Editing Library of Alexandria (section)

==Historical background==
{{multiple image|align=right
|image1=Ptolemy I Soter Louvre Ma849.jpg
|width1=160
|caption1=A [[Hellenistic art|Hellenistic bust]] depicting [[Ptolemy I Soter]], 3rd century BC, the [[Louvre]], Paris
|image2=Aleksander-d-store.jpg
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|caption2=A [[Roman sculpture|Roman copy]] of an original 3rd century BC [[Ancient Greek sculpture|Greek bust]] depicting [[Alexander the Great]], [[Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek]], Copenhagen
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The Library of Alexandria was not the first library of its kind.{{sfn|Phillips|2010}}{{sfn|MacLeod|2000|pages=1–2, 10–11}} A long tradition of libraries existed in both Greece and in the [[ancient Near East]].{{sfn|MacLeod|2000|page=13}}{{sfn|Phillips|2010}} The earliest recorded archive of written materials comes from the ancient [[Sumer]]ian city-state of [[Uruk]] in around 3400 BC, when writing had only just begun to develop.{{sfn|MacLeod|2000|page=11}} Scholarly curation of literary texts began in around 2500 BC.{{sfn|MacLeod|2000|page=11}} The later kingdoms and empires of the ancient Near East had long traditions of book collecting.{{sfn|MacLeod|2000|page=2}}{{sfn|Phillips|2010}} The ancient [[Hittites]] and [[Assyria]]ns had massive archives containing records written in many different languages.{{sfn|MacLeod|2000|page=2}} The most famous library of the ancient Near East was the [[Library of Ashurbanipal]] in [[Nineveh]], founded in the seventh century BC by the Assyrian king [[Ashurbanipal]] (ruled 668–{{circa}} 627 BC).{{sfn|MacLeod|2000|page=11}}{{sfn|Phillips|2010}} A large library also existed in [[Babylon]] during the reign of [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] ({{circa}} 605–{{circa}} 562 BC).{{sfn|MacLeod|2000|page=2}} In Greece, the Athenian tyrant [[Pisistratus]] was said to have founded the first major public library in the sixth century BC.{{sfn|MacLeod|2000|page=1}} It was out of this mixed heritage of both Greek and Near Eastern book collections that the idea for the Library of Alexandria may have been born.{{sfn|MacLeod|2000|pages=1–2}}{{sfn|Phillips|2010}}

Following the death of [[Alexander the Great]] in 323 BC, there was a power grab for his empire among his top-ranking officers. The empire was divided into three: the [[Antigonid dynasty]] controlled Greece; the [[Seleucid dynasty]], who had their capitals at [[Antioch]] and [[Seleucia]], controlled large areas of Asia Minor, Syria, and Mesopotamia; and the [[Ptolemaic dynasty]] controlled Egypt with Alexandria as its capital.{{sfn|Casson|2001|pp=31–32}} The Macedonian kings who succeeded Alexander the Great as rulers of the Near East wanted to promote Hellenistic culture and learning throughout the known world.{{sfn|MacLeod|2000|pages=2–3}} These rulers, therefore, had a vested interest in collecting and compiling information from both the Greeks and the far more ancient kingdoms of the Near East.{{sfn|MacLeod|2000|pages=2–3}} Libraries enhanced a city's prestige, attracted scholars, and provided practical assistance in ruling and governing the kingdom.{{sfn|MacLeod|2000|page=3}}{{sfn|Fox|1986|page=341}} Eventually, for these reasons, every major Hellenistic urban center would have a royal library.{{sfn|MacLeod|2000|page=3}}{{sfn|Fox|1986|page=340}} The Library of Alexandria, however, was unprecedented because of the scope and scale of the Ptolemies' ambitions;{{sfn|MacLeod|2000|page=3}}{{sfn|Fox|1986|pages=340–341}} unlike their predecessors and contemporaries, the Ptolemies wanted to produce a repository of all knowledge.{{sfn|MacLeod|2000|page=3}}{{sfn|Casson|2001|page=35}} To support this endeavor, they were well positioned as Egypt was the ideal habitat for the [[Cyperus papyrus|papyrus plant]], which provided an abundant supply of materials needed to amass their knowledge repository.{{sfn|Casson|2001|p=21}}