The Royal Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was once the largest library in the world. It is generally thought to have been founded at the beginning of the 3rd century BC, during the reign of Ptolemy II of Egypt, after his father had built what would become the first part of the library complex, the temple of the Muses—the Musaion (from which is derived the modern English word museum). Alexandria Modern Alexandria, from Qaitbays Citadel Alexandria, sphinx made of pink granite, Ptolemaic. ... A modern-style library in Chambéry In the traditional sense of the word, a library is a collection of books and periodicals, . It can refer to an individuals private collection, but more often it is a large collection that is funded and maintained by a city or institution. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 3rd century BC started on January 1, 300 BC and ended on December 31, 201 BC. // Events The Pyramid of the Moon, one of several monuments built in Teotihuacán Teotihuacán, Mexico begun The first two Punic Wars between Carthage... Head of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (309-246 BC), with Arsinoë II. Ptolemy II Philadelphus (309-246 BC), was of a delicate constitution, no Macedonian warrior-chief of the old style. ... In Greek mythology, the Muses (Greek Μουσαι, Mousai : from a root meaning mountain) are nine goddesses who embody the right evocation of myth, inspired through remembered and improvised song and traditional music and dances. ... The original Musaeum or Temple of the Muses at ancient Alexandria was the source for the modern usage, which denoted in Early Modern France as much a community of scholars brought together under one roof as it did the collections themselves, which French and English writers referred to as a... The National Gallery in London, a famous museum. ...

It has been reasonably established that the library or parts of the collection were destroyed by fire on a number of occasions (library fires were common enough and replacement of handwritten manuscripts was very difficult, expensive and time-consuming). To this day the details of the destruction (or destructions) remain a lively source of controversy. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina was inaugurated in 2003 near the site of the old library. ^[1] An interior view. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Problems of historiography

Although the Library of Alexandria is referred to in numerous contemporary sources, there is not a great deal of material directly describing the library itself. By the modern era, the library had come to symbolize the entirety of knowledge in the ancient world. Important to this symbolism are claims about the size of the library; the comprehensiveness of its collection (especially regarding books that are no longer extant); and the circumstances of its destruction. Various authors explicitly blame certain individuals or groups for having destroyed the library, and this has given rise to complex accusations of bias. It is quite possible that the library suffered numerous complete or partial destructions in its long history. The last destruction of its books was practiced by Amro Binas to use its papers as fuel to the central stoves of the great city. This was approved by Khalifa Omar BinKhatab since they were not familiar with the language.

The Library as a research institution

A reconstruction of the library as imagined for the television program Cosmos by Carl Sagan.

According to the earliest sources of information for the library, the pseudepigraphic Letter of Aristeas, the library was initially organized by Demetrius of Phaleron^[2]. Demetrius was a student of Aristotle. Reconstruction of the Museum of Alexandria, with doors leading to the rooms of the Library. ... Reconstruction of the Museum of Alexandria, with doors leading to the rooms of the Library. ... Cosmos: A Personal Voyage was the name of a thirteen part television series produced by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan which was first broadcast by the Public Broadcasting Service in 1980. ... Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, astrobiologist, and highly successful science popularizer. ... Pseudepigrapha (Greek pseudos = false, epi = after, later and grapha = writing (or writings), latterly or falsely attributed, or down right forged works, describes texts whose claimed authorship is unfounded in actuality. ... The so-called Letter of Aristeas is a Hellenistic Jewish forgery or pseudepigrapha. ... Demetrius Phalereus ( - died approximately 280 BC) was an Athenian orator and one of the first Peripatetics. ... Aristotle (Greek: Aristotélēs) (384 BC – March 7, 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. ...

Initially, the library was closely linked to a "museum," or research center, that seems to have focused primarily on editing texts. Libraries were important for textual research in the ancient world, since the same text often existed in several different versions of varying quality and veracity. The editors at the library of Alexandria are especially well known for their work on Homeric texts. The more famous editors generally also held the title of head librarian, and included:^[3] Homer (Greek Hómēros) was a legendary early Greek poet and rhapsode traditionally credited with the composition of the Iliad and the Odyssey, commonly assumed to have lived in the 8th century BC. However, exact placement of these dates is unsure. ...

