Eratosthenes’ Letter to Ptolemy: the Literary Mechanics of Empire
Journal: Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University)
Year: 2017

Eratosthenes of Cyrene (276–194 b.c.e.), the third head of the Alexandrian Library, sent a letter to King Ptolemy outlining his solution for the geometric problem, the doubling of the cube. Although traditionally the preserve of historians of mathematics, the text quotes from tragedy, recounts mathematical research at Plato's Academy, and concludes with an epigram. Here, I address each generic gesture and its particular audience and aim. This article reads the letter not only as a dynamic unifie