A Literature Review of The Rise and Fall of Alexandria

Book Review of The Rise and Fall of Alexandria How the modern world was actually established is often overlooked and attributed to the powers and domination of Athens and Rome. What authors Justin Pollard and Howard Reid urge readers to understand, however, is the significance that the city of Alexandria had on Western Civilization. Both authors have worked in British and American television, and are accomplished in the film/documentary industry. Reid has also previously written five other books. In their narrative book, The Rise and Fall of Alexandria, they seek to emphasize just how important this little city was to the foundation of the modern world through accounts of
Some of the most brilliant people influenced that particular time, including the great philosophers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, as well as others such as Euclid of Alexandria, Herophilus, Aristarchus, and Eratosthenes. Alexandria was rich in knowledge because of the great minds that utilized and contributed to the city’s institutions, such as the library and the lighthouse, to hypothesize theories and concepts. For example, Eratosthenes observed ships on the horizon from atop the lighthouse in Alexandria and eventually was the first to compass the world and describe the globe. Aristotle, being the private tutor of Alexander, could be credited for laying the intellectual foundation for the city of Alexandria. He, too, contributed to the Library of the city. Behind the brilliance of Aristotle, one can find the influences of the great philosophers that preceded him: Socrates and Plato. Because of its saturation of intellects and the availability of resources (the library and museum), Alexandria was a city thriving with knowledge and new schools of thought. Alexandria was the birthplace of the modern world, “not led by legions of soldiers, but by dynasties of scholars navigating on a sea of books” (p. 1).
Alexander was considered to be a living god by the Egyptians for over 3,000 years, but the Greeks, however, did not so easily accept this notion. At the death of Alexander, dispute over who should rule over the largest empire on earth was