165-684: The Alexandrian Pleiad is the name given to a group of seven Alexandrian poets and tragedians in the 3rd century BC (Alexandria was at that time the literary center of the Mediterranean ) working in the court of Ptolemy II Philadelphus . The name derives from the seven stars of the Pleiades star cluster . There are several conflicting lists of the greatest poets of the Alexandrian age (traditionally ascribed to Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace ), which include
330-464: A Roman triumphal column , is one of the best-known ancient monuments still standing in Alexandria today. It is located on Alexandria's ancient acropolis —a modest hill located adjacent to the city's Arab cemetery —and was originally part of a temple colonnade. Including its pedestal , it is 30 m (99 ft) high; the shaft is of polished red granite, 2.7 m (8.9 ft) in diameter at
495-612: A guerrilla attack on the Christian population of Alexandria, killing many of them before being forced to retreat. In retaliation, the Christians vandalized and demolished the Serapeum, although some parts of the colonnade were still standing as late as the twelfth century. Whether an actual library still existed at this point, and if so how extensive it was, is not recorded. Jonathan Theodore has stated that by 391/392 AD there
660-586: A hot steppe climate (Köppen climate classification: BSh ), virtually hot desert climate ( Köppen climate classification : BWh ). Like the rest of Egypt's northern coast , the prevailing north wind, blowing across the Mediterranean, gives the city a less severe climate than the desert hinterland. Rafah and Alexandria are the wettest places in Egypt; the other wettest places are Rosetta , Baltim , Kafr el-Dawwar , and Mersa Matruh . The city's climate
825-402: A Greek unit of length measuring approximately 180 m or 590 ft). The end of this abutted on the land at the head of the present Grand Square, where the "Moon Gate" rose. All that now lies between that point and the modern "Ras al-Tin" quarter is built on the silt which gradually widened and obliterated this mole. The Ras al-Tin quarter represents all that is left of the island of Pharos,
990-541: A Nile river delta, Alexandria is one of the most vulnerable cities to sea level rise in the entire world. According to some estimates, hundreds of thousands of people in its low-lying areas may already have to be relocated before 2030. The 2022 IPCC Sixth Assessment Report estimates that by 2050, Alexandria and 11 other major African cities ( Abidjan , Algiers , Cape Town , Casablanca , Dakar , Dar es Salaam , Durban , Lagos , Lomé , Luanda and Maputo ) would collectively sustain cumulative damages of US$ 65 billion for
1155-662: A Ptolemaic colonnade and streets in the north-east of the city, but little else. Hogarth explored part of an immense brick structure under the mound of Kom El Deka , which may have been part of the Paneum, the Mausolea, or a Roman fortress. The making of the new foreshore led to the dredging up of remains of the Patriarchal Church; and the foundations of modern buildings are seldom laid without some objects of antiquity being discovered. The most famous mosque in Alexandria
1320-471: A bishop decreed that Paganism must be eradicated. Beneath the acropolis itself are the subterranean remains of the Serapeum, where the mysteries of the god Serapis were enacted and whose carved wall niches are believed to have provided overflow storage space for the ancient Library. In more recent years, many ancient artifacts have been discovered from the surrounding sea, mostly pieces of old pottery. Alexandria's catacombs , known as Kom El Shoqafa , are
1485-460: A city's prestige, attracted scholars, and provided practical assistance in ruling and governing the kingdom. Eventually, for these reasons, every major Hellenistic urban center would have a royal library. The Library of Alexandria, however, was unprecedented because of the scope and scale of the Ptolemies' ambitions; unlike their predecessors and contemporaries, the Ptolemies wanted to produce
1650-471: A home for novelists and poets. In July 1882, the city came under bombardment from British naval forces and was occupied. In July 1954, the city was a target of an Israeli bombing campaign that later became known as the Lavon Affair . On 26 October 1954, Alexandria's Mansheya Square was the site of a failed assassination attempt on Gamal Abdel Nasser . Europeans began leaving Alexandria following
1815-513: A major centre of Hellenic civilisation and replacing Memphis as Egypt's capital during the reign of the Ptolemaic pharaohs who succeeded Alexander. It retained this status for almost a millennium, through the period of Roman and Eastern Roman rule until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641 AD, when a new capital was founded at Fustat (later absorbed into Cairo ). Alexandria was best known for
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#17327731830801980-443: A million scrolls, and, although historians debate the precise number, the highest estimates claim 400,000 scrolls while the most conservative estimates are as low as 40,000, which is still an enormous collection that required vast storage space. As a research institution, the library filled its stacks with new works in mathematics, astronomy, physics, natural sciences, and other subjects. Its empirical standards were applied in one of
2145-528: A moral exemplum for Muslims to follow in later, uncertain times, when the devotion of the faithful was once again tested by proximity to nonbelievers". Historian Bernard Lewis believes that the myth probably came into existence during the reign of Saladin in order justify the Sunni Ayyubid's break up the Shia Fatimid collections and library at public auction. The Serapeum is often called
2310-527: A passage of a classical text, explain its meaning, define any unusual words used in it, and comment on whether the words in the passage were really those used by the original author or if they were later interpolations added by scribes. He made many contributions to a variety of studies, but particularly the study of the Homeric poems, and his editorial opinions are widely quoted by ancient authors as authoritative. A portion of one of Aristarchus' commentaries on
2475-508: A political feud between Orestes , the Roman prefect of Alexandria , and Cyril of Alexandria , Theophilus' successor as bishop. Rumors spread accusing her of preventing Orestes from reconciling with Cyril and, in March of 415 AD, she was murdered by a mob of Christians, led by a lector named Peter. She had no successor and her school collapsed after her death. Nonetheless, Hypatia was not
2640-490: A reading room, meeting rooms, gardens, and lecture halls, creating a model for the modern university campus . A hall contained shelves for the collections of papyrus scrolls known as bibliothekai ( βιβλιοθῆκαι ). According to popular description, an inscription above the shelves read: "The place of the cure of the soul." The Ptolemaic rulers intended the Library to be a collection of all knowledge and they worked to expand
2805-437: A repository of all knowledge. To support this endeavor, they were well positioned as Egypt was the ideal habitat for the papyrus plant , which provided an abundant supply of materials needed to amass their knowledge repository. The Library was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world , but details about it are a mixture of history and legend. The earliest known surviving source of information on
2970-599: A saint that lived in the Minyat of Ibn Murshed. Although al-Murshidi lived in seclusion, Ibn Battuta writes that he was regularly visited by crowds, high state officials, and even by the Sultan of Egypt at the time, al-Nasir Muhammad . Ibn Battuta also visited the Pharos lighthouse on two occasions: in 1326 he found it to be partly in ruins and in 1349 it had deteriorated to the point that it was no longer possible to enter. During
3135-422: A scientific discipline. Eratosthenes believed that the setting of the Homeric poems was purely imaginary and argued that the purpose of poetry was "to capture the soul", rather than to give a historically accurate account of actual events. Strabo quotes him as having sarcastically commented, "a man might find the places of Odysseus' wanderings if the day were to come when he would find the leatherworker who stitched
