In the Bird Cage of the Muses: Archiving, Erudition, and Empire in Ptolemaic Egypt by Akira V ...

211 Pages·2010·0.86 MB·English

In the Bird Cage of the Muses: Archiving, Erudition, and Empire
in Ptolemaic Egypt

by
Akira V. Yatsuhashi
Department of Classical Studies
Duke University

Date:_______________________
Approved:

___________________________
Peter H. Burian, Supervisor

___________________________
N. Gregson G. Davis

___________________________
William A. Johnson

___________________________
Phiroze Vasunia

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of Doctor
of Philosophy in the Department of
Classical Studies in the Graduate School
of Duke University

2010
ABSTRACT
In the Bird Cage of the Muses: Archiving, Erudition, and Empire
in Ptolemaic Egypt

by
Akira V. Yatsuhashi
Department of Classical Studies
Duke University

Date:_______________________
Approved:

___________________________
Peter H. Burian, Supervisor

___________________________
N. Gregson G. Davis

___________________________
William A. Johnson

___________________________
Phiroze Vasunia

An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of
Classical Studies in the Graduate School
of Duke University

2010
Copyright by
Akira V. Yatsuhashi
2010
Abstract
This dissertation investigates the prominent role of the Mouseion-Library of
Alexandria in the construction of a new community of archivist-poets during the third
century BCE in the wake of Alexander the Great’s conquests. I contend that the Mouseion
was a new kind of institution—an imperial archive—that facilitated a kind of political
domination that worked through the production, perpetuation, and control of particular
knowledges about the world rather than through fear and brute force.
Specifically, I argue that those working in the Mouseion, or Library, were shaping
a new vision of the past through their meticulous editorial and compilatory work on the
diverse remnants of the pre-conquest Greeks. Mastery of this tradition, in turn, came to
form the backbone of what it meant to be educated (pepaideumenoi), yet even more
importantly what it meant to be a Greek in this new political landscape. In contrast to
many studies of politics and culture in the Hellenistic period which focus on the exercise of
power from the top down, I explore how seemingly harmless or even esoteric actions,
actions that seem far distant from the political realm, such as the writing of poetry and
editing of texts, came to be essential in maintaining the political authority and structures of
the Hellenistic monarchs.
In developing this vision of the cultural politics of the Hellenistic Age, my first
chapter examines the central role of the Mouseion of Alexandria in making erudition one
of the key sources of socio-cultural capital in this ethnically diverse and regionally
dispersed polity. Through the work of its scholars, the Mouseion and its archive of the
Greek past became the center around which a broader panhellenic community and
identity coalesced. In chapter two, I explore the implications of this new institution and
iv
social type through a close reading of Lykophron’s enigmatic work, the Alexandra,
presenting it as a poetic archive that used philological practices to make the past relevant to
a new group of elite consumers scattered throughout the Hellenistic world by re-imagining
the conflict between Europe and Asia. In the final chapter, I argue that this new
institution gave rise to a new type of man, the archivist-poet. I examine how this new
figure of subjectivity became one of the primary means of participating in Hellenistic
empires of knowledge through the genre of literary epigram.

v
For my father who left us too soon.
vi
Table of Contents
Abstract.........................................................................................................................iv
Abbreviations................................................................................................................ix
Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................x
1. Introduction: Alexandrian Archive, Imperial Archive...............................................1
1.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................1
1.2 “Library of Dreams”.............................................................................................6
1.3 The Mouseion and Alexandrian Archiving........................................................ 10
2. Theorizing the Alexandrian Archive: Three Perspectives....................................... 15
2.1 Introduction........................................................................................................ 15
2.2 Reimagining the Archive................................................................................... 17
2.3 Foucault in Alexandria: Archival Discourse......................................................20
2.4 Foucault’s Kallimachos......................................................................................28
2.5 The Alexandrian Archiving of Homer...............................................................34
2.6 The Imperial Archive of Alexandria..................................................................42
2.7 Conclusion.........................................................................................................63
3. Poem as Archive: Lykophron’s Alexandra..............................................................66
3.1 Introduction........................................................................................................66
3.2 Lykophron as Poet and Archivist....................................................................... 71
3.3 Historicizing the Alexandra..............................................................................75
3.4 Poetic Archival Beginnings................................................................................78
3.5 The Poetic Archive Collecting...........................................................................84
3.6 Poem Archiving Words......................................................................................95
vii
3.7 The Poetic Archive “Restaging” the East-West Conflict.................................108
3.8 Conclusion........................................................................................................120
4. The Rise of the Alexandrian Archivist-Poet, “The Cult of Paideia” and Literary
Epigram......................................................................................................................125
4.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................125
4.2 Toward an Understanding of the Alexandrian Archivist..................................130
4.3 Philitas of Kos: The Ur Archivist in Writing.....................................................141
4.4 The Rise of Literary Epigram and the Cult of Paideia.....................................149
4.5 Conclusion........................................................................................................172
5. Conclusion..............................................................................................................178
Bibliography...............................................................................................................184
Biography..................................................................................................................200

viii
Abbreviations
Standard abbreviations are used for collections and editions of texts, but the reader may
find the following list helpful.
AB Austin, C. and G. Bastianini, eds. 2002.
Posidippi Pellaei quae supersunt omnia.
Milan.

AP Anthologia Palatina.

CA Powell, J.U., ed. 1925. Collecteana
Alexandrina. Oxford.

LSJ Liddell, Henry George and Robert Scott.
1996. A Greek-English Lexicon. 9th ed. With
revised supplement, rev. by Henry Stuart
Jones with the assistance of Roderick
McKenzie, Oxford.

SH Lloyd-Jones, H. and P. Parsons, eds. 1983.
Supplementum Hellenisticum. Berlin.

ix
Acknowledgements
My interest in languages and literatures stretches back to my wonderful
undergraduate mentor, John Wyatt. I only wish he had lived long enough to see this
“driver’s license test” come to its completion. Frank Nisetich and Francis Dunn sparked
my passion for Hellenistic poetry. The original the idea for this dissertation dates back to
days spent in the department of Comparative Literature at Dartmouth College. My work
on the anthologization of Japanese waka poetry under the guidance of Dennis Washburn
developed my interest in dense epigrammatic poetry, and the late Susanne Zantop inspired
my interest in postcolonial studies. Margaret Williamson, Bill Scott, and Jim Tatum gave
me much of their time to explore similar issues in Classics. At Duke, Grant Parker,
Gregson Davis, Diskin Clay, and Phiroze Vasunia helped me develop the ideas for this
project and have generously supported me through the ups and downs that inevitably
come with writing a dissertation. William Johnson was a welcome late addition to the
process and his insightful comments were invaluable. Last but not least, I would like to
thank Peter Burian who generously offered to advise me through this entire process.
Without his endless patience, editing talents, and fatherly advice, I wonder where I would
be.
Over the course of these years, I have fond memories of the many cups of coffee
shared with Jacqui Carlon and cups of tea with Bill McAndrew along with my runs
through Carleton’s Arb with Joel Schlosser, and the countless phone conversations with
Andrew Donnelly. Eric Adler, Rachel Stroumsa, Rory Cline and Laury Ward were there
through the thick of it all, and this project would be nowhere without them. I wish to
thank Bill North, Simon Cook, Bill Crout, Molly Pryzwansky, Alex Loney, Bill Thrasher,
x