He achieved his objective: before long, some fifty-four thousand books were acquired.”, The conqueror was impressed but asked the Caliph what to do with those books. Book (London: British Library, 2007) 444 pp. The Burning of the Library of Alexandria. The Library of Alexandria was once the largest library, a storehouse of the world's finest literature. They were the successors of Alexander the Great, who had invaded Egypt, becoming Pharaoh. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1834-1850, February 24, 1847, Image 3, brought to you by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, Chapel Hill, NC, and the National Digital Newspaper Program. What is most interesting about the ancient writings describing the Library of Alexandria, is the extent that they went to gather information and historical and cultural documentation from all over the world. Julius Caesar in the year 48 BC. It absolutely was the focal point of knowledge and learning during ancient times. Unlikely, but under the city, or at the bottom of the bay, there might still be clues. It had already misappropriated the greatest collection of African teachings but at its peak was acquiring writings of all types in Babylonian, Hebrew, Turkish texts, and more. Written three centuries later, “in those days the orthodox inhabitants of Alexandria were filled with zeal and they collected a large quantity of wood and burned the place of the heathen philosophers.”. The original library branch was located at the royal palace at Alexandria, near the harbor. If making sense of Alexandria’s story wasn’t already confounding enough, there were several libraries in Alexandria, two of them ‘great.’ The first was the library that was part of the Museum. The burning of the Library of Alexandria ranks among the worst crimes ever committed against humanity. Again, the Library of Alexandria was more than just a library, it was a research center, a university, and medical school. This is the untold story of the Library of Alexandria. The only thing that actually exists today is a basement that’s called seraphim, which is now believed to have not even been at the actual location of the Library of Alexandria itself but an extension of the campus. Under Roman Catholic Rule, Julius Caesar killed everyone they conquered, this is why many people suggest that perhaps the, “History is written by those who conquered”. If you were a Roman emperor, and if you happened to take your name from a sartorial choice, the odds are that the judgment... Royal portraits represent an important part of the history of painting. In this great library, the two cultures of the West and the East met through books and lectures hosted by the library, which was considered the first attempt at the modern idea of globalization It was compulsory that any scholar who was studying in Alexandria’s library would leave … Burning of books, in a 15th century illustration. From The Library of Virginia: Fairfax family. If we order by size what they tell us, the number of books was either 40,000; 54,800; 70,000; 200,000; 400,000; 490,000 or 700,000 books. As the saying goes, when you want to read a book that has not been written, then you must write it. Preston Chesser. The Museum – Library of Alexandria was likely created during his reign, or his successor Ptolemy II. Images Roman sarcophagus, Pompeii painting and illustration of the Museum. Dios. The famous burning of the Library of Alexandria, including the incalculable loss of ancient works, has become a symbol of the irretrievable loss of public knowledge. Primary Evidence Overload! See more ideas about Library of alexandria, Book worms, Books. It should be noted that Cicero, Strabo and Lucano mention nothing of the burning of books. The Greek dynasty of the Ptolemies inherited Egypt from Alexander and ruled the country until Octavian defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra in 30 B.C.E. Mosaic from Pompeii depicting Alexander the Great in battle. (Bagnall, “Alexandria: Library of Dreams”, p.359) Like all New Atheist pseudo history, the myth of the burning of the Great Library is caricature of the facts, compressed into a moral fable. confrontation caused the destruction. What exactly happened to this amazing storehouse of ancient knowledge, and who was responsible for its burning? The library acted as a major center for science and culture for many centuries. Fact is it declined gradually over centuries. The sad fact is that the world lost a lot when library of Alexandria was brougt down to rubble. And then it was burnt. Alexandria, one of the greatest cities of the ancient world, was home to one of the seven wonders, the Lighthouse. And any of those attacks could have marked the demise of the Library. Ptolemy VIII Physcon's expulsion of the scholars from Alexandria brought about a shift in the history of Hellenistic scholarship. The very last time we find a mention of the Museum or Library is circa 380 AD, that is, more than 400 years after Julius Caesar supposedly destroyed it. “If religious barbarians hadn’t destroyed the library of Alexandria, we’d probably have colonies on Mars and the Jovian moons by now.” “probably the single greatest loss to general knowledge,science engineering etc in history, even hitlers book burning pales by comparison” He explained, “when Ptolemy Philadelphus succeeded to the throne he became a seeker after knowledge and a man of some learning. 