Library of Alexandria
The Library of Alexandria was, as is well known, in the Bruchion quarter. Although uncertainty as to the precise time and mode of destruction exists, the great fact remains; during the ravages of a ruthless soldiery in the sacking of the city, or by the commands of unscrupulous leaders, the wanton ruin and dispersion of a priceless accumulation of knowledge was directly or indirectly brought about. Some few valuable works were saved through being previously transferred to other libraries, but the greater part were irretrievably lost, and a blank occurred in history which has never been filled up.
If the idea of founding this vast collection of the world's literature came from Ptolemy Soter, and if he actually formed the Library, it was completely equipped and organized by Philadelphus his successor. It seems to have been part of the splendid group of buildings known as the Museum. The Museum, as Strabo says, adjoined the royal palaces, which were of vast extent, occupying quite one fourth of the whole area of the city. It consisted of a great central hall with a colonnade about it, and cloistered courts. These communicated with other buildings, such as the Schools of Medicine, Anatomy and Surgery, Mathematics and Astronomy, Law and Philosophy: a park was also attached, with a botanical garden and an observatory1 — all the apparatus of a great University. What was the precise structural arrangement of the Museum buildings, and where precisely the Library was situated, cannot be determined: nor indeed is there any agreement even about the site of the Museum.
Strabo is provokingly silent concerning the Library, when his evidence would settle the question whether, as some ancient writers allege, it perished in the conflagration of 48 BC, a few years before his visit. Caesar was then besieged in the Bruchion quarter by the Egyptians under Achillas, and he set fire to the harbour shipping: it is alleged that the fire spread and utterly destroyed the Library. Caesar himself—if he wrote the account1—gives no hint of any such catastrophe; on the contrary, he remarks that Alexandria is practically fire-proof, as the architects used no timber, but raised their buildings on vaulted substructures, and roofed them with stone or concrete. Such a remark would be deliberately misleading, if the writer were suppressing the fact that he witnessed and caused the burning of the Library.
Yet somewhat later, when the Egyptians had suffered a great naval defeat, they are described as refitting all the old vessels they could muster and bringing up the Nile guard-ships. Oars were wanting to equip these vessels; so the Egyptians stripped colonnades, gymnasia, and public buildings of their roofs to provide wood for the making of oars. This inconsistency in the narrative deserves attention. Moreover John of Nikiou says that Diocletian burned the city—' la livra aux flammes entierement' (p. 417). Orosius speaking of Diocletian's victory says ' urbem direptioni dedit'—an equally strong expression though fire is not mentioned {Hist. vii. 25. 8). Eulogius, brother of the martyred Macarius of Antioch, was sent by Constantine with an army to Alexandria and 'burned all the temples of Alexandria, destroyed them, and seized their possessions' (Hyvernat, Actes des Martyrs, p. 74). These instances seem to show that Caesar's view is mistaken or exaggerated.
It is difficult either to convict or to clear Caesar of the charge. Plutarch has no doubt of the fact: "As his fleet was falling into the hands of the enemy, he was forced to repel the danger by fire: this spread from the dockyards and destroyed the great Library." Seneca clearly believed the story: 'Four hundred thousand books were burned at Alexandria1.' The language of Dio Cassius is rather odd: 'The conflagration was widespread; besides the dockyard and much else, the stores of corn perished, and the stores of books; and these books, it is said, in vast numbers and of great value.'
But there can be no doubt what the tradition was in the fourth century. The words of Ammianus Marcellinus are plain enough; he speaks of Alexandria's "priceless libraries, about which ancient writers agree that the 700,000 volumes got together by the unremitting care of the Ptolemies were destroyed by fire in the Alexandrian war, when Caesar devastated the city." Orosius closely agrees with this account: 'During the combat orders were given to fire the royal fleet, which happened to be drawn on shore. The conflagration spread to part of the city, and burned 400,000 books, which were stored in a building which happened to be contiguous. So perished that marvellous record of the literary activity of our forefathers, who had made this vast and splendid collection of works of genius." On the whole it seems more natural to believe than to disbelieve that the Library perished in Caesar's conflagration.
