Library of Alexandria

The Library of Alexandria (in ancient Greek: Βιβλιοθήκη τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρειας; in Latin: Bibliotheca Alexandrina) was one of the most important and prestigious libraries, as well as one of the largest centers for the dissemination of knowledge in Antiquity. Instituted in the III century BC. In the palace complex of the city of Alexandria during the Hellenistic period of Ancient Egypt, the library was part of a research institution known as the Museion, which was dedicated to the muses, the nine goddesses of the arts. The idea for its creation may have been a proposal from Demetrius of Phalero, an exiled Athenian statesman, to the satrap of Egypt and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty, Ptolemy I Soter, who, like his predecessor Alexander the Great, was trying to promote the spread of of Hellenic culture. However, it was probably not built until the reign of his son, Ptolemy II Philadelphus. Shortly after its founding, a second library analogous to the main one, though smaller, was opened. Large numbers of papyrus scrolls were acquired thanks mainly to the aggressive and well-financed policies of the Ptolemaic kings in obtaining texts. It is not known exactly how many works made up its funds, but it is estimated that the main one housed four hundred and ninety thousand literary, academic and religious volumes and the second about forty-three thousand. These libraries grew so much that, during the reign of Ptolemy III Evergetes, a unit of them was created in the Serapeum of Alexandria.

As well as serving as a demonstration of the power of the Ptolemaic rulers, it played an important role in the development of Alexandria as the successor to Athens as a center for Greek culture. Many important and influential scholars worked there, notably Zenodotus from Ephesus, who tried to standardize the texts of the Homeric poems and produced the oldest known record of the use of alphabetical order as a method of organization; Callimachus, who wrote the Pinakes, probably the world's first library catalogue; Apolonio de Rodas, who composed the epic poem Argonáuticas; Eratosthenes of Cyrene, who calculated for the first time, with surprising precision for the time, the circumference of the Earth; Aristophanes of Byzantium, who systematized the punctuation, pronunciation and accentuation of Greek; or Aristarch of Samothrace, who wrote the final texts of the Homeric poems and extensive comments on them. There are also references that the library community and the Museion would have also temporarily counted on numerous other figures who contributed decisively to knowledge, such as Archimedes and Euclid.

Despite the widespread modern belief that the library was catastrophically burned and destroyed in its heyday, it actually gradually declined over several centuries, in a process that began with the purge of intellectuals from Alexandria in the year 145 a. C., during the reign of Ptolemy VIII, which resulted in Aristarchus of Samothrace, the librarian, abandoning his post and going into exile in Cyprus and other scholars, such as Dionysus of Thrace and Apollodorus of Athens, fleeing to other cities. The library, or part of its collection, was accidentally set on fire by Julius Caesar in 48 BC. C., during the second civil war of the Roman Republic, but it is not clear to what extent it was actually destroyed, since the sources indicate that it survived or was rebuilt shortly after. The geographer Strabo mentions having frequented the Museion around the year 20 BC. C. and the profuse scholarly production of Didymus of Alexandria from that time indicates that he had access to at least part of the library's resources. Under Roman control it lost vitality due to lack of funds and support and from the year 260 AD. C. there is no knowledge of intellectuals linked to it. Between the years 270 and 275 d. The city of Alexandria suffered riots that probably destroyed what was left of the library, if it still existed, but the one in the Serapeum may have survived longer, perhaps as late as 391 AD. C., when the Coptic Pope Theophilus I instigated the vandalism and demolition of the Serapeum in his campaign to destroy pagan temples.

The Library of Alexandria was more than a repository of works, and for centuries it was a leading center of intellectual activity. Its influence was felt throughout the Hellenic world, not only through the enhancement of written knowledge, which led to the creation of other libraries inspired by it and the proliferation of manuscripts, but also through the work of its scholars in numerous areas of knowledge. Theories and models developed by the library community continued to influence science, literature, and philosophy until at least the Renaissance. His legacy has had effects that continue to this day, and can be considered an archetype of the universal library, of the ideal of knowledge preservation, and of the fragility of that knowledge. The Library and the Museum have contributed to distance science from specific currents of thought and, above all, to demonstrate that academic research can contribute to solving the practical problems and material needs of societies and governments.

Origins

Historical context

Asurbanipal Library stella containing synonym lists. The Alexandria Library was part of a tradition of large libraries in Greece and the Middle East.

The Library of Alexandria was not the first of its kind, as it was part of a long tradition of libraries that existed in both Ancient Greece and the Near East. The earliest evidence of the accumulation of written documents comes from from the Sumerian city-state of Uruk, around 3400 B.C. C., when writing had barely begun to develop; the preservation of literary texts began around the year 2500 a. Several kingdoms and later empires in the ancient Near East developed collection policies. The ancient Hittites and Assyrians had large archives containing documents in various languages; the most famous library in the ancient Near East was the Library of Nineveh, founded between the years 668 and 627 a. by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. A great library also existed in Babylon during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 605–562 BC), and in Greece the Athenian tyrant Pisistratus was said to have founded the first great library public in the VI century a. However, the proliferation of libraries in the Hellenic world came relatively late, probably not long before the 4th century a. C., and it was from that heritage of Greek and Near Eastern libraries that the idea of a library in Alexandria arose.

Alexander the Great and his Macedonian successors tried to spread Hellenic culture and its knowledge in the territories under their rule, because they appreciated it and also with the aim of imposing their influence through culture. Alexander and his successors They also believed that their project to conquer other territories and peoples implied understanding their culture and language, through the study of their texts. Universal libraries would emerge from this double objective, which would have texts from various disciplines and that would come from different languages. In addition, rulers after Alexander sought to legitimize their position as his successors, and saw libraries as a way to increase the prestige of their cities, attract foreign scholars, and receive practical assistance in matters of government. For these reasons, all the great Hellenic urban centers would have a royal library, and the territories under the control of Ale's successors handro witnessed the birth of some of the richest libraries of antiquity.

However, the Library of Alexandria was unique due to the magnitude of the ambitions of the Ptolemaic dynasty, for unlike their predecessors and contemporaries, the Ptolemaic monarchs claimed to be repositories of all human knowledge. Through From the accumulation of this knowledge, and potentially from its monopoly, they sought to differentiate themselves from Alexander's other successors and lead them culturally and politically. Over time, the Library would be instrumental in making Alexandria the world's foremost intellectual center. Hellenic.

