This article has two interrelated aims : 1. to reconsider and refute the hypothesis that Aristotle’s instructions on town-planning in Politics Book 7 influenced Alexander’s foundation of Alexandria in Egypt ; 2. to propose an alternative path for the interpretation of Alexander’s attested interests for town-planning, engineering endeavours and geometry, namely his association with the geometer Menaechmus attested in Stobaeus and in the earliest Greek version of the Alexander Romance. Geometry provided the overall theoretical as well as practical frame for founding a settlement : considering Alexander’s role in the foundation of Alexandria and his interest in geometrical and mathematical issues, my conclusion is that the ancient tradition on the personal relationship between Alexander and the geometer Menaechmus might preserve a core of historical truth.
Alexander, Aristotle and Menaechmus: reconsidering the foundation of Alexandria
MATIJASIC, IVAN
2020-01-01
Abstract
This article has two interrelated aims : 1. to reconsider and refute the hypothesis that Aristotle’s instructions on town-planning in Politics Book 7 influenced Alexander’s foundation of Alexandria in Egypt ; 2. to propose an alternative path for the interpretation of Alexander’s attested interests for town-planning, engineering endeavours and geometry, namely his association with the geometer Menaechmus attested in Stobaeus and in the earliest Greek version of the Alexander Romance. Geometry provided the overall theoretical as well as practical frame for founding a settlement : considering Alexander’s role in the foundation of Alexandria and his interest in geometrical and mathematical issues, my conclusion is that the ancient tradition on the personal relationship between Alexander and the geometer Menaechmus might preserve a core of historical truth.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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