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The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern World by Howard Reid, Justin Pollard
julia83's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty good book. Lots of interesting information in the book.
reinhardt021's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting history of how Greek, Egyptian, and Roman cultures interacted.
clarks_dad's review against another edition
3.0
Pretty darn entertaining for an intellectual history of a city I have to say. The second half of the book kind of dropped off for me. The history of science and reason in Alexandria is replaced by squabbles over religion in the later years of the Roman Empire and a lot of the esoteric arguments made by philosophers of one school against another and the christian vs. pagan schism seemed less interesting too me. It's a fascinating history no doubt, but not told with the kind of enthusiasm by the author that mark the first chapters.
What a wondrous place this city must have been, and so rich in history. It seems like the ancient world revolved around the place, which makes sense geographically. The author's sense of loss at the treasures and architecture of the city are palpable and easily assumed by the reader. What secrets must the great library have held before the loss of the manuscripts (either through fire by Caesar or through neglect)? If someone calculated the circumference of the Earth and the angle of its tilt by the first century BC, what else could we have lost?
I love reading histories that turn our modern conceptions of the normal progression of things on its head. How presumptuous Western historians can sometimes by to assume that Western Europe thought of everything first! It's great to see credit given where it's due (go Eratosthenes!).
What a wondrous place this city must have been, and so rich in history. It seems like the ancient world revolved around the place, which makes sense geographically. The author's sense of loss at the treasures and architecture of the city are palpable and easily assumed by the reader. What secrets must the great library have held before the loss of the manuscripts (either through fire by Caesar or through neglect)? If someone calculated the circumference of the Earth and the angle of its tilt by the first century BC, what else could we have lost?
I love reading histories that turn our modern conceptions of the normal progression of things on its head. How presumptuous Western historians can sometimes by to assume that Western Europe thought of everything first! It's great to see credit given where it's due (go Eratosthenes!).
jdintr's review against another edition
3.0
Typical history courses in the United States focus on everything west of Athens, Greece. Yet a pearl of the Mediterranean connects Alexander the Great with the rise of Islam, one of the greatest cities of Antiquity which today is a ruin.
Alexandria is the city that spans the ancient world like a Colossus--or another lighthouse like Pharos, if you insist. But the key to the city isn''t the Great man who founded it, or the great empires--Rome, Islam--that conquered it. It is in the catalysts that connected the dots--the knowledge and scientific observations of the day, and leapt more than 1,000 years forward.
The story of Alexandria begins with three remarkable rulers who all went by Ptolemy. Taking a sparsely populated island off the coast of Egypt, they filled the city with temples and palaces, and most of all, sought to collect the wisdom of the ancient world in a library and museum. Pollard keeps the museum and its story at the heard of the book, which focuses on the philosophers and teachers who came to Alexandria.
The chapters wind their way through classical history. Some historical figures pop up: Julius Caesar, Cleopatra (of course), and Constantine, but the fate of Alexandria, Pollard shows, is tied up in its ill-fated scrolls, not its kings or generals.
This book is a good introduction to a key place in world history.
Alexandria is the city that spans the ancient world like a Colossus--or another lighthouse like Pharos, if you insist. But the key to the city isn''t the Great man who founded it, or the great empires--Rome, Islam--that conquered it. It is in the catalysts that connected the dots--the knowledge and scientific observations of the day, and leapt more than 1,000 years forward.
The story of Alexandria begins with three remarkable rulers who all went by Ptolemy. Taking a sparsely populated island off the coast of Egypt, they filled the city with temples and palaces, and most of all, sought to collect the wisdom of the ancient world in a library and museum. Pollard keeps the museum and its story at the heard of the book, which focuses on the philosophers and teachers who came to Alexandria.
The chapters wind their way through classical history. Some historical figures pop up: Julius Caesar, Cleopatra (of course), and Constantine, but the fate of Alexandria, Pollard shows, is tied up in its ill-fated scrolls, not its kings or generals.
This book is a good introduction to a key place in world history.
ehays84's review against another edition
4.0
An ambitious project and one that necessarily was going to have some gaps, but one well worth reading either way. What I appreciate about the authors is that they did not try to just make up what the documents don't tell us, although the gaps in the story are sort of maddening as well. We simply just don't know how or when the library and museum at Alexandria were destroyed. It seems most likely that is was a combination of political events starting in Roman times when Julius Caesar came to the city, some severe natural disasters, some bad rulers, some bigoted Christian mobs, and perhaps finished off with the Muslim takeover of the city. But we really just don't know, and that is tough to swallow especially when we are studying somewhere that had so much knowledge.
Especially for the first four or five Ptolemies, Alexandria truly was the university of the world, and it is hard to believe how much productive thought in many fields came out of that city--ideas and discoveries that if they had been known in Europe, would have completely changed the course of the last two millenia.
What this book makes me really want to know, and if anyone does know a good source please let me know, is is there a good book on how ancient writings have been passed down to us. I mean I know some about things ending up in Baghdad, or Cordoba, or Constantinople, but I really would love to see a history truly trace the history of a work from the past to the present. For example, we believe we have some sort of authentic version of the Odyssey, which has been read and enjoyed by people for thousands of years. But how do we know we have an authentic version?
Anyway, this is one of the many interesting topics that this excellent historical work brings up.
Especially for the first four or five Ptolemies, Alexandria truly was the university of the world, and it is hard to believe how much productive thought in many fields came out of that city--ideas and discoveries that if they had been known in Europe, would have completely changed the course of the last two millenia.
What this book makes me really want to know, and if anyone does know a good source please let me know, is is there a good book on how ancient writings have been passed down to us. I mean I know some about things ending up in Baghdad, or Cordoba, or Constantinople, but I really would love to see a history truly trace the history of a work from the past to the present. For example, we believe we have some sort of authentic version of the Odyssey, which has been read and enjoyed by people for thousands of years. But how do we know we have an authentic version?
Anyway, this is one of the many interesting topics that this excellent historical work brings up.
eroston's review against another edition
Got what I needed from it, and in a hurry.
thomaswright94's review against another edition
4.0
A good introduction to one of the most fascinating cities of the ancient world. Alexandria is shown here to be at the centre of the ancient world when it came to intellect, science and trade. While this was a little dry at times in this book it was interesting nonetheless to see this development play out. It would have been interesting to have more chapters on the city post Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt.
rcgrimes's review against another edition
5.0
This book was great. It shows the importance of knowledge and how we have to save it at all costs. The book explains the growth of a great city and library and the minds it helped nurture. The city was a growth spot for all future learning centers, as well as for religion. It is also a lesson on how we can destroy all that we honor and use it against ourselves.