Alexandria was the center of Hellenistic Hellenistic literature. So it is rare to hear that none of the poets of that era did not visit Alexandria, or lived in it to enjoy the care of its kings and draws from its multiple literary resources. It is no wonder that all Greek poetry, except for comedy, was influenced during this period by Alexandrian poetry.

Kalimachos is the most prominent poet of Alexandria. Calimachus lived in the first half of the third century BC and was still lending poetry in the latter part of his life under Ptolemy III. A first-rate Hellenist poet was born in Egypt except Apollonius, who was called Apollonius of Rhodesia, because he settled in Rhodes and became one of its citizens after being expelled from the position of chief scribe. Thiocritus Seracuzzi was one of the most famous poets of the third century BC, who lived in Alexandria and became the poet of the court of Ptolemy II.

If the golden age of Alexandrian poetry did not last more than half a century, it extends from about 290 to 240 BC. The poetry of rural life remained vibrant until the first century BC.


Coptic literature was influenced by Greek influences, especially in Alexandria, where Hellenic culture spread, and many parents were forced to write in the Greek language of the time. Their writings were translated into Coptic.

Examples of Coptic literature are the writings of St. Anthony, Abba Bakhomius, who did not know anything other than the Coptic, and the sermons and sermons of Anba Shenouda, who did not wish to write other than Coptic. Anba Shenouda was a popular leader, speaking Copts persecuted by their rulers in their Coptic language, not in the Greek language of the rulers.

This Coptic literature had two centers: Wadi Al-Natroun, Bahriya dialect, and the White Monastery and the Baha'i monasteries in the Upper Middle East. Thus, we see that monasteries of the monks were strongholds of the Coptic literature with its two basic dialects.

In some Coptic manuscripts, the Coptic language was called the language of the people of the mountains. Perhaps this is meant for the height and monasteries of the monks for their presence in the mountains. Anba Shenouda assumed the presidency of the White Monastery in the year three hundred and eighty-three. Which has become the center of the Saidi literature. In which the Upper Egyptian dialect became the literary language of the Coptic Church in its golden age.

In the face of this literary renaissance led by Anba Shenouda, the Greek was receding and declining as the steady growth of Christianity spread among the rural people, the people's refusal to use Coptic as a literary language, and the increasing number of Copts and their sense of being and nationality.

When the Arabs opened Egypt, Upper Egypt was the language of Coptic literature in general. The subsequent rise of the Baha'i dialect was based on the translation of Upper Manners, which became apparent in the first six centuries of Christianity.
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