This article is about the Ptolemaic library of the Ptolemy dynasty and Roman Egypt. For the current day library, see Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
"Great Library" redirects here. For the library of Quebec in Montreal, see Grande Bibliothèque. For library of Bagdad during the Islamic Golden Age, see Grand Library of Bagdad.
Library of Alexandria
Ancientlibraryalex.jpg
The Great Library of Alexandria, O. Von Corven, 19th century
Country Egypt
Type National library
Established 3rd century BC
Location Alexandria

The Royal Library of Alexandria or Ancient Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. It was dedicated to the Muses, the nine goddesses of the arts.[1] It flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty and functioned as a major center of scholarship from its construction in the 3rd century BC until the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC, with collections of works, lecture halls, meeting rooms, and gardens. The library was part of a larger research institution called the Musaeum of Alexandria, where many of the most famous thinkers of the ancient world studied.

The library was created by Ptolemy I Soter, who was a Macedonian general and the successor of Alexander the Great.[2] Most of the books were kept as papyrus scrolls. It is unknown precisely how many such scrolls were housed at any given time, but estimates range from 40,000 to 400,000 at its height.

Arguably, this library is most famous for having been burned down resulting in the loss of many scrolls and books; its destruction has become a symbol for the loss of cultural knowledge. Sources differ on who was responsible for its destruction and when it occurred. The library may in truth have suffered several fires over many years. Possible occasions for the partial or complete destruction of the Library of Alexandria include a fire set by the army of Julius Caesar in 48 BC and an attack by Aurelian in the 270s AD.

After the main library was destroyed, scholars used a "daughter library" in a temple known as the Serapeum, located in another part of the city. According to Socrates of Constantinople, Coptic Pope Theophilus destroyed the Serapeum in AD 391, although it is not certain what it contained or if it contained any significant fraction of the documents that were in the main library. The library may have finally been destroyed during the Muslim conquest of Egypt in (or after) AD 642.

Contents

StructureEdit

The exact layout of the library is not known, but ancient sources describe the Library of Alexandria as comprising a collection of scrolls, Greek columns, a peripatos walk, a room for shared dining, a reading room, meeting rooms, gardens, and lecture halls, creating a model for the modern university campus.[3] The library itself is known to have had an acquisitions department (possibly built near the stacks, or for utility closer to the harbor) and a cataloguing department. A hall contained shelves for the collections of papyrus scrolls known as bibliothekai (βιβλιοθῆκαι). According to popular description, an inscription above the shelves read: The place of the cure of the soul.[4]

The library was but one part of the Musaeum of Alexandria, which functioned as a sort of research institute. In addition to the library, the Musaeum included rooms for the study of astronomy, anatomy, and even a zoo containing exotic animals. The classical thinkers who studied, wrote, and experimented at the Musaeum include the great names of mathematics, astronomy, physics, geometry, engineering, geography, physiology, and medicine. These included notable thinkers such as Euclid, Archimedes, Eratosthenes, Herophilus, Erasistratus, Hipparchus, Aedesia, Pappus, Theon, Hypatia, and Aristarchus of Samos.[5]

CollectionEdit

It is not possible to determine the collection's size in any era with any certainty. Papyrus scrolls constituted the collection, and although codices were used after 300 BC, the Alexandrian Library is never documented as having switched to parchment, perhaps because of its strong links to the papyrus trade. (The Library of Alexandria in fact was indirectly causal in the creation of writing on parchment — due to the library's critical need for papyrus, little was exported and thus an alternate source of copy material became essential.)[6]

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 for the library.[7] Mark Antony supposedly gave Cleopatra over 200,000 scrolls for the library as a wedding gift, taken from the great Library of Pergamum, but this is regarded by some historians as a propagandist claim meant to show Antony's allegiance to Egypt rather than Rome.[8] The library's index, Callimachus' Pinakes, was lost with the rest of the library, and it is not possible to know with certainty how large and how diverse the collection may have been. At its height, the library was said to possess nearly half a million scrolls, and, although historians debate the precise number, the highest estimates claim 400,000 scrolls while the most conservative estimates are as low as 40,000, which is still an enormous collection that required vast storage space. This library, with the largest holdings of the age, acquired its collection by laborious copying of originals. Galen spoke of how all ships visiting the city were obliged to surrender their books for immediate copying. The owners received a copy while the pharaohs kept the originals in the library within their museum.[9][10]

As a research institution, the library filled its stacks with new works in mathematics, astronomy, physics, natural sciences and other subjects. Its empirical standards applied in one of the first and certainly strongest homes for serious textual criticism. As the same text often existed in several different versions, comparative textual criticism was crucial for ensuring their veracity. Once ascertained, canonical copies would then be made for scholars, royalty, and wealthy bibliophiles the world over, this commerce bringing income to the library.[11]

HistoryEdit

 
This Latin inscription regarding Tiberius Claudius Balbilus of Rome (d. c. AD 79) mentions the "ALEXANDRINA BYBLIOTHECE" (line eight).