• Zenodotus of Ephesus (late 3rd Century BC)
• Aristophanes of Byzantium (early 2nd Century BC)
• Aristarchus of Samothrace (early-mid 2nd Century BC) Often considered the most prominent Homeric scholar of antiquity.
• Didymus (First century BC) Grammarian.

The geographical diversity of the scholars suggests that the library was, in fact, a major center for research and learning. In 2004 a Polish-Egyptian team claimed to have discovered a part of the library while excavating in the Bruchion region. The archaeologists claimed to have found thirteen "lecture halls", each with a central podium. Zahi Hawass, the president of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said that all together, the rooms uncovered so far could have seated 5000 students^[4]. The picture thus presented is of a fairly massive research institution. Zenodotus (Greek: ), Greek grammarian, literary critic, and scholar on Homer; first librarian of the Library of Alexandria; pupil of Philetas of Cos; a native of Ephesus. ... Aristophanes of Byzantium, Gr. ... Aristarchus of Samothrace, Gr. ... Didymus Chalcenterus (ca. ... This article is about grammar from a linguistic perspective. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Dr. Zahi Hawass signs an autograph (Aug. ...

The Library likely encompassed several buildings, with the main book depositories either located directly attached to or close to the oldest building, the Museum, and a daughter library in the younger Serapeum, which was also a temple dedicated to the god Serapis. It is not always clear in the sources whether a phrase refers to a particular building, or to the institution as a whole. This has served to add to the confusion about when and by whom the library was "destroyed." By the early 2nd century BC, Eumenes II of Mysia had founded a competing library and research center in Pergamum.^[5] The Serapeum of Alexandria in Ptolemaic Egypt was a temple built by Ptolemy III (reigned 246–222 BC) and dedicated to Serapis, the syncretic Hellenistic-Egyptian god who was made the protector of Alexandria. ... Serapis can refer to: A series of British ships named HMS Serapis. ... Categories: Stub ... Mysia. ... Pergamon or Pergamum (modern day Bergama in Turkey) was a Greek city, in northwestern Anatolia, 16 miles from the Aegean Sea, located on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus (modern day Bakir), that became an important kingdom during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 282...

The collection

A different portion of Carl Sagan's Library of Alexandria. The doors from the Museum lead to storage rooms for the Library. Most of the books were probably stored in armaria, closed, labeled cupboards that were still used for book storage in medieval times.

A story concerns how its collection grew so large: by decree of Ptolemy III of Egypt, all visitors to the city were required to surrender all books and scrolls in their possession; these writings were then swiftly copied by official scribes. The originals were put into the Library, and the copies were delivered to the previous owners. This process also helped to create a reservoir of books in the relatively new city.^{[citation needed]} Reconstruction of one of the storage rooms of the Library of Alexandria. ... Reconstruction of one of the storage rooms of the Library of Alexandria. ... Ptolemy III Euergetes I, (Ptolemaeus III) (Evergetes, Euergetes) (reigned 246 BC-222 BC). ...

The library's collection was already famous in the ancient world, and became even more storied in later years. It is impossible, however, to determine how large the collection was in any era. The collection was made of papyrus scrolls. Later, parchment codices (predominant as a writing material after 300 AD) may have been substituted for papyrus. A single piece of writing might occupy several scrolls, and this division into self-contained "books" was a major aspect of editorial work. King Ptolemy II Philadelphus (309–246 BC) is said to have set 500,000 scrolls as an objective.^{[citation needed]} Mark Antony was supposed to have given Cleopatra over 200,000 scrolls for the Library. Papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus at Kew Gardens, London Papyrus is an early form of paper made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that grows to 5 meters (15 ft) in height and was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt. ... For his relatives, see Marcus Antonius (disambiguation). ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

No index of the library survives, and it is not possible to know with certainty how large and how diverse the collection was. It is likely, for example, that even if the library had hundreds of thousands of scrolls (and thus, perhaps, tens of thousands of individual works), that many of these were duplicate copies or alternate versions of the same texts.