3300-464: A seawall, quays and a bridge. Near the beach side of the area, there are the remains of a tower built by Ptolemy II Philadelphus. The tower was an exact scale replica of the destroyed Alexandrine Pharos Lighthouse . Citadel of Qaitbay is a defensive fortress located on the Mediterranean sea coast. It was established in 1477 AD (882 AH ) by the mamluk Sultan Al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Qa'it Bay . The Citadel
3465-429: A short distance southwest of the pillar, consist of a multi-level labyrinth, reached via a large spiral staircase and featuring dozens of chambers adorned with sculpted pillars, statues, and other syncretic Romano-Egyptian religious symbols , burial niches, and sarcophagi , as well as a large Roman-style banquet room, where memorial meals were conducted by relatives of the deceased. The catacombs were long forgotten by
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#17327731830803630-415: A successful attempt to erect a 25-ton obelisk in 1999. This followed two experiments to erect smaller obelisks and two failed attempts to erect a 25-ton obelisk. "Pompey's Pillar" is a misnomer , as it has nothing to do with Pompey , having been erected in 293 for Diocletian , possibly in memory of the rebellion of Domitius Domitianus . The structure was plundered and demolished in the 4th century when
3795-1323: Is Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque in Bahary . Other notable mosques in the city include Ali ibn Abi Talib mosque in Somouha, Bilal mosque, al-Gamaa al-Bahari in Mandara, Hatem mosque in Somouha, Hoda el-Islam mosque in Sidi Bishr, al-Mowasah mosque in Hadara, Sharq al-Madina mosque in Miami, al-Shohadaa mosque in Mostafa Kamel, Al Qa'ed Ibrahim Mosque, Yehia mosque in Zizinia, Sidi Gaber mosque in Sidi Gaber, Sidi B esher mosque, Rokay el-Islam mosque in Elessway, Elsadaka Mosque in Sidibesher Qebly, Elshatbi mosque and Sultan mosque. Library of Alexandria The Great Library of Alexandria in Alexandria , Egypt ,
3960-464: Is highly probable that Demetrius played an important role in collecting at least some of the earliest texts that would later become part of the Library's collection. In around 295 BC, Demetrius may have acquired early texts of the writings of Aristotle and Theophrastus , which he would have been uniquely positioned to do since he was a distinguished member of the Peripatetic school . The Library
4125-545: Is influenced by the Mediterranean Sea , moderating its temperatures, causing variable rainy winters and moderately hot and slightly prolonged summers that, at times, can be very humid; January and February are the coolest months, with daily maximum temperatures typically ranging from 12 to 18 °C (54 to 64 °F) and minimum temperatures that could reach 5 °C (41 °F ). Alexandria experiences violent storms , rain and sometimes sleet and hail during
4290-600: Is located on the eastern side of the northern tip of Pharos Island at the mouth of the Eastern Harbour . It was erected on the exact site of the famous Lighthouse of Alexandria , which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World . It was built on an area of 17,550 square metres . Persistent efforts have been made to explore the antiquities of Alexandria. Encouragement and help have been given by
4455-459: Is possible that Ptolemy I, who was a historian and author of an account of Alexander's campaign, may have laid the groundwork for the Library, it probably did not come into being as a physical institution until the reign of Ptolemy II. By that time, Demetrius of Phalerum had fallen out of favor with the Ptolemaic court. He could not, therefore, have had any role in establishing the Library as an institution. Stephen V. Tracy , however, argues that it
4620-479: Is said to have produced somewhere between 3,500 and 4,000 books, making him the most prolific known writer in all of antiquity. He was also given the nickname βιβλιολάθης ( Biblioláthēs ), meaning "book-forgetter" because it was said that even he could not remember all the books he had written. Parts of some of Didymus' commentaries have been preserved in the forms of later extracts and these remains are modern scholars' most important sources of information about
4785-430: Is widely considered to have opened a more mature phase of the Library of Alexandria's history. During this phase of the Library's history, literary criticism reached its peak and came to dominate the Library's scholarly output. Aristophanes of Byzantium edited poetic texts and introduced the division of poems into separate lines on the page, since they had previously been written out just like prose. He also invented
4950-473: The Histories of Herodotus has survived in a papyrus fragment. In 145 BC, however, Aristarchus became caught up in a dynastic struggle in which he supported Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator as the ruler of Egypt. Ptolemy VII was murdered and succeeded by Ptolemy VIII Physcon , who immediately set about punishing all those who had supported his predecessor, forcing Aristarchus to flee Egypt and take refuge on
5115-533: The "Alexandrian Pleiad", some with tragic poets, other which include lyric or epic poets. The following members are always included in the "Alexandrian Pleiad": The other members are variously: The name "Pléiade" was adopted in 1323 by a group of fourteen poets (seven men and seven women) in Toulouse and is used as well to refer to the group of poets around Pierre de Ronsard and Joachim du Bellay in France in
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5280-530: The Egyptian Satrapy from the Persians , Alexander wanted to build a large Greek city on Egypt's coast that would bear his name. He chose the site of Alexandria, envisioning the building of a causeway to the nearby island of Pharos that would generate two great natural harbours. Alexandria was intended to supersede the older Greek colony of Naucratis as a Hellenistic centre in Egypt and to be
5445-642: The Lighthouse of Alexandria ( Pharos ), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World ; its Great Library , the largest in the ancient world; and the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa , one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages . Alexandria was the intellectual and cultural centre of the ancient Mediterranean for much of the Hellenistic age and late antiquity . It was at one time the largest city in
5610-550: The Middle Ages , the Mamluk Sultanate provided amenities for European merchants to stay in the port cities of Alexandria and Damietta , so hotels were built and placed at the merchants' disposal so that they could live according to the pattern they were accustomed to in their country. Alexandria lost much of its importance in international trade after Portuguese navigators discovered a new sea route to India in
5775-633: The Ptolemaic dynasty controlled Egypt with Alexandria as its capital. The Macedonian kings who succeeded Alexander the Great as rulers of the Near East wanted to promote Hellenistic culture and learning throughout the known world. These rulers, therefore, had a vested interest in collecting and compiling information from both the Greeks and the far more ancient kingdoms of the Near East. Libraries enhanced
5940-604: The Rashiduns in AD 641, the name was Arabicised : initial Al- was re-analysed into the definite article ; metathesis occurred on x , from [ks] to [sk] ; and the suffix -eia was assimilated into the feminine adjectival suffix -iyya ( ـِيَّة ). Radiocarbon dating of seashell fragments and lead contamination show human activity at the location during the period of the Old Kingdom (27th–21st centuries BC) and again in
6105-605: The Roman emperor , which quickly escalated to open affronts and violence between the two ethnic groups and the desecration of Alexandrian synagogues. This event has been called the Alexandrian pogroms . The violence was quelled after Caligula intervened and had the Roman governor, Flaccus, removed from the city. In 115 AD, large parts of Alexandria were destroyed during the Diaspora revolt , which gave Hadrian and his architect, Decriannus , an opportunity to rebuild it. In 215 AD,
6270-495: The dissection of human corpses, which was seen as immoral. According to Galen, around this time, Ptolemy III requested permission from the Athenians to borrow the original manuscripts of Aeschylus , Sophocles , and Euripides , for which the Athenians demanded the enormous amount of fifteen talents (1,000 lb; 450 kg) of a precious metal as guarantee that he would return them. Ptolemy III had expensive copies of
