The Burning of the Library of Alexandria
The Burning of the Library of
Alexandria
Created by: Vincent Matamoros,
Santiago Aguilera, Paris Allen,
Valerie Jargo
Created by: Vincent Matamoros, Santiago Aguilera, Paris Allen,
Valerie Jargo
How was it destroyed?
Most sources say the fire was accidental.
During the Alexandrian War, Caesar
ordered to burn ships on the port of
Alexandria to stave off Roman advancement
into the city. The fire spread to the palace
quarter and destroyed many of the texts it
housed. To this day, it remains undecided
whether the fire destroyed the entire library
or just a portion of it. Regardless, after the
fire the library gradually declined and was
eventually forgotten after the palace of
Alexandria was abandoned.
What was destroyed?
Believed to have contained anywhere between
40k - 400k scrolls (Possibly 700k)
Original Homeric poems, Nearly all writings of
Hipparchus, “The Father of Astronomy”,
original texts from Aeschylus, Sophocles, and
Euripides, among many other notable texts that
we’ll never see again.
The Library of Alexandria was a mecca for
scholars of the age, and was responsible for
many advancements in scholarship.
The burning of the Library of Alexandria
destroyed the history and knowledge of their
world, as well as the advancement of
scholarship at the time.
Why does it matter?
Libraries are shrines for knowledge, designed
to preserve and make sure the knowledge
within those books are passed down
generation after generation. It is of utmost
importance to preserve books, otherwise,
much of humanity’s past knowledge will
simply be lost to time, which would lead us
to have to start over in certain areas of study.
The burning of Library of Alexandria is one
of the earliest recorded catastrophic losses of
knowledge in the history of humanity,
arguably, the library could’ve served as a way
to connect the ancient world with the same
civilizations we are familiar today.
Why should we care?
It’s quite simple, a loss of knowledge
hundreds, even thousands of years ago can
be felt even today. The scrolls within the
library of Alexandria could’ve contained
knowledge that we still don’t even know
today, or beautifly written stories that move
people that we will simply not experience.
The loss of books is not only about the
knowledge, but the whole culture behind it.
Another important aspect of why we, as
students, should care is because this might
have been one of the earliest prototypes of
what we now know as universities.
What was done to protect/restore what was lost?
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Unfortunately, there are no known surviving works of the fire
of the Library of Alexandria,
In 2002 the Bibliotheca Alexandria was founded as the
successor to the original and is said to be “a center of
excellence in the production and dissemination of knowledge
and to be a place of dialogue, learning and understanding
between cultures and peoples” (Bibalex.org)
The plans to revive the Library of Alexandria in a more
modern way bagan with a committee in 1974, construction of
the library began in 1995 and was officially open to the public
in the Fall of 2002
Because this loss was so great, several movements have
generated with the mission to prioritize the protection of
knowledge and information within libraries around the
world.
The catastrophe provides a good lesson for us today that even
the newest, shinest, most advanced libraries, like the BA,
must be treasured and protected if the vast amount
knowledge they hold is going to persevere through time.
References
“About the BA.” Bibliotheca Alexandrina. https://www.bibalex.org/en/page/about
“Burning of the Library of Alexandria.” eHistory, https://ehistory.osu.edu/articles/burning-library-alexandria
“How much was lost when the Library of Alexandria burned?” YouTube, uploaded by toldinstone, 14 September 2021, https://youtu.be/oQX9Lh65rAA?si=GwMzz-kFsOA4b7Gw
“Library of Alexandria.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria
Martínez, Antonio Marco. “Library of Alexandria (2): How Many Volumes Had the Library of Alexandria?” History of Greece and Rome, 27 Mar. 2014, www.antiquitatem.com/en/how-many-books-hadthe-library-of-alexan/.
Martínez, Antonio Marco. “Library of Alexandria (5) Did the Library of Alexandria Disappeared by a Grand Fire?” History of Greece and Rome, 8 Apr. 2014, www.antiquitatem.com/en/destruction-oflibrary-of-alexandria/.
Martínez, Antonio Marco. “The Library of Alexandria (3): The Library of Alexandria Acquired Books in a Curious Way.” History of Greece and Rome, 31 Mar. 2014, www.antiquitatem.com/en/library-ofalexandria-books-copy/.
Ovenden, Richard. “The Real Lesson of the Burning of the Library of Alexandria.” Time, Time, 17 Nov. 2020, time.com/5912689/library-of-alexandria-burning/.
“The Great Library of Alexandria: The Untold Story Explained.” The Collector. https://www.thecollector.com/library-of-alexandria/
“The Story of the Library of Alexandria Is Mostly a Legend, But the Lesson of Its Burning Is Still Crucial Today” Time. https://time.com/5912689/library-of-alexandria-burning/
“What happened to the Great Library at Alexandria?” World History Encyclopedia, 01 February 2011, https://www.worldhistory.org/article/207/what-happened-to-the-great-library-at-alexandria/