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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
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.
See all Editorial Reviews
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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Inside This Book Citations: This book cites 34 books | 1 book that cites this book Explore: Citations | Concordance | Text Stats Key Phrases - CAPs: Asia Minor, Alexander the Great, Ptolemy Philadelphus, Canopic Way, Roman Empire (more) Browse Sample Pages: Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me! |