Great Library of Alexandria

• The Great Library of Alexandria was located in Alexandria in Egypt.
•  It was founded in the third century BCE, and was the most important Library in the Ancient World until its destruction in 391 CE.

History

• The Great Library was founded by Ptolemy I Soter (323-283 BCE).
• The Library was the most important Library in the Ancient World, followed in second place by the Library of Pergamon.
• The Library was part of a complex of buildings which included the Musaeum of Alexandria an Institute, where Greek scholars could study, using the Library.
• In 391 CE the Library was destroyed by the Coptic Christian Patriarch Theophilus.

Origins of the Great Library

• The Great Temple of Ra-Atum at Heliopolis had an extensive library and Heliopolis was famous for its schools of Astronomy and Philosophy.
• Plato, Pythagorus and Solon all studied there.
• After the Greek occupation of Egypt, the first Ruler, Ptolemy I Soter, moved the seat of learning to Alexandria, and by the time Strabo (c.64 BCE – 24 CE) visited Heliopolis, the only inhabitants were priests.

Contents of the Library

• The Library was thought to have held 700,000 Works at its peak although no exact figures are known.
• Ptolemy I ordered that all of the world’s knowledge be collected. This meant making a copy of every known book.
• Books were selected from Athens and Rhodes and copied in Alexandria.
• Any vessel passing through the Port of Alexandria, had its books removed, copied and the originals returned. These were known as ‘the Books of the ships’.
• The library employed teams of Scribes to copy the books.
• The Library consumed the Papyrus supply of Egypt.
• Grants were given for Scholars to stay and study in the Library, such as Callimachus.

The Septuagint:

• Ptolemy II Philadelphus, asked 70 (or 72) Jewish Scholars to translate the Torah into Koine Greek, along with additional texts.
• The translation started in the third century BCE and was completed by 132 BCE. It was kept in the Great Library.

Index of the Books

• ‘Pinakes’ meaning ‘The Tables’
  • In c. 245 BCE the index was completed by Callimachus.
  • This was a catalogue of the contents of the Great Library of Alexandria, now lost, in 120 volumes. It was organised by author and by subject. Callimachus was never made Chief Librarian.

Chief Librarians of the Library

• Eratosthenes (c. 275-194 BCE):
  • He was the Third Chief Librarian.
• Aristophanes of Byzantium (c.257-c.180 BCE)
• Aristarchus of Samothrace. (c.220-c.143 BCE)
• Hypatia (370-415 CE):
  • A celebrated Mathematician. None of her Works have survived.

The Burning of the Great Library of Alexandria

• The Sources claim the Great Library was burnt four times. Each time it seems to have survived sufficiently to be burnt again. So possibly these were minor fires, or the Works were removed.
• The Destructions may account for some of the Lost Works from Classical Literature.

1. In 48 BCE
   • Julius Caesar was supposed to have burnt the Library.
2. In c.273 CE
   • Aurelian burnt the Library after recapturing Egypt from the Palmyrene Empire.
3. In 391 CE
   • The Coptic Pope Theophilus, destroyed the Serapium, and the Library with it, after Theodosius I passed an Edict banning Paganism.
4. In 642 CE
   • Alexandria was captured by the Arab Armies, and the Great Library was again burnt.

Imperial Library of Constantinople

• Some time before 367 CE, Constantius II founded the Imperial Library of Constantinople which by 475 CE had 120,000 Works.
• It is possible that some of these works may have been copied from the Great Library of Alexandria before its destruction.

The second library in the Serapium

• Some Sources consider the Library to have survived in the Serapium.
• The Septuagint was located in the Library in the Serapium, which contained around 42,800 scrolls, according to the twelth century Johannes Tzetzes in his Prolegomena on Comedy XX.
• The Septuagint was seen there by Tertullian and John Chrysostom.
• However, in 391 CE, the Coptic Pope Theophilus, destroyed the Serapium, and the Library with it, after Theodosius I passed an Edict banning Paganism.

Great Libraries of the Ancient World by Rank:

• Greek Libraries:
  1. Great Library of Alexandria with 400,000 Works. (c.300 BCE – 391 CE)
  2. Great Library of Pergamum with 200,000 Works.
     • (Existed from Eumenes II 159-157 BCE to 43 BCE when Mark Anthony gave the collection to Queen Cleopatra Cleopatra VII
  3. The Library of Celsus (c.110-c.120 CE) at Ephesus with 12,000 Works.
  4. Imperial Library of Macedon (contents taken to Rome in 168 BCE)
  5. The Roman Library of Pantainos, in the Agora of Athens, dedicated c. 100 CE.
• Roman Libraries:
  1. The Seven Libraries of Rome
  2. Imperial Library of Constantinople. Founded by Constantius II (337-361 CE) had 100,000 Works.

• Other Great Libraries in the Ancient World:
  1. Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (c. 650 BCE),
     • 30,000 clay tablets in Akkadian,.. including the Epic of Gilgamesh, and also in Assyrian.
  2. Library of Ugarit in Syria, (1,200 BCE)
     • with texts in Ugaritic,(similar language to Phoenician), Hurrian, Akkadian and Sumerian.
  3. Library of Mari in Syria, (1800-1750 BCE)
     • 15,000 clay tablets in Akkadian script. All texts refer to the period between 1800-1750 BCE.
  4. Han Dynasty Imperial Library (206 BCE – 220 CE)
     • Works are divided into two periods:
     • Pre 221 BCE: The Four Books, The Five Classics, Taoism, Mohism, Legalism, The Seven Military Classics.
     • Post 206 BCE: Records of the Grand Historian – Sima Qian, Book of Han – Ban Gu, and others. (after the burning of the imperial library in 213 BCE)
  5. Library of Taxila or Takshashila in N. Pakistan, (5th c. BCE – 5th c. CE)
     • Centre of Hindu and Buddhist learning: The Vedas, The Eighteen Arts, Law School, Medical School. School of Military Science.
     • Taxila was located near modern Islamabad on The Grand Trunk Road (2,600km) from the mouth of the Ganges to the Khyber Pass. The Emperor Chandragupta Maurya (321-297 BCE) was educated at Taxila.He founded the Mauryan Empire.
  6. Library of Ctesiphon, Persia.
  7. Ramesseum, the Temple Library at Thebes, Egypt.
     • Mentioned by Diodorus Siculus as having 10,000 Books. He says it had an inscription which read: ‘House of Healing for the Soul’.

Modern Great Libraries

• National Libraries

The Modern Bibliotheca Alexandrina