The destruction of the Library

Ancient and modern sources identify four possible occasions for the destruction of the Library:

1. Caesar's conquest 48 BC
2. the attack of Aurelian in the 3rd century AD
3. the decree of Theophilius in 391 AD, and
4. the Muslim conquest in 642 AD or thereafter.

Each of these has been viewed with suspicion by other scholars as an effort to place the blame on particular actors. Moreover, each of these events is historically problematic. In the first and second case, there is clear evidence that the library was not in fact destroyed at those times. The third episode is often regarded as a myth, and the fourth episode is simply not documented, although some maintain that the final destruction of the Library took place at this time.^[6] Lucius Domitius Aurelianus (September 9, 214–275), known in English as Aurelian, Roman Emperor (270–275), was the second of several highly successful soldier-emperors who helped the Roman Empire regain its power during the latter part of the third century and the beginning of the fourth. ... The Muslim conquests represent a century of rapid Arab and Islamic expansion that took place from the death of Mohammed in 632 to the Battle of Tours in 732, during which time a vast Muslim empire and area of influence would come to stretch from India, across the Middle East...

Plutarch's Lives, written at the end of the first or beginning of the second century AD, describes a battle in which Caesar was forced to burn his own ships, which in turn set fire to the docks and then the Library, destroying it^[7]. This would have occurred in 48 BC, during the fighting between Caesar and Ptolemy XII. However, there is no corroborating evidence that the library was in fact destroyed at this time. Only 25 years later Strabo saw the library and worked in it. Thus, any damage sustained by this battle was probably slight. Mestrius Plutarchus (c. ... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Plutarch in Greek Plutarchs Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans is a series of biographies of famous men, arranged in tandem to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings. ... Ptolemy XII Neos Dionysos Theos Philopator Theos Philadelphos (117 BCE - 51 BCE) was son of Ptolemy IX Soter II. His mother is unknown. ... the Greek georgapher Strabo, in a 16th‑century engraving. ...

The library seems to have been maintained and continued in existence until its contents were largely lost during the taking of the city by the Emperor Aurelian (270–275 AD), who was suppressing a revolt.^{[citation needed]} The smaller library located at the Serapeum survived, but part of its contents may have been taken to Constantinople to adorn the new capital in the course of the 4th century. Map of Constantinople. ... As a means of recording the passage of time, the 4th century was that century which lasted from 301 to 400. ...

In 391, Emperor Theodosius I ordered the destruction of all pagan temples, and Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria complied with this request^[8]. Socrates Scholasticus provides the following account of the destruction of the temples in Alexandria in the fifth book of his Historia Ecclesiastica, written around 440: Events All non-Christian temples in the Roman Empire are closed Quintus Aurelius Symmachus is urban prefect in Rome, and petitions Theodosius I to re-open the pagan temples. ... An engraving depicting what Theodosius may have looked like, ca. ... The Patriarch of Alexandria is the archbishop of Alexandria and Cairo, Egypt. ... Theophilus and the Serapeum Theophilus of Alexandria, (died 412) was the Nicene patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt (385 - 412). ... Socrates Scholasticus was a Greek Christian church historian; born at Constantinople c. ...

5th century scroll which illustrates the destruction of the Serapeum by Theophilus (source: Christopher Haas: Alexandria in late antiquity, Baltimore 1997)

At the solicitation of Theophilus bishop of Alexandria the emperor issued an order at this time for the demolition of the heathen temples in that city; commanding also that it should be put in execution under the direction of Theophilus. Seizing this opportunity, Theophilus exerted himself to the utmost to expose the pagan mysteries to contempt. And to begin with, he caused the Mithreum to be cleaned out, and exhibited to public view the tokens of its bloody mysteries. Then he destroyed the Serapeum, and the bloody rites of the Mithreum he publicly caricatured; the Serapeum also he showed full of extravagant superstitions, and he had the phalli of Priapus carried through the midst of the forum. Thus this disturbance having been terminated, the governor of Alexandria, and the commander-in-chief of the troops in Egypt, assisted Theophilus in demolishing the heathen temples.

