Who destroyed the Library of Alexandria? Fire in the Alexandrian library.

In ancient history, there are milestones that people want to constantly refer to today. First of all, this refers to the sources of the wisdom of the ancients. Its generally recognized concentration was the Library of Alexandria, which was part of the most important scientific center of the ancient world - the Alexandria Museum. This grandiose symbol of human knowledge was created three centuries before our era by the Egyptian king Ptolemy I.

During the reign of his son, Ptolemy II, the library was greatly expanded. About 500 thousand manuscripts were collected in its vaults. But the most legendary pages of the library are associated with the great scientists who worked in it. Here one could meet the mathematician Euclid, the philologist Aristarchus, the geographer and historian Strabo, the mathematician and mechanic Archimedes, the astronomer, mathematician and geographer Eratosthenes, as well as famous artists and writers. About forty years ago, the professors of Alexandria University came up with the idea of ​​building a new, modern library. According to their ideas, it was supposed to become "a link between the past and the future." The library is designed to assist the region in the revival of long-standing traditions in the field of education and science.

Through the efforts of scientists, the government of Egypt, which enlisted the support of UNESCO, was involved in the case. As a result, the project acquired an international scope. The competition was won by Norwegian architects. The issue of funding was resolved at a conference in Aswan. In addition to the Egyptian government, more than twenty countries contributed funds.

The first stone of the library building was laid in 1988, and the official opening of the new cultural center took place in 2002.

The giant structure of the complex was built from concrete, granite, glass and aluminum. Its parts are connected by a bridge over a busy street. The roof is the size of two football fields. It performs the function of a huge window. Thanks to the slope, the light-flooded interior offers a beautiful view of the Mediterranean Sea. The outer wall of the building is lined with gray granite. The letters of ancient and modern alphabets are carved on it. It is a symbol of constant cultural dialogue. The rooms hidden from the eyes are of the greatest interest. They are below sea level. A large part of the interior space is occupied by a spacious multi-tiered reading room. Two thousand visitors can work in it at the same time, while working it is necessary to observe silence and video surveillance is carried out. This is the largest reading room in the world. The modern house of wisdom is complemented by satellite communication systems and hundreds of modern computers.

The Alexandrian Museion (or library) in antiquity was a great scientific center and played a colossal role in the cultural life of the Pharaohs. Until now, it is considered the great mystery of Egypt, on the solution of which scientists from all over the world are working. The only reliable fact of modernity is its superiority and scale in those ancient years over other collections of book manuscripts. This is evidenced by the ruins of one of the daughter buildings (Serapillon), found during excavations by archaeologists. Many questions remain about the fate of the Library of Alexandria, its destruction in a fire, and how to restore its former greatness to a unique repository of books in history?

Where was the Library of Alexandria located?

The name comes from the city of the same name, which existed in 332 BC - Alexandria, the founder of which is considered to be the famous commander Alexander the Great. But the design of the city was carried out by Deinocrates of Rhodes in tandem with the famous builder of that time - Cleomenes, originally from Naucratis. For its construction, the most successful view of the Mediterranean coast was chosen: land near the mouth of the Nile. The perimeter was two and six kilometers and was originally walled.

The city had two main streets and both of them had colonnades. In the plans for the initial construction, this settlement was listed as a city of scientists, it was connected to Pharos (island) and later the famous Lighthouse of Alexandria, a dam and four piers were built.

During the heyday of Alexandria, the city was filled with a large number of learned Greeks and Jews. Their number exceeded one million people, and the area of ​​the city was one hundred square kilometers. At that time, the city was considered the second after Rome and could already boast of attractions in the form of the tomb of Alexander the Great, the palaces of Ptolemy, Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony, as well as the temple of Poseidon and the theater. But the main glory of the city was the library of Alexandria that existed at that time, which was part of the Museion (translated as “temple of the muses”), which subsequently gave rise to the modern concept of “museum”.

Foundation of the Library of Alexandria

The first to work on the creation of the library was Ptolemy the First Soter, who made the city of Alexandria the capital of Egypt after the death of Macedon. Having become the ruler, Ptolemy took up the organization of work on the Alexandrian Museion: Demetrius of Falersky (former ruler of Athens) and Theophrastus (a student of Aristotle) ​​were invited. Theophrastus inherited the library from the legendary commander and at that time it contained forty thousand books. They were collected by Aristotle during the campaigns of Macedonian. The ruler, on the advice of Demetrius, bought a collection of books from Theophrastus, and it was it that formed the basis of the Library of Alexandria.

Work on the creation of Museion was carried out with a kind of semblance of existing places: the Academy of Plato and the Lyceum of Aristotle. And the work began in the direction of an academic city with a university, where famous scientists could work in the future. Other buildings were envisaged on the territory: an observatory, a botanical garden, a library and a zoo.

