While the Fathers of the Church were busy
establishing the Faith, they were aided in their sublime task
by the Teachers of the School of Alexandria and its eminent
Deans. Alexandria, by then, could boast of a long history
behind it. During this long history, it had attained
unprecedented heights in civilisation. Its pre-Christian
school had been founded by Ptolemy Soter in 323 B.C.
When Ptolemy Philadelphus sat on the throne in 288 B.C., he
not only encouraged the Greek philosophers, but extended
his patronage to other nationalities. For it was during his
reign that the translation of the Old Testament was
accomplished. To his zeal for concentrating on Greek
culture, the world owes the Septuagint - so called because
seventy rabbis worked on it. They had been invited to come
and settle in Alexandria where they diligently worked on this
translation.
The School of Alexandria comprised the world-
famous Library and Museum Judging the School by its
prevalent trend of thought, modern scholars consider it as
two schools, the one superseding the other: first a
predominantly scientific and literary school, then a