5. There is only a single description, of all ancient texts that survive, as to what the library might have looked like. Who Burned Down of the Library of Alexandria? Much of ancient Alexandria is lost. In Alexandria it was papyrus rolls rather than books that were supposedly burnt. Last edited: Monday at 11:42 AM. And there recently have been claims that Caesar accidentally burned down the library, as there is an effort to hide the brutality of such a praised barbarian as Julius Caesar. Among the wonders, there was the tomb of the conqueror that gave his name to the city, Alexander the Great. Plutarch, for instance, provides this account: When the enemy tried to cut off his (Julius Caesar’s) fleet, he was forced to repel the danger by using fire, and this spread from the dockyards and destroyed the great library. Will we ever get closure on the fate of the Library of Alexandria? Imagining scholars at work in the Great Library of Alexandria. At it's peak the Library contained between 40,000 and 400,000 manuscripts, (scrolls) and employed more than 100 staff to maintain the collection. The loss of the ancient world’s single greatest archive of knowledge, the Library of Alexandria, has been lamented for ages. Although there is a mythology of the burning of the Library at Alexandria, the library may have suffered several fires or acts of destruction over many years. There is the myth of the Library of Alexandria and its destruction by fire. Well first off, It’s been burned down 3 times. Well first off, It’s been burned down 3 times. Emerging out of post-war New York in the... By our standards, living in antiquity was full of hardships regardless of where you look. We do not know if the Serapeum library still existed when the temple was destroyed, but two authors do mention the loss of books. It existed for almost seven hundred years. Credit - Heritage Images/Getty Images. The Library housed thousands of years of the ancient Kemetic teachings confiscated with its invasion approx 1700 BCE. Taking a hard look at the facts about the Library of Alexandria, there is much we do not know. It isn’t the only wonder to have vanished, as both the tombs of Alexander the Great and Cleopatra were also lost. Library of Alexandria, had the largest collection of book. The last Pharaoh, Cleopatra, was buried with Antony, “embalmed and buried in the same tomb.”, However, texts from the 4th century AD tell us that the Royal Quarter was destroyed: “The walls were destroyed and the town lost the greatest part of the quarter called Bruccheion.”, Another source talks of the tomb of Alexander as a thing long gone: “Tell me, where is the tomb of Alexander? The famous burning of the Library of Alexandria, including the incalculable loss of ancient works, has become a symbol of the irretrievable loss of public knowledge. It was so impressive, that aside from the Capitol in Rome, “the whole world beholds nothing more magnificent.” And this time, we do have a description of its library: “Within the colonnades, enclosures were built, some having become repositories for the books available to the diligent for study, thus spurring on an entire city to a mastery of learning. The correct thread title should be "why was the Alexandria Library burned?" Although there is a mythology of " the burning of the Library at Alexandria", the library may have suffered several fires or acts of destruction of varying degrees over many years. Your email address will not be published. So how many Scrolls did they have? Additionally, the lack of clarity as to when the library disappeared and who’s responsible means we blame our chosen villain for its loss. And please leave your thoughts, we are thankhful for your feedback and discussion. The library itself is known to have had an Acquisitions Department and a Cataloguing Department, and we know that it had a hall containing shelves of collections of papyrus scrolls known as “Biblioteca”. Despite this fame, scholars know little about it and much debate surrounds the details of its existence and eventual destruction. Library of Alexandria, had the largest collection of book. What it looked like, its exact location, precisely how many books it held, if it burnt, and who destroyed it. The Burning of the Library of Alexandria, 1876. From the late 4th century AD, we have descriptions of the Serapeum. Dios. [106] Three wonders, the Library, Alexander, and Cleopatra’s tombs vanished without a trace. Last edited: Dec 28, 2020. And there recently have been claims that Caesar accidentally burned down the library, as there is an effort to hide the brutality of such a praised barbarian as Julius Caesar. A 19th century illustration of the burning of the Library of Alexandria. Two millennia after being created, the Library of Alexandria was reborn. Inside the reading room of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. I have found it” or that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line and also his famous quote about giving me a lever long enough and a Falcom to which to place it and I shall move the world, Heron of Alexandria who is a mathematician and it was known and believed to have created the very first working model of a steam engine 2,000 years before James Watts, Eratosthenes who is the very first person to identify that the earth rotated around the Sun and he did so eighteen hundred years before Copernicus and he was also the very first person to find the circumference of the earth and he estimated it correctly to within two hundred miles. It’s a typical belief that the library of Alexandria was destroyed once, however that's actually false. The library was for centuries a minaret for science and literature, a hub for researchers and knowledge seekers. Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire ominously threatened that, were that British demand persisted in, history would record "a second burning of a library in Alexandria". Not…, WARNING! It spread from the ships in the harbor to Alexandria, burning down the area of the city that contained the Library of Alexandria. Having to re-learn, re-invent, and re-discover what was already know slows progression, and without a doubt set back human civilization and it’s mental growth and progress by at least a thousand years. Please allow up to 2-4 weeks for standard and 1-10 days for express delivery. This huge fire reached the library and caused terrible cultural damage. What’s in The Vatican Secret Archives deserves an article to itself. (9 Facts), 15 Exquisite Royal Portraits You Should Check Out, Amedeo Modigliani: A Modern Influencer Beyond his Time. Well first off, It’s been burned down 3 times. 262 pages. We know the popular ones like Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Socrates, Hippocrates, Homer. The library housed two fascinating periods of research, civilization, and books: the Pharaonic and the Greek. While he doesn’t mention any burning, he talks of the Museum book collection as if a thing of the past. We know this happened because Caesar wrote about setting the fire. However, as the Library was attached to the Musaeum, and Strabo did mention the latter, it is possible that the library was still in existence during Strabo’s time. To best-preserved library building of the ancient world. We don’t even know if the Library of Alexandria was destroyed at all, due to contradictory texts and the absence of archaeological remains. They ruled the country from the new capital, Alexandria. We do not know the exact date of its creation, but it would have been around 300 BC, ordered by either Ptolemy I or Ptolemy II. While the story itself isn’t accurate, it speaks to us today as we face the digital book burnings that are threatening the modern-day Library of Alexandria: the internet. The myth is that the Library was intentionally burnt. Here are the ideas that we are going to explore: The Royal Library of Alexandria was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. 8) The ancient library of Alexandria was destroyed on two different occasions. The Lighthouse of Alexandria, as depicted in Kitāb al-Bulhān, the ‘Book of Wonders’, circa 1400, via Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. I suppose naming a blog Alexandria Burning could raise a few eyebrows in light of the recent goings-on in Egypt and their call for a change in their government. The scholars who had studied at the Library of Alexandria and their students continued to conduct research and write treatises, but most of them no longer did so in association with the Library. Diocletian “set fire to the city and burnt it completely.” He also wanted to massacre the inhabitants until their blood reached his horse’s knees. There was even a time where ships that came to the harbor were, The medical school established within the Library of Alexandria. It is Seneca in De Tranquillitate Animi (On the tranquility of the mind) who says that “forty thousand books burned in Alexandria” as a result of the war action. In Alexandria it was papyrus rolls rather than books that were supposedly burnt. Abstract Expressionism is one of the most celebrated and significant art movements of the 20th century. Also, note that there isn’t a single mention of a library or books. Then, after a few weeks of tremors, the largest volcanic eruption in over two million years launched thousands of cubic kilometers of molten earth, ash and dust into the atmosphere, and rained hellfire upon a terrified population. Following the anti-pagan edicts of 391 AD, the Serapeum temple was destroyed. Circa 200 AD, an author mentions a great book collection in the Museum: “Concerning the number of books, the establishing of libraries, and the collection in the Hall of the Muses (Museum), why need I even speak, since they are in all men’s memories?”. Pompeii mosaic depicting a group of philosophers, probably Plato in the center, via Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. Most disagree on its size, its location, and most of all, how it was ultimately destroyed. So perished that marvelous monument of the literary activity of our ancestors, who had gathered together so many great works of brilliant geniuses.”, Further, “in this were invaluable libraries, and the unanimous testimony of ancient records declares that 700,000 books…were burned in the Alexandrine war when the city was sacked under the dictator Caesar.”, And, “an enormous quantity of books, nearly seven hundred thousand volumes…were all burned during the sack of the city in our first war with Alexandria.”, Stella of Tiberius Claudius Balbillus, prefect of Egypt from 55 to 59 AD. When Julius Caesar intervened in the civil war between Cleopatra and Ptolemy XIII, Caesar set fire to the ships in the harbor. Unfortunately, it also burned down part of the city – the area where the great Library stood. A trace happened to this Library a second up in the Serapeum, called a Mouseion in Greek why. 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