This video tells about the research of the past and the secrets of the Library of Alexandria.

The fate of the heritage known to the whole world was complex and depended entirely on the rulers, who changed more than once during its existence. However, it was an important object in the field of knowledge, which constantly replenished its own fund, and this was strongly encouraged by the Ptolemies at each stage of its development and formation.

Replenishment took place as follows: ships entering the city port were searched for the presence of any books. If any were found, they were confiscated and returned to their owners only in the form of copies. Of course, for such large-scale events, the staff of copyists had to be impressive, and the library had them on a full scale.

It is known that there was a large catalog in it, the management of which was in charge of Callimachus. It was systematically replenished, and along with new manuscripts, the staff was also replenished. Today, the history of the library can be closely linked with the works of famous thinkers and poets:

1. Eratosthenes.
2. Zenodota.
3. Aristarchus of Samos.
4. Callimachus.
5. Fekrit.
6. Philo.
7. Flesh.
8. Erath.
9. Euclid.

The works of those times from the field of geometry and trigonometry, astronomy and medicine, literature and linguistics were kept here. According to rough estimates, the heyday included from 100 to 700 thousand handwritten scrolls, stored in different languages. There is an assumption that at that time there was no work in the world that was not contained in a copy of the Library of Alexandria.

Fire in the Library of Alexandria

There are several versions about the death of the keeper of the book history of that time.

1. First version. According to her assumptions, death in a fire happened in 47 BC, during the Alexandrian War. The culprit of this tragedy was Julius Caesar. He could not allow defeat in the war due to the superiority of the enemy, and ordered to set fire to the flotilla, where the manuscripts were prepared for shipment to Rome.
2. The second version suggests the destruction of the library during the reign of Theodosius the Great in 391. The culprits at that time turned out to be Christian fans, under the power of the sermons of Alexandria Theophilus, who carried out the destruction of the Library of Alexandria. The purpose of their actions carried with it a personal character: the destruction of all pagan and heretical books in order to please the Christian church. The riots led to a fire that failed to save the priceless manuscripts. According to historians, many of the copies at that time were worth a fortune.

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In this video, scientists solve the mystery of the Library of Alexandria. Be sure to leave your questions, wishes and

There is a judgment that in ancient times people were uneducated and ignorant - there was no craving for knowledge, the main occupations were incessant wars, feasts with abundant food and drink. Almost everyone had an indifferent attitude to health. As a result, life expectancy was very low. The fact that refutes this opinion is the Library of Alexandria. It is called the wisdom of ancient times and the storehouse of all achievements throughout the existence of civilization.

The founding date of the library is considered to be the beginning of the 3rd century BC. e. In the greatest repository of knowledge of the ancient ancient world, thousands of different scrolls and manuscripts have been collected, written in several languages: Egyptian, Greek and Hebrew. Among these treasures were many creations of prominent people of that time: Euripides, Aeschylus, Sophocles and many others.

An interesting fact is that the library was not hidden from human eyes, being available only to its crowned owners. Anyone wishing and thirsting for knowledge could always enter its spacious cool halls and read the priceless parchment scrolls offered by the library employees. Any person could be a visitor here, regardless of his material wealth or religion. The Library of Alexandria was free of charge, and its maintenance was paid from the royal treasury. This is an important fact that proves that even in ancient times people put knowledge on the highest level.

Educated people in those eras were revered, everyone treated them with special respect, their advice and recommendations were asked and then followed. The great philosophers of that time are known to the whole world to this day, our contemporaries still quote them, marveling at their great wisdom. It is possible that most of these outstanding people might not have existed if it were not for the Library of Alexandria, in which they could then draw the necessary knowledge.

To whom do people owe, having received a priceless masterpiece? For the future of the Library of Alexandria indirectly served the great conqueror Alexander the Great, when in 332 BC. e. founded the city of Alexandria, appointing it the capital. And, although it was not he who built and conceived the library, however, in fairness it should be noted that if there had not been the city of Alexandria, the library would not have existed.

After the death of the conqueror, parts of his empire went to his associates. The Egyptian lands were ceded to one of them - Ptolemy Lag, who became the ancestor of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which replaced the eras of the pharaohs and lasted three hundred years. Queen Cleopatra was the last representative of this dynasty. The Library of Alexandria owes its existence to the first Ptolemies.

King Ptolemy Lag was kind to education and tried to provide it to his children, inviting famous philosophers of that time as teachers. The school they organized had a small library containing a few manuscripts. The philosophers Strato the Physicist and Demetrius of Phaler, who at one time studied with the great men Aristotle and Plato, had a good idea of ​​the work and structure of such an institution. From them, Plato Lag received the idea of ​​creating a huge library in Alexandria.

