1 The Birth of Science - MSRI

218 9. Science, Technology and Economy
ture of the Hellenistic rulers’ interest in culture is well illustrated by the
“paper wars”: Ptolemy II Philadelphus, in order to stunt the growth of the
Pergamene library, stopped exporting papyrus out of Egypt. 19 This can be
interpreted not so much as a bibliophile’s act of jealousy towards a rival page 271
but as an attempt to prevent other states from acquiring a product of perceived
strategic importance. Clearly, Hellenistic rulers supported culture
not out of intrinsic high-mindedness but because they saw in knowledge
an essential source of power.
State-funded cultural initiatives, and book publishing in particular, often
had political ends. For example, the translation of the Bible into Greek
traditionally known as the Septuagint was at once an instrument and an
effect of the Ptolemies’ policy of assimilation of the important Jewish community
in Alexandria. In the first half of the third century B.C. the Egyptian
priest Manetho compiled the Aegyptiaca and the Babylonian priest
Berossus wrote a Babylonian history dedicated to Antiochus I Soter. The
goal of these Greek-language works was to give the ruling class in those
states a better understanding of the local culture. Hellenistic kings realized
that knowing one’s subjects is a way of strengthening one’s power.
Interest in science also seems to have had economic motivations. This is
most obvious for the small Attalid kingdom, whose rulers, as we just saw,
sponsored research in areas that promised an immediate practical return,
such as agriculture and engineering. That this interest in agriculture was
not a hobby but aimed at acquiring knowledge useful in improve crop
yields may be seen from the fact that most of the authors of treatises on
agriculture mentioned by Varro 20 are connected in some way or another
with Pergamum. 21
9.3 Economic Growth and Innovation in Agriculture
Whereas opinions differ on whether there were economically important
nonagricultural activities during certain periods of Antiquity, there is no
doubt that agriculture did remain the mainstay of the economy throughout
the ancient world. In investigating whether scientific development page 272
had economic consequences, therefore, we must start by asking if science
was applied to agriculture.
That theoretical knowledge was applied to agriculture is indicated by
the flourishing of treatises on the subject. Varro writes that in Greek there
19 As is well-known, Pergamum’s reaction was not to stop making books but to develop the
writing medium that we now know as parchment (from the Greek pergamene).
20 Varro, De re rustica, I, i, 8 ff.
21 [Rostovtzeff: Pergamum], p. 694.
Revision: 1.4 Date: 2002/10/12 00:00:03