(fl. third century B.C.E.) Greek poet of Alexandria
PTOLEMY II PHILADELPHUS (r. 285–246 B.C.E.) appointed Alexander Aetolus as an official of the great LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA. The library was an institution known for its vast archives that included centuries of world history and the cultural achievement of many peoples. His task was to list and catalog the tragic dramas housed in the library. Alexander Aetolus’s writings are lost, although the title of one of his plays, Astragalistae, or “The Dice Throwers,” has survived. Alexander’s shorter poetic works are known in modern times only by fragments that have survived over the centuries.