The library was arguably one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world, but details about it are a mixture of history and legend.[12] Its main purpose was to show off the wealth of Egypt, with research as a lesser goal,[13] but its contents were used to aid the ruler of Egypt.[12]

According to the earliest source of information, the pseudepigraphic Letter of Aristeas composed between c.180 and 145 BC,[13] the library was initially organized by Demetrius of Phaleron,[14] a student of Aristotle, under the reign of Ptolemy I Soter (c.323 BC—c.283 BC). Other sources claim it was instead created under the reign of his son Ptolemy II (283–246 BC).[15] The Library was built in the Brucheion (Royal Quarter) in the style of Aristotle's Lyceum, adjacent to (and in service of) the Musaeum (a Greek Temple or "House of Muses", whence the term "museum").[16]

The Library at Alexandria was in charge of collecting all the world's knowledge, and most of the staff was occupied with the task of translating works onto papyrus paper.[12] It did so through an aggressive and well-funded royal mandate involving trips to the book fairs of Rhodes and Athens.[17] According to Galen, any books found on ships that came into port were taken to the library,[15] and were listed as "books of the ships".[18] Official scribes then copied these writings; the originals were kept in the library, and the copies delivered to the owners.[18] Other than collecting works from the past, the library served as home to a host of international scholars, well-patronized by the Ptolemaic dynasty with travel, lodging, and stipends for their whole families.[11]

According to Galen, Ptolemy III requested permission from the Athenians to borrow the original scripts of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, for which the Athenians demanded the enormous amount of fifteen talents (1,000 pounds, 450 kg) of a precious metal as guarantee. Ptolemy III happily paid the fee but kept the original scripts for the library.[19] This story may also be construed erroneously to show the power of Alexandria over Athens during the Ptolemaic dynasty. This detail is due to the fact that Alexandria was a man-made bidirectional port between the mainland and the Pharos island, welcoming trade from the East and West, and soon found itself to be an international hub for trade, the leading producer of papyrus and, soon enough, books.[20]

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. These included Zenodotus, Apollonius of Rhodes, Eratosthenes, Aristophanes of Byzantium, and Aristarchus of Samothrace, among others.[21] (While Callimachus—the first bibliographer and developer of the "Pinakes", which is popularly considered the first library catalog—did his most famous work at the Library of Alexandria, he was never the head librarian there.[22]) In the early 2nd century BC scholars began to abandon Alexandria for safer areas with more generous patronage, and in 145 BC Ptolemy VIII expelled all foreign scholars from Alexandria.[23]

DestructionEdit

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. 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. Ancient and modern sources identify several possible occasions for the partial or complete destruction of the Library of Alexandria.[24]

During Caesar's Civil War, Julius Caesar was besieged at Alexandria in 48 BC. Many ancient sources describe Caesar setting fire to his own ships[25][26] and state that this fire spread to the library, destroying it.[26]

[W]hen the enemy endeavored to cut off his communication by sea, he was forced to divert that danger by setting fire to his own ships, which, after burning the docks, thence spread on and destroyed the great library.

— Plutarch, Life of Caesar[27]

Bolstering this claim, in the 4th century both the pagan historian Ammianus[28] and the Christian historian Orosius[29] wrote that the Bibliotheca Alexandrina had been destroyed by Caesar's fire. However, Florus and Lucan claim that the flames Caesar set burned only the fleet and some "houses near the sea".[30]

The library seems to have continued in existence to some degree until its contents were largely lost during the taking of the city by the Emperor Aurelian (AD 270–275), who was suppressing a revolt by Queen Zenobia of Palmyra.[31] During the course of the fighting, the areas of the city in which the main library was located were damaged.[15] Some sources claim that the smaller library located at the Serapeum survived,[32] though Ammianus Marcellinus wrote of the library in the Serapeum temple as a thing of the past, destroyed when Caesar sacked Alexandria.[33]

 
5th century scroll which illustrates the destruction of the Serapeum by Theophilus

Paganism was made illegal by an edict of the Emperor Theodosius I in AD 391. The temples of Alexandria were closed by Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria in AD 391.[32] The historian Socrates of Constantinople describes that all pagan temples in Alexandria were destroyed, including the Serapeum.[34] Since the Serapeum had at one time housed a part of the Great Library, some scholars believe that the remains of the Library of Alexandria were destroyed at this time.[32][35] However, it is not known how many, if any, books were contained in it at the time of destruction, and contemporary scholars do not mention the library directly.[36][37]