6435-633: The largest city on the Mediterranean coast . It lies at the western edge of the Nile River delta . Founded in c. 331 BC by Alexander the Great , Alexandria grew rapidly and became a major centre of Hellenic civilisation , eventually replacing Memphis , in present-day Greater Cairo , as Egypt's capital. Called the "Bride of the Mediterranean" internationally, Alexandria is a popular tourist destination and an important industrial centre due to its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez . The city extends about 40 km (25 mi) along
6600-587: The northern coast of Egypt and is the largest city on the Mediterranean, the second-largest in Egypt (after Cairo ), the fourth-largest city in the Arab world , the ninth-largest city in Africa , and the ninth-largest urban area in Africa . The city was founded originally in the vicinity of an Egyptian settlement named Rhacotis (that became the Egyptian quarter of the city). Alexandria grew rapidly, becoming
6765-467: The "Daughter Library" of Alexandria. For much of the late fourth century AD it was probably the largest collection of books in the city of Alexandria. In the 370s and 380s, the Serapeum was still a major pilgrimage site for pagans. It remained a fully functioning temple, and had classrooms for philosophers to teach in. It naturally tended to attract followers of Iamblichean Neoplatonism . Most of these philosophers were primarily interested in theurgy ,
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6930-505: The "Mouseion" as occupying some kind of a physical space. Archaeologists have identified lecture halls dating to around this time period, located near, but not on, the site of the Ptolemaic Mouseion, which may be the "Mouseion" to which these writers refer. It is not possible to determine the collection's size in any era with certainty. Papyrus scrolls constituted the collection, and although codices were used after 300 BC,
7095-464: The "moderate" climate change scenario RCP 4.5 and US$ 86.5 billion for the high-emission scenario RCP 8.5, while RCP 8.5 combined with the hypothetical impact from marine ice sheet instability at high levels of warming would involve up to US$ 137.5 billion in damages. Additional accounting for the "low-probability, high-damage events" may increase aggregate risks to US$ 187 billion for the "moderate" RCP4.5, US$ 206 billion for RCP8.5 and US$ 397 billion under
7260-484: The 16th century (see " La Pléiade "). In modern times, "pleiad" is also used as a collective noun for a small group of brilliant or eminent persons. Alexandria Alexandria ( / ˌ æ l ɪ ɡ ˈ z æ n d r i ə , - ˈ z ɑː n -/ AL -ig- ZA(H)N -dree-ə ; Arabic : الإسكندرية ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Ἀλεξάνδρεια , Coptic : Ⲣⲁⲕⲟϯ - Rakoti or ⲁⲗⲉⲝⲁⲛⲇⲣⲓⲁ) is the second largest city in Egypt and
7425-878: The 1956 Suez Crisis that led to an outburst of Arab nationalism . The nationalisation of property by Nasser, which reached its highest point in 1961, drove out nearly all the rest. Alexandria is located in the country of Egypt, on the southern coast of the Mediterranean. It is in the Far West Nile delta area. It is a densely populated city; its core areas belie its large administrative area. Notes: 2020 CAPMAS projection based on 2017 revised census figures, may differ significantly from 2017 census preliminary tabulations. The 14 kisms were reported simply as Alexandria city by CAPMAS in 2006 but given explosive growth definitions, likely informal, may have changed or may be set to change. Same area with 12 kisms existed in 1996. Kisms are considered 'fully urbanised' Alexandria has
7590-534: The 4th century AD. This underwater section, containing many of the most interesting sections of the Hellenistic city, including the palace quarter, was explored in 1992 and is still being extensively investigated by the French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio and his team . It raised a noted head of Caesarion . These are being opened up to tourists, to some controversy. The spaces that are most open are
7755-700: The Alexandrian Library is never documented as having switched to parchment , perhaps because of its strong links to the papyrus trade. The Library of Alexandria in fact was indirectly causal in the creation of writing on parchment, as the Egyptians refused to export papyrus to their competitor in the Library of Pergamum . Consequently, the Library of Pergamum developed parchment as its own writing material. A single piece of writing might occupy several scrolls, and this division into self-contained "books"
7920-594: The Broucheion quarter of the city in which the main library was located. If the Mouseion and Library still existed at this time, they were almost certainly destroyed during the attack as well. If they did survive the attack, then whatever was left of them would have been destroyed during the emperor Diocletian 's siege of Alexandria in 297, when the Brouchion quarter was again destroyed. In 642 AD, Alexandria
8085-559: The Egyptian aspect of their nation over the Greek aspect. Consequently, many Greek scholars began to leave Alexandria for safer countries with more generous patronages. Aristarchus of Samothrace (lived c. 216– c. 145 BC) was the sixth head librarian. He earned a reputation as the greatest of all ancient scholars and produced not only texts of classic poems and works of prose, but full hypomnemata , or long, free-standing commentaries, on them. These commentaries would typically cite
8250-514: The Egyptian ships docked in the Alexandrian port while trying to clear the wharves to block the fleet belonging to Cleopatra 's brother Ptolemy XIV . This fire purportedly spread to the parts of the city nearest to the docks, causing considerable devastation. The first-century AD Roman playwright and Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger quotes Livy 's Ab Urbe Condita Libri , which
8415-515: The Great Harbour. The names of a few other public buildings on the mainland are known, but there is little information as to their actual position. None, however, are as famous as the building that stood on the eastern point of Pharos island. There, The Great Lighthouse , one of the Seven Wonders of the World , reputed to be 138 m (453 ft) high, was situated. The first Ptolemy began
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#17327731830808580-519: The Great Library of Alexandria and the Mouseion that housed it disappear after the middle of the third century AD. The last known references to scholars being members of the Mouseion date to the 260s. In 272 AD, the emperor Aurelian fought to recapture the city of Alexandria from the forces of the Palmyrene queen Zenobia . During the course of the fighting, Aurelian's forces destroyed
8745-426: The Great Library, many other smaller libraries also began to spring up all around the city of Alexandria. After Zenodotus either died or retired, Ptolemy II Philadelphus appointed Apollonius of Rhodes (lived c. 295 – c. 215 BC ), a native of Alexandria and a student of Callimachus, as the second head librarian of the Library of Alexandria. Philadelphus also appointed Apollonius of Rhodes as
8910-497: The Great Library, probably expanded during this period as well, according to classical historian Edward J. Watts. By the second century AD, the Roman Empire grew less dependent on grain from Alexandria and the city's prominence declined further. The Romans during this period also had less interest in Alexandrian scholarship, causing the Library's reputation to continue to decline as well. The scholars who worked and studied at
9075-499: The Greco-Egyptian god Serapis located near the royal palace. Aristophanes of Byzantium (lived c. 257– c. 180 BC) became the fourth head librarian sometime around 200 BC. According to a legend recorded by the Roman writer Vitruvius , Aristophanes was one of seven judges appointed for a poetry competition hosted by Ptolemy III Euergetes. All six of the other judges favored one competitor, but Aristophanes favored
9240-577: The Homeric poems as well as extensive commentaries on them. During the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes , a daughter library was established in the Serapeum , a temple to the Greco-Egyptian god Serapis . The influence of the Library declined gradually over the course of several centuries. This decline began with the purging of intellectuals from Alexandria in 145 BC during the reign of Ptolemy VIII Physcon , which resulted in Aristarchus of Samothrace ,
