Gardens of ancient Egypt and were sometimes enclosed by walls. Temple gardens were used to raise certain vegetables for ceremonies, Palace gardens first appeared in Egypt just before the Middle Empire (2035–1668). These gardens were very large in scale, and laid out in geometric patterns. The ponds of palace gardens were enormous and numerous. In the second millennium B.C., the garden pond of King Sneferu was large enough for boats rowed by twenty oarsmen. The rulers of ancient Egypt, such as Queen Hatshepsut (1503–1482 BC), and Ramses III (1198–1166 BC) used pots to bring back to Egypt new kinds of trees and flowers discovered
Library of Alexandria cultural imperialism". These rulers therefore had a vested interest to collect and compile information from both the Greeks and from the far more ancient kingdoms of the Near East. Libraries enhanced a city's prestige, attracted scholars, and provided practical assistance in matters of ruling and governing the kingdom. Eventually, for these reasons, every major Hellenistic urban center would have a royal library. The Library of Alexandria, however, was unprecedented due to the scope and scale of the Ptolemies' ambitions; unlike their predecessors and contemporaries, the Ptolemies wanted to produce a repository of all knowledge. The Library was one of the