What the Intellectuals of Ancient Alexandria Taught the World

Traveling in Alexandria is an intellectually enriching experience. On one’s travels there, it becomes apparent how the people of Alexandria enlightened the world. A plethora of intellectuals, including Euclid, the father of geometry, and Eratosthenes, the father of geography, either studied or worked in this city established by Alexander III of Macedon.

Garth Fowden from the University of Cambridge writes in his research paper titled “Alexandria between Antiquity and Islam: Commerce and Concepts in First Millennium Afro-Eurasia,” that “Alexandria…was undeniably a citadel of Hellenism, [and] much in its markets and even its schools hinted at other worlds in Egypt but also far beyond.”

University of Alexandria

The ancient Greek pharaoh of Egypt, Ptolemy I Soter, established the University of Alexandria, known to the ancients as the Mouseion. Heather Phillips writes in his article “The Great Library of Alexandria?” that “in order to attract scholars to the Mouseion, the Ptolemies offered scholars free board, lodging, servants, tax exemptions, and handsome salaries—for life.”

Such attractive perquisites were possible because the Mouseion had been gifted a handsome endowment by Ptolemy Soter during the institution’s early years. Some of the scholars that these measures enticed to the Mouseion were Strabo, Zenodotus, Aristophanes, Eratosthenes, Herophilus, and Euclid. Even Archimedes was a scholar of the Mouseion for a time. Alexandria was indeed instrumental in the transfer of Greek knowledge and tradition to the Roman Empire.

Euclid of Alexandria

Euclid of Alexandria is known as the father of geometry. According to Greek philosopher Proclus, “This man lived in the time of the first Ptolemy; for Archimedes, who followed closely upon the first Ptolemy, makes mention of Euclid, and further, they say that Ptolemy once asked him if there were a shorter way to study geometry than the elements, to which he replied that there was no royal road to geometry.”

According to Oxford-based Benjamin Wardhaugh, a historian of mathematics, “We don’t know if he was an Alexandrian born or an immigrant (like Ptolemy) from somewhere else in the Greek world.” Euclid of Alexandria is the most prominent mathematician of antiquity, best known for his treatise on mathematics, Euclid’s Elements.

Archimedes of Syracuse

“Archimedes, who combined a genius for mathematics with a physical insight, must rank with Newton, who lived nearly two thousand years later, as one of the founders of mathematical physics.”

– Alfred North Whitehead

Born on the island of Sicily, Archimedes went to Egypt to study in Alexandria. According to the Department of Science and Technology of the government of India, Archimedes befriended two fellow students with whom he was to remain in correspondence throughout his life.

These two friends—Conon of Samos and Eratosthenes of Cyrene—were outstanding mathematicians. Archimedes is credited with the discovery of the principle of buoyancy, or the power of a fluid to exert an upward force on a body placed in it. Additional research his on volume and density was fundamental to the development of theories of hydrostatics, the branch of physics dealing with liquids at rest.

Hypatia of Alexandria

Neoplatonist Hypatia is referred to as a “martyr of philosophy.” She was the first female mathematician on whose life and work reasonably detailed knowledge exists. According to an article published by the Elizabeth A. Sackler Centre for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum, “Hypatia was murdered by [so-called] radical Christian monks in 415.” These monks are said to have “stripped her of her clothes, scraped her flesh from her bones, tore off her limbs, and burned her mutilated body.”

According to the Elizabeth A. Sackler Centre, “The Pagan beliefs and scientific knowledge [Hypatia] espoused during her lifetime were ultimately threatening to the Christian Church.” Following her death, her writings were removed from the Museum of Alexandria and destroyed.

Eratosthenes of Cyrene

Eratosthenes, who served as head librarian for the Library of Alexandria, is known as the “father of geography” because he took an acute interest in accurately identifying and mapping known places. He determined the circumference of the Earth, wrote about different methods of calculating distance, and devised a system of parallels and meridians to help map the known world.

Eratosthenes divided the earth into five climate zones. He was additionally behind the leap year calculation still utilized today and he analyzed and calculated the tilt of the earth on its own axis.

Diophantus of Alexandria

Diophantus was the first mathematician who made a great contribution to notation and number theory. Hence, he is known as the father of algebra. This is a title he shares with Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi. Diophantus’ work had a profound influence on later mathematicians, including European mathematicians, during the Renaissance. They drew inspiration from his methods and notation. Moreover, Diophantus is known as the father of polynomials.

He is the author of a series of classical mathematical books known as Arithmetica. Diophantus also worked with equations, now referred to as Diophantine equations. He lived in Alexandria in the times of Roman dominance around 250 A.D. Diophantus and Pappus (c. 300) represent a short-lived revival of Greek mathematics in a society that did not value math as had the Greeks 500 to 750 years earlier.

Conclusion

There were several other intellectuals who studied in Alexandria and significantly contributed to the development of various disciplines of knowledge. Herein, within the ambit of limited space, the essence of the Alexandrians’ contribution to the development of knowledge in the world has been communicated.

As noted, there continues to be quite an apparent Greco-Roman influence in and around Alexandria. Prior to visiting the city, it would be wise to make oneself knowledgeable of a few things. Among these would be to learn of the intellectuals who made Alexandria the “capital of science” in the Greek world.