9405-561: The Homeric poems, a subject straddling the line between traditional philology and medicine. However, it was also during the early second century BC that the political power of Ptolemaic Egypt began to decline. After the Battle of Raphia in 217 BC, Ptolemaic power became increasingly unstable. There were uprisings among segments of the Egyptian population and, in the first half of the second century BC, connection with Upper Egypt became largely disrupted. Ptolemaic rulers also began to emphasize
9570-441: The Homeric poems, which were the foundation of Greek education and revered above all other poems. The Library therefore acquired many different manuscripts of these poems, tagging each copy with a label to indicate where it had come from. In addition to collecting works from the past, the Mouseion which housed the Library also served as home to a host of international scholars, poets, philosophers, and researchers, who, according to
9735-410: The Library and the Mouseion as their predecessors had. The status of both the Library and the head librarian diminished. Several of the later Ptolemies used the position of head librarian as a mere political plum to reward their most devoted supporters. Ptolemy VIII appointed a man named Cydas, one of his palace guards, as head librarian and Ptolemy IX Soter II (ruled 88–81 BC) is said to have given
9900-511: The Library of Alexandria during the time of the Roman Empire were less well known than the ones who had studied there during the Ptolemaic Period. Eventually, the word "Alexandrian" itself came to be synonymous with the editing of texts, correction of textual errors, and writing of commentaries synthesized from those of earlier scholars—in other words, taking on connotations of pedantry, monotony, and lack of originality. Mention of both
10065-474: The Library of Alexandria's former status as the most prominent. Other libraries also sprang up within the city of Alexandria itself and the scrolls from the Great Library may have been used to stock some of these smaller libraries. The Caesareum and the Claudianum in Alexandria are both known to have had major libraries by the end of the first century AD. The Serapeum, originally the "daughter library" of
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#173277318308010230-480: The Library of Pergamum. Plutarch himself notes that his source for this anecdote was sometimes unreliable and it is possible that the story may be nothing more than propaganda intended to show that Mark Antony was loyal to Cleopatra and Egypt rather than to Rome. Casson, however, argues that, even if the story was made up, it would not have been believable unless the Library still existed. Edward J. Watts argues that Mark Antony's gift may have been intended to replenish
10395-440: The Library separately, perhaps indicating that it had been so drastically reduced in stature and significance that Strabo felt it did not warrant separate mention. It is unclear what happened to the Mouseion after Strabo's mention of it. Furthermore, Plutarch records in his Life of Marc Antony that, in the years leading up to the Battle of Actium in 33 BC, Mark Antony was rumored to have given Cleopatra all 200,000 scrolls in
10560-451: The Library's collection after the damage to it caused by Caesar's fire roughly a decade and a half prior. Further evidence for the Library's survival after 48 BC comes from the fact that the most notable producer of composite commentaries during the late first century BC and early first century AD was a scholar who worked in Alexandria named Didymus Chalcenterus , whose epithet Χαλκέντερος ( Chalkénteros ) means "bronze guts". Didymus
10725-454: The Library's collections through an aggressive and well-funded policy of book purchasing. They dispatched royal agents with large amounts of money and ordered them to purchase and collect as many texts as they possibly could, about any subject and by any author. Older copies of texts were favored over newer ones, since it was assumed that older copies had undergone less copying and that they were therefore more likely to more closely resemble what
10890-407: The Library, but it seems that the Library of Alexandria's general fortunes followed those of the city of Alexandria itself. After Alexandria came under Roman rule, the city's status and, consequently that of its famous Library, gradually diminished. While the Mouseion still existed, membership was granted not on the basis of scholarly achievement, but rather on the basis of distinction in government,
11055-428: The Library, but the Library itself was probably not built until the reign of his son Ptolemy II Philadelphus . The Library quickly acquired many papyrus scrolls , owing largely to the Ptolemaic kings' aggressive and well-funded policies for procuring texts. It is unknown precisely how many scrolls were housed at any given time, but estimates range from 40,000 to 400,000 at its height. Alexandria came to be regarded as
11220-436: The Library, if it still existed. The daughter library in the Serapeum may have survived after the main Library's destruction. The Serapeum was vandalized and demolished in 391 AD under a decree issued by bishop Theophilus of Alexandria , but it does not seem to have housed books at the time, and was mainly used as a gathering place for Neoplatonist philosophers following the teachings of Iamblichus . The Library of Alexandria
11385-453: The Library. A diaspora of Alexandrian scholarship occurred, in which scholars dispersed first throughout the eastern Mediterranean and later throughout the western Mediterranean as well. Aristarchus' student Dionysius Thrax ( c. 170– c. 90 BC) established a school on the Greek island of Rhodes. Dionysius Thrax wrote the first book on Greek grammar , a succinct guide to speaking and writing clearly and effectively. This book remained
11550-473: The Mouseion in around 20 BC, and the prodigious scholarly output of Didymus Chalcenterus in Alexandria from this period indicates that he had access to at least some of the Library's resources. The Library dwindled during the Roman period , from a lack of funding and support. Its membership appears to have ceased by the 260s AD. Between 270 and 275 AD, Alexandria saw a Palmyrene invasion and an imperial counterattack that probably destroyed whatever remained of
11715-492: The Mouseion may have even had a zoo for exotic animals. According to classical scholar Lionel Casson , the idea was that if the scholars were completely freed from all the burdens of everyday life they would be able to devote more time to research and intellectual pursuits. Strabo called the group of scholars who lived at the Mouseion a σύνοδος ( synodos , "community"). As early as 283 BC, they may have numbered between thirty and fifty learned men. The Library of Alexandria
11880-413: The Mouseion, the larger research institution to which the Library was attached, in around 20 BC, several decades after Caesar's fire, indicating that it either survived the fire or was rebuilt soon afterwards. Nonetheless, Strabo's manner of talking about the Mouseion shows that it was nowhere near as prestigious as it had been a few centuries prior. Despite mentioning the Mouseion, Strabo does not mention
12045-462: The Ptolemaic court. Nonetheless, the Letter of Aristeas is very late and contains information that is now known to be inaccurate. According to Diogenes Laertius , Demetrius was a student of Theophrastus , a student of Aristotle. Other sources claim that the Library was instead created under the reign of Ptolemy I's son Ptolemy II Philadelphus (283–246 BC). Modern scholars agree that, while it
12210-619: The Quran, we have no need of them; and if these are opposed to the Quran, destroy them." So, Ibn al Qifti recounts, the general ordered that the books be burned to fuel the fires that heated Alexandria's city baths. It is said that they were enough to provide heating for six months. Later scholars—beginning with Father Eusèbe Renaudot in his 1713 translation of the History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria —are skeptical of these stories, given
12375-519: The Rosetta Gate, but remnants of streets and canals were exposed in 1899 by German excavators outside the east fortifications, which lie well within the area of the ancient city. Alexandria consisted originally of little more than the island of Pharos, which was joined to the mainland by a 1,260 m-long (4,130 ft) mole and called the Heptastadion ("seven stadia"—a stadium was
12540-408: The Serapeum, tolerated Hypatia's school and even encouraged two of her students to become bishops in territory under his authority. Hypatia was extremely popular with the people of Alexandria and exerted profound political influence. Theophilus respected Alexandria's political structures and raised no objection to the close ties Hypatia established with Roman prefects. Hypatia was later implicated in
