{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.011472275334608031, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 4.752747252747253, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Classical Greece to Ptolemaic Alexandria: Writers and Readers

When the Phoenician alphabet was adapted for use in Greece remains a matter of debate, but the impact of writing on poetry appears most clearly around the end of the sixth century BC when papyrus rolls became more common. However, it was not until the establishment of Alexandria as a major centre of Greek culture in the later fourth century that the reading of poetry on the written page became the norm. This chapter focuses on the experience of poetry in Alexandria in this period. With the loss of the musical dimension of Greek lyric, poetry became more exclusively a matter of the speaking voice, and the epigram became a favoured genre. The extensive collection of papyrus rolls in the Library of Alexander made the work of earlier writers accessible and encouraged highly allusive verse. These qualities are best demonstrated in the poetry of Callimachus, one of whose poems is discussed as an example of the dramatic recreation of performance in a work designed to be read.