According to my research findings, The Ancient Library of Alexandria was built at around the 3rd BC in the city of Alexandria, Egypt which was named after its founder, Alexander the Great. After Alexander’s death, there had been a big power struggle within a select group of Macedonians who had served as some of his top ranking officers. They wanted to get their hands on the lands that Alexander the Great had acquired through his conquests. Alexander’s Empire stretched from his homeland in Macedonia to the western border of India. His empire ended up being torn up into three big chunks, with the Ptolomies securing Egypt in the division of Alexander’s territories (Casson, L. 2001, pg 31-32)
The library flourished under the Ptolematic kingdom as the first four members of this dynasty concentrated on Alexandria’s cultural reputation. Ptolomy I Soter was the first Macedonian king to rule Egypt after Alexander’s death and he had the idea for a library as he found the people he was governing in the newly established city of Alexandria, ignorant barbarians (Fortunecity, [online], 9/09/2011).
This was because the city’s population was mainly made up of soldiers, sailors of the Ptolomies armed forces, bureaucrats and clerks of their administration, all types of traders, businessmen, craftsmen and swindlers (Casson, L. 2001,pg 30). The Ptolomies had money and they wanted to transform the city and its people by attracting intellectuals to Alexandria, it was Ptolomy I Soter’s idea to firstly open a museum which back then was really a temple of worship for thought and contemplation for the muses.
This would then attract writers, poets, scientists and other important scholars who would stay there with free lodging and meals, high tax free salaries and live carefree lifestyles. Ptolomy I was able to entice the likes of Euclid and Strato who were both physicists, whilst Ptolomy III was able to get Eratosthenes; a geographer and Archimedes; a famous Greek Mathematician, scientist and engineer to come to Alexandria. With the help of Demetrius of Phaleron; who he had put in charge of the organisation and the collections acquisitions of the future Library, and the group of intellectuals he attracted to the city of Alexandria, the Ancient Library of Alexandria was created (Lerner, F. 1999, pg 26).
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The person who became head of the library was a Director which was a post normally appointed by the court. This person also had the duties of serving as a tutor to the royal children. The first person to gain this position was Zenodotus of Ephesus; he was the first person to establish a sound text of Homeric poems and it is believed that he was the one who developed the system that libraries used for shelving its holdings and the alphabetical order of organisation (Casson, L. 2001, pg 37). In order for him to be able to put in place the library’s initial organisation, he would have needed help. So other workers were recruited such as sorters, checkers, clerks, pages, copyists, repairers etc... It is believed that more than likely, these people would have been slaves (Casson, L. 2011, pg 37-38).
There are two other important people who also made important contributions to the library but were not Librarians; Callimachus; a Greek poet and one of the greatest Scholars to work in the library. Callimachus was the creator of the Pinakes which was a catalogue of Greek authors and their works, along with biographical and literary information (Books and writers, [online], 9/15 /11). Users of the library were able to determine the existence and location of a particular work; from his shelf-list which he created. This was a vital reference tool in the library (Casson, L. 2001, pg 41).
Demetrius of Phalerion also played a leading role in creating and providing some of the ideas for the Museum. He was also put in charge of the collections of the king’s library as he was lavished with resources to be able to collect, make purchases and make copies of all the books he could get his hands on (Macleod, R. 2004, pg 63). It’s is believed that it was he who persuaded King Ptolomy I to get the Hebrew bible the Septuagint translated into Greek (Lerner, F. 1999, pg 28).
The very first problem that the library faced during its early days was the acquisition of materials. It’s first director and librarian; Zenodotos, began an inventory of the scrolls acquired by the Ptolemies for the Museum (Books and writers, [online], 9/15/2011). Even though Egypt had many books, they were all in Egyptian. The Ptolemy’s used their wealth to buy Greek books from Athens and Rhodes, and other established areas of Greek Culture (Casson, L. 2001, pg 34). They sent out agents, with money and orders to buy whatever books they could find and on any subject (Lerner, F. 1999, pg 27).
It is believed the main library totalled 490,000 scrolls and in the daughter library there were approximately 42,800 scrolls (Casson, L. 2001, pg 36). The library’s collection included classic books on Greek poetry, translations of Hebrew Scriptures and Egyptian chronologies into Greek as well as books by native historians on the countries that Alexander the Great had conquered (Lerner, F. 1999, pg 27-28). The library also housed the works of some of the famous scholars of that time including Plato, Aristotle and Sophocles (Fortunecity, [online], 9/09/2011).
