Siege. A recent - and recurrently used - example of this is the poem, Alexandria, 641 A.D.; by Argentine poet and translator, Jorge Luis Borges. Written during the twentieth-century, the verse-poem depicting the Siege narrates the attack on the Library as a targeted strike to erase Western history:  “The infidels declare that if it burned, all history would burn.”[62] Whilst it is difficult to establish whether Gibbon had directly influenced Borges’ approach, the piece demonstrates undeniable similarities. Most prominently is Borges ‘Omar’; who - given first-person agency - promotes the destruction of the Library as a means of suppressing Western-doctrine: “I, that Omar who subdued the Persians and imposed Islam all over the earth, order my soldiers to destroy with fire, the endless Library and all its works [...]”[63]

From what is evidenced by Alexandrian society under Muslim leadership, it is perceptible that institutionalised academia did not formally end after the Siege. More importantly, Alexandria under Islamic rule saw advancements in scientific study, mathematics, and medical practices. Nevertheless, an issue with surveying life in Alexandria after the Siege is the gap in primary sources. However, there is evidence to denote that Greek philosophy had been adopted by Arabic scholars; the extent of its influence reaching Baghdad two-centuries later.[64] An additional factor is that the study of Platonic philosophy – as designed by late pagan antiquity – began to decline by 529.[65] Therefore the theory that Islamic Alexandria had sought to eradicate Neoplatonic teachings could be argued as anachronistic. Although Neoplatonic teaching was no longer promoted in the city, facets of it featured in Arabic writing after the Siege; with authors impressing “[...] their own considerable influence on Western, if not Eastern, Christian philosophy.”[66] However, the decline of Greek intellectualism in Alexandria is not necessarily a result of the Islamic Conquest. Rather, it signifies academic progress due to the change in administration.

The catastrophic narratives marking Alexandria’s decline have been constructed of several historical enigmas – the death of Hypatia, the Library of Alexandria, and the Muslim Conquest of the seventh-century. Regarding Nietzsche's cautionary notice, it is clear that “One imitates something that is purely chimerical, and one chases after a wonderland that never existed.” [67] For many historians, this has been the tradition of seeking a decisive “fall” of Alexandria. Whether Alexandria literally fell is an entirely different matter. However, it is clear that the city maintained its status as a hub of intellectual activity until the eighth-century; surpassing each episode utilised by historians to demonstrate an “end” to Western intellectualism. Hypatia’s death has been chronically mythologised to illustrate the “[...] destruction of something admirable, good, and irreplaceable.”[68] Specifically, this is the – highly contestable – loss of institutionalised learning in Alexandria. However, if Blumenthal’s theory is accurate, this would see academia continue to thrive in the city over a century after Hypatia’s death. Similarly, the destruction of a ‘Library’, as well as the Arab Conquest has been synonymised with the overall descent of Alexandria; with historians mourning the loss of a world supposedly faithful to academic progress. Scholars have succumbed to pervasive – and inaccurate – nostalgia for the loss of a symbol of Greek-Macedonian knowledge and learning. Recognising this demonstrates the extent to which Alexandria has been shaped by secondary interpretation. Historians have profited from idealistically moulding these events as dramatic landmarks closing the Hellenic Age. The convenience of such a simple outlook is that it disregards Alexandria after this point. Hypatia, the Library of Alexandria, and the Muslim Conquest serve as a critical reminder of the recycling of ideas within historical scholarship. It displays a quality of idleness to define destruction as the “[…] moment at which the curtain came down on the classical world and a new and darker age commenced.”[69]

 

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REFERENCES:

[1] H. Grant, ‘Who's Hypatia? Whose Hypatia Do You Mean?’, Math Horizons, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Washington, 2009), p. 11

[2] H. Grant, "Who's Hypatia?" (2009), p. 11

[3] H. Grant, "Who's Hypatia?" (2009), p. 11

[4] D. Heller-Roazen,  ‘Tradition's Destruction: On the Library of Alexandria’, October, Vol. 100 (Cambridge, MA, 2002), p. 153 ; Citing Friedrich Nietzsche, "Wir Philologen", in Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari (ed.), Sämtliche Werke: Kritische Studienausgabe, vol. 8 (Berlin: De Gruyter-Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag), p. 121

[5] Hypatia is a popularised figurehead in Greek antiquity. This is due to her position as the most renowned of the women philosophers within the Hellenistic period.

