The library of Alexandria Fiction and reality

Contents

I First dreams

II Rise

III Decline and destruction

Conclusion:

Who is responsible of the destruction?

I First dreams

Libraries before Alexandria

Temples archives Schools of philosophy Plato’s Academy Aristotle’s Lyceum (300 scrolls each)

A challenge for King Ptolemy of Egypt

Demetrius of Phaleron

Early years Student of Theophrastus (and Aristotle ?)

323 Death of Alexander

319 Democratic party controls Athens

Takes refuge at the court of Cassander

317-307 epimeletès of Athens

307 Conquest of Athens by Demetrius Poliorcetes

307-297 At Thebes till the death of Cassander

297- ar. 283 At Alexandria with kings Ptolemy I and II

The setting

Museum : Built by Ptolemy I

Scientific community organized

by Ptol. Philadelphus ar. 280 BC

Serapeum : Built by Ptolemy III ar. 230 BC

Caesarium : Built by Cleopatra VII ar. 40 BC

Scholars living by the Museum

Timon of Phlius, around 230 : Many are those who lead a happy life in densely populated Egypt, those pretentious people full of books who are always fighting in the Temple of the Muses. 

Athenaeus, 1, 22d

Number of volumes

Museum Serapeum

Scholia mss of Plautus

490,000 42,800

Ammianus M. - 70,000

Epiphanius 54,800 -

Eusebius, Fl. Jos. and Aristeas

200,000 >

500,000

-

Aulus Gellius 7[0]0,000 -

Seneca 40,000 ? -

II Rise

Three outstanding scholars

Zenodotus

Callimachus

Eratosthenes

Zenodotus of Ephesus (v. 330- v. 250)

First appointed librarian (from 284 until ar. 270)Edited the text of Homer and other poetsGlôssai : first dictionary organized by alphab. order

School of philologists and editors:Aristoph. of Byzantium (v. 257-180, 4th libr.)Aristarch. of Samothrace (v. 216-144: 6th libr.) :« to explain Homer through Homer »

Callimachus (b. 295 – aft. 245)

Tables (Pinakes) of the authors who were extant in all the fields of culture and with respect to the works that they wrote, in 120 books 

Characteristics of his erudition:

Scholarship deprived of any direct observation

Concern for the detail at the expenses of synthesis

Desire for getting a complete recollection of data

Eratosthenes (ar. 285- ar. 194)

Measures the earth’s circumference :

1) Fact : Syene, 5000 stades away, summer solstice, perpendicularity of the sun

2) Measurement : Obelisk’s angle with its shadow at Alexandria

3) Calculation: circumference of the earth:

39.690 km, instead of 40.075 km

III Decline of the Alexandrian library

Ptolemy Euergetes (ar. 145-144) banishes Aristarchus and Dionysius Thrax

Didymus, alias bibliolathas, 1st century BC

Second building added to the Museum by Claudius (41-54) according to Suetonius Inscription dedicated to Tiberius Claudius Balbillus,

middle first century AD

Last explicit mentions of books in the library

New books given to the library are mentioned by :

Suetonius

(gift of Domitian, 51 AD-96 AD)

Plutarch

(gift of Marcus Antonius, 83 BC-30 BC)

Last known librarians: Onesandros, 85 BC

Tiberius Claudius Balbillus (?), mid first c. AD

Destruction of the library

A) The muslim conquest in 642

B) Theodosius’ decree

C) Events in Alexandria during the II and III centuries

D) Caesar’s conquest in 48 BC

A. The muslim conquest in 642

Amr Ibn al ‘Ass plundered Alexandria in 645. He asked Caliph Umar what he was meant to do

with the famous library. “If the content of these books is in accordance with

the Qur’an, they are useless, if in the other hand they contradict the Qur’an, they are undesirable. You can destroy them”.

Abd el Latif, The library that Amr ibn al ‘Ass burnt by Omar’s

order, 1203.

B) Theodosius’ decree

In 391 the Imperator Theodosius ordered the destruction off all pagan temples

Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria executed that order (Socrates of Constantinople )

Did Patriarch Theophilus destroyed the library of the Museum?

Socrates of Constantinople (ar. 420):

he destroyed the Serapeum, not the Museum

Epiphanius (c. 315-403):

“the site of the Museum is today a desert place”

Was the Serapeum full of books when Theophilus destroyed it?

Eunapius of Sardis, witness of the facts, does not mention any destruction of the books

Ammianus Marcellinus, who visited Alexandria before 391, talks about the library at the Serapeum as about something of the past

C) Events in Alexandria during the II and III centuries

Bucolic war (172-5) Avidius Cassius rebellion (175) Pescenius Niger rebellion (193-4) Caracalla’s plundering of Alexandria (215)Destructions by Valerian (253 and 269)Brucheion’ s destruction by Aurelian (273) Lucius Domicius Domitianus revolt (296-7)Earthquake (365)

D) Caesar’s conquest in 48 BC

4th c. : Ammianus and Orosius 2nd c. : Dio, Plutarch and Aulus Gellius Caesar burnt the library down in 48 BCCriticism:a) Accounts made long time after eventsb) Silence of more ancient historians c) Proofs of library activity after the 1st c.

BC)

Athenaeus of Naucratis (fl circa 200 AD) 

« As for the number of books and for the foundation of the libraries and the Museum collection, why shall I even talk about it, since they are in all men’s memories» (Deipnosophistae, V, 203, e).

