Hidden History: Lost Civilizations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mysteries by Brian Haughton (beginner reading books for adults txt) 📕

functioned as a place of study with lecture areas, laboratories, observatories, botanical gardens, a zoo, living quarters, and dining halls, as well as the library itself. A priest chosen by Ptolemy I was the administrator of the museum, and there was also a separate librarian in charge of the manuscript collection. At some point during his reign (from 282 to 246 B.C.) Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the son of Ptolemy I Soter, established the Royal Library to complement the Temple of the Muses set up by his father. It is not clear whether the Royal Library, which was to become the main manuscript library, was a separate building located next to the museum, or if it was an extension of the original building. However, the consensus of opinion is that the Royal Library did form part of the Temple of the Muses.

During the reign of Ptolemy II, the idea of the universal library seems to have taken shape. Apparently, more than 100 scholars were housed within the museum, whose job it was to carry out scientific research, lecture, publish, translate, copy, and collect not only original manuscripts of Greek authors (allegedly including the private collection of Aristotle), but translations of works from Egypt, Assyria, Persia, as well as Buddhist texts and Hebrew scriptures. One story goes that the hunger of Ptolemy III for knowledge was so great that he decreed that all ships docking at the port should surrender their manuscripts to the authorities. Copies were then made by official scribes and delivered to the original owners, the originals being filed away in the library. An often quoted figure for the library holdings at its peak is half a million documents, though whether this refers to the amount of books or the number of papyrus scrolls is unclear. However, in view of the fact that many papyrus rolls were needed to make up an entire book, it is more likely that it refers to the number of scrolls. Even 500,000 scrolls has been thought too high by some scholars, as the construction of a building with such a vast amount of storage space would be an immense-though not impossibleundertaking. Nevertheless, during the reign of Ptolemy II the collection at the Royal Library became so vast that a daughter library was established. This library was situated in the precincts of the temple of Serapis, in the Egyptian district of Rhakotis, in the southeastern part of the city. During the librarianship of the Greek writer Callimachus (c. 305 B.c.-c. 240 B.C.), the daughter library contained 42,800 scrolls, all of which were copies of those in the main library.

The alleged total destruction by fire of the Library of Alexandria, with the consequent loss of the most complete collection of ancient literature ever assembled, has been a point of heated debate for centuries. What exactly happened to this amazing storehouse of ancient knowledge, and who was responsible for its burning? The first point that needs to be mentioned is that "the greatest catastrophe of the ancient world," may never have taken place on the scale often supposed. Nevertheless, the library did disappear practically without a trace, so obviously a disaster of some kind

befell it. The most popular suspect in the case is Julius Caesar. It is alleged that during Caesar's occupation of the city of Alexandria in 48 B.C., he found himself in the royal palace, hemmed in by the Egyptian fleet in the harbor. For his own safety he had his men set fire to the Egyptian ships, but the fire got out of control and spread to the parts of the city nearest the shore, which included warehouses, depots, and some arsenals. After Caesar's death it was generally believed that it was he who had destroyed the library. Roman philosopher and dramatist Seneca, quoting from Livy's History of Rome, written between 63 B.C. and A.D. 14, says that 40,000 scrolls were destroyed in the fire started by Caesar. Greek historian Plutarch mentions that the fire destroyed "the great Library." Roman historian Dio Cassius (c. A.D. 165-A.D. 235) mentions a warehouse of manuscripts being destroyed during the conflagration.

In his book, The Vanished Library, Luciano Canfora interprets the evidence from ancient writers not to indicate that the great library itself was destroyed, but manuscripts stored in warehouses near the port waiting for export. The great scholar and stoic philosopher, Strabo, was working in Alexandria in 20 B.c., and from his writings it is obvious that the library was not the world-renowned center for learning it had been in previous centuries. In fact, Strabo does not mention a library as such at all, though he does mention the museum, which he describes as "part of the royal palace." He goes on to say that "it comprises the covered walk, the exedra or portico, and a great hall in which the learned members of the museum take their meals in common." If the great library was attached to the museum, then Strabo obviously felt there was no need to mention it separately, and, perhaps more importantly, if he was there in 20 B.C., the library had obviously not been burned down by Caesar 28 years previously. The existence of the library in 20 B.C., though perhaps in a less grand form, means that we have to look to someone other than Caesar as the destroyer of Alexandria's ancient wonder.

Early fifth century illustration of Theophilus and the Serape um.

In A.D. 391 Emperor Theodosius I, as part of his attempt to wipe out Paganism, officially sanctioned the destruction of the Serapeum, or Temple of Serapis at Alexandria. The destruction of the temple was carried out under Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, and afterward a Christian church was built on the site. It has been hypothesized that the daughter library of the museum, located close to the Temple, and the royal library itself, were also razed to the ground at this time. However, while it is plausible that manuscripts from the Serapeum library may have been destroyed during this