Planning

Although this library was one of the largest and most important in the ancient world, sources of information about it are sparse and sometimes conflicting, and much of what has been written about it mixes legend and historical fact. The first documented source on its creation is the pseudoepigraph Letter of Aristeas, written between 180 and 145 BC. C., in which it is stated that it was founded in the city of Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I Soter (r. 323-283 BC), and that it was initially planned by Demetrius of Phalero, a scholar of exiled Aristotle from Athens who had sought refuge at the Ptolemaic court in Alexandria. However, this letter is considerably later than that period and contains information now known to be inaccurate or widely disputed, such as the claim that the Septuagint was made in the library.

Ptolomeo II Filadelfo, which is believed to be the one who established the Library as such, although plans to carry it out may have been developed by his father, Ptolomeo I Soter.

Other sources state that the Library was created under the reign of his son, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who reigned between 283 and 246 BC. C., and indeed most contemporary scholars agree that while it is possible that Ptolemy I laid the groundwork for its establishment, it is likely that it was only created as a physical institution during the reign of Ptolemy II. By this time, Demetrius of Phalero had fallen out of favor with the Ptolemaic court and would have been unable to play any role in establishing the Library as an institution, although historians consider it highly likely that he played an important role in the collection of the first texts that would become part of the collection of the library. It is possible that around the year 295 a. C. Demetrius acquired originals or first-rate reproductions of the writings of Aristotle and Theophrastus since, being an illustrious member of the peripatetic school, his position would allow him privileged access to these texts.

Regardless of the exact period of its creation, it seems relatively clear that Aristotle and his Lyceum in Athens, which housed the Peripatetic school, exerted great influence on the organization of the library and other intellectual institutions of the Ptolemaic court of Alexandria., undoubtedly due to the influence of Demetrius of Phalero, but also to the fact that Ptolemy II was educated by Strato of Lampsacus, a member of the Peripatetic school and later director of the Lyceum, in addition to the fact that Aristotle had been the young man's tutor Alexander the Great and the creation of an institution modeled on the Aristotelian Lyceum would offer the Ptolemaic dynasty an additional opportunity to justify their claims as Alexander's successors. The library is known to have been built in the Brucheion, the palace complex at Alexandria, in the style of the Lyceum. The place chosen for its construction was next to the Museion —in ancient Greek: Μουσε ῖον, lit. 'temple of the muses'—, the institution on which the Library would depend. The exact layout of the library is unknown, but it has been proposed that the Library of Pergamum, built a few decades later, it would have replicated its architecture. If so, it would have had rooms in a row, facing a colonnade through which readers could walk in the open air. Ancient sources describe the Library of Alexandria as having Greek columns, walkways, a collective dining room, a reading room, meeting rooms, gardens and classrooms, a model that would approximate it to a modern university campus. One room contained shelves or deposits —in ancient Greek: θήκη, romanized: thēke—for the backgrounds of papyrus scrolls—in ancient Greek: βιβλίον, romanized: biblíon—which was known as the library proper— in ancient Greek: βιβλιοθῆκαι, romanized: bibliothēkai— According to the historian Hecataeus of Abdera, who probably visited it in its initial phase, an inscription on the shelves read "The place of the healing of the soul" —in ancient Greek: ψυχῆς ἰατρείον, romanized: psychés iatreíon—

Map of the old Alexandria. The Museion was located in the palatial area (marked on the map with n.o9 in the central part of the city.

Although little is known about the structure of the library, more evidence remains of the Museion and it is known that it was a research institution, although officially it was a religious institution administered by a priest appointed by the king, in the same way as the priests administered other temples. In addition to preserving works from the past in the library, the Museion also hosted numerous international scholars, poets, philosophers, and researchers who, according to the Greek geographer Strabo in the I a. C.., they received a high salary, free food and lodging, and exemption from taxes. daily life, they could devote more time to research and intellectual activities. Strabo called the group of scholars living in the Museion a "community"—in ancient Greek: σύνοδος, romanized: súnodos—, a group that, in the year 283 a. C., may have been composed of between thirty and fifty scholars.

The Museion contained numerous classrooms in which scholars were intended, at least occasionally, to teach students; a large circular refectory with a high, vaulted ceiling in which students and researchers gathered to eat together; a sanctuary dedicated to the muses, which was the museion proper and the place that researchers visited in search of artistic, scientific or philosophical inspiration (Mouseîon is the origin of the word "museum"); along with a promenade, a gallery and walls with colorful paintings; and probably gardens and an observatory. There are indications that Ptolemy II had a great interest in zoology, and at least one source mentions that the Museion would have housed a zoo with exotic animals.

Organization and initial expansion

Ptolemaic rulers intended the library to hold the knowledge of "all the peoples of the earth" and strove to enlarge its collection through an aggressive and well-financed policy of purchasing documents. They sent royal agents with large sums of money, ordering them to acquire as many texts as possible, by any author and on any subject.

Possibly at least part of the works of the Liceus of Aristotle was acquired by the Library of Alexandria.

Older copies of texts were preferred over more recent ones, because older copies were presumed to be the result of fewer transcriptions and therefore tended to offer content more in keeping with the text. original written by the author. This policy required travel to the book markets of Rhodes and Athens, and it is possible that the library acquired all or at least part of the collection of Aristotle's Lyceum works. The library focused particularly in the acquisition of manuscripts of the Homeric poems, which formed the basis of Greek education and which were revered above all other poems, and he eventually managed to acquire numerous manuscripts of these poems, which were individually marked with labels indicating its origins.

In addition to the purchase of works, his funds were also nourished by the work of copyists and translators. According to the Byzantine historian Juan Tzetzes, foreign translators who spoke Greek very well were hired to translate the texts sold or lent to the library by foreign governments. According to Galen, a decree of Ptolemy II provided that any book found on a ship docking in Alexandria should be taken to the library, where it would be copied by official scribes. Copies were delivered to the owners and the original texts were kept in the library, with the annotation "of the ships". Also according to Galen, the ambitious acquisitions policy of the Ptolemaic dynasty led to competition from other libraries and caused price inflation of works and the proliferation of forgeries.

Along with the activity of collecting, guarding and reproducing Ancient texts, the Museum where the library was housed was also dedicated to serving as a place of sharing for multinational scholars, poets, philosophers and researchers, who, according to the Greek geographer Strabo, they had generous salaries, free food and lodging, and were exempt from paying taxes. They had a large dining room with a high vaulted ceiling where they ate in groups most of the time. There were also numerous classrooms in which that scholars taught students occasionally, at least. Ptolemy II Philadelphus had a special interest in zoology, so it has been speculated that the Museum may have even housed a zoo with exotic animals.