[6] M. Ogilvie, ‘Antiquity’, in Sue V. Rosser (ed.) Women, Science, and Myth: Gender Beliefs from Antiquity to the Present, (Oxford, 2008), p. 11-12

[7] Synesius had been a student of Hypatia's (after 393 A.D.), and she is credited as introducing him to Neoplatonism. The preservation of letters between him and the philosopher are where scholars draw a majority of their primary evidence.

[8] Synesius of Cyrene, Bishop of Ptolemai, ‘Synesius, Letter 154’, in Augustine Fitzgerald (trans.), The Letters of Synesius of Cyrene, (London, 1926), in ‘Internet Archive’, http://www.livius.org/ (accessed 10/03/2017); The excerpt exemplifies the importance placed on Hypatia’s scholastic instruction, with Syrene proclaiming that if Hypatia did not consider his work worthy of publication then it would be tainted by her rejection.

[9] S. Greenblatt, The Swerve: How the Renaissance Began, (London, 2012), p. 93

[10] H. Grant, ‘Who's Hypatia? Whose Hypatia Do You Mean?’, p. 11; The ideals presented by Grant align with those provided by Damascius in his Life of Isidore (completed in the sixth-century). Damascius writes of an occasion in which Hypatia responds to a student’s persistent infatuation with her; detailing that the student had been unable to “[...] to control his love and showed his desire for her.” Following this, Hypatia produced a blood-soaked woman’s cloth before the student with the reply, “Truly this is the objective of your longing love, young man, but not lovely.” Citation: Damascius, Das Leben des Philosophen Isidoros von Damaskios aus Damaskos, (trans.) Rudolf Asmus, (Leipzig, 1911), p. 32

[11] P. Cartledge, ‘Hellenism in the Enlightenment’, in Barbara Graziosi, Phiroze Vasunia, and George Boys-Stones (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Hellenic Studies, , (New York, 2009), p. 167

[12] M. Dzielska, ‘Learned Women in the Alexandrian Scholarship and Society of Late Hellenism’, in Mostafa El-Abbadi and Omnia Mounir Fathallah (ed.), What Happened to the Ancient Library of Alexandria, (Boston, 2008), p 129

[13] Cyril of Alexandria is a figure often highlighted as being responsible for the death of Hypatia. Although this remains widely disputed among historians, he continues to be perceived as a primary antagonist toward the decline of Alexandrian intellectual life.

[14] Voltaire, The Works of Voltaire: A Contemporary Version, (trans.) William F. Fleming, Vol. 2 (New York, 1901), p. 104

[15] M. Dzielska, Hypatia of Alexandria, (trans.) F. Lyra, (London, 1995), p. 3

[16] M. Dzielska, Hypatia of Alexandria, p. 3

[17] M. Dzielska, Hypatia of Alexandria, p. 3

[18] E. Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. V (London, 1909), in ‘Internet Archive’, www.archive.org (accessed 20/03/2017), p. 117

[19] E. Gibbon, The History of the Decline, Vol. V, (1909), p. 117

[20] E. Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume II, (New York) Modern Library, in ‘Internet Archive’, www.archive.org (accessed 18/04/2017), p. 816-817

[21] J. Pollard, and H. Reid, The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern Mind, (London, 2006), p. 282

[22] J. Pollard, and H. Reid, The Rise and Fall of Alexandria, p. 282

[23] H. J. Blumenthal, ‘Alexandria as a Centre of Greek Philosophy in Later Classical Antiquity’, Illinois Classical Studies, Vol. 18, (Champaign, IL, 1993), p. 319

[24] H. J. Bluemental, 'Alexandria as a Centre', (1993), p. 322

[25] J. Pollard, and H. Reid, The Rise and Fall of Alexandria, p. 280

[26] H. J. Blumenthal, ‘Alexandria as a Centre of Greek Philosophy’, p. 314

[27] R. S. Bagnall, ‘Alexandria: Library of Dreams’, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 146, No. 4 (Philadelphia, 2002), p. 348

[28] R. Bury, The Love of Books; the Philobiblon of Richard de Bury, (trans.) E. C. Thomas (London, 1966), in ‘Internet Archive’, www.archive.org (accessed 30/04/2017), p. 48

[29] R. Bury, The Love of Books, (1996), p. 48

[30] J. Thiem, ‘The Great Library of Alexandria Burnt: Towards the History of a Symbol’, Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Philadelphia, 1979), p. 520

[31] G. B. Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra; a page of history, (New York, 1913), in ‘Internet Archive’, www.archive.org (accessed 19/04/2017), p. 49