Refers to the building added to the Museum by Claudius and to the literary activity there (Deipnosophistae, VI, 240, e)

Cassius Dio (164-229)

“Many things took fire [during the war with Caesar] so that everything burnt: the stores in the port and the storage of wheat and books (they happened to be excellent)” (42,38)

Tiziano Dornadi : apothèkai tôn biblôn: “books to be exported”

Tertullian (c. 160- c. 225)

Hodie apud Serapaeum Ptolemaei bibliothecae cum ipsis Hebraicis litteris [the LXX books] exhibentur

Apologeticus ad gentes (caput XVIII)

Aulus Gellius (born around 125 AD)

Attic Nights, lib. VII, 3

“A huge number of books were either collected or copied by the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt, up to 70[0],000 volumes. But all those books were burnt during the first Alexandrian war when the city was plundered, by chance, unintentionally and without premeditation, by auxiliary troops.”

Suetonius (70 AD – c. 130 AD)

“[Domitian] took care of restoring libraries which were destroyed by fire, spending a lot of money for that: he searched for copies through all the empire and sent a mission to Alexandria with the task of copying and correcting the texts.”

Plutarch (born before 50 AD- death aft 120 AD)

Life of Caesar 49,6

When the enemy endeavored to cut off his communication by sea, [Caesar] was forced to divert that danger by setting fire to his own ships, which, after burning the docks, thence spread on and destroyed the great library.

Life of Marcus Antonius (58,9)

M. Antonius emptied the library of Pergamum (200,000 vol.) and offered it to Cleopatra

Lucan (around AD 39- 65 AD)

Mentions in his De bello civili or Pharsalia (10, 486-505), which is an epic poem and not a history book, that Caesar sent some burning arrows to the Egyptian fleet and he adds that the fire destroyed nearby buildings.

Seneca (c. 4 BC – AD 65)

Quoting a lost book of Livius, who was a contemporary of the events [59 BC- 17 AD] :

Forty thousand books were burnt at Alexandria; let someone else praise this library as the most noble monument to the wealth of kings, as did Titus Livius, who says it was the most distinguished achievement of the good taste and solicitude of kings.

De Tranquillitate animi, IX, 5

Strabo (63 BC – aft 24 AC)

II,1, 5

On this subject Eratosthenes had checked many books that filled the important library he had at his disposal. This library is praised by Hipparchus. 

Hipparchus: (190-120 BC)

Strabo 17, 1, 8

The Museum is also a part of the royal palaces; it has a public walk, an Exedra with seats, and a large house in which is the common mess-hall of the men of learning who share the Museum. This group of men not only hold property in common, but also have a priest in charge of the Museum, who formerly was appointed by the kings, but is now appointed by Caesar.

Strabo, 17,1,10

Strabo mentions the Serapeion and other sacred precincts of ancient times as monuments which somehow had stopped being in use

(ekleleimèna pôs).

Strabo 17,1,5

Two writers of his time, Eudorus and Ariston, talk about the rising of the Nilus in summer. The contents of the books of these two authors are virtually the same, even from the point of view of the style.

Eudorus accuses Ariston of copying.

Strabo 17,1,5

Being in want of copies [of those two books] in order to make a comparison, I compared one author [his work on the Nilus] to the other one [his other works]. But which of the two men is the one who copied the other’s work might be discovered at Ammon’s temple [Luxor]: Eudorus accused Ariston; the style [of the book of Eudorus], however is rather aristonian.

Iulius Caesar (100 BC- 44 BC)

Bellum civile (Chapter 111)

Caesar talks about a fire that he felt obliged to put to the enemy’s fleet in the port of Alexandria. He does not mention any subsequent fire in the city. Even if that had happened, he was not expected to mention the destruction of a library in a propaganda writing.

Assesment of data

1) Accounts of the library’s burning in 48 BC

2) Museum activity after 48 BC

3) Presence of books in Alexandria

after 48 BC

4) Assesment of Canfora’s theory

1. Accounts of the burning

After the death of Caesar, Cassius Dio, Plutarch and Aulus Gellius mention that the loss of the library happened during the first Alexandrian war ; Suetonius bears witness to the fact of the burning; so does Seneca quoting Livius who was a contemporary of the events.

Lucan mentions a fire in Alexandria.

Museum activity after 48 BC

Strabo (was in Alexandria in 25 BC) mentions a group of scholars at the Museum

1st century AD inscription about Tiberius Claudius Balbillus, supervisor of the Alexandrian library (?) and the Museum.

Suetonius : Claudius added a building to the Museum and organizes public readings there [41-54 AD]

Presence of books in Alexandria after 48 BC

Replacement of lost books by Domitian (according to Suetonius) and /or by Marcus Antonius (according to Plutarch)

Atheneus (c. 200) is the last author to mention a literary activity in the Museum (but the libraries are considered as something of the past).

Tertullian (c. 200) is the last author to mention the existence of books at the Serapeum.

Canfora’s theory

Based upon the figure given by Seneca (40 000 volumes destroyed) and the account of Cassius Dio (apothèkai tôn biblôn), thinks that only some storerooms containing books for exportation were destroyed.

The collected data do not allow us to sustain the theory of Cánfora.

Conclusion

Burning of the library’s Museum during the first Alexandrian war

Partial replacement of lost books (under Domitian? In the Serapeion?) Use of the Serapeion as a replacement

library from the first c. AD until 200 (cf. Epiphanius and Tertullian accounts about

Bible translations deposited there) Activity in the Museum until 200