alexandrianism means the culture (of literature, philosophy, medicine, and the sciences) that developed in Alexandria, Egypt during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 88 out of 100.
Why “alexandrianism” is a great word
ALEXANDRIANISM — [Noun] The distinct culture of encyclopedic scholarship, textual criticism, and syncretic intellectual fusion that flourished in Hellenistic and Roman Alexandria. From Alexandrian (pertaining to Alexandria) + -ism (forming nouns of practice or system). Formed within English, modelled on a German lexical item. Unlike "Atticism," which denotes a purist, refined style of classical rhetoric, or "Hellenism," which describes the vast, diffuse spread of Greek culture, Alexandrianism signifies the concentrated, institutionalized project of cosmopolitan synthesis. It is the scent of papyrus in the Library's scriptorium, the precise geometry of Euclid's theorems, and the patient labor of translating scripture into Greek—the first, great monument to the idea that knowledge is made, not found, in the collision and collection of a world gathered by the sea.
Etymology
From Alexandrian + -ism.
noun
- The culture (of literature, philosophy, medicine, and the sciences) that developed in Alexandria, Egypt during the Hellenistic and Roman periods.
- Alexandrian Wicca.