Editing Library of Alexandria (section)

===After Ptolemy VIII's expulsions===
Ptolemy VIII Physcon's expulsion of the scholars from Alexandria brought about a shift in the history of Hellenistic scholarship.{{sfn|Dickey|2007|pages=5–6}} The scholars who had studied at the Library of Alexandria and their students continued to conduct research and write treatises, but most of them no longer did so in association with the Library.{{sfn|Dickey|2007|pages=5–6}} Due to this decline in respect and prestige, the Library of Alexandria began a decline.{{sfn|Phillips|2010}} A [[diaspora]] of Alexandrian scholarship occurred, in which scholars of the Library dispersed first into the eastern Mediterranean and then into the world of the western Mediterranean as well.{{sfn|Dickey|2007|pages=5–6}} Former scholars and their disciples took their scholarly energies elsewhere. For example, Aristarchus' student [[Dionysius Thrax]] ({{circa|170|90 BC}}) established a school on the Greek island of Rhodes.{{sfn|Dickey|2007|page=6}}{{sfn|Casson|2001|page=45}} He also wrote the [[The Art of Grammar|first book on Greek grammar]], a succinct guide to speaking and writing clearly and effectively{{sfn|Casson|2001|page=45}} – a book that remained the primary grammar textbook for Greek schoolboys until as late as the twelfth century AD.{{sfn|Casson|2001|page=45}} Another one of Aristarchus' pupils, [[Apollodorus of Athens]] ({{circa|180|110 BC}}), went to Alexandria's greatest rival, Pergamum, where he taught and conducted research.{{sfn|Dickey|2007|page=6}} This scholarly diaspora prompted the historian [[Menecles of Barca]] to sarcastically comment that Alexandria had become the teacher of all Greeks and barbarians alike.{{sfn|Meyboom|1995|page=373}}

Meanwhile, in Alexandria, from the middle of the second century BC onwards, Ptolemaic rule in Egypt grew less stable than it had been previously.{{sfn|Casson|2001|page=47}} Confronted with growing social unrest and other major political and economic problems, the later Ptolemies did not devote as much attention towards the Library and the Mouseion as their predecessors had, continuing the decline that had begun under Ptolemy VIII Physcon.{{sfn|Casson|2001|page=47}}{{sfn|Phillips|2010}} The status of both the Library and the head librarian diminished.{{sfn|Casson|2001|page=47}} Several of the later Ptolemies used the position of head librarian as a mere political plum to reward their most devoted supporters.{{sfn|Casson|2001|page=47}} Ptolemy VIII appointed a man named Cydas, one of his palace guards, as head librarian{{sfn|Watts|2008|page=149}}{{sfn|Casson|2001|page=47}} and [[Ptolemy IX Lathyros|Ptolemy IX Soter II]] (ruled 88–81 BC) is said to have given the position to a political supporter.{{sfn|Casson|2001|page=47}} Eventually, the position of head librarian lost so much of its former prestige that even contemporary authors ceased to take interest in recording the terms of office for individual head librarians.{{sfn|Watts|2008|page=149}}

A shift in Greek scholarship at large occurred around the beginning of the first century BC.{{sfn|Dickey|2007|page=6}}{{sfn|Fox|1986|page=351}} By this time, all major classical poetic texts had finally been standardized and extensive commentaries had already been produced on the writings of all the major literary authors of the [[Greek Classical Era]].{{sfn|Dickey|2007|page=6}} Consequently, there was little original work left for scholars to do with these texts.{{sfn|Dickey|2007|page=6}} Many scholars began producing syntheses and reworkings of the commentaries of the Alexandrian scholars of previous centuries, at the expense of their own originalities.{{sfn|Dickey|2007|page=6}}{{sfn|Fox|1986|page=351}}{{efn|This shift paralleled a similar, concurrent trend in philosophy, in which many philosophers were beginning to synthesize the views of earlier philosophers rather than coming up with original ideas of their own.{{sfn|Fox|1986|page=351}}}} Other scholars branched out and began writing commentaries on the poetic works of postclassical authors, including Alexandrian poets such as Callimachus and Apollonius of Rhodes.{{sfn|Dickey|2007|page=6}} Meanwhile, Alexandrian scholarship was probably introduced to [[Rome]] in the first century BC by [[Tyrannion of Amisus]] ({{circa|100|25 BC}}), a student of Dionysius Thrax.{{sfn|Dickey|2007|page=6}}