The poets Posidippus of Pella and Callimachus of Cyrene, writing under Ptolemy II, actively construct a new Mediterranean geography in which people and luxury goods, even divinities, move from the Northern and Eastern Mediterranean to the new city of Alexandria. The building of the Alexandrian library provides a more concrete demonstration of that same trend, as the Ptolemies under the influence of both Greek thinkers like Demetrius of Phaleron and of Egyptian cultural practices like the great temple libraries strive to move the center of Greek learning from Athens to Alexandria. This paper explores the ways in which Posidippus and Callimachus shift Greek culture south.