According to classical scholar Lionel Casson, it was believed that if scholars were relieved of all the difficulties of everyday life they could devote more time to research and other intellectual pursuits. Strabo called σύνοδος (synodos, "community") to the group of scholars who lived in the Museum. As early as 283 B.C. C., there could have been between thirty and fifty wise men in this group.

During the Ptolemaic Dynasty

Early days

The activities and holdings of the Library of Alexandria were not limited to any particular philosophical, thought or religious school, and the scholars who studied in it enjoyed considerable academic freedom. However, they were subject to the authority of the Library of Alexandria. of the king and what the Ptolemaic court considered acceptable. One account, probably apocryphal, tells the story of a poet named Sotades, who wrote an obscene epigram satirizing Ptolemy II for marrying his sister, Arsinoe II; Ptolemy II did so. arrested and, after escaping and being recaptured, he was confined in a lead coffin and thrown into the sea. Unlike the Museion, which was headed by a priest, the library was headed by a scholar who acted as librarian and tutor to the king's heir.

Since it is now believed that Demetrius of Phalerus did not work directly in the library, its first recorded librarian was Zenodotus of Ephesus, who lived c. 325 and c. 270 B.C. C. Specializing in Homer, Zenodotus produced the first critical editions of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Although criticized for the quality of his works, he is credited with a fundamental role in the history of Homeric studies, as he had access to texts that were later lost and made definitive contributions in establishing text patterns for the Homeric poems and early Greek lyric poets. Most of what is known about him it comes from later commentaries that mention specific passages, but Zenodotus is also famous for having written a glossary of rare and unusual words, which was arranged in alphabetical order, making him the first known person to employ this method of organization. Since the holdings of the Library of Alexandria seem to have been organized in alphabetical order from the earliest years, by the first letter of the author's name, it is very likely that Zenodotus organized them in this way. Long their organization system used only the first letter of each word, and historical records indicate that it was not until the II century when this method also considered the other letters of the words.

One of Oxirrinco's papyrus, which contains a text of Calymaco (sixteenth century)II)

At this time it is likely that the library offered its services to Euclid, who had come to Alexandria at the invitation of Demetrius of Phalero and was in the process of completing his greatest work, the Elements. Also around this time the scholar and poet Callimachus compiled the Pinakes —in ancient Greek: Πίνακες, lit. 'tables'—, made up of 120 volumes with a list of authors and their respective known works, and which most likely became the instrument used to catalog the extensive holdings of the library. Sometimes considered the "quintessential poet-academic" and recognized for having used the elegiac couplet for the first time known, Callimachus gained notoriety mainly thanks to the elaboration of this document. Although the Pinakes did not survive to the present day, fragments and references to this work allowed scholars to reconstruct its basic structure. They were divided into sections, each containing references to authors of a certain genre of text. Its basic division was between authors of poetry and prose and each section was divided into subsections that listed authors in alphabetical order, and the authors' records included their names, their parents' names, their places of birth and other brief biographical information, such as the surnames by which they were known, followed by lists of their known works. Information on prolific authors such as Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, and Theophrastus must have been very extensive, with multiple columns of text. This work of selection, categorization and organization of the Greek classics has since influenced not only the structure with which these works are known, but also countless works published later. For this reason, Callimachus has been defined as the "father of library science" and "one of the most important personalities of the ancient world"; although he did his most famous work in the Library of Alexandria, he was never his librarian.

After Zenodotus' death or retirement, Ptolemy II appointed Apollonius of Rhodes, apparently a disciple of Callimachus and a native of Alexandria, as second librarian and tutor to his son, the future Ptolemy III Evergetes. He is best known as the author of the epic poem the Argonauticas, which deals with the adventures of Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece. This poem, the full text of which has survived to the present day, shows Apollonius' vast knowledge of literature and history, and alludes to a wide variety of events and texts, while imitating the style of the Homeric poems. in a character of great influence in the following centuries, who served as a model for authors such as Virgilio or Valerio Flaco.

Although Apollonius is best known as a poet, fragments of his scientific writings have also survived to this day. During his tenure, he probably lived with the mathematician and inventor Archimedes, who spent some years in Egypt and there is evidence that he made research in the library. It is said that at this time Archimedes observed the rise and fall of the Nile's flow, which led him to invent the gavimetic device known as the Archimedean screw, a device for transporting water from the lower beds to the upper reaches of the Nile. irrigation ditches. According to two late biographies, Apollonius of Rhodes eventually resigned his position as librarian and went into voluntary exile on the island of Rhodes, after the hostile reception his Argonautics received in Alexandria, especially by Callimachus. However, some authors consider it more likely that Apollonius's resignation was actually caused by the ascension to the throne of e Ptolemy III in the year 246 a. C.

Further operation and expansion

Reconstruction of the centuryXIX of the map made by Eratosthenes, which showed the world known by then (c. 194 BC).

Although its third librarian, Eratosthenes of Cyrene, was a noted man of letters, he is best known today for his scientific work and for having greatly contributed to the advancement of geography as a scientific discipline. most important of this scholar, who lived between approximately 280 and 194 a. C., was the general geography treatise Geographica —in ancient Greek: Γεωγραφικά, romanized: Geografiká—, originally written in three volumes. The work itself did not survive, but many fragments survived through citations in the geographer's later writings Strabo. Eratosthenes was the first scholar to apply mathematics to geography and cartography, and in his treatise On the Measurement of the Earth he calculated the circumference of our planet with great precision for the time, with a difference of only a few hundred kilometers. He considered the setting of the Homeric poems to be purely imaginary, arguing that the purpose of poetry was to "captivate the soul", not to offer a historically accurate account of actual events.. Strabo quotes him as saying sarcastically that "a man would find the places of the Odysseus's grievances the day he meets a craftsman who knows how to sew goatskins in the winds." To map out the entire known world, Eratosthenes incorporated information from nonfiction works deposited in the library, such as the short stories of Alexander the Great's campaigns in the Indian subcontinent and of Ptolemaic elephant-hunting expeditions along the East African coast.

Eratosthenes is said to have held office for forty years, and during his tenure other scholars in the Library of Alexandria became interested in scientific subjects. Archimedes dedicated two of his works to Eratosthenes, and the astronomer Aristarchus of Samos introduced the idea of heliocentrism. His contemporary Baqueo de Tanagra edited and commented on the Hippocratic Treatises, and the physicians Herophilus of Chalcedon (c. 335-280 BC) and Erasistratus (c. 304-250 BC) studied human anatomy and physiology, though their studies were hampered by protests against the dissection of human corpses, which was considered immoral.

