The Burning Library of Alexandria: A Tragic Loss of Ancient Knowledge
Featured in "Just One Damned Thing After Another" by Jodi Taylor
Max and the St Mary’s Institute for Historical Research team jump back to Ancient Egypt to help rescue artifacts and scrolls from the burning Library of Alexandria.
Here we explore the Library of Alexandria's origins, significance, and eventual fate, shedding light on the tragic loss of invaluable knowledge that occurred with its burning. The Library of Alexandria, often hailed as one of the greatest repositories of ancient knowledge, stood as a beacon of learning and scholarship in the ancient world. The Library’s stated ambition was to own a copy of every book in the known world and, to this end, it required all visitors and ships’ captains to hand over any scrolls they happened to posses for copying by official scribes. They’d get them back, obviously. They said. A neat reversal of the problems of book theft experienced by today’s modern librarians. Imagine a dawn raid by your local library, come to help themselves to your paperbacks.
Its destruction, shrouded in mystery and controversy, remains one of the most tragic cultural events in the history of civilization.
Founded in the 3rd century BCE by Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the Library of Alexandria was conceived as a centre of learning and intellectual inquiry in the heart of the ancient city of Alexandria, Egypt. Its collection included manuscripts, scrolls, and texts from around the world and attracted scholars, philosophers, and scientists from far and wide, making it a hub of intellectual exchange and innovation.
The Library was pivotal in preserving and disseminating knowledge from antiquity, housing works of literature, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine and served as a symbol of Alexandria's cosmopolitanism and sophistication.
The exact circumstances surrounding the burning of the Library of Alexandria are shrouded in mystery and subject to debate among historians and scholars. While accounts vary, it is widely believed that the library suffered multiple instances of destruction over the centuries, culminating in its ultimate demise.
One of the most widely cited accounts of the library's destruction is attributed to Julius Caesar during his conquest of Alexandria in 48 BCE. According to ancient sources, Caesar's forces set fire to the ships in Alexandria's harbour, inadvertently spreading the flames to the city and destroying large parts of the library in the process.
Another account attributes the Library's destruction to a decree issued by the Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius I in the 4th century CE, when he ordered the closure and destruction of all allegedly pagan temples and institutions, including the Library.
The destruction had profound and far-reaching consequences for the preservation and transmission of ancient knowledge. Countless irreplaceable manuscripts and texts were lost in the flames, representing a staggering loss of human creativity, ingenuity, and wisdom.
Despite its destruction, the legacy of the Library endures today with a modern Library of Alexandria, started in 1974 and officially inaugurated in October 2002.
Find out how Max and the team fared in their heroic effort to save scrolls and artifacts from the terrible destruction in "Just One Damned Thing After Another" by Jodi Taylor.
I hope you have enjoyed this foray into history. Please subscribe to enjoy more articles like this.