Alexandria: City of the Western Mind [Hardcover]

Theodore Vrettos (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 27, 2001

For the first time, a complete history of Alexandria, the greatest cultural capital ever. Archeologists and historians have revealed Alexandria to be a city built on the arts, sciences and religion, unique among ancient cities that usually could claim nothing more than military might. Now Theodore Vrettos delivers the first complete account of the city that was the fountainhead of peaceful, intelligent civilization. From its founding by Alexander the Great in 332 BC until the murder of the brilliant Hypatia in 452 AD, Alexandria was literally and figuratively a lighthouse guiding the most creative minds of the day. Scientists, philosophers, theologians and artists came from all over the Western world to study in Alexandria's university and immense library, which contained books and papyrus rolls from every corner of the civilized world, and made an extraordinary run of breakthroughs. Thales, Euclid and Apollonius invented mathematical proof. Aristarchus was the first person to put the sun at the centre of our solar system. Eratosthenes calculated the cirumference of the earth, and Herophilus invented anatomy. Clement founded the first school of Christian philosophy in Alexandria. Julius Caesar, Marc Anthony and Augustus Caesar came to Cleopatra's court there, sparking an intrigue that would affect the history of nations.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Classicist Theodore Vrettos's Alexandria is a cultural, political, and intellectual biography of the Egyptian metropolis that he deems more influential than any other in world history. Vrettos, between short bookcase chapters on Alexandria's founding and effective demise (and the obscene and vindictive destruction of the city's enormous library), divides his history into chronologically overlapping chapters. "The Mind" is a series of brief profiles of the many scholars and scientists, renowned and obscure, who gathered in what amounted to a huge municipal salon cum laboratory, including Euclid, Aristarchus, Herophilus, Ptolemy, and Archimedes. "The Soul" catalogs the religious philosophers who lived in the city, which, born of Greek wisdom, became in Vrettos's opinion the "intellectual birthplace of Christianity." The longest section, "The Power," is a refreshingly concise retelling of the delicious and intricate saga of Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Marc Antony, and scores of lesser political and martial personalities. For the avid reader, Alexandria is a jewel box hefty with sparkling stones. --H. O'Billovitch

From Publishers Weekly

After Alexander the Great founded and built the city in 322 B.C., Alexandria quickly grew into the cultural and commercial center of the Mediterranean. An eloquent raconteur, Vrettos (The Elgin Affair) spins a lively tale of Alexandria's rise and fall. It was by far the largest city in the known world; its elegance and luxury were unsurpassed. Visitors marveled at its beautiful palaces and colossal buildings: the Pharos Lighthouse, which towered some 350 feet above the sea, was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Alexandria's library, the most magnificent in the ancient world, contained copies of the works of Greek poets, Greek translations of the Hebrew scriptures, the writings of Zoroaster and Egyptian writings. Alexander's tutor, Aristotle, developed not only the earliest philosophical treatises on ethics, but also the first literary criticism (Poetics), and his biological studies were not outdone until Darwin. Galen, the medical pioneer, developed his ideas about human anatomy after studying Hippocrates's works in Alexandria's library. Both Arius and Athanasius, whose arguments about Jesus' divinity established what is now Christian orthodoxy on the matter, hailed from Alexandria. Cleopatra, the beautiful young queen whose political wiles won her Caesar, Antony and Rome, used Alexandria as the base of her operations. The city also produced the Greek lyric poetry of Callimachus, Theocritus and Apollonius, the astronomy of Ptolemy and geography of Strabo, the philosophy of Thales and Philo and the theology of Clement and Origen. Recounting the stories of the philosophers, geographers, religious thinkers and politicians who passed through this marketplace of ideas, Vrettos demonstrates with verve how the city bequeathed a rich intellectual legacy to the Western world. Agent, John Taylor Williams.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Free Press; 1ST edition (November 27, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743205693
• ISBN-13: 978-0743205696
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #407,826 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #45 in Books > History > Ancient > Africa

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unreliable...for general reader...a starter, not final goal., January 1, 2003

By 

"acominatus" (Johnson City, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alexandria: City of the Western Mind (Hardcover)