According to Galen, at that time Ptolemy III asked the Athenians for the loan of original manuscripts of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, although the Athenians demanded the enormous amount of fifteen talents (about 450 kg) of a precious metal as a guarantee that they would be returned to him; Ptolemy III had copies of these works made on papyrus of the highest quality and sent to the Athenians, keeping the original manuscripts in the library and allowing them to keep the metal talents. This story illustrates the vehemence of the Ptolemaic policy of acquiring works, in addition to the power of Alexandria at the time, due mainly to the port they had built and which welcomed trade from East and West, and which soon became an international center of commerce and the main producer of papyri and manuscripts. As the collections of the library expanded, it ran out of space to house them, so during the re In the reign of Ptolemy III, part of these funds was transferred to a branch library in the Serapeum of Alexandria, a temple dedicated to the Greco-Egyptian god Serapis located in the immediate vicinity of the royal palace. However, contemporary writings indicate that the library of the Serapeum was much smaller.

Heyday

Serapeum Ruins, where the Alexandria Library moved some of its funds.

Aristophanes of Byzantium became the library's fourth director around 200 BC. According to a legend by the Roman writer Vitruvius, Aristophanes was one of seven judges appointed to a poetry contest organized by Ptolemy III. While the other six judges favored a competitor, Aristophanes favored the least The public had liked it, arguing that the others had committed plagiarism and therefore should be disqualified. The king demanded that he prove it and Aristophanes searched the library for the texts that the authors had plagiarized, locating them by heart, so thanks to his impressive memory and diligence, Ptolemy III appointed him librarian.

His tenure is considered the beginning of a more mature phase in the Library of Alexandria's history. During this period literary criticism reached its peak and came to dominate the library's scholarly output. Aristophanes edited poetic texts and introduced the division of poems, previously written in prose, on separate lines on the page. He also invented diacritics for the Greek alphabet, wrote important works on lexicography, and introduced a series of signs for textual criticism. He wrote the introduction to many works, some of which partially survived through rewritten versions.

The fifth librarian was Apollonius, known by the epithet "Eidographer" —in ancient Greek: εἰδογράφος, romanized: eidographs, lit. 'classifier of [literary] genres'. A late lexicographical source explains that this epithet refers to the classification of poetry based on musical forms. span style="font-variant:small-caps;text-transform:lowercase">II a. C., several members of the library dedicated themselves to the study of medicine. Zeuxis of Taranto is attributed commentaries on the Hippocratic Treatises and actively worked to obtain medical texts for the library fund, and a scholar named Ptolemy Epithetes wrote a treatise on wounds in the Homeric poems, a subject that falls within the framework of both traditional philology and medicine. At this time and after the Battle of Rafia in 217 BC. C., the political power of Ptolemaic Egypt began to decline and become increasingly unstable; revolts by sectors of the Egyptian population multiplied and in the first half of the century II a. the connection with Upper Egypt was seriously undermined. Ptolemaic rulers also began to emphasize the Egyptian side of their nation more than the Greek, so many Greek scholars began to leave Alexandria in search of safer countries and more generous patrons.

Aristarchus of Samothrace (c. 216-145 BC) was the sixth librarian and also tutor to the sons of Ptolemy VI Philometor. He earned a reputation as arguably the greatest of all ancient scholars, and he wrote not only classical-style poems and prose works, but also complete hypomnemata (Ancient Greek: ὑπομνήματα), i.e. long, independent commentaries about other works (a fragment of one of Aristarchus's commentaries on Herodotus's Histories survived on a papyrus fragment). These commentaries usually quoted a passage from a classical text, explained its meaning, offered a definition of the unusual words that had been used, and indicated whether the words in the passage were actually those used by the original author or whether they were interpolations added later by scribes. He made many contributions on various topics, but particularly to the study of poem s Homerics; in addition to organizing the Iliad and the Odyssey with the divisions and subdivisions with which we know them, for centuries the editorial opinions of him were cited by ancient authors as authoritative In the year 145 a. C. Aristarchus was involved in a dynastic dispute, in which he supported Ptolemy VII Neo Filopátor as ruler of Egypt; Ptolemy VII was assassinated and Ptolemy VIII "Fiscon" acceded to the throne and immediately punished those who had supported his predecessor, forcing Aristarchus to flee Egypt and take refuge in Cyprus. Ptolemy also expelled other foreign scholars from Alexandria.

Decline

The expulsions of Ptolemy VIII

Aristarchus of Samotracia, his sixth librarian, was one of the greatest scholars of Antiquity.

Ptolemy VIII's expulsion of Alexandrian scholars was part of a broader process of persecution by the Alexandrian ruling class, and caused a diaspora of Hellenistic scholarship. Scholars at the Library of Alexandria, and their students, they continued to research and write treatises, but most are no longer attached to the Library, instead dispersing first throughout the eastern Mediterranean and later the western Mediterranean as well. A disciple of Aristarchus, Dionysius of Thrace (c. 170 -90 BC), established a school on the Greek island of Rhodes. Dionysius wrote the first book on Greek grammar, Tékhne Grammatiké, a guide to speaking and writing clearly and accurately The Romans used this book as a reference for their grammatical texts, which remained the main grammar manual for students of Greek until the XII, and continues to serve as a grammatical guide for many languages today. Another disciple of Aristarchus, Apollodorus of Athens (c. 180-110 BCE C.), he moved to Pergamum, Alexandria's greatest rival as the epicenter of Greek culture, where he dedicated himself to teaching and research. This diaspora led the historian Menecles of Barca to comment sarcastically that Alexandria had become teacher of both Greeks and barbarians.

In Alexandria from the mid-century II a. Ptolemaic rule in Egypt experienced increasing instability. Faced with constant social unrest and other political and economic problems, the later Ptolemaic rulers did not devote the same attention to the Museion as their predecessors. The prestige of both the library and the its librarian dwindled. Later Ptolemaic rulers used the position of librarian as a political reward for their most loyal supporters. Ptolemy VIII appointed a man named Cidas, described as a spearman, and possibly one of his palace guards as librarian; Ptolemy IX, who ruled from 88 to 81 B.C. C., it is said that he gave the position to one of his political supporters.The position of head of the library lost so much of its former prestige that even the authors of the time stopped recording the names and mandates of its occupants.

