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The Burning of the Library of Alexandria


by Preston Chesser

The loss of the ancient world's single greatest archive of knowledge, the Library of Alexandria, has been lamented for ages. But how and why it was lost is still a mystery. The mystery exists not for lack of suspects but from an excess of them.

Alexandria was founded in Egypt by Alexandria the Great. His successor as Pharaoh, Ptolomy II Soter, founded the Museum or Royal Library of Alexandria in 283 BC. The Museum was a shrine of the Muses modeled after the Lyceum of Aristotle in Athens. The Museum was a place of study which included lecture areas, gardens, a zoo, and shrines for each of the nine muses as well as the Library itself. It has been estimated that at one time the Library of Alexandria held over half a million documents from Assyria, Greece, Persia, Egypt, India and many other nations. Over 100 scholars lived at the Museum full time to perform research, write, lecture or translate and copy documents. The library was so large it actually had another branch or "daughter" library at the Temple of Serapis.

The first person blamed for the destruction of the Library is none other than Julius Caesar himself. In 48 BC, Caesar was pursuing Pompey into Egypt when he was suddenly cut off by an Egyptian fleet at Alexandria. Greatly outnumbered and in enemy territory, Caesar ordered the ships in the harbor to be set on fire. The fire spread and destroyed the Egyptian fleet. Unfortunately, it also burned down part of the city - the area where the great Library stood. Caesar wrote of starting the fire in the harbor but neglected to mention the burning of the Library. Such an omission proves little since he was not in the habit of including unflattering facts while writing his own history. But Caesar was not without public detractors. If he was solely to blame for the disappearance of the Library it is very likely significant documentation on the affair would exist today.

The second story of the Library's destruction is more popular, thanks primarily to Edward Gibbon's "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire". But the story is also a tad more complex. Theophilus was Patriarch of Alexandria from 385 to 412 AD. During his reign the Temple of Serapis was converted into a Christian Church (probably around 391 AD) and it is likely that many documents were destroyed then. The Temple of Serapis was estimated to hold about ten percent of the overall Library of Alexandria's holdings. After his death, his nephew Cyril became Patriarch. Shortly after that, riots broke out when Hierax, a Christian monk, was publicly killed by order of Orestes the city Prefect. Orestes was said to be under the influence of Hypatia, a female philosopher and daughter of the "last member of the Library of Alexandria". Although it should be noted that some count Hypatia herself as the last Head Librarian.

Alexandria had long been known for it's violent and volatile politics. Christians, Jews and Pagans all lived together in the city. One ancient writer claimed that there was no people who loved a fight more than those of Alexandria. Immediately after the death of Hierax a group of Jews who had helped instigate his killing lured more Christians into the street at night by proclaiming that the Church was on fire. When the Christians rushed out the largely Jewish mob slew many of them. After this there was mass havoc as Christians retaliated against both the Jews and the Pagans - one of which was Hypatia. The story varies slightly depending upon who tells it but she was taken by the Christians, dragged through the streets and murdered.

Some regard the death of Hypatia as the final destruction of the Library. Others blame Theophilus for destroying the last of the scrolls when he razed the Temple of Serapis prior to making it a Christian church. Still others have confused both incidents and blamed Theophilus for simultaneously murdering Hypatia and destroying the Library though it is obvious Theophilus died sometime prior to Hypatia.

The final individual to get blamed for the destruction is the Moslem Caliph Omar. In 640 AD the Moslems took the city of Alexandria. Upon learning of "a great library containing all the knowledge of the world" the conquering general supposedly asked Caliph Omar for instructions. The Caliph has been quoted as saying of the Library's holdings, "they will either contradict the Koran, in which case they are heresy, or they will agree with it, so they are superfluous." So, allegedly, all the texts were destroyed by using them as tinder for the bathhouses of the city. Even then it was said to have taken six months to burn all the documents. But these details, from the Caliph's quote to the incredulous six months it supposedly took to burn all the books, weren't written down until 300 years after the fact. These facts condemning Omar were written by Bishop Gregory Bar Hebræus, a Christian who spent a great deal of time writing about Moslem atrocities without much historical documentation.

So who did burn the Library of Alexandria? Unfortunately most of the writers from Plutarch (who apparently blamed Caesar) to Edward Gibbons (a staunch atheist or deist who liked very much to blame Christians and blamed Theophilus) to Bishop Gregory (who was particularly anti-Moslem, blamed Omar) all had an axe to grind and consequently must be seen as biased. Probably everyone mentioned above had some hand in destroying some part of the Library's holdings. The collection may have ebbed and flowed as some documents were destroyed and others were added. For instance, Mark Antony was supposed to have given Cleopatra over 200,000 scrolls for the Library long after Julius Caesar is accused of burning it.

It is also quite likely that even if the Museum was destroyed with the main library the outlying "daughter" library at the Temple of Serapis continued on. Many writers seem to equate the Library of Alexandria with the Library of Serapis although technically they were in two different parts of the city.

The real tragedy of course is not the uncertainty of knowing who to blame for the Library's destruction but that so much of ancient history, literature and learning was lost forever.

Selected sources:
"The Vanished Library" by Luciano Canfora
"Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbons

Source

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2/1/2006, 7:45 pm Link to this post PM TheHorseman Read Blog
 
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Re: The Burning of the Library of Alexandria


So whos to blame, technically mankind...

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2/1/2006, 7:53 pm Link to this post PM TheHorseman Read Blog
 
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Re: The Burning of the Library of Alexandria



The final individual to get blamed for the destruction is the Moslem Caliph Omar. In 640 AD the Moslems took the city of Alexandria. Upon learning of "a great library containing all the knowledge of the world" the conquering general supposedly asked Caliph Omar for instructions. The Caliph has been quoted as saying of the Library's holdings, "they will either contradict the Koran, in which case they are heresy, or they will agree with it, so they are superfluous."