There are many theories about what brought about the end of the Ancient library of Alexandria. One theory, states that during Julius Caesar’s brief Alexandrian War, the Royal Library was accidentally destroyed, by fire with a loss of four hundred thousand rolls (Learner, F. 1998. pg 29).
Another theory states that in AD 270, the barbarous Roman emperor Aurelian arrived and sacked the city which had rebelled against his rule. So he burnt down the library, destroying all that it contained. The library or at least a library was built and a new collection of scrolls and manuscripts was assembled (Fortunecity, [online], 9/9/2011)
Author Mathew Battles in his Book Library: An unquiet History further suggest that, The libraries of Alexandria were destroyed completely in the third century A.D when the Brucheion or palace quarter was razed during Aurelian’s war against the Notorious Syrian ruler; Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra (Battles, M. 2004, pg 24).
When Christianity arrived in Egypt, Libraries began to decline. St. Theophilus who became Patriarch of Alexandria, had little tolerance for anything that was not Christian and he ordered the destruction of pagan temples (The Saint Pachomius Library, [online], 9/25/2011). And so, the Christians were triumphant over the pagans, Jews, and Neoplatonists and they found the Hellenic riches of the libraries discomforting (Battles, M. 2004, pg 24). At the end of the fourth century , a riot by fanatical Christians who were angered by the presence of pagan learning made a huge bonfire and destroyed all of the scrolls and manuscript it contained but not the building (Fortunecity, [online], 9/09/2011). Also see video on the history channel (History Channel 4/5, [online], 9/25/2011)
Another hypothesis states that when the city of Alexandria was conquered by Muslims in 638, it was the end of the library. Omar, the Caliph was asked what should be done about the library, which after the Christians, was now restocked with new scrolls and manuscripts, said “If the writings of the Greeks agree with the Koran, they are useless and need not be preserved. If they disagree, they are destructive and out to be destroyed” (Fortunecity, [online], 9/09/2011). I also found further information from a video from the history channel (History Channel 5/5, [online], 9/25/2011).
The New Library of Alexandria, or Bibliotheca Alexandrina opened its doors in 2002 after the Egyptian Government gave a Norwegian design company the go ahead, to create the new library of Alexandria(Global Post, [online], 9/24/2011). The New library of Alexandria sets itself out to be much more than just a library, it aims to be the world’s window on Egypt as well as Egypt’s window on the world. It also aims to be a leading institution of the digital age and a centre for learning, tolerance, dialogue and understanding (Bibliotheca Alexandrina, [online], 9/24/2011).
Some of the key areas that are available at this institution are: A library that can hold a million books as well as six specialized libraries, four Museums, A planetarium and an Internet Archive. The library also host’s a number of Institutions such as The Centre for Peace and Democracy Studies (CPDS) and The Arab Network for Women in Science and Technology (ANWST) (Bibliotheca Alexandrina, [online], 9/24/2011).
During Egypt’s civil unrest that occurred in late January and into the middle of February this year, young protesters banded together and linked hands to form a human chain which surrounded the library. They were reported to have chanted “This is our library, do not touch it” and as a result not a stone was throne, and not a window was broken during the protests (gpb.org, [online], 9/17/2011).
During Egypt’s civil unrest that occurred in late January and into the middle of February this year, young protesters banded together and linked hands to form a human chain which surrounded the library. They were reported to have chanted “This is our library, do not touch it” and as a result not a stone was throne, and not a window was broken during the protests (gpb.org, [online], 9/17/2011).
Conclusion:
During my research into this topic, I have found some sources that debate whether the library ever had existed. So I decided to base my blog on the research material that believed the library had existed as there was more research material to support this point of view. Some of the information that I found raised questions about its existence including the second video that I posted to my blog; History Channel – Ancient Mysteries-The lost treasure of the Alexandria Library 1/5. It discusses how there is more that we don’t know about the library than we do know.
For example, where the library was, where it is now, what it looked like, everybody who was there and what books did it have. It does however say and show evidence in the video that archaeologist did find the remains of the secondary structure; The Serapeum which was used to house items from the main library when it became too full (History Channel, [online], 9/9/2011).