A shift in general Greek scholarship occurred around the turn of the I century BCE. By this time, the major classical poems had finally been standardized and extensive commentaries had been written on the texts of the major literary authors of classical antiquity. Consequently, there was little left for scholars to contribute in an original way. to these texts. Various scholars began to produce syntheses and reworkings of the commentaries of the Alexandrian scholars of earlier centuries, at the expense of their own originality. Other scholars turned to different branches and began to write commentaries on poetic texts of Postclassical authors, including Alexandrian poets such as Callimachus and Apollonius of Rhodes. Meanwhile, Alexandrian scholarship was introduced to Rome probably in the 1st century span> a. by Tyranion of Amisos (ca. 100 BC-25 BC), a student of Dionysus of Thrace.

The Burning of Julius Caesar

In the year 48 a. During the second civil war of the Roman Republic, Julius Caesar was besieged in Alexandria and his soldiers set fire to their own ships with the intention of blockading the fleet of Cleopatra's brother, Ptolemy XIV. The fire spread to areas of the city closest to the docks, causing considerable devastation. > Seneca, citing the Ab Urbe condita by Tito Livio, written between 63 and 14 a. C., claimed that the fire started by Caesar destroyed forty thousand works in the Library of Alexandria. The eclectic Platonist Plutarch wrote in Life of Caesar "When the enemy tried to cut off their communication by sea, [ Caesar] was compelled to avert that danger by setting fire to his own ships, which, after burning the docks, spread from there and destroyed the great library." However, Florus and Lucanus only mention that the flames burned the library itself. fleet and some "houses near the sea".

The Roman historian Cassius Dio wrote that "Many places burned down, with the result that, along with other buildings, the shipyards and storehouses of grain and books were burned, said to be great in number and of better quality". Some specialists have interpreted this text by Cassius Dio as an indication that the fire did not really destroy the entire library, but probably only a warehouse located near the docks, which according to Galen was used to deposit papyrus scrolls, probably until they were cataloged and added to the library's holdings. In fact, this is generally what emerges from the sources chronologically closest to the fire, and in any case whatever the devastation it caused. It would have caused it, it seems clear that the library was not completely destroyed. The geographer Strabo mentions his presence in the library between 25 and 20 BC. C., little more than two decades after the siege of Caesar and does not even mention the traces of the fire, which indicates that it survived with little damage or that it was rebuilt a short time later. However, the way in which That Strabo speaks of the Museion shows that it was nowhere near as prestigious as it had been a few centuries before.

According to Plutarco, it was said that Marco Antonio gave Cleopatra the 200 thousand volumes of the Pergam Library for the Alexandria Library.

According to Plutarch affirms in his Life of Marco Antonio, in the years before the battle of Actium, in 33 a. C., it was rumored that Marco Antonio had given Cleopatra the two hundred thousand volumes that made up the Library of Pergamon, which were incorporated into the funds of the Library of Alexandria. However, Plutarch himself notes that his source for this This anecdote may not be reliable, and possibly mere propaganda intended to show that Mark Antony was loyal to Cleopatra and Egypt, rather than Rome. Historians such as Edward J. Watts consider that Mark Antony's donation could have been a means to replenish the library's funds after the damage caused by the Caesar fire, which had occurred some fifteen years earlier. In any case, contemporary authors such as Lionel Casson argue that even if the story were fabricated, it would not have been credible unless the library continued to exist.

Another proof of the existence of the library after the year 48 a. C. comes from the most notable late-century commentator I a. C. and early I d. a scholar working in Alexandria named Didymus of Alexandria. He is said to have written between three and four thousand works, which would make him the most prolific writer of antiquity. Parts of Didymus's commentaries have been preserved in later citations, and these passages are one of the most important sources of information for contemporary historians about the works of ancient scholars in the Library of Alexandria. Casson states that Didymus's prodigious output "would have been impossible without at least a great part of the library's resources at your disposal."

Roman Period

Roman document on Tiberius Claudio Balbilo, which mentions the existence of the library at that time (56 AD).

Very little is known about the Library of Alexandria at the time of the Roman Principality. Augustus apparently maintained the tradition of naming the priest responsible for the library, and Claudius commissioned an extension to the building that housed it. At the beginning of the century II, Suetonius wrote that Domitian, for the purpose of replenishing Roman libraries, ordered the purchase and transcription of books that were incorporated to library funds.

Apparently the fate of the library was tied to that of the city of Alexandria itself. After its incorporation into Roman rule, its prestige gradually declined, as did that of its library. Although the Museion continued to exist, membership in this institution was not awarded for academic reasons, but on the basis of distinction in government, the military, or even athletics. The same was true of the position of chief librarian; The only known record from that time is a man named Tiberio Claudio Balbilo, an important politician, administrator, and astrologer, but with no record of notable academic achievement. Membership of the Museion no longer required teaching, research, or even living in Alexandria; the Greek writer Philostratus noted that the Emperor Hadrian, who ruled from 117 to 138, appointed the sophists Dionysius of Miletus and Polemon of Laodicea as members of the Museion, though they never spent significant time in Alexandria.

While the library and Museion continued to generate knowledge, as is the case with the works of Claudius Ptolemy, who lived in Alexandria at the time and presumably spent much of his time working and researching in the library, or of Galen, Heron, and Papus of Alexandria, but it is undeniable that its academic reputation was waning, while that of other Mediterranean libraries was rising. Other libraries were also created in the city of Alexandria itself, and it is possible that some volumes from the great library were transferred to some of these smaller libraries. The Caesareum and the Claudianum in Alexandria are known to have housed important libraries until the late 19th century. century I a. C.., and that the Serapeum's branch library was probably also expanded during this period.

In the II century B.C. In BC, Rome became less dependent on Egyptian agricultural production, and during this period the Romans also lost interest in Alexandria as a cultural center. The library's reputation continued to decline as Alexandria became merely a provincial town. Those who worked and studied at the Library of Alexandria during the Roman period were less well known than those who studied there during the Ptolemaic period, and the term "Alexandrian" eventually became synonymous with editing and proofreading and writing of texts. synthetic comments based on those of earlier scholars, with connotations of melancholy, monotony, and lack of originality. Perhaps the last notable scientist to do research at the library and the Museion was the mathematician Diophantus of Alexandria, considered one of the fathers of algebra.

Theories about its destruction

Finally, everything indicates that a succession of violent episodes throughout the III century would put an end to the already yes dilapidated library. As part of retaliation for Alexandria's resistance actions against Roman rule, in 215 the Roman Emperor Caracalla cut funding to the Museion and members of its community. This institution and its library may have survived for some time. time, but certainly precariously and without motivating important new researchers to join them. The last known references to Museion members date back to the 260s.