This would disagree with my historian acquaintance's statement that, "The Qur'an was written in the 7th cent. C.E." (800+ C.E./A.D.) (Correction: 600+ C.E., not 800+) I'll have to research this further and see which source is correct.

Unfortunately most of the writers ... had an axe to grind and consequently must be seen as biased.

Yes, it's unfortunate that much (if not most, or even all) of our historical writings are biased, since it makes it that much more difficult to find the truth of it all.

The real tragedy of course is not the uncertainty of knowing who to blame for the Library's destruction but that so much of ancient history, literature and learning was lost forever.

This is definitely the most unfortunate consequence of the library's destruction.

Thank you for posting this, Horseman. emoticon

Last revised by Lesigner Girl, 2/4/2006, 1:23 am


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2/2/2006, 5:34 am Link to this post PM Lesigner Girl Read Blog
 
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Re: The Burning of the Library of Alexandria



Lesigner Girl said:
This would disagree with my historian acquaintance's statement that, "The Qur'an was written in the 7th cent. C.E." (800+ C.E./A.D.) I'll have to research this further and see which source is correct



The Quran was actually wriiten as it its message was being relayed by Mohammad to his followers, it was compiled into the book it is today much later it was more like a collection of writings, but some people like to look at when it was compiled into the book it is today as to when it was written....



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2/2/2006, 6:02 am Link to this post PM TheHorseman Read Blog
 
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Re: The Burning of the Library of Alexandria



TheHorseman said:

The Quran was actually wriiten



Well there you have it ladies and gentlemen, I checked it out twice re-read it to make sure it was spelled correctly, after submitting it I saw the two "i"'s in the word written...



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2/2/2006, 6:04 am Link to this post PM TheHorseman Read Blog
 
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Re: The Burning of the Library of Alexandria


LMAO! I usually notice misspellings, but I didn't catch the ii when I read it, lol.

The Quran was actually wriiten as it its message was being relayed by Mohammad to his followers, it was compiled into the book it is today much later it was more like a collection of writings, but some people like to look at when it was compiled into the book it is today as to when it was written....

So that means they are both probably right. That's good to know. emoticon

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2/2/2006, 6:43 am Link to this post PM Lesigner Girl Read Blog
 
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Re: The Burning of the Library of Alexandria



Lesigner Girl said:
So that means they are both probably right. That's good to know. emoticon



Well the "Kufic" style which is a style of Arabic writing wasnt used until 800 A.D (it was invented but wasnt very elegant) now 99.9% of all the Qurans are written and have been written in that style, before that was the Nabatian script, which was derived from the Aramaic script.....

Problem is theres roughly only two copies of the Nabatian script, which are located in Turkey and Turkmenistan, Western scholars have only seen the Kufic style so they assume it had to be written roughly around the 8th Century...



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2/2/2006, 8:08 am Link to this post PM TheHorseman Read Blog
 
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Re: The Burning of the Library of Alexandria


So let me get this straight... It was first written in Aramaic (probably the same Aramaic texts that were included in the Hebrew Bible?), then Nabatian, then Kufic, and the Nabiatian is the earliest known surviving writings, but Western scholars date it by the Kufic version?

It's pretty hard to sort out with Wiki's page on Islamic calligraphy:

The North Arabic script, which was influenced by the Nabatian script, was established in north-eastern Arabia and flourished in the 5th century among the Arabian tribes who inhabited Hirah and Anbar. It spread to Hijaz in western Arabia, and its use was popularized among the aristocracy of Quraysh, the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad, by Harb ibn Ummayyah.

Although early Arabic sources mention several calligraphic styles in reference to the cities in which they were used, they generally fit into two broad categories with some minor variations, these are the "dry styles", the early predecessors of Kufic, and the "moist styles", the early predecessors of the cursive family or scripts.

Wiki doesn't have a link for the Nabatian script, but their page about the Kufic script claims that the first copies of the Qur'an were written in Kufic:

Kufic is the oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts and consists of a modified form of the old Syrian script. At the time of the emergence of Islam this type of script was already in use in various parts of the Arabian Peninsula. It was in this script that the first copies of the Qur'an were written.

What makes you say that Aramic or Nabatian copies came before Kufic?

Also, do you know if there are any English versions of the Qur'an available anywhere online?

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2/2/2006, 9:06 am Link to this post PM Lesigner Girl Read Blog
 
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Re: The Burning of the Library of Alexandria


Heres a site you may find helpful..

The North Arabic script, which eventually prevailed and became the Arabic script of the Quran, relates most substantially and directly to the Nabatian script, which was derived from the Aramaic script. Old Aramaic, the language of Jesus and the Apostles, dates from the 2nd millennium B.C., and some dialects of which are still spoken by tiny groups in the Middle East.

Source


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2/2/2006, 5:05 pm Link to this post PM TheHorseman Read Blog
 
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Re: The Burning of the Library of Alexandria


Was I tired last night or what? I forgot the 3rd "a" in Aramaic...

"What makes you say that Aramaic or Nabatian copies came before Kufic?"

Ok, so the article says that North Arabic became the script of the Qur'an, and it sounds like it's only saying that it was similar to the Nabatian script. I don't see where it says that the Qur'an was written in Nabatian (unless I'm misreading it?), but the article does say that the Qur'an was written in North Arabic before it was written in Kufic. It also further says that the archangel Gabriel revealed the Word of God in Arabic.

For Muslims the Quran is the actual Word of God revealed through the archangel Gabrielle to the Prophet of Islam during the twenty-three year period of his prophetic mission. It was revealed in the Arabic language, which became therefore the language of Islam even for non-Arab Muslims.



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