12705-592: The Serapeum. Nearby, immense catacombs and columbaria have been opened which may have been appendages of the temple. These contain one very remarkable vault with curious painted reliefs, now artificially lit and open to visitors. The objects found in these researches are in the museum, the most notable being a great basalt bull, probably once an object of cult in the Serapeum. Other catacombs and tombs have been opened in Kom El Shoqafa (Roman) and Ras El Tin (painted). The German excavation team found remains of
12870-726: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies in 1895; and a German expedition worked for two years (1898–1899). But two difficulties face the would-be excavator in Alexandria: lack of space for excavation and the underwater location of some areas of interest. Since the great and growing modern city stands immediately over the ancient one, it is almost impossible to find any considerable space in which to dig, except at enormous cost. Cleopatra VII 's royal quarters were inundated by earthquakes and tsunami, leading to gradual subsidence in
13035-629: The ancient Near East was the Library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh , founded in the seventh century BC by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (ruled 668– c. 627 BC). A large library also existed in Babylon during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II ( c. 605– c. 562 BC). In Greece, the Athenian tyrant Pisistratus was said to have founded the first major public library in the sixth century BC. It
13200-678: The ancient world before being eventually overtaken by Rome . The city was a major centre of early Christianity and was the centre of the Patriarchate of Alexandria , which was one of the major centres of Christianity in the Eastern Roman Empire . In the modern world, the Coptic Orthodox Church and the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria both lay claim to this ancient heritage. By 641,
13365-513: The base, tapering to 2.4 m (7.9 ft) at the top. The shaft is 88 ft (27 m) high and made out of a single piece of granite. Its volume is 132 m (4,662 cu ft) and weight approximately 396 tons. Pompey's Pillar may have been erected using the same methods that were used to erect the ancient obelisks . The Romans had cranes but they were not strong enough to lift something this heavy. Roger Hopkins and Mark Lehrner conducted several obelisk erecting experiments including
13530-462: The bishop of Alexandria, Theophilus, supervised the destruction of an old Mithraeum . They gave some of the cult objects to Theophilus , who had them paraded through the streets so that they could be mocked and ridiculed. The pagans of Alexandria were incensed by this act of desecration, especially the teachers of Neoplatonic philosophy and theurgy at the Serapeum. The teachers at the Serapeum took up arms and led their students and other followers in
13695-461: The capital of knowledge and learning, in part because of the Great Library. Many important and influential scholars worked at the Library during the third and second centuries BC, including: Zenodotus of Ephesus , who worked towards standardizing the works of Homer ; Callimachus , who wrote the Pinakes , sometimes considered the world's first library catalog ; Apollonius of Rhodes , who composed
13860-462: The centre of the city, close to the point where the Sema (or Soma) of Alexander (his Mausoleum ) rose. This point is very near the present mosque of Nebi Daniel ; the line of the great East–West "Canopic" street is also present in modern-day Alexandria, having only slightly diverged from the line of the modern Boulevard de Rosette (now Sharae Fouad). Traces of its pavement and canal have been found near
14025-514: The centre of the new commerce between Europe and the Arabian and Indian East, the city grew in less than a generation to be larger than Carthage . In one century, Alexandria had become the largest city in the world and, for some centuries more, was second only to Rome. It became Egypt's main Greek city, with Greek people from diverse backgrounds. The Septuagint , a Greek version of the Tanakh ,
14190-516: The citizens until they were discovered by accident in 1900. The most extensive ancient excavation currently being conducted in Alexandria is known as Kom El Deka . It has revealed the ancient city's well-preserved theater, and the remains of its Roman-era baths . The temple was built in the Ptolemy era and dedicated to Osiris, which finished the construction of Alexandria. It is located in Abusir,
14355-459: The city , which fell to them on 2 September 1801. Muhammad Ali , the Ottoman governor of Egypt, began rebuilding and redevelopment around 1810 and, by 1850, Alexandria had returned to something akin to its former glory. Egypt turned to Europe in their effort to modernise the country. Greeks, followed by other Europeans and others, began moving to the city. In the early 20th century, the city became
14520-486: The city had already been largely plundered and lost its significance before re-emerging in the modern era. From the late 18th century, Alexandria became a major centre of the international shipping industry and one of the most important trading centres in the world, both because it profited from the easy overland connection between the Mediterranean and Red Seas and the lucrative trade in Egyptian cotton . Alexandria
14685-672: The city of Rome alone. As the Library of Alexandria declined, centers of academic excellence arose in various other capital cities. It is possible most of the material from the Library of Alexandria survived, by way of the Imperial Library of Constantinople , the Academy of Gondishapur , and the House of Wisdom . This material may then have been preserved by the Reconquista , which led to the formation of European universities and
14850-471: The city was, at that time, in the periphery of Egypt proper (the area beside the Nile ). Some of the Alexandrian and Greek populaces, e.g., Hypsicles , also referred to the city as Alexándreia hḗ prós Aígypton ( Ἀλεξάνδρεια ἡ πρός Αἴγυπτον , "Alexandria near Egypt"). In the course of Roman rule in Egypt , the city's name was Latinised as Alexandrēa ad Aegyptum . After the capture of Alexandria by
15015-540: The classification of poetry on the basis of musical forms. During the early second century BC, several scholars at the Library of Alexandria studied works on medicine. Zeuxis the Empiricist is credited with having written commentaries on the Hippocratic Corpus and he actively worked to procure medical writings for the Library's collection. A scholar named Ptolemy Epithetes wrote a treatise on wounds in
15180-471: The climate of Alexandria in the year 2050 would most closely resemble the current climate of Gaza City . The annual temperature would increase by 2.8 °C (5.0 °F), and the temperature of the warmest and the coldest month by 2.9 °C (5.2 °F) and 3.1 °C (5.6 °F). According to Climate Action Tracker , the current warming trajectory appears consistent with 2.7 °C (4.9 °F), which closely matches RCP 4.5. Due to its location on
15345-490: The construction of the Mahmoudiyah Canal in 1820. Alexandria figured prominently in the military operations of Napoleon 's expedition to Egypt in 1798. French troops stormed the city on 2 July 1798, and it remained in their hands until the arrival of a British expedition in 1801. The British won a considerable victory over the French at the Battle of Alexandria on 21 March 1801, following which they besieged
15510-493: The cooler months; these events, combined with a poor drainage system, have been responsible for occasional flooding in the city in the past though they rarely occur anymore. July and August are the hottest and driest months of the year, with an average daily maximum temperature of 30 °C (86 °F ). The average annual rainfall is around 211 mm (8.3 in) but has been as high as 417 mm (16.4 in) Port Said , Kosseir , Baltim , Damietta and Alexandria have
15675-500: The critical works of the earlier scholars at the Library of Alexandria. Lionel Casson states that Didymus' prodigious output "would have been impossible without at least a good part of the resources of the library at his disposal." Very little is known about the Library of Alexandria during the time of the Roman Principate (27 BC – 284 AD). The emperor Claudius (ruled 41–54 AD) is recorded to have built an addition onto