In the year 272 the Roman Emperor Aurelian fought to recapture the city of Alexandria from the forces of Queen Zenobia, of the splinter Empire of Palmyra. During the fighting Roman troops completely destroyed the Brucheion district, in which the library was located, and if the Museion and library were still in existence at the time, they were almost certainly destroyed during the attack. In the event that they had survived, which would be in a very precarious situation, what remained of these institutions would have been destroyed during the siege of Alexandria by the troops of the Emperor Diocletian.

All this, without counting the natural disasters that hit the area. Particularly devastating was the July 365 Cretan earthquake, which was followed hours later by a tsunami that devastated the Libyan and Alexandrian coasts in particular.

The Serapeum

Drawing of the Chronographia Golenischevensis which represents Pope Theophilus of Alexandria, gospel in hand, triumphantly erected on the Serapeum (391 AD).

Scattered references indicate that, at some point in the IV century, an institution known as the "Museion" may have been re-established in a different location somewhere in the city of Alexandria, although nothing is known about the characteristics of this organization. It may have possessed some bibliographic resources, but whatever they were, they were not comparable to those of its predecessor. end of the century I a. In C. the Serapeum was still an important pilgrimage site for pagans, and its library was probably the largest collection of books in the city of Alexandria. In addition to having the largest library in the city, the Serapeum was still a temple in fully operational and had classrooms for philosophers to teach. By its nature it would tend to attract followers of Neoplatonism, especially its Jamblic strand; most of these philosophers were primarily interested in theurgy, the study of rituals. cult and esoteric religious practices. Thus, the Neoplatonic philosopher Damascius (c. 458-538) records that a man named Olympus came from Cilicia to teach classes in Therapeutics, where he taught his students "the rules of divine worship and of ancient religious practices".

In 391 a group of Christian workmen discovered the remains of an ancient Mithraean in Alexandria. They handed over some of the cult objects found to the local Coptic pope, Theophilus of Alexandria, who had these objects displayed throughout the streets. streets and ridiculed. The pagans of Alexandria were outraged by this act of desecration, especially the professors of the Serapeum who taught Neoplatonic philosophy and theurgy, who took up arms and led their students and other followers in an attack on the Christian population. Library of Alexandria. In retaliation, the Christians, under the orders of Theophilus, vandalized and demolished the Serapeum. The hypothesis that the Library of Alexandria was destroyed at this time has had some credence among historians of the past, but in the At present it is considered unlikely, since none of the accounts of the destruction of the Serapeum mention anything about an earlier library and written sources. At its destruction they speak of its collection of books in the past tense, indicating that it probably did not have any significant collection of manuscripts at the time of its destruction.

The school of Theon and Hypatia

Hipatia and his father Teon in a drawing by Charles William Mitchell.

The Suda, a Byzantine encyclopedia from the X century, refers to the mathematician Theon of Alexandria (c. 335-405) as "man of the Museion". However, according to historian Edward J. Watts, Theon was probably the head of a school called the "Museion", named after the Hellenistic Museion of which it was part of the Library of Alexandria, but the name was the only connection it would have to it. Theon's school was exclusive, highly regarded, and doctrinally conservative. But Theon does not appear to have had any connection to the militant Iamblian Neoplatonists that they taught in the Serapeum, but rather Theon seems to have rejected the teachings of Janblichus and prided himself on teaching a pure Plotinian Neoplatonism. Around the year 400 his daughter Hypatia succeeded him as director of his school and, like than his father, rejected the teachings of Iamblichus and adopted and The original Neoplatonism formulated by Plotinus.

Hypatia was very popular with the people of Alexandria, and exercised great political influence. Theophilus, the same bishop who had ordered the destruction of the Serapeum, tolerated her school and even encouraged two of his students to become bishops in territories under his authority. He also respected the political structures of Alexandria and did not object to the close ties Hypatia established with the local Roman prefects. But Hypatia was later involved in a political dispute between Orestes, the Roman prefect of Alexandria, and Cyril, Theophilus' successor. Rumors spread that she prevented Orestes from reconciling with Cyril, and in March 415 she was assassinated. by a mob of Christians led by monks. Hypatia left no successors, and her "Museion" disappeared after her death.

Hypatia is often linked to the Library of Alexandria and its possible destruction, as in the last episode of Carl Sagan's popular series Cosmos where a melodramatic tale of Hypatia's death is told as a result of the burning of the "Great Library of Alexandria" by fanatical Christians but, although it is true that the Christians led by Theophilus set fire to the Serapeum in the year 391, the library had already ceased to exist centuries before the birth of Hypatia.

Caliph Omar

Hypatia was not the last Alexandrian pagan nor the last Neoplatonic philosopher. Neoplatonism and paganism survived in Alexandria and throughout the eastern Mediterranean for centuries after her death. British Egyptologist Charlotte Booth claims that shortly after After Hypatia's death, new schools were built in Alexandria, indicating that philosophy was still taught in local schools, and writers from the turn of the century V such as Zacharias of Mytilene and Aeneas of Gaza, speak of a "Museion" as occupying some kind of physical space in the city. Archaeologists have identified classrooms dating from this time, located near but not at the Ptolemaic Museion site, which may have belonged to the "Museion" to which these authors refer.

It is possible that this new "Museion" is the protagonist of the widespread story that the Library of Alexandria was burnt down in the year 640, when Alexandria was conquered by the Muslim army of Amr ibn al-As. Some Arab sources, including the historians Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi, Ibn al-Qifṯī and Abū al-Faraj, describe the destruction of the library on the orders of Caliph Omar. The writer of the century XIII Bar Hebraeus quotes Omar as telling John Philoponus: "If those books agree with the Qur'an, we have no need of them; and if they oppose the Koran, destroy them." However, as early as the 18th century the historian Edward Gibbon in his The work History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire doubted the veracity of this story, and subsequent scholars have been equally skeptical about it, due to the contradictions that emerge from the few historical sources known about it, the time gap of at least five hundred years between the supposed destruction and the first of these sources, as well as the political motives of its authors.

Acquis

Ezra making a codex.