The Serapeum housed part of the Library, but it is not known how many books were contained in it at the time of destruction. Notably, Paulus Orosius admitted in the sixth book of his History against the pagans: "Today there exist in temples book chests which we ourselves have seen, and, when these temples were plundered, these, we are told, were emptied by our own men in our time, which, indeed, is a true statement." Some or all of the books may have been taken, but any books left in the Serapeum at the time would have been destroyed when it was razed to the ground. Download high resolution version (434x646, 53 KB)Theophilus and the Serapeum. ... Download high resolution version (434x646, 53 KB)Theophilus and the Serapeum. ... Image File history File links Cquote1. ... Bronze sculpture, House of the Vettii, Pompeii In Greek mythology, Priapus was a fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens and male genitalia. ... Image File history File links Cquote2. ... The Serapeum of Alexandria in Ptolemaic Egypt was a temple built by Ptolemy III (reigned 246–222 BC) and dedicated to Serapis, the syncretic Hellenistic-Egyptian god who was made the protector of Alexandria. ... Paulus Orosius (c. ... For other uses, see T (disambiguation). ...

As for the Museum, Mostafa El-Abbadi writes in Life and Fate of the ancient Library of Alexandria (Paris 1992):

The Mouseion, being at the same time a 'shrine of the Muses', enjoyed a degree of sanctity as long as other pagan temples remained unmolested. Synesius of Cyrene, who studied under Hypatia at the end of the fourth century, saw the Mouseion and described the images of the philosophers in it. We have no later reference to its existence in the fifth century. As Theon, the distinguished mathematician and father of Hypatia, herself a renowned scholar, was the last recorded scholar-member (c. 380), it is likely that the Mouseion did not long survive the promulgation of Theodosius' decree in 391 to destroy all pagan temples in the City.

Although the actual circumstances and timing of the physical destruction of the library remains uncertain, it is however clear that by the 8th century AD, the library was no longer a significant institution and had ceased to function in any important capacity. Alexandria was not a major research center for the Islamic world. Moreover, if the collection had survived to the early 700s, it would very likely have been incorporated into the library of the Al-Azhar mosque (and later university) in Cairo. This collection has come down to the present intact, but does not include Alexandrine texts.^[9] Image File history File links Cquote1. ... Synesius (c. ... An imagined portrait of Hypatia of Alexandria Hypatia of Alexandria (in Greek: Υπατία) (c. ... This article is about the year 380 AD. For the aircraft, see Airbus A380. ... Image File history File links Cquote2. ... Al-Azhar Islamic university in Cairo Egypt Al-Azhar University is connected to the mosque in Cairo named to honor Fatima Az-Zahraa, the daughter of Muhammad, from whom the Fatimid Dynasty claimed descent. ...

The Library in fiction

• The "seaQuest DSV" episode "Treasures of the Mind" deals with the seaQuest discovering the library sunken deep beneath the Mediterranean Sea.
• The fabled Masonic cache of treasure in the film National Treasure contained at least some of the scrolls from the Library of Alexandria.
• In the novel Treasure by Clive Cussler, a large amount of the information from the library was rescued from the Roman empire and moved to present day Texas.
• In the game Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, the adventurer heroine Lara Croft finds the Library in the level titled "The Lost Library".
• A Disney comic story The Guardians of the Lost Library (D 29380), by Don Rosa, features Scrooge McDuck and his nephews trying to find the Library, only to discover it had been converted into the Junior Woodchucks' guidebook.
• The Terry Pratchett novel, Small Gods includes extensive descriptions of the Library of Ephebe which is a parody of the Library of Alexandria.

