Hellinistic Culture

1. Hellinistic culture in Alexandria

• hellinistic culture: a blend of Greek, Egyptian, Persian, and Indian culture
• alexandria became foremost center of commerce and culture/civilization

2. Alexandria's Attractions

• alexander's coffin
• stone lighthouse Pharos
• museum with 500,000 papyrus scrolls

3. Science and Technology

• astronomy:
• Aristarchus: estimated that the Sun is at least 300 times bigger than the sun and Earth and other planets revolved around the sun
• Ptolemy disagrees with Aristarchus, says that Earth is the center of Universe, this is taught for next 14 centuries 
• Eratosthenes estimated the the real size of Earth, saying it's round 
• math and physics:
• Euclid: wrote the book on Geometry (Elements)  
• Archimedes: estimated the value of pi, explained law of  the lever 
• The Archimedes screw = could raise water from the ground