In AD 642, Alexandria was captured by the Muslim army of 'Amr ibn al-'As. Several later Arabic sources describe the library's destruction by the order of Caliph Omar.[38][39] Bar-Hebraeus, writing in the 13th century, quotes Omar as saying to Yaḥyā al-Naḥwī: "If those books are in agreement with the Quran, we have no need of them; and if these are opposed to the Quran, destroy them."[40] Later scholars are skeptical of these stories, given the range of time that had passed before they were written down and the political motivations of the various writers.[41][42][43][44][45]

LegacyEdit

Although the various component parts of the physical library were destroyed, in fact the centres of academic excellence had already moved to various capital cities. Furthermore, it is possible that most of the material from the Library of Alexandria actually survived, by way of the Imperial Library of Constantinople, the Academy of Gondishapur, and the House of Wisdom. This material may then have been preserved by the Reconquista, which led to the formation of European Universities and the recompilation of ancient texts from formerly scattered fragments.[46]

Completed in 2002, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina functions as a modern library and cultural center, commemorating the original Library of Alexandria.[47]

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ Murray, S. A., (2009). The library: An illustrated history. New York: Skyhorse Publishing, p.17
  2. ^ Murray, S. (2009). The library: An illustrated history. Chicago, IL: Skyhorse Publishing, (pp. 15).
  3. ^ Lyons 2011, p. 26.
  4. ^ Manguel, Alberto, The Library at Night. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008, p. 26.
  5. ^ "The Great Library of Alexandria". ldolphin.org. 
  6. ^ Murray, S. A., (2009). The library: An illustrated history. New York: Skyhorse Publishing, p.14
  7. ^ Tarn, W.W. 1928. Ptolemy II. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 14(3/4), 246–260. The Byzantine writer Tzetzes gives a similar figure in his essay On Comedy.
  8. ^ MacLeod, Roy, The Library of Alexandria: Center of Learning in the Ancient World, New York:I.B Tauris & Co Ltd, 2005.
  9. ^ Murray, Stuart (2009-07-27). The Library: An Illustrated History. Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60239-706-4. 
  10. ^ Lyons 2011.
  11. ^ a b Kennedy, George.The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism:Classical Criticism,New York: University of Cambridge Press, 1999.
  12. ^ a b c MacLeod 2004, pp. 1–.
  13. ^ a b David C. Lindberg (15 March 1980). Science in the Middle Ages. University of Chicago Press. pp. 5–. ISBN 978-0-226-48233-0. Retrieved 11 January 2013. 
  14. ^ Letter of Aristeas, 9–12.
  15. ^ a b c Phillips 2010.
  16. ^ Entry Μουσείον at Liddell & Scott.
  17. ^ Erksine, Andrew. 1995. "Culture and Power in Ptolemaic Egypt: The Museum and Library of Alexandria". Greece & Rome, 2nd ser., 42(1), 38–48.
  18. ^ a b Galen, xvii.a, p.606.
  19. ^ Galen, xvii.a, p.607.
  20. ^ Trumble & MacIntyre Marshall 2003.
  21. ^ Whibley, Leonard; A Companion to Greek Studies 1916 pp. 122–123.
  22. ^ Konstantinos Sp. Staikos (2000). The Great Libraries: From Antiquity to the Renaissance. Oak Knoll Press & The British Library. p. 66. ISBN 1-58456-018-5. 
  23. ^ Paul G P Meyboom (1995). The Nile Mosaic of Palestrina: Early Evidence of Egyptian Religion in Italy. BRILL. pp. 373–. ISBN 978-90-04-10137-1. Retrieved 12 January 2013. 
  24. ^ Fred Lerner (2001), The Story of Libraries, Continuum, p. 30, ISBN 9780826411143, 0826411142 
  25. ^ Pollard, Justin, and Reid, Howard. 2006. The Rise and Fall of Alexandria, Birthplace of the Modern World.
  26. ^ a b Aulus Gellius. Attic Nights book 7 chapter 17.
  27. ^ Plutarch, Life of Caesar, 49.6.
  28. ^ See Amm. 22.6; cf. Dio 42.38.
  29. ^ Paulus Orosius, vi.15.32
  30. ^ Cherf, William J. (2008). "Earth Wind and Fire: The Alexandrian Fire-storm of 48 B.C.". In El-Abbadi, Mostafa; Fathallah, Omnia Mounir. What Happened to the Ancient Library of Alexandria?. Leiden: BRILL. p. 70. ISBN 978-90-474-3302-6. 
  31. ^ Staff Report: "What happened to the great Library of Alexandria? The Straight Dope, 6 December 2005
  32. ^ a b c Gibbon 1776–1789, ch. 28.
  33. ^ Marcellinus, Ammianus (1862), "Roman History: book 22.16.12–13", in Yonge, C.D., Roman History, London: H.G. Bohn 
