Ptolemy II's Grand Quest for a Million Books

Ptolemy II, who ascended to the throne in Egypt and Israel in 283 BCE, inherited a ready-made kingdom. He reigned for nearly forty years, dedicating his energy to the pursuit of culture and wisdom in Egypt. Unlike his father, a battle-hardened general who built an empire with sheer force, Ptolemy II was a cultured man. Exceptionally wealthy, he was often compared to King Solomon, perhaps due to their shared ambition for wisdom. Ptolemy was a bibliophile, an avid collector of books. Revering books, he sent emissaries to the far ends of the earth to copy texts. Poetry, history, science, and religions—all fascinated him. Personally, he delved into zoology, frequently writing and reading about animals and their nature. An anecdote by the historian Aelian describes Ptolemy falling ill from overindulging in his reading.

Ptolemy established the famous Library of Alexandria. If you ever thought the municipal or university library was vast, think again: more than two thousand three hundred years ago, Ptolemy II's library reportedly held around a million books. (By comparison, the Rambam Library in Tel Aviv's Beit Ariela, one of Israel's most prominent libraries, houses around half a million books.) Ptolemy didn't use AliExpress, nor did he shop at Steimatzky. He sent an impressive number of emissaries worldwide, from India to Ethiopia, with an unlimited budget to copy books and wisdom.

Ptolemy issued an open invitation across the Hellenistic world: scholars and scientists who moved to Alexandria received free palace accommodations, a decent salary, tax exemptions, and free meals for life! The library and the adjoining museum soon brimmed with historians, academics, philosophers, and perhaps a few freeloaders enjoying the ride. Every ship docking in Egypt faced a royal search warrant. Any books found on board were taken to the library. Special officials created copies before returning the originals. The library organized books by subjects and sub-subjects, with a comprehensive catalog to find any title. The head librarian was Zenodotus, a student of the renowned philosopher Aristotle.

Yet, let's not be blinded by these lofty concepts. The culture championed by Ptolemy in Alexandria was steeped in Greek customs intertwined with pagan rituals. The library resided within the Temple of the Muses, where some of the most sordid pagan rites occurred. Ptolemy, known as "Ptolemy Philadelphus," married his sister (Delphos = sister). As the king of Egypt, he embraced their religion, assuming the title of Pharaoh, claiming descent from the Egyptian god Horus. Ptolemy established a religious sect to worship his wife. With each additional marriage, a new sect was formed. He drafted worship texts to be recited in homage to his wife, the goddess. Ptolemy and his circle also worshiped Alexander the Great as a god, even though he lived just a generation before. Among the philosophers were cynics who questioned every value, sacred thing, and truth. Their main interest lay in physical culture, where promiscuity and paganism were prevalent and accepted. Outwardly everything glittered, but closer scrutiny revealed a culture that forsook human simplicity, innocence, and the desire for purity, instead opting for pleasure-seeking and the appearance of culture and wisdom over substance. Ptolemy's Alexandria resembled, to some degree, today's Las Vegas.

To grasp how this culture influenced segments of the Jewish people, one must understand on one hand its vast appeal and on the other the great risk it posed.

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