15840-490: The emperor Caracalla visited the city and, because of some insulting satires that the inhabitants had directed at him, abruptly commanded his troops to put to death all youths capable of bearing arms. On 21 July 365 AD, Alexandria was devastated by a tsunami ( 365 Crete earthquake ), an event annually commemorated years later as a "day of horror". In 619, Alexandria fell to the Sassanid Persians . The city
16005-418: The emperor Hadrian (ruled 117–138 AD) appointed the ethnographer Dionysius of Miletus and the sophist Polemon of Laodicea as members of the Mouseion, even though neither of these men is known to have ever spent any significant amount of time in Alexandria. Meanwhile, as the reputation of Alexandrian scholarship declined, the reputations of other libraries across the Mediterranean world improved, diminishing
16170-479: The epic poem the Argonautica ; Eratosthenes of Cyrene , who calculated the circumference of the earth within a few hundred kilometers of accuracy; Hero of Alexandria , who invented the first recorded steam engine ; Aristophanes of Byzantium , who invented the system of Greek diacritics and was the first to divide poetic texts into lines; and Aristarchus of Samothrace , who produced the definitive texts of
16335-402: The first and certainly strongest homes for serious textual criticism . As the same text often existed in several different versions, comparative textual criticism was crucial for ensuring their veracity. Once ascertained, canonical copies would then be made for scholars, royalty, and wealthy bibliophiles all over the world, this commerce bringing income to the library. The Library of Alexandria
16500-489: The first letter of the word and it was not until the second century AD that anyone is known to have applied the same method of alphabetization to the remaining letters of the word. Meanwhile, the scholar and poet Callimachus compiled the Pinakes , a 120-book catalogue of various authors and all their known works. The Pinakes has not survived, but enough references to it and fragments of it have survived to allow scholars to reconstruct its basic structure. The Pinakes
16665-451: The first-century BC Greek geographer Strabo , were provided with a large salary, free food and lodging, and exemption from taxes. They had a large, circular dining hall with a high domed ceiling in which they ate meals communally. There were also numerous classrooms, where the scholars were expected to at least occasionally teach students. Ptolemy II Philadelphus is said to have had a keen interest in zoology, so it has been speculated that
16830-408: The founding of the Library of Alexandria is the pseudepigraphic Letter of Aristeas , which was composed between c. 180 and c. 145 BC. It claims the Library was founded during the reign of Ptolemy I Soter ( c. 323– c. 283 BC) and that it was initially organized by Demetrius of Phalerum , a student of Aristotle who had been exiled from Athens and taken refuge in Alexandria within
16995-494: The fourth century, an institution known as the "Mouseion" may have been reestablished at a different location somewhere in Alexandria. Nothing, however, is known about the characteristics of this organization. It may have possessed some bibliographic resources, but whatever they may have been, they were clearly not comparable to those of its predecessor. Under the Christian rule of Roman emperor Theodosius I , pagan rituals were outlawed, and pagan temples were destroyed. In 391 AD,
17160-512: The goatskin of the winds." Meanwhile, other scholars at the Library of Alexandria also displayed interest in scientific subjects. Bacchius of Tanagra , a contemporary of Eratosthenes, edited and commented on the medical writings of the Hippocratic Corpus . The doctors Herophilus (lived c. 335– c. 280 BC) and Erasistratus ( c. 304– c. 250 BC) studied human anatomy , but their studies were hindered by protests against
17325-401: The great library." The Roman historian Cassius Dio ( c. 155 – c. 235 AD), however, writes: "Many places were set on fire, with the result that, along with other buildings, the dockyards and storehouses of grain and books, said to be great in number and of the finest, were burned." However, Florus and Lucan only mention that the flames burned the fleet itself and some "houses near
17490-507: The head librarian, resigning and exiling himself to Cyprus . Many other scholars, including Dionysius Thrax and Apollodorus of Athens , fled to other cities, where they continued teaching and conducting scholarship. The Library, or part of its collection, was accidentally burned by Julius Caesar during his civil war in 48 BC, but it is unclear how much was actually destroyed and it seems to have either survived or been rebuilt shortly thereafter. The geographer Strabo mentions having visited
17655-504: The head of a school called the "Mouseion", which was named in emulation of the Hellenistic Mouseion that had once included the Library of Alexandria, but which had little other connection to it. Theon's school was exclusive, highly prestigious, and doctrinally conservative. Theon does not seem to have had any connections to the militant Iamblichean Neoplatonists who taught in the Serapeum. Instead, he seems to have rejected
17820-488: The high-end ice sheet instability scenario. In every single estimate, Alexandria alone bears around half of these costs. Since sea level rise would continue for about 10,000 years under every scenario of climate change, future costs of sea level rise would only increase, especially without adaptation measures. Greek Alexandria was divided into three regions: Two main streets, lined with colonnades and said to have been each about 60 m (200 ft) wide, intersected in
17985-429: The historian Menecles of Barce to sarcastically comment that Alexandria had become the teacher of all Greeks and barbarians alike. Meanwhile, in Alexandria, from the middle of the second century BC onwards, Ptolemaic rule in Egypt grew less stable than it had been previously. Confronted with growing social unrest and other major political and economic problems, the later Ptolemies did not devote as much attention towards
18150-419: The hostile reception he received in Alexandria to the first draft of his Argonautica . It is more likely that Apollonius' resignation was on account of Ptolemy III Euergetes' ascension to the throne in 246 BC. The third head librarian, Eratosthenes of Cyrene (lived c. 280– c. 194 BC), is best known today for his scientific works, but he was also a literary scholar. Eratosthenes' most important work
18315-568: The island of Cyprus , where he died shortly thereafter. Ptolemy VIII expelled all foreign scholars from Alexandria, forcing them to disperse across the Eastern Mediterranean. Ptolemy VIII Physcon's expulsion of the scholars from Alexandria brought about a shift in the history of Hellenistic scholarship. The scholars who had studied at the Library of Alexandria and their students continued to conduct research and write treatises, but most of them no longer did so in association with
18480-479: The largest cities ever built before the Industrial Revolution and the largest pre-industrial city that was not an imperial capital. Due to the constant presence of war in Alexandria in ancient times, very little of the ancient city has survived into the present day. Much of the royal and civic quarters sank beneath the harbour and the rest has been built over in modern times. " Pompey's Pillar ",
18645-528: The last pagan in Alexandria, nor was she the last Neoplatonist philosopher. Neoplatonism and paganism both survived in Alexandria and throughout the eastern Mediterranean for centuries after her death. British Egyptologist Charlotte Booth notes that many new academic lecture halls were built in Alexandria at Kom el-Dikka shortly after Hypatia's death, indicating that philosophy was clearly still taught in Alexandrian schools. The late fifth-century writers Zacharias Scholasticus and Aeneas of Gaza both speak of
18810-573: The late 15th century. This reduced the amount of goods that needed to be transported through the Alexandrian port, as well as the Mamluks' political power. After the Battle of Ridaniya in 1517, the city was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and remained under Ottoman rule until 1798. Alexandria lost much of its former importance to the Egyptian port city of Rosetta during the 9th to 18th centuries, and it only regained its former prominence with