One wants to like a book that one has spent some deal
of money to have bought. Perhaps one should also do a
bit more intensive reading in the book before one
purchases it. "Let the buyer beware."
This is a book for the general reader, not for the
scholar, nor for anyone who wants reliable information
reliably presented. The first perplexing thing is that
the publishers have put the map of the ancient city in
such a two-page layout that the mausoleum for Alexander's
body which forms such a central axis for the city and
for this book, is hidden in the folds between the two
pages. This is certainly provocative, but also a bit
irritation producing.
Then comes the author's recounting of Alexander's
career. The events are mixed up, in the wrong
chronological sequence. He has put the Egyptian
experience of Alexander at the beginning of Alexander's
invasion (as a prelude, seeking of wisdom from the Oracle
at Siwah), before the invasion even starts. One hopes

that this is just a slip of the Word Processing program.
It seems like parts have been inserted in wrong places...
so that the final draft should have been more closely
scrutinized by author, copy editor, and someone in the
know about Alexander's career. The author thanks many
people at the beginning of this book. After reading
the book, some of those people might not want to be
thanked.
A nice helpful addition might have been an Appendix
or two containing such things as a chronology of the
Ptolemy rulers of Egypt -- and a chronology of the
significant events of the ancient city itself.
The intended target for this book seems to be the
general reader who might know next to nothing about
Alexander the Great, the ancient city of Alexandria,
or its cultural history. If that is so, then the
book might be a "worthy" buy for such a person, as
a beginner's introduction; but then one should move
on. And certainly one should not take this book, nor

recommend this book as a definitive treatment of either
Alexander or Alexandria.
As an alternative, or addition (depending upon the
reader's tastes and decisions) I would recommend
a compact, well illustrated, well written paperback
book titled -Alexandria: Jewel of Egypt- by Jean-Yves
Empereur, published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., (English
version, 2002).

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing: Poorly edited and not true to its title, May 15, 2002

By 

R. C. Schmults "rob0" (Brookline, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Alexandria: City of the Western Mind (Hardcover)

I would not get this book if I had to do it again. There was apparenly no editing as the book repeats itself in multiple places (how many times do I need to be told that two streets intersected -- in the space of two pages? This sort of thing occurs half a dozen times). The content itself is underwhelming: One section of the book is a shallow laundry list of the philosophers who graced the city. Then there is a long section on Cleopatra (read Michael Grant on this topic instead), then a better discussion of Alexandia's role as a theological hotbed prior to the Arab conquest. It really fails to do justice to the rich history or Alexandria as the capital of the Ptolemys and its role as an entrepot for thoughts and commerce. Look elsewhere for a good book on this city.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mostly disappointing - hopes dashed, March 2, 2005

By 

Patrick Johnson (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alexandria: City of the Western Mind (Hardcover)

Like another reviewer, I bought this on impulse, since its publication coincided almost exactly with my burgeoning interest in the Hellenic period. Also like the same other reviewer, I found it disappointing, although not for the same reasons.

First, and unlike most reviewers, I found the writing clumsy and amateurish. There were many passages that literally made me wince with embarrassment. It speaks volumes about the state of "Higher Ed" that Vrettos is (or was) Director of something called "The Writers' Conference" at Simmons College. Associated with that was the poor editing noted by other reviewers. For content, it felt as though the book was rushed into print, a glaring contrast to the care that was lavished on the cover, paper, typesetting, etc. I started complaining to my wife almost immediately, who rolled her eyes and told me to "just take it back to the bookstore" (but I didn't - more in minute).

And speaking of content, the priorities were unbelievably skewed: Do we really need yet another day-by-day account of the Cleopatra-Antony affair? (which constitutes almost a third of the book). I would have preferred a more thorough treatment of Alexandria's leading cultural and intellectual lights, who, for the most part, got nothing but little capsule biographies. Especially, I would have welcomed a more in-depth look at the Ptolemies.

More positively, there is much useful information - even if Vrettos did get his sequences wrong in several places - which is why I decided to keep it. Also, and in spite of my previous reservations, Mark Antony was nicely fleshed out. I can't vouch for Vrettos' accuracy, but Antony came off as a sympathetic, flawed character; a real first century party animal, also probably a real hunk, but a crumbling cookie when the going got tough. Poor Cleopatra - one of the savviest statespersons in history, but she made a fatal error in her choice of partners.

Also unlike a few other reviewers, I found Vrettos' tenacious use of primary sources admirable. There's entirely too much "analysis"(ie: filching) in the scholarly communities, to the point where the general reader doesn't know whom to trust. I'm undoubtedly prejudiced in this, having had (the late, great, John)Greenway's Law pounded into me as an undergrad: If you must, trust only primary sources (Greenway trusted nothing).

Recommendations: If you're interested in Alexandria, and aren't yet familiar with the Cleopatra & Antony saga, get it from your local Library. If you're already somewhat up on your Alexandrian history and just want a handy reference book, look for a good used copy (say, from Amazon), and skip the middle third.