The king wanted to build a whole museum, which would have a botanical garden, anatomy rooms and even an astronomical tower. The library was conceived in addition to this museum. But the dreams of Ptolemy Lag remained dreams, he soon died, not having had time to implement this magnificent project.

The construction of the Library and Museum of Alexandria, in accordance with the wishes of his father, was continued by his son, Ptolemy Philadelphus, who inherited the throne. Historians have not been able to find out where the original location of the library was and the exact opening time when the first visitors, hungry for knowledge, entered its doors. It is only known that the construction was completely completed in the second half of the 3rd century BC. e.

The replenishment of the Library of Alexandria was carried out in a peculiar way: from all the ships that visited the port of Alexandria, they took away all the scrolls and manuscripts that they had. If these scrolls were not important and useful, they were returned back to the ship. Also, the royal house bought scrolls from the population, in philosophical schools and small libraries. There is even a legend that the ruler Ptolemy III made a huge pledge (15 talents) to Athens for the manuscripts of Euripides, Sophocles and Aeschylus, taking these tragedies to copy for the library. The scrolls subsequently never returned to Athens.

The museum and the library together represented the first university, thanks to which many outstanding people made their great discoveries. Aristarchus expressed the idea of ​​the rotation of the Earth around the Sun, Euclid gave the world geometry, Herophilus proved that the human mind is not in the heart, as it was then believed, but in the head. Eratosthenes named the exact figure for the circumference of our planet.

The first guardian of this unique university was Zenodotus of Ephesus. The ancient Greek philosopher gained the highest respect of King Ptolemy Philadelphus, and therefore was appointed to such a responsible post. He solved all organizational issues, of which the newly opened library had a great many.

The library curator personally checked all the manuscripts that entered the library and was the arbiter of their value and veracity. In addition, Zenodotus has classified all the scrolls to make it easier for readers to find the material of interest to them. The philosopher also carefully monitored that the manuscripts were stored properly: moisture was not allowed in the rooms, the scrolls were always checked for insects and, if necessary, restored.

For three hundred years, the royal Ptolemaic dynasty gratuitously maintained and developed the Library of Alexandria at its own expense. Under one of the kings - Ptolemy III Euergetes, the library even had its own branch in the temple of Serapis. The keeper at that time was the famous scientist Eratosthenes of Cyrene. He translated the book "Old Testament" into Greek. His translation is still used today. At the same time, the library received the “Astronomical catalogue”, which contained the coordinates of more than one thousand stars.

Alexandria became a source of knowledge and wisdom, so educated people from all over the world came here to improve themselves in various scientific fields. In those days, in many countries there was a ban on the anatomy of the human body, and medical scientists did not have the opportunity to expand their knowledge. But in Egypt, these things had a completely different view. Many doctors of antiquity were able to give the world their discoveries in medicine thanks to the amazing first university of Alexandria.

In 48 BC. e. the great and unique educational institution suffered because of the struggle of Queen Cleopatra for the throne, which she tried to take away from Ptolemy XIII. Then Julius Caesar intervened in this war and set Ptolemy's navy on fire. The fire spread to the Library of Alexandria. There was chaos everywhere, people tried to save their property, and there was no one to help a small number of keepers to take priceless manuscripts out of the fire. The scrolls about the origin and existence of the most ancient civilization, the great medical treatises and reference books on geography, geometry and astronomy were lost forever for mankind. Everything perished in the merciless fire. The library of Alexandria with its three centuries of knowledge burned down completely.

In the future, Queen Cleopatra, having received all the power in her own hands, tried to restore the library by rebuilding it. But all the great unique knowledge that was stored under the vaults of the old library-university could not be returned. Those few manuscripts that the queen herself and her next lover, Mark Antony, tried to deliver to the library, could not cover even a small fraction of the loss.

After the death of Cleopatra, the days of the reign of the Ptolemaic dynasty ended. The flourishing of Alexandria ceased, and it turned into one of the Roman provinces. There was no one else to take care of the library. In a state of neglect and oblivion, the Library of Alexandria lived for another three hundred years. During another war between the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Palmyra, the city of Alexandria was again set on fire. Together with him, the Alexandrian Library burned down, ending its existence forever.

The miracle of the revival of the Library of Alexandria happened already in our century, in 2002. The great historical world value shot up into the sky with its original modern architecture, like a phoenix bird, rising from the ashes. Glass, granite and concrete became the basis of the new building. Dozens of countries, led by UNESCO, helped build a new library in Alexandria.

The main hall of the library is flooded with sunlight most of the time, as it is under a glass roof. The huge area of ​​the library includes not only many repositories and reading rooms, but also museums with priceless exhibits. About eight million books are stored under its vaults. Now future great scientists come here for knowledge - modern students of many universities and institutes. The Library of Alexandria again hospitably welcomes its visitors.

Library of Alexandria