How much was lost when the Library of Alexandria burned?

according to a medieval legend the library of alexandria was destroyed on the orders of the caliph omar there were so many books the story goes that the only way to dispose of them was to use them as fuel in the city's 4 000 bath houses so into the furnaces they went day after day week after week the wit and wisdom of a thousand years going up in smoke and bits of blackened books raining on the weary rooftops of alexandria it took six months to burn them all this never actually happened even if the caliph had

wanted to destroy alexandria's books he would have found few left to burn by his time the library had already vanished and already become shrouded in mystery that mystery endures the library's site has never been discovered and is unlikely to ever emerge from its concrete tomb beneath the modern metropolis many of the questions that surround it can never be answered but in this video i hope to at least contextualize the significance of the library's loss the library of alexandria was established around 300 bc by ptolemy the first ptolemy once a companion of alexander the great had

established himself as king of egypt with the bustling seaside metropolis of alexandria as his capital by assembling texts and intellectuals ptolemy hoped to burnish the reputation of his kingdom and capital to those ends he offered generous stipends to any scholar who would join his court and began aggressively acquiring books ptolemy's library was part of the museum a sort of proto university that stood beside the royal palace the museum seems to have consisted of a courtyard ringed by stowes and lecture halls and included a dining room where the resident scholars took meals the storerooms and reading

rooms of the library were apparently attached to the museum complex ptolemy's son and grandson expanded the library sending scholars and agents to scour the markets of the greek world for new purchases their bibliomania was so intense that ships arrive in alexandria were compelled to surrender all books on board for copying the library soon swelled to gargantuan proportions some ancient authors claimed that it contained seven hundred thousand books books in this context meaning papyrus scrolls we don't know the actual number though it's often assumed that it was far lower those inclined to minimize the size of

the library however should keep in mind that some ancient scholars were extremely prolific for example the alexandrian scholar didymus nicknamed bronze guts for his inhuman work ethic reportedly produced nearly 4 000 books over the course of his lifetime the scholars who worked in the library under the early ptolemies became famous throughout the greek world it was in the library that the circumference of the earth was first calculated that the standard text of the homeric poems were established and fittingly that the first library catalog was devised like tenured academics in every era the scholars of the

library also spent a great deal of time and energy attacking one another on points of pedentry a habit that earned the museum the nickname bird cage of the muses the great library declined under the later ptolemies who had less money and less inclination to spend that money on squabbling scholars but it wasn't 48 bc and at the hands of julius caesar that the library suffered its first great disaster caesar fresh from his victory over pompey had become involved in a civil war that pitted the famous cleopatra against her brother ptolemy xiii when tommy's forces tried

to seize a fleet more to alexandria's harbor caesar ordered the ships burnt to keep them out of enemy hands unfortunately the fire spread from the docks to the adjacent palace quarter according to some agent authors the flames destroyed the library other authors claimed that only a portion of the collection was destroyed it's sometimes theorized that the burnt books were not in the main library but in harbor warehouses it seems most likely however that at least part of the library really was destroyed only a few years later marc anthony is said to have given cleopatra 200

000 books from pergamum a gift of this magnitude would only make sense if the alexandria library had been depleted the library continued to operate during the roman imperial era though no longer a hotbed of original research it seems to have remained accessible to scholars and was apparently subsidized by the roman administration during the third and fourth centuries a.d however alexandria experienced a massacre an invasion a civil war and a tsunami any or all of which might have destroyed the library by the end of the fourth century if not sooner the palace quarter in which the

main library was located was mostly abandoned ptolemy ii had established a branch of the library accessible to the public in the marble porticos surrounding the temple of therapists but in 391 amidst savage street warfare between christian and pagan mobs the temple was demolished the stoas that sheltered the library were not destroyed and would in fact survive into the middle ages but since we hear nothing more about the books it's often assumed that they were damaged or dispersed at this time we don't know in short exactly when the great library in the palace in the branch

library and the serapeum were destroyed but there is no clear evidence for large libraries after the 4th century and by the time of the arab conquest the library of alexandria was likely no more than a distant memory disasters must have destroyed many books but the greatest culprit was almost certainly simple decay the library of alexandria was dependent on sustained elite patronage and investment when this dried up and when the texts ceased to be cared for and recopied the scrolls of the library simply rotted away in alexandria's humid air before we continue i would like to

talk briefly about this video's sponsor blinkist blinkist is an app that provides text and audio summaries of thousands of non-fiction books if you're interested in learning more on the go check out the link in the description the first 100 people to click will get free and unlimited access to blinkist for a week this trial can be canceled at any time without charge back to our topic how much was lost with the library of alexandria and how significant were these losses at the risk of making an obvious point the library of alexandria was not the only

library in the classical world there were hundreds of others some very large only the most obscure works in the library of alexandria would have not been represented by other copies elsewhere it's only because the library of alexandria's decline was symptomatic of the more general decline of classical culture because in other words all the ancient worlds libraries fell into decay at the same time that so many works were lost in late antiquity it is sometimes said that the destruction of the library of alexandria set civilization back by centuries this is a wild exaggeration the scrolls in

the library did not contain the bases as is occasionally implied for great advances in science and technology although there were certainly many works of mathematics and physics in the library the most important of these were widely disseminated elsewhere what perished with the library were overwhelmingly lesser known works of literature and philosophy commentaries and monographs all the residue and introspection of an extremely sophisticated literary culture such works would be a treasure beyond price for scholars of the classics but they were not the stuff of a foreclosed golden age if you enjoyed this video please consider supporting

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