BOOK IV.

CHAP. I.

Ptolemy I builds a museum, and forms a libra-. ry, at Alexandria. The worship of Se

...

rapis.... Ptolemy II enters into an alliance with Rome. ... Gives aid to Athens and Lacedæmon.... Recovers Cyrene.... and conquers Antiochus Thuis. ... Of Ptolemy III.... The Achæan league.... Cleomenes takes refuge in Egypt.... Ptolemy IV puts his brother to death.... Cleomenes illiberally treated.... His death, and that of his family and attendants.... The queen cut off.

Ptolemy V, young at the death of his father.... His reign short.

B. C.

306.

OLEMY

TOLEMY I was now set upon a throne, and swayed the

sceptre

of an independent nation. No prince

was ever more desirous of doing good to his people, by bestowing upon them every possible blessing of knowledge and protection. In the arrangements of literature he was assisted by the wise and justly celebrated Demetrius Phalerius. In the sunshine of favour, while Demetrius was governor at Athens, he was held in the highest respect, and honoured with many statues; but by the restlessness of popular opinion, he was soon stripped of his honours, and doomed to punishAfter a diversity of unfortunate events, he fled to Egypt, and enjoyed the friendship of Ptolemy. This refugee of Greece was polished in his manners, and elegant in learning. Ptolemy was himself a man of high accomplishments, and knew the value of the splendid talents which Demetrius possessed. The king was resolved to form a library for the encouragement of science, and was peculiarly pleased with the assistance of Phalerius, in accomplishing his design. In connection with the library, he found

ment.

ed a college, or museum, which became the abode of learning and learned men. The buildings of this museum were adjoining the palace, and in that quarter of the town which was called Bruchium.* Ptolemy's attention to the commercial interests of the country induced him to build a watch-tower, or light-house, upon the island of Pharos. To form a ready access a causeway was constructed, which was nearly a mile in length, and reached from the island to the shore.

Towards the end of Ptolemy Soter's reign, the worship of Serapis was introduced into Egypt. The vision, which is represented as inducing the king to send to Pontus for the image, and the means by which he procured it, are legendary tales, and unworthy of a place in serious history. The worship of the god Serapis appears to have introduced a change into the religious ceremonies

e Strabo, lib. xvii, p. 1141.

Tacit. Ann. lib. iv, c. 83 & 84

of Egypt. In certain stages of society, not only beasts, but even human sacrifices, as we have found, were offered to the offended gods; but in process of time the blood of animals was forbidden to be shed, either for victims, or for food. These sentiments might first have sprung up, either in India or Egypt, and have been communicated from the one to the other, by the intercourse which in early times subsisted between the nations. It was thus, perhaps, that animals became sacred in Egypt; and that, in one period of their history, nothing but incense and veneration were offered to their Gods. But when Ptolemy brought the image of Serapis into Egypt, he introduced with it again the concomitant practice of animal sacrifice."

The Serapium, or temple of this divinity, was an extensive building, consisting of squares, porticoes, and a di

C

Macrob. Satur. b. i, ch. 7, edit. Lugduni Batavorum, A. D, 1670.

3

versity of apartments. It was so superb and splendid, as to be inferior to no edifice of that description except the Capitol at Rome. Ptolemy Philadelphus founded, in this temple, a second library, as the apartments of the museum were too small for the increased number of books. It has generally been supposed, that the temple of Serapis was built in the place called Rhacotis, near a village and commercial settlement of the Greeks; but of late Dr. Whyte, professor of Arabic in the university of Oxford, has with much ingenuity suggested and maintained a different opinion. He endeavours to shew, as will appear in its proper place, that the building of the Serapium was connected with the pillar of Pompey. It has been suggested, that the Grecian idol, which was brought from Pontus to Egypt, was called in the Coptic language Rhacotis,

* Ammian Marcellinus, edit. Paris, A. D. 1681, b. xxii, ch. 16.

Vol. I.

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