18975-482: The least temperature variation in Egypt. The highest recorded temperature was 45 °C (113 °F) on 30 May 1961, and the coldest recorded temperature was 0 °C (32 °F) on 31 January 1994. A 2019 paper published in PLOS One estimated that under Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 , a "moderate" scenario of climate change where global warming reaches ~2.5–3 °C (4.5–5.4 °F) by 2100,
19140-498: The link between Greece and the rich Nile valley. A few months after the foundation, Alexander left Egypt and never returned to the city during his life. After Alexander's departure, his viceroy Cleomenes continued the expansion. The architect Dinocrates of Rhodes designed the city, using a Hippodamian grid plan . Following Alexander's death in 323 BC, his general Ptolemy Lagides took possession of Egypt and brought Alexander's body to Egypt with him. Ptolemy at first ruled from
19305-478: The local Archaeological Society and by many individuals. Excavations were performed in the city by Greeks seeking the tomb of Alexander the Great without success. The past and present directors of the museum have been enabled from time to time to carry out systematic excavations whenever opportunity is offered; D. G. Hogarth made tentative researches on behalf of the Egypt Exploration Fund and
19470-399: The low grounds to northeast and southwest, where it is practically impossible to get below the Roman strata . The most important results were those achieved by Dr. G. Botti, late director of the museum, in the neighbourhood of "Pompey's Pillar", where there is a good deal of open ground. Here, substructures of a large building or group of buildings have been exposed, which are perhaps part of
19635-508: The mainland and the Pharos island, welcoming trade from the East and West, and soon found itself to be an international hub for trade, the leading producer of papyrus and, soon enough, books. As the Library expanded, it ran out of space to house the scrolls in its collection, so, during the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes, it opened a satellite collection in the Serapeum of Alexandria , a temple to
19800-582: The military, or even in athletics. The same was evidently the case even for the position of head librarian; the only known head librarian from the Roman Period was a man named Tiberius Claudius Balbilus , who lived in the middle of the first century AD and was a politician, administrator, and military officer with no record of substantial scholarly achievements. Members of the Mouseion were no longer required to teach, conduct research, or even live in Alexandria. The Greek writer Philostratus records that
19965-493: The old Egyptian capital of Memphis . In 322/321 BC he had Cleomenes executed. Finally, in 305 BC, Ptolemy declared himself Pharaoh as Ptolemy I Soter ("Savior") and moved his capital to Alexandria. Although Cleomenes was mainly in charge of overseeing Alexandria's early development, the Heptastadion and the mainland quarters seem to have been primarily Ptolemaic work. Inheriting the trade of ruined Tyre and becoming
20130-473: The one whom the audience had liked the least. Aristophanes declared that all of the poets except for the one he had chosen had committed plagiarism and were therefore disqualified. The king demanded that he prove this, so he retrieved the texts that the authors had plagiarized from the Library, locating them by memory. On account of his impressive memory and diligence, Ptolemy III appointed him as head librarian. The librarianship of Aristophanes of Byzantium
20295-456: The original author had written. This program involved trips to the book fairs of Rhodes and Athens . According to the Greek medical writer Galen , under the decree of Ptolemy II, any books found on ships that came into port were taken to the library, where they were copied by official scribes. The original texts were kept in the library, and the copies delivered to the owners. The Library particularly focused on acquiring manuscripts of
20460-418: The period 1000–800 BC, followed by the absence of activity after that. From ancient sources it is known there existed a trading post at this location during the time of Rameses the Great for trade with Crete , but it had long been lost by the time of Alexander's arrival. A small Egyptian fishing village named Rhakotis ( Egyptian : rꜥ-qdy.t , 'That which is built up') existed since the 13th century BC in
20625-400: The plays made on the highest quality papyrus and sent the Athenians the copies, keeping the original manuscripts for the library and telling the Athenians they could keep the talents. This story may also be construed erroneously to show the power of Alexandria over Athens during the Ptolemaic dynasty . This detail arises from the fact that Alexandria was a man-made bidirectional port between
20790-413: The poetic works of postclassical authors, including Alexandrian poets such as Callimachus and Apollonius of Rhodes. Meanwhile, Alexandrian scholarship was probably introduced to Rome in the first century BC by Tyrannion of Amisus ( c. 100– c. 25 BC), a student of Dionysius Thrax. In 48 BC, during Caesar's Civil War , Julius Caesar was besieged at Alexandria . His soldiers set fire to some of
20955-469: The position to a political supporter. Eventually, the position of head librarian lost so much of its former prestige that even contemporary authors ceased to take interest in recording the terms of office for individual head librarians. A shift in Greek scholarship at large occurred around the beginning of the first century BC. By this time, all major classical poetic texts had finally been standardized and extensive commentaries had already been produced on
21120-430: The primary grammar textbook for Greek schoolboys until as late as the twelfth century AD. The Romans based their grammatical writings on it, and its basic format remains the basis for grammar guides in many languages even today. Another one of Aristarchus' pupils, Apollodorus of Athens ( c. 180– c. 110 BC), went to Alexandria's greatest rival, Pergamum, where he taught and conducted research. This diaspora prompted
21285-414: The project, and the second Ptolemy ( Ptolemy II Philadelphus ) completed it, at a total cost of 800 talents . It took 12 years to complete and served as a prototype for all later lighthouses in the world. The light was produced by a furnace at the top and the tower was built mostly with solid blocks of limestone. The Pharos lighthouse was destroyed by an earthquake in the 14th century, making it
21450-446: The range of time that had passed before they were written down and the political motivations of the various writers. Roy MacLeod , for example, points out that the story first appeared 500 years after the event and that John Philoponus was almost certainly dead by the time of the conquest of Egypt. According to Diana Delia, "Omar's rejection of pagan and Christian wisdom may have been devised and exploited by conservative authorities as
21615-512: The rise and fall of the Nile , leading him to invent the Archimedes' screw , which can be used to transport water from low-lying bodies into irrigation ditches. Archimedes later returned to Syracuse, where he continued making new inventions. According to two late and largely unreliable biographies, Apollonius was forced to resign from his position as head librarian and moved to the island of Rhodes (after which he takes his name) on account of
21780-415: The sea". Scholars have interpreted Cassius Dio's wording to indicate that the fire did not actually destroy the entire Library itself, but rather only a warehouse located near the docks being used by the Library to house scrolls. Whatever devastation Caesar's fire may have caused, the Library was evidently not completely destroyed. The geographer Strabo ( c. 63 BC– c. 24 AD) mentions visiting
21945-503: The second longest surviving ancient wonder, after the Great Pyramid of Giza . A temple of Hephaestus also stood on Pharos at the head of the mole. In the 1st century, the population of Alexandria contained over 180,000 adult male citizens, according to a census dated from 32 AD, in addition to a large number of freedmen, women, children and slaves. Estimates of the total population range from 216,000 to 500,000, making it one of
22110-462: The site of the actual lighthouse having been weathered away by the sea. On the east of the mole was the Great Harbour, now an open bay; on the west lay the port of Eunostos, with its inner basin Kibotos, now vastly enlarged to form the modern harbour. In Strabo 's time (latter half of the 1st century BC), the principal buildings were as follows, enumerated as they were to be seen from a ship entering
