Book contents
- Scale, Space and Canon in Ancient Literary Culture
- Scale, Space and Canon in Ancient Literary Culture
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Maps
- Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- General Introduction
- Part I Canon
- Part II Space
- Chapter 3 Space, the Setting
- Chapter 4 Space in Action
- Part III Scale
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 3 - Space, the Setting
The Making of an Athens-against-Alexandria Mediterranean
from Part II - Space
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2020
- Scale, Space and Canon in Ancient Literary Culture
- Scale, Space and Canon in Ancient Literary Culture
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Maps
- Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- General Introduction
- Part I Canon
- Part II Space
- Chapter 3 Space, the Setting
- Chapter 4 Space in Action
- Part III Scale
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Greek culture of the Hellenistic era had a simple and stable geographical pattern: Athens against Alexandria. This should call for an explanation. Following a methodological statement in section 1, I discuss in section 2 the ancient forces countervailing against any enduring centers, so that I end up emphasizing just how unlikely the duality of the Hellenistic Mediterranean was. Sections 3 and 4, then, try to account for the rise of these two centers, section 3 surveying the nature of Alexandria’s centrality, and its historical route, section 4 following the geographical patterns of ancient philosophy and their culmination in the Hellenistic schools of Athens.
- Type
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- Information
- Scale, Space and Canon in Ancient Literary Culture , pp. 241 - 348Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020