After this disaster Euergetes and later Ptolemies added largely to the remaining Serapeum library. And seven or eight years after this adventure of Caesar's, the library of the Kings of Pergamus was sent by Mark Antony to Alexandria. It is recorded that Cleopatra presented some 200,000 manuscripts, which had been given to ber by Mark Anthony. It would be about this later collection that Suetonius9 writes of Domitian sending copyists to make extracts from certain volumes, proving the existence of a library at Alexandria long after Caesar's time. Whether the Museum was still able to house such a collection, or whether these volumes formed the foundation of the later Serapeum Library, is a question which has exercised scholars. The Serapeum possessed some 300,000 volumes over and above those destroyed in the Bruchion.
Two things are fairly certain; that some of the Museum buildings remained in use till the time of Caracalla, who drenched the city with blood, closed the theatres, and suppressed the syssitia or Common Hall at the Museum in the year 216 AD; and that at some date early in the Christian era, in place of the vanished Museum Library, another great Library was founded in the Serapeum on the acropolis. The Museum buildings are said to have been razed to the ground by Aurelian in 273, when he wrought havoc in the Bruchion quarter to punish the Alexandrians for the revolt of Firmus; and the members or Fellows of the Museum then either fled over sea or took refuge in the Serapeum. The Serapeum Library was called the Smaller or 'Daughter Library' but it is not possible to fix a date either for the end of the Mother Library1 or for the beginning of the Daughter, though the latter is said to have been founded by Ptolemy Philadelphus. Nor is the question very material. We know that in the fourth century the elder Library had perished, and the younger had been some time established.
Here then in the Serapeum all the traditions of the earlier learning were maintained; the University, with its great collection of books, was established; and that association of Aristotle's name with Alexandrian study which began at the Museum, was continued at the Serapeum unbroken2. In other words, those courses of philosophic and scientific study which had made Alexandria the center of the culture of the world were still in being; only the seat of learning had been moved from the Museum to the Serapeum.
But towards the end of the fourth century the Serapeum was doomed to destruction by the Christians under Theophilus. In the year 366 the Caesarion was wrecked and plundered in a fierce religious contest, in which there is too much reason to think that the Caesarion library perished. As Christianity gathered strength, the war with paganism became fiercer. The Serapeum naturally served as the camp and fortress of the pagans; and for a while they used the advantage which the position gave them to raid the city and slaughter the most zealous of the Christians. Siege was laid to the acropolis; but before matters were forced to the last arbitrament it was agreed to take the Emperor's decision. The edict of Theodosius pronounced wholly in favour of the Christians. It was read aloud between the contending parties in the court of the Serapeum; and as the worshippers of the old Egyptian idols fled, the Christians, under their bishop Theophilus, dismantled and demolished the great temple of Serapis. This happened in the year 391, and the fact is uncontroverted.
No one supposes that even in the great wars upon books — such as the war made by Diocletian upon Christian books and the war made by Theophilus upon pagan books — all the books in Alexandria perished. Even after the destruction of the great public libraries, there must have been many volumes in private collections, and many in the remoter monastic libraries. The very fact that Alexandrian learning was not extinguished proves the use of books. But not a single writer in the fifth or sixth century can be cited to establish that the great Serapeum Library had continued in existence into the seventh century in clear and unmistakable language.
Whether the Arabs upon the capture of the city in 639 AD burned or did not burn the great Library of Alexandria is a question which has long been keenly debated: but inasmuch as learned opinions still differ, and the problem remains unsolved. The story as it stands in Abu '1 Faraj is well known, and runs as follows. There was at this time a man, who won high renown among the Muslims, named John the Grammarian. He was an Alexandrian, and apparently had been a Coptic priest, but was deprived of his office owing to some heresy by a council of bishops held at Babylon. He lived to see the capture of Alexandria by the Arabs, and made the acquaintance of 'Amr, whose clear and active mind was no less astonished than delighted with John's intellectual acuteness and great learning.
Emboldened by 'Amr's favour, John one day remarked, 'You have examined the whole city, and have set your seal on every kind of valuable: I make no claim for aught that is useful to you, but things useless to you may be of service to us.' 'What are you thinking of?' said 'Amr. 'The books of wisdom,' said John, 'which are in the imperial treasuries.' 'That,' replied 'Amr, 'is a matter on which I can give no order without the authority of the Caliph.' A letter accordingly was written, putting the question to Omar, who answered: 'Touching the books you mention, if what is written in them agrees with the Book of God, they are not required: if it disagrees, they are not desired. Destroy them therefore.' [the same reply of Omar is recorded in connexion with the destruction of books in Persia].
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