[32] J. Thiem, ‘The Great Library of Alexandria Burnt’, p. 520 

[33] J. Thiem, 'The Great Library of Alexandria Burnt', 507-508

[34] J. Thiem, ‘The Great Library of Alexandria Burnt’, p. 507-508

[35] J. Thiem, 'The Great Library of Alexandria Burnt', p. 508

[36] J. Thiem, 'The Great Library of Alexandria Burnt', p. 508

[37] J. Thiem, 'The Great Library of Alexandria Burnt', p. 508

[38] A. Erskine, ‘Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: The Museum and Library of Alexandria’, Greece and Rome, Vol. 42, No. 1 (New York, 1995), p. 42

[39] A. Erskine, 'Culture and Power', (1995), p. 42

[40] Isidore of Seville, ‘Book VI: Books and ecclesiastical offices (De libris et officiis)’, in Stephen A. Barney, W. J. Lewis, J. A. Beach, Oliver Berghof (trans.), The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville, (New York, 2006), p. 139

[41] A quality discernible in the growth of Humanism; which saw a renewed interest in Hellenic philosophy.

[42] R. S. Bagnall, ‘Alexandria: Library of Dreams’, p. 361

[43] Isidore of Seville, ‘Book VI: Books and ecclesiastical offices (De libris et officiis)’, p. 139

[44] A. Erskine, ‘Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt’, p. 45

[45] R. Mellor, ‘Graecia Capta: The Confrontation between Greek and Roman Identity’, in Katerina Zacharia (ed.), Hellenisms: Culture, Identity, and Ethnicity From Antiquity to Modernity, (Aldershot, 2008), p. 121; Paideia represents an institutionalised system of education.

[46] R. Mellor, 'Graecia Capta', (2008), p. 121

[47] J. Thiem, ‘The Great Library of Alexandria Burnt’, p. 507

[48] J. Pollard, and H. Reid, The Rise and Fall of Alexandria, p. 282

[49] R. S. Bagnall, ‘Alexandria: Library of Dreams’, p. 358

[50] R.S. Bagnall, 'Alexandria: Library of Dreams', p. 358 

[51] Al-Baladhuri, ‘The Conquest of Alexandria’, in Philip Hitti (trans.), The Origins of the Islamic State, (New York,1916), Vol. I, in ‘Internet Archive’, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ (accessed 26/05/2017), p. 347

[52] A. Erskine, ‘Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt’, p. 42

[53] A. Erskine, 'Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt', p. 42

[54] Sawirus ibn al-Muqaffa, History of the Patriarchs of the Coptic Church of Alexandria, (trans.) Basil Evetts, (Paris, 1904), from Patrologia Orientalis, Vol. I, pp. 489-497, Byzantium: Church, Society, and Civilization Seen Through Contemporary Eyes, (Chicago, 1984), pp. 336-338, in ‘Internet Archive’, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ (accessed 26/05/2017)

[55] H. J. Blumenthal, ‘Alexandria as a Centre of Greek Philosophy’, p. 315

[56] R. S. Bagnall, ‘Alexandria: Library of Dreams’, p. 357

[57] R. S. Bagnall, 'Alexandria: Library of Dreams', p. 357

[58] J. Thiem, ‘The Great Library of Alexandria Burnt’, p. 509-10

[59] E. Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. VI, (London, 1825), in ‘Internet Archive’, www.archive.org (accessed 20/4/2017), p. 419

[60] J. Thiem, ‘The Great Library of Alexandria Burnt’, p. 509-10

[61] J. Thiem, 'The Great Library of Alexandria Burnt', p. 509-10

[62] J. L. Borges, ‘Alexandria, 641 A.D.’, (trans.) Robert Mezey, The Iowa Review, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Iowa, 1992), p. 70

[63] J. L. Borges, 'Alexandria, 641 A.D.', p. 71

[64] H. J. Blumenthal, ‘Alexandria as a Centre of Greek Philosophy’, p. 324

[65] H. J. Blumenthal, 'Alexandria as a Centre of Greek Philosophy', p. 314

[66] H. J. Blumenthal, 'Alexandria as a Centre of Greek Philosophy', p. 314

[67] D. Heller-Roazen,  ‘Tradition's Destruction’, p. 151; Citing Friedrich Nietzsche, “Wir Philologen”, p. 121

[68] E. J. Watts, Hypatia: The Life and Legend of an Ancient Philosopher, (New York, 2017), p. 147

[69] J. Pollard, and H. Reid, The Rise and Fall of Alexandria’, p. 281

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