The author of Alexandria: Library of Dreams; Roger S Bagnall asserts that from his research “there is no ancient account of the foundation of the Library. We only have brief and glancing references written by Byzantine polymarth; John Tzetes in the twelfth century. Some critics of Tzetes at the time, have said that he preserves much valuable, though to be sure not always correctly reported, information on ancient literature”(Bagnall, R.S. 2002, ‘Alexandria: Library of Dreams’, American Philosophical Society, vol. 146, no. 4, pp. 348-362pg, FreeEjournal, Swinburne Databases, viewed 18th of September 2011).
The Author; Roger S. Bagnall’s research on the destruction of the library also states that none of the scrolls and documents would have survived antiquity even if the library had not been destroyed. The destruction of the library is not the important issue but we should look towards the forces and personalities that create and sustain cultural institutions as these were lacking during the Roman period and it was this aspect not the presence of some destructive force that decided the fate of the books of Alexandria “(Bagnall, R.S. 2002, ‘Alexandria: Library of Dreams’, American Philosophical Society, vol. 146, no. 4, pp. 348-362pg, FreeEjournal, Swinburne Databases, viewed 18th of September 2011).
If I had more time, I would have done further research into that side of the argument to see if my opinion would have swayed. My thoughts on the information that I have found as to whether the Ancient library of Alexandria really did exist or not are that I believe there was a library as they have found some archaeological evidence but as to who worked there and how many scrolls it contained, how it was destroyed etc.., I don’t think anybody really knows because overtime, the truth on historical events can be manipulated and even changed depending on who is in power, who is writing the commentary and so on.
Also, what political and religious events are occurring at the time as I am sure that in those day’s political corruption would have been rife and the people in power would have made sure that history would remember them in a more favourable light and would have perhaps shifted the blame onto their adversaries. Wars, natural disasters such as Earthquakes, and human error and mismanagement can also lose or even destroy important historical evidence. Second hand information is not as reliable as first hand information and stories can change over time. These factors can affect the final outcome of the real facts and information that are given to the future generations for many years to come.
References:
Books:
Books:
Casson, L. 2001, Libraries in the Ancient World, Yale University Press, New Haven, U.S.A
Lerner, F. 1999, The Story of Libraries: from the invention of writing to the Computer Age, Continium Publishing Company, NY.
Macleod, R (ed) 2004, The Library of Alexandria: Centre of Learning in the Ancient World, I.B Tauris, NY.
Battles, M. 2004, Library : An unquiet History, W.W Norton Company, NY.
Bagnall, R.S. 2002, ‘Alexandria: Library of Dreams’, American Philosophical Society, vol. 146, no. 4, pp. 348-362pg, FreeEjournal, Swinburne Databases, viewed 18th of September 2011
Websites:
Websites:
Information on Callimachus and Zenodotus, available from Books and writers online:
Alexander’s library rises from the ashes, available online from:
Information on the St. Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, available online from:
http://www.voskrese.info/spl/XfeofilAlex.html
http://www.voskrese.info/spl/XfeofilAlex.html
Information on the New Library of Alexandria, available online from:
http://www.bibalex.org/aboutus/missions_enaspx
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/egypt/090508/library-alexandria
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/egypt/090508/library-alexandria
Information on the library’s reopening after the 2011 civil unrest, available online from:
Native Artifacts 2011, 'The Great Library of Alexandria in Kemet', 14th of February, viewed 23rd of September, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkwqVTEwhxQ
History Channel 2010, 'Ancient Mysteries - The Lost Treasure of the Alexandria Library 1/5, 2nd of January, viewed 9th of September, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sQuDGBYq2c&feature=related
History Channel 2010, 'Ancient Mysteries - The Lost Treasure of the Alexandria Library 4/5, 2nd of January, viewed 25th of October, 2011,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a5ZSNNUYdo&feature=related
History Channel 2010, 'Ancient Mysteries - The Lost Treasure of the Alexandria Library 5/5, 2nd of January, viewed 25th of October, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sQuDGBYq2c&feature=related
Images:
Coakley, G. 2010, 'Euclid' [image] in Fotopedia, viewed the 25th of October 2011,
http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-2335351649
