The Library At Alexandria

The Library of Alexandria was one of the largest and most significant collections of the ancient world, but its story is one of gradual decline and multiple, controversial events, rather than a single dramatic fire.

Here is a summary of what we know and the major rumors surrounding it:

What We Know About the Library of Alexandria

• Foundation: It was likely established in the early 3rd century BCE under the Ptolemaic Dynasty (Ptolemy I Soter or Ptolemy II Philadelphus) in Alexandria, Egypt.

• The Mouseion: The Library was part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion (Shrine of the Muses), which attracted scholars, poets, and scientists from across the ancient world. This institution is the origin of the modern word "museum."

• Collection Size: Ancient estimates of the collection size vary wildly, ranging from 40,000 to 700,000 papyrus scrolls.

• Acquisition Methods: The Ptolemies were famously aggressive in acquiring books. They reportedly...

  • Searched every ship that sailed into the harbor and confiscated books to be copied, returning a copy to the owner while keeping the original.

  • Paid enormous sums for original texts, even forfeiting a massive silver pledge to keep the original scripts of the great Greek dramatists (Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides) from the Athenian state archives.

What Happened to the Library (The Decline)

The destruction of the Library was a process that spanned centuries, not a single event. Scholars generally agree that both the main Royal Library and its later "daughter" library were largely defunct long before the 7th-century Arab conquest.

1. Purge and Decline (Mid-2nd Century BCE): The decline began around 145 BCE when Ptolemy VIII Physcon purged intellectuals from Alexandria. Lack of funding and support during the Roman period contributed to its dwindling influence.

2. Julius Caesar's Fire (48 BCE): During Caesar's civil war in Alexandria, he ordered his troops to set fire to enemy ships in the harbor. Ancient sources conflict, but some later accounts claim this fire spread and destroyed part of the collection—with one source claiming 40,000 scrolls were burned. However, the Library seems to have survived or been quickly rebuilt in some capacity.

3. Roman Destruction (c. 270–275 CE): The Library appears to have ceased functioning by the 260s CE. An invasion by Queen Zenobia of Palmyra and a subsequent imperial counterattack by Emperor Aurelian likely destroyed whatever remained of the main Library and the surrounding royal quarter.

4. Destruction of the Daughter Library (391 CE): A secondary library was housed in the Serapeum (a temple to the god Serapis). In 391 CE, under an imperial decree by Emperor Theodosius I to stamp out paganism, the Serapeum was vandalized and demolished by Christian zealots, likely destroying the books housed there.

Rumored and Actual Contents

While the popular myth suggests the Library contained unique "lost knowledge" of advanced technology, the reality is more complex. It was a massive research center, and its greatest loss was the destruction of the centralized collection and many important scholarly works, even if copies of the most famous texts existed elsewhere.

Works Known or Strongly Believed to Have Been in the Library:

• The Entire Corpus of Greek Literature: The Ptolemies intended to collect every book written in Greek.

• Works of Major Greek Thinkers: Likely included original or definitive texts by philosophers like Plato and Aristotle, mathematicians like Euclid (who may have worked in Alexandria), and scientists like Archimedes.

• The Pinakes: The world's first known library catalog and bibliography, compiled by Callimachus, listing the library's holdings by subject and author.

• The Septuagint: The first Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, which scholars believe was created in Alexandria for the Library.

• A Vast Body of Research: In addition to classic literature, the library contained commentaries, scientific treatises, geographical surveys, medical notes, and works on all sciences from across the known world, including Egyptian, Babylonian, and possibly Buddhist writings.

What Was Potentially Lost Forever (Rumors and Speculation):

The tragedy of the Library lies in the probable loss of unique materials and the vast volume of secondary works:

• Lost Plays: Only 7 of the 123 plays by Sophocles survived, and similar losses occurred for other tragedians like Aeschylus and Euripides. Many of these missing works are often connected to the Library's destruction.

• Poetry: The majority of the complete works of poets like Sappho and Pindar were lost, and their texts were believed to have been fully collected at Alexandria.

• Lesser-Known Works and Commentaries: The bulk of what was truly lost were the lesser-known literary works, the highly detailed academic commentaries, and the specialized research monographs—all the residue of an incredibly sophisticated literary and scientific culture that would have provided invaluable context for what we still have today.

The mind BOGGLES when one thinks of all the knowledge lost. Who knows what vital knowledge might have been hidden among the volumes inscrolled in that "library" of old.

If I had a time machine, I would go back there.