22275-494: The study of cultic rituals and esoteric religious practices. The Neoplatonist philosopher Damascius (lived c. 458–after 538) records that a man named Olympus came from Cilicia to teach at the Serapeum, where he enthusiastically taught his students the rules of traditional divine worship and ancient religious practices. He enjoined his students to worship the old gods in traditional ways, and he may have even taught them theurgy. Scattered references indicate that, sometime in
22440-406: The style of the Homeric poems. Some fragments of his scholarly writings have also survived, but he is generally more famous today as a poet than as a scholar. According to legend, during the librarianship of Apollonius, the mathematician and inventor Archimedes (lived c. 287 – c. 212 BC) came to visit the Library of Alexandria. During his time in Egypt, Archimedes is said to have observed
22605-484: The system of Greek diacritics , wrote important works on lexicography , and introduced a series of signs for textual criticism. He wrote introductions to many plays, some of which have survived in partially rewritten forms. The fifth head librarian was an obscure individual named Apollonius Eidographus , who is known by the epithet ‹See Tfd› Greek : ὁ εἰδογράφος ("the classifier of forms"). One late lexicographical source explains this epithet as referring to
22770-404: The teachings of Iamblichus and may have taken pride in teaching a pure, Plotinian Neoplatonism. In around 400 AD, Theon's daughter Hypatia (born c. 350–370; died 415 AD) succeeded him as the head of his school. Like her father, she rejected the teachings of Iamblichus and instead embraced the original Neoplatonism formulated by Plotinus. Theophilus, the bishop involved in the destruction of
22935-458: The total population during the Roman principate was around 500,000–600,000, which would wax and wane in the course of the next four centuries under Roman rule. According to Philo of Alexandria , in the year 38 AD, disturbances erupted between Jews and Greek citizens of Alexandria during a visit paid by King Agrippa I to Alexandria, principally over the respect paid by the Herodian nation to
23100-475: The tutor to his son, the future Ptolemy III Euergetes . Apollonius of Rhodes is best known as the author of the Argonautica , an epic poem about the voyages of Jason and the Argonauts , which has survived to the present in its complete form. The Argonautica displays Apollonius' vast knowledge of history and literature and makes allusions to a vast array of events and texts while simultaneously imitating
23265-547: The vicinity and eventually grew into the Egyptian quarter of the city. Just east of Alexandria (where Abu Qir Bay is now), there were in ancient times marshland and several islands. As early as the 7th century BC, there existed important port cities of Canopus and Heracleion . The latter was recently rediscovered underwater. Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in April 331 BC as Ἀλεξάνδρεια ( Alexandreia ), as one of his many city foundations . After he captured
23430-472: The western suburb of Alexandria in Borg el Arab city. Only the outer wall and the pylons remain from the temple. There is evidence to prove that sacred animals were worshiped there. Archaeologists found an animal necropolis near the temple. Remains of a Christian church show that the temple was used as a church in later centuries. Also found in the same area are remains of public baths built by the emperor Justinian,
23595-469: The writings of all the major literary authors of the Greek Classical Era . Consequently, there was little original work left for scholars to do with these texts. Many scholars began producing syntheses and reworkings of the commentaries of the Alexandrian scholars of previous centuries, at the expense of their own originalities. Other scholars branched out and began writing commentaries on
23760-553: Was Utba ibn Abi Sufyan , who strengthened the Arab presence and built a governor's palace in the city in 664–665. In reference to Alexandria, Ibn Battuta speaks of a number of Muslim saints that resided in the city. One such saint was Imam Borhan Oddin El Aaraj, who was said to perform miracles. Another notable figure was Yaqut al-'Arshi, a disciple of Abu Abbas El Mursi . Ibn Battuta also writes about Abu 'Abdallah al-Murshidi,
23925-413: Was Zenodotus of Ephesus (lived c. 325 – c. 270 BC ). Zenodotus' main work was devoted to the establishment of canonical texts for the Homeric poems and the early Greek lyric poets. Most of what is known about him comes from later commentaries that mention his preferred readings of particular passages. Zenodotus is known to have written a glossary of rare and unusual words, which
24090-426: Was captured by the Arab army of Amr ibn al-As . Several later Arabic sources describe the library's destruction by the order of Caliph Umar . The earliest was al-Qifti who described the story in a biographical dictionary History of Learned Men , written before 1248. Bar-Hebraeus , writing in the thirteenth century, quotes Umar as saying to Yaḥyā al-Naḥwī ( John Philoponus ): "If those books are in agreement with
24255-404: Was "no remaining "Great Library" in the sense of the iconic vast, priceless collection". Only Orosius explicitly mentions the destruction of books or scrolls; sources probably written after the Serapeum's destruction speak of its collection of literature in the past tense. On the other hand, a recent article identifies the literary evidence suggesting that the original Ptolemaic library collection
24420-411: Was a major aspect of editorial work. King Ptolemy II Philadelphus (309–246 BC) is said to have set 500,000 scrolls as an objective for the library. The library's index, Callimachus ' Pinakes , has only survived in the form of a few fragments, and it is not possible to know with certainty how large and how diverse the collection may have been. At its height, the library was said to possess nearly half
24585-530: Was built in the Brucheion (Royal Quarter) as part of the Mouseion . Its main purpose was to show off the wealth of Egypt, with research as a lesser goal, but its contents were used to aid the ruler of Egypt. The exact layout of the library is not known, but ancient sources describe the Library of Alexandria as comprising a collection of scrolls, Greek columns, a peripatos walk, a room for shared dining,
24750-486: Was caught again, sealed him in a lead jar and dropped him into the sea. As a religious center, the Mouseion was directed by a priest of the Muses known as an epistates , who was appointed by the king in the same manner as the priests who managed the various Egyptian temples . The Library itself was directed by a scholar who served as head librarian , as well as tutor to the king's son. The first recorded head librarian
24915-443: Was divided into multiple sections, each containing entries for writers of a particular genre of literature. The most basic division was between writers of poetry and prose, with each section divided into smaller subsections. Each section listed authors in alphabetical order. Each entry included the author's name, father's name, place of birth, and other brief biographical information, sometimes including nicknames by which that author
25080-523: Was his treatise Geographika , which was originally in three volumes. The work itself has not survived, but many fragments of it are preserved through quotation in the writings of the later geographer Strabo . Eratosthenes was the first scholar to apply mathematics to geography and map-making and, in his treatise Concerning the Measurement of the Earth , he calculated the circumference of the earth and
25245-568: Was known, followed by a complete list of all that author's known works. The entries for prolific authors such as Aeschylus , Euripides , Sophocles , and Theophrastus must have been extremely long, spanning multiple columns of text. Although Callimachus did his most famous work at the Library of Alexandria, he never held the position of head librarian there. Callimachus' pupil Hermippus of Smyrna wrote biographies, Philostephanus of Cyrene studied geography, and Istros (who may have also been from Cyrene) studied Attic antiquities. In addition to
25410-478: Was located on the earlier Egyptian settlement, which was called Rhacotis ( Ancient Greek : Ῥακῶτις , romanized : Rhakôtis ), the Hellenised form of Egyptian r-ꜥ-qd(y)t . As one of many settlements founded by Alexander the Great, the city he founded on Rhacotis was called Alexándreia hḗ kat' Aígypton ( Ἀλεξάνδρεια ἡ κατ' Αἴγυπτον ), which some sources translated as "Alexandria