Initially the collection of the Library of Alexandria consisted of papyrus scrolls and later codices were added to it. However, there is no mention of it including parchment volumes, perhaps due to Alexandria's strong ties to production and the papyrus trade. However, the library played an important role in spreading the writing of this new material because, due to its colossal consumption of papyrus, its exports were few. In particular, Ptolemy V Epiphanes is believed to have been zealous for the expansion of the Library of Pergamum, would have banned the export of papyrus in an attempt to slow the growth of this rival library. For one reason or another, the scarcity of Alexandrian papyrus seems to have prompted the need for an alternative source of copying material, especially in great centers of cultural production such as Pergamum, the city that gave its name to the technology that would replace papyrus, parchment.

The library's catalogue, the Pinakes of Callimachus, survived in only a few fragments, and the size and diversity of its holdings cannot be known with certainty. In the 12th century the Byzantine historian John Tzetzes wrote, presumably based on the comments of scholars working in the library, that when The Pinakes were made, cataloging four hundred and ninety thousand volumes stored in the Library of Alexandria and forty thousand in the Serapeum. the century I a. C. would have had about seven hundred thousand volumes, which is the amount indicated by Aulo Gelio in the II century d. C. However, the calculation of the library fund involves other issues in addition to the number of volumes deposited, such as the different number of works that made it up, since the library contained numerous copies of some classic works, so the same The work could occupy several scrolls, and it could also be the case that the same scroll could contain more than one work. Some modern scholars who have investigated the subject estimate that in the time of Callimachus the library had between thirty and one hundred thousand volumes. Given the price of manuscripts and their scarcity at the time, even the smallest of these quantities would constitute a formidable collection, at least double that of the largest libraries in the Roman Empire.

As with the calculation of the volumes it contained, the question of which works were part of its catalog does not enjoy significant consensus either, and attempts to know the contents of its holdings are based on scant references and assumptions. Given the library's initial focus on the works that formed the basis of Hellenistic education, it is presumed to have contained an extensive collection of works by ancient Greek poets and philosophers, most likely including several works that have not been published. survived to the present day, by authors such as Aeschylus (of which only seven of the estimated ninety he wrote have survived to the present day); Sophocles (seven of more than one hundred); Euripides (nineteen of ninety-two), or Aristophanes (twelve out of forty). The library is also supposed to have been the main repository for the works of the authors who worked there, especially Callimachus and the librarians who ran it. This includes, for example, the work in which Aristarchus of Samos concludes that the Earth orbits the Sun, knowledge that would be lost until its rediscovery by Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei; the works in which the engineer Heron of Alexandria lays the foundations for the creation of turbines and motors, in some cases anticipating the Modern Age; the first works on anatomy of Herophilus, in which he departs from the Aristotelian tradition claiming that the brain would be the center of intelligence, describes the nervous systems and digestive and differentiates muscles from tendons and veins from arteries; or Erasistratus' early works on physiology, which contain detailed descriptions of the human heart, including its valves and function, and of the circulatory system. Historical sources indicate that the library contained most of the works of Hipparchus of Nicaea, the founder of trigonometry and arguably the most important astronomer in history. Antiquity;; most of the works on Hippocrates and the body of the original Corpus hippocraticum, which was elaborated on it; the body of Nicander's instrumental lexicon; volumes on the history of geometry and arithmetic by Eudemus of Rhodes; pioneering works in the field of ballistics by Philo of Byzantium; or numerous volumes on engineering, including works by Ctesibius. Likewise, there are reasons to believe that the library included in its holdings many works on religion, in particular the most important works of the religion of Ancient Egypt elaborated by Manetho; complete works of Hermippus of Smyrna on Zoroastrianism; works by Berossus the Chaldean on the history and religion of Babylon; ancient works on Buddhism from the relations of the Ptolemaic dynasty with the Indian king Aśoka; and works on Judaism, drawn from the large Jewish population of Alexandria, which included authors such as Philo of Alexandria.

Archaeological remains

Although Alexandria was a city of great wealth and an important cultural center of Antiquity, which captured the interest of authors and scholars throughout the centuries, its archaeological heritage has historically been relegated to the background by researchers from Classical Antiquity, which focused on the more accessible temples of Greece and the rich burial complexes along the River Nile. British archaeologist D. G. Hogarth, after an unsuccessful excavation in the region at the turn of the century XIX, said "don't expect anything from Alexandria" and advised his colleagues to forget about Alexandria and concentrate on Greece and Asia Minor. The situation began to change in the mid-20th century. In the 1950s, underwater archaeologist Honor Frost was convinced that remains of the great Lighthouse of Alexandria were ready ersas along the ocean floor around the Qaitbey fort and, in the framework of the Six Day War, she led a UNESCO reconnaissance mission in the area. This mission revealed that at least part of the ruins of the lighthouse and the palaces of Alexander and Ptolemy I were in the region; despite this finding, no more precise prospecting work on the local heritage was carried out.

In the 1990s, efforts by the Egyptian government to reduce erosion of the local seabed led to increased interest in the area's historical artifacts. During the filming of a documentary, the French archaeologist Jean-Yves Empereur observed huge stone blocks, columns and statues in the waters of the ancient port. With the support of the Egyptian and French governments, between 1994 and 1998 the an important work of collection and cataloging of objects in the place. These works allowed the cataloging of more than three thousand objects, and in 2007 there were another two thousand pending registration. Huge cylindrical blocks of stone were discovered, undoubtedly belonging to the lighthouse; columns and sculptures that adorn this structure; statues and pieces that decorate the palaces of the Ptolemaic dynasty (including some of those dating from the reign of Ramses II); large statues (some over forty feet tall); five obelisks and thirty sphinxes. In parallel, the archaeologist Franck Goddio mapped part of ancient Alexandria, sunk below sea level, and shed light on what was probably Cleopatra's palace on the island of Antirodes.

Despite these efforts, it was not until the first decades of the 21st century century that any archaeological discoveries directly related to the Library were announced. from Alexandria. This is mainly because its exact location in the palace area remains unknown.

Legacy

Already in his time, he aroused the interest of the general public, turning his host city into the main center of the Hellenic intelligentsia; he contributed to valuing the knowledge stored in written texts, as well as promoting initiatives aimed at to preserve and disseminate it. The Library of Alexandria has contributed to reinforcing a tradition that considers the written word "a gift from the past and a legacy for the future". But it was also more than a famous repository of texts, offering "unlimited opportunities precedents for scientific scholarship and research" by providing the basic tools for the generation of knowledge. His "research library" model exerted a profound influence and spread throughout the Hellenic world, including Antioch, Caesarea, and Constantinople, which they would play a leading role in the preservation of Greek culture within the Byzantine Empire. In the late Hellenistic period ca. whether every large city in the eastern Mediterranean had a public library of this type, as did many medium-sized cities. During Roman times the number of libraries even increased, and in the I a. The city of Rome had at least two dozen public libraries. In Late Antiquity, when the Roman Empire converted to Christianity, Christian libraries, directly modeled on the Library of Alexandria and other great pagan libraries, were founded throughout the city. the eastern part of the empire, where the Greek language was spoken.

