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Library of Alexandria

The Library of Alexandria was established under the Ptolemaic Dynasty of Egypt (323-30 BCE) and flourished under the patronage of the early kings to become the most famous library of the ancient world, attracting scholars from around the Mediterranean, and making Alexandria the preeminent intellectual center of its time until its decline after 145 BCE.

Although legend claims the idea of the great library came from Alexander the Great, this has been challenged and it seems to have been proposed by Ptolemy I Soter (r. 323-282 BCE), founder of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, and built under the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (282-246 BCE), who also acquired the first books for its collection. Under Ptolemy III Euergetes (r. 246-221 BCE), the library's collection increased as books were taken from ships at port, copied, and the originals were then housed in the stacks.

Under Ptolemy IV (r. 221-205 BCE) patronage continued, and Ptolemy V (r. 204-180 BCE) and Ptolemy VI (r. 180-164 & 163-145 BCE) made acquisitions for the library such a priority around the Mediterranean that scholars began hiding their private libraries to prevent their seizure. Ptolemy V, to undercut the prestige of the Library of Pergamon, prohibited the export of papyrus – necessary for producing copies of books, and inadvertently encouraged Pergamon's parchment industry.

The final fate of the Library of Alexandria has been debated for centuries and continues to be. According to the most popular claim, it was destroyed by Julius Caesar by fire in 48 BCE. Other claims cite its destruction by the emperor Aurelian in his war with Zenobia in 272 CE, by Diocletian in 297 CE, by Christian zealots in 391 and 415 CE, or by Muslim Arab invaders in the 7th century.

As the library still existed after the time of Caesar and is referenced during the early Christian era, the most probable explanation for its fall is a loss of patronage by the later Ptolemaic rulers (after Ptolemy VIII expelled foreign scholars in 145 BCE) and uneven support by Roman emperors leading to a decline in the upkeep of the collection and buildings. Religious intolerance, following the rise of Christianity, led to civil strife, which encouraged many scholars to find positions elsewhere, further contributing to the library's deterioration. By the 7th century, when the Muslim Arabs are said to have burned the library's collection, there is no evidence that those books, or even the buildings that would have housed them, still existed in Alexandria.

Library Established

After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, Ptolemy I took Egypt during the Wars of the Diadochi (Alexander's successors) and established his dynasty. He seems to have proposed the library as an extension of his overall vision for the city of Alexandria as a great melting pot, blending the cultures of Egypt and Greece, as epitomized by his hybrid god Serapis, a combination of Egyptian and Greek deities. According to the Letter of Aristeas, written between c. 180 and c. 145 BCE, the idea for the library was suggested by the Greek orator Demetrius of Phalerum (l. c. 350 to c. 280 BCE), a student of either Aristotle (l. 384-322 BCE) or Aristotle's student Theophrastus (l. c. 371 to c. 287 BCE), though the authenticity of this letter has been challenged.

If Demetrius did propose the idea of a universal library, however, it would easily explain the descriptions of the building which seem to mirror Aristotle's Lyceum, specifically the colonnade in which scholars could walk and discuss various issues, though the colonnade was hardly specific to Aristotle's school. Demetrius is also said to have organized the library as a home to every book ever written and proposed the name Mouseion, a temple to the Nine Muses, for at least one part of the library (the name later serving as the origin for the English word "museum"). In answer to the question, "Why was a universal library built in the relatively new city of Alexandria?", scholar Lionel Casson writes:

Egypt was far richer than the lands of their rivals. For one, the fertile soil along the Nile produced bounteous harvests of grain, and grain was to the Greek and Roman world what oil is to ours: it commanded a market everywhere. For another, Egypt was the habitat par excellence of the papyrus plant, thus ensuring its rulers a monopoly on the world's prime writing material. All the Hellenistic monarchs sought to adorn their capitals with grandiose architecture and to build up a reputation for culture. The Ptolemies, able to outspend the others, took the lead. The first four members of the dynasty concentrated on Alexandria's cultural reputation, being intellectuals themselves. Ptolemy I was a historian, author of an authoritative account of Alexander's campaign of conquest…Ptolemy II was an avid zoologist, Ptolemy III, a patron of literature, Ptolemy IV a playwright. All of them chose leading scholars and scientists as tutors for their children. It is no surprise that these men sought to make their capital the cultural center of the Greek world. (32-33)