seaQuest DSV was an American science fiction television series created by Rockne S. OBannon. ... UEO seaQuest DSV 4600 The UEO seaQuest DSV 4600 and the UEO seaQuest DSV 4600-II are the two titular submarines featured in the science fiction television series seaQuest DSV, which ran for three seasons on NBC from 1993-1996. ... Satellite image The Mediterranean Sea is a part of the Atlantic Ocean almost completely enclosed by land, on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia. ... The Masonic Square and Compasses. ... This is for the movie. ... Clive Cussler (born July 15, 1931 in Alhambra, California) is an American adventure novelist. ... Lara Croft as she appears in Tomb Raider: Legend Lara Croft (birthday February 14) is a British video game character, and the Amazonian heroine of the Tomb Raider series of video games, movies and comic books. ... Disney may refer to: The Walt Disney Company and its divisions, including Walt Disney Pictures. ... Don Rosa visiting Finland in 1999 Gioachino Keno Don Hugo Rosa (often just called Don Rosa) is a writer and illustrator of stories about Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck and other Disney characters. ... Scrooge McDuck or Uncle Scrooge is a fictional Scottish character who first appeared in Dell Comics Four Color Comics #178 Christmas on Bear Mountain in December 1947. ... Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck are a trio of fictional ducks who appear in animated cartoons and comic books published by the Walt Disney Company. ... In Disneys fictional Scrooge McDuck universe, The Junior Woodchucks are the Boy Scout-like youth organization to which Donald Ducks nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie, belong. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is about the novel Small Gods; for the concept of Small Gods within the Discworld, see Discworld Gods Small Gods is a novel by Terry Pratchett, the thirteenth part of the popular Discworld series. ...

Notes

Edward Gibbon (1737–1794). ...

References

• Alexander Stille: The Future of the Past (chapter: "The Return of the Vanished Library"). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002. 246-273.
• Uwe Jochum, "The Alexandrian Library and its aftermath" from Library History vol 15 (1999), pp 5-12.
• Edward Parsons: The Alexandrian Library. London, 1952. Relevant online excerpt.
• Edward Gibbon: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (chapter: "Destruction of Paganism", "The temple of Serapis at Alexandria" and "Its final destruction, A.D. 389" subchapters)
• Ellen Brundige: The Decline of the Library and Museum of Alexandria, December 10, 1991
• Canfora, Luciano (trans. Martin Ryle) (1989). The Vanished Library. A Wonder of the Ancient World. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-07255-3.
• El-Abbadi, Mostafa (1992). Life and fate of the ancient Library of Alexandria, 2nd edition, Paris: UNESCO. ISBN 92-3-102632-1.
• Macleod, Roy, editor (2nd ed.). The Library of Alexandria: Centre of Learning in the Ancient World. London and New york: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 1850435944.
• Orosius, Paulus (trans. Roy J. Deferrari) (1964). The seven books of history against the pagans. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America. (No ISBN).
• Macleod, Roy, editor (2nd ed.). The Library of Alexandria: Centre of Learning in the Ancient World. I. B. Tauris. ISBN 1850435944.

1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... UNESCO logo UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945. ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ...

See also

• Bibliotheca Alexandrina

An interior view. ...

External links

• Ellen N. Brundige: The Library of Alexandria
• History Magazine: The Great Library
• Preston Chesser: The Burning of the Library of Alexandria
• James Hannam: The Mysterious Fate of the Great Library of Alexandria
• Kenneth Humphreys: Murder of Hypatia, End of Classic Scholarship in Egypt
• The Straight Dope What happened to the great library of Alexandria?

Khafres Pyramid (4th dynasty) and Great Sphinx of Giza (c. ... Bold text For at least ten thousand years, the Nile valley has been the site of one of the most Historical civilizations in the world. ... Ancient Egyptian art is five thousand years old. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... This page lists articles on dynasties of Ancient Egypt. ... General context: Ancient Egypt. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Egyptian mythology or Egyptian religion is the succession of tentative beliefs held by the people of Egypt for over three thousand years, prior to major exposure to Christianity and Islam. ... This article contains a list of the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, from the Early Dynastic Period before 3000 BC through to the end of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, when Egypt became a province of Rome under Augustus Caesar in 30 BC. It should be noted that there are three women rulers... Map of Ancient Egypt List of Ancient Egyptian sites, throughout all of Egypt and Nubia Sites are listed with their classical name whenever possible, else their modern name and last if no other available their ancient name. ... The writing systems of ancient Egypt include: Egyptian hieroglyphs Cursive hieroglphs Hieratic Demotic the Coptic alphabet Other texts discovered in Egypt and dating to the period before Islam include those written in: the Greek alphabet the Latin alphabet the Cuneiform script the Old Persian cuneiform script Tifinagh the South Arabian... ... Egyptologist is the designation given to an archaeologist or historian who specialises in Egyptology, the scientific study of Ancient Egypt and its antiquities. ...