He had a profound and lasting impact on different branches of knowledge. In a context in which the copies were numerous and of diverse content, already in its first centuries of existence it became famous for establishing text patterns for the works of classical Greek authors, and for centuries it was a reference center in the establishment of editorial standards for works of poetry and prose, which would later be applied to innumerable works by different sciences and authors. The empirical standards developed at the library made it one of the first and arguably most important centers of textual criticism., an activity that also contributed to its own financing and to making it profitable. Since there were often multiple versions of the same work, textual criticism played a crucial role in determining the veracity and accuracy of the copies, as well as in identifying their fidelity to the originals. Once the most faithful copies were identified, they were reproduced and then sold to wealthy scholars, kings, and bibliophiles throughout the known world. The intellectuals of the library and the Museion played prominent roles in many arts and sciences, and their influence spread. extended beyond the members of the catechetical School of Alexandria itself. While scholars such as Callimachus, Apollonius of Rhodes, and Theocritus were among the most influential poets in all of antiquity and made valuable contributions to literature, numerous library scholars played significant roles in establishing models and theories. in mathematics, geography, astronomy, engineering, medicine, grammar, philosophy, and other sciences that influenced subsequent generations of scholars and that, in many cases, remained unchanged for centuries; in some cases, the theories and methods elaborated in Alexandria they remained unchanged even until the Renaissance.

Some authors consider that the myths surrounding the destruction of the library by pagans, Christians and Muslims would have contributed to the promotion of knowledge by inspiring, through the image of its burning literary treasures, a «feeling of cultural loss incalculable", even long after. Although this idea has differing opinions, the Library of Alexandria has certainly captured the imagination of later generations and, as a symbol, embodies some of the main human aspirations: as well as a predecessor of universities, has been described as an archetype of the universal library, of the ideal of knowledge preservation, and of the fragility of this ideal, especially in the face of religious supremacism.

Perhaps the library's main long-term legacy may lie in the fact that, together with Museion, it has contributed to establishing academic research as a legitimate activity and unrelated to specific schools of thought, evidencing that, in addition to Being a theoretical exercise capable of answering abstract questions, it can also be useful for mundane issues and the material needs of societies and governments. It is possible that in the library and in the Museion they were applied for the first time the principles of the scientific method to various branches of science and that the critical spirit of the Alexandrian researchers, for whom no author was above the empirical verification of their arguments, had very long-term implications. Under the premise of that the role of the library and other Alexandrian institutions must be understood within their own historical and cultural context, it can be said that, under the Ptolemaic dynasty, perhaps for the first time science ceased to be mere entertainment to become an activity that must be promoted, and that justifies the planning work, institutionalization and continuity of it.

In culture

The Library of Alexandria is the protagonist in television documentaries such as the episode The Lost Treasure of the Alexandria Library, which is part of the series Mysteries of Antiquity, broadcast on the American channels A+E Networks and the History Channel, it was projected in 1996 and deals with the library and its destruction. The same subject is narrated in the episode Library of Alexandria of the series Mysteries of History on the History Channel which aired in 1999. In On the Shore of the Cosmic Ocean (1980), the first episode of the popular series Cosmos, Carl Sagan deals extensively with the subject of the library and its role as a symbol of the fragility of the ideal of knowledge preservation; the episode Not afraid of the dark of the series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, a sequel to the previous one, begins with references to the library and its destruction, stating that it would have caused the loss of much of the available knowledge. nible by then.

The event of the fire caused by Julius Caesar's troops, which supposedly destroyed the library, is recorded in numerous works, such as John Lydgate's poem Fall of Princes, written between 1431 and 1438; the opera Julius Caesar in Egypt (1723), by Georg Friedrich Händel; the satirical poem The Dunciad by Alexander Pope, first published in 1728; the play Cesar and Cleopatra (1898), by George Bernard Shaw; or the 1963 American film Cleopatra, winner of four Oscars.

Jorge Luis Borges mentions the supposed destruction of the library during the Arab conquest in his poem Historia de la noche (1977), through the order that Caliph Omar would have given to Juan Filópono. In 2002 the astrophysicist and writer Jean-Pierre Luminet in his work Le Bâton d'Euclide: Le roman de la bibliothèque d'Alexandrie cites the same episode and describes the role of Philoponus trying to to dissuade Omar.

Umberto Eco drew inspiration from the collective imagination surrounding the Library of Alexandria fire to describe the library fire in his best-selling novel The Name of the Rose.

The plot of the video game Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, released in 2000, includes the discovery of archaeological sites in Alexandria, including the library and the chambers of Demetrius of Phalero.

The Spanish film Agora (2009), which focuses mainly on Hypatia but has the Serapeum of Alexandria as its backdrop, mentions the alleged destruction of the library by Christians; in the film, Hypatia tries to save library manuscripts before the Serapeum's destruction, she also appears in the film Alexander the Great (2004); it shows Ptolemy I writing his memories in the library and at the end of the film it is said that these memories were lost with his destruction.

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Outside the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

The idea of bringing the ancient Library of Alexandria back into the contemporary era was first proposed in 1974, during Nabil Lotfy Dowidar's tenure as president of the University of Alexandria. In May 1986, the Egyptian government asked the UNESCO Executive Council to carry out a feasibility study for the project, thus initiating the participation of this intergovernmental body and the international community in the process of carrying out its construction. 1988 Unesco and the United Nations Development Program organized an international architectural competition to select a design for the new library. The Egyptian government allocated four hectares of land for its construction and created the National High Commission for the Library of Alexandria. The then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak took a personal interest in the project, which contributed significantly to its advancement.

The works began in 1995 and it was inaugurated on October 16, 2002. The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is the largest in Egypt and a reference in North Africa. It functions as a cultural center and modern library and, in line with the objectives of the library of Antiquity, in addition to the main library, with a capacity for eight million volumes, the complex also houses a conference center, six specialized libraries, four museums, art galleries for permanent and temporary exhibitions, a planetarium, a manuscript restoration laboratory, and the International School of Information Sciences, an institution whose objective is to train professionals for libraries in Egypt and other countries in the Middle East.

Additional bibliography