  34. ^ Socrates; Roberts, Alexander; Donaldson, James (1885), "Socrates: Book V: Chapter 16", in Philip Schaff; et al., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, II, II 
  35. ^ John Julius Norwich, Byzantium: The Early Centuries
  36. ^ Paulus Orosius, vi.15.32
  37. ^ El-Abbadi, Mostafa (1990), The Life and Fate of the Ancient Library of Alexandria (2, illustrated ed.), Unesco/UNDP, pp. 159, 160, ISBN 92-3-102632-1 
  38. ^ De Sacy, Relation de l’Egypte par Abd al-Latif, Paris, 1810: "Above the column of the pillars is a dome supported by this column. I think this building was the portico where Aristotle taught, and after him his disciples; and that this was the academy that Alexander built when he built this city, and where was placed the library which Amr ibn-Alas burned, with the permission of Omar." Google books here [1]. Translation of De Sacy from here [2]. Other versions of Abd-el-Latif in English here [3].
  39. ^ Samir Khalil, «L’utilisation d’al-Qifṭī par la Chronique arabe d’Ibn al-‘Ibrī († 1286)», in: Samir Khalil Samir (Éd.), Actes du IIe symposium syro-arabicum (Sayyidat al-Bīr, septembre 1998). Études arabes chrétiennes, = Parole de l'Orient 28 (2003) 551–598. An English translation of the passage in Al-Qifti by Emily Cottrell of Leiden University is at the Roger Pearse blog here [4]
  40. ^ Ed. Pococke, p.181, translation on p.114. Online Latin text and English translation here [5]. Latin: “Quod ad libros quorum mentionem fecisti: si in illis contineatur, quod cum libro Dei conveniat, in libro Dei [est] quod sufficiat absque illo; quod si in illis fuerit quod libro Dei repugnet, neutiquam est eo [nobis] opus, jube igitur e medio tolli.” Jussit ergo Amrus Ebno’lAs dispergi eos per balnea Alexandriae, atque illis calefaciendis comburi; ita spatio semestri consumpti sunt. Audi quid factum fuerit et mirare."
  41. ^ E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chapter 51: "It would be endless to enumerate the moderns who have wondered and believed, but I may distinguish with honour the rational scepticism of Renaudot, (Hist. Alex. Patriarch, p. 170: ) historia ... habet aliquid ut απιστον ut Arabibus familiare est." However Butler says: "Renaudot thinks the story has an element of untrustworthiness: Gibbon discusses it rather briefly and disbelieves it." (ch.25, p.401)
  42. ^ The civilisation of Arabs, Book no III, 1884, reedition of 1980, page 468
  43. ^ "The Vanished Library by Bernard Lewis". nybooks.com. 
  44. ^ Trumble & MacIntyre Marshall 2003, p. 51. "Today most scholars have discredited the story of the destruction of the Library by the Muslims."
  45. ^ MacLeod 2004, p. 71. "The story first appears 500 years after the Arab conquest of Alexandria. John the Grammarian appears to be John Philoponus, who must have been dead by the time of the conquest. It seems, as shown above, that both of the Alexandrian libraries were destroyed by the end of the fourth century, and there is no mention of any library surviving at Alexandria in the Christian literature of the centuries following that date. It is also suspicious that Omar is recorded to have made the same remark about books found by the Arab during their conquest of Iran."
  46. ^ Melvin Bragg, ed. (12 March 2013). "BBC UK radio program In Our Time: The Library of Alexandria". Retrieved 15 October 2013. 
  47. ^ "About the BA - Bibliotheca Alexandrina". www.bibalex.org. Retrieved 2017-02-16. 

SourcesEdit

Further readingEdit

  • Berti, Monica; Costa, Virgilio (2010). La Biblioteca di Alessandria: storia di un paradiso perduto. Tivoli (Roma): Edizioni TORED. ISBN 978-88-88617-34-3. 
  • El-Abbadi, Mostafa (1992). Life and Fate of the Ancient Library of Alexandria (2nd ed.). Paris: UNESCO. ISBN 92-3-102632-1. 
  • Jochum, Uwe. "The Alexandrian Library and Its Aftermath" from Library History vol, pp. 5–12.
  • Orosius, Paulus (trans. Roy J. Deferrari) (1964). The Seven Books of History Against the Pagans. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America. (No ISBN). 
  • Parsons, Edward. The Alexandrian Library. London, 1952. Relevant online excerpt.
  • Stille, Alexander: The Future of the Past (chapter: "The Return of the Vanished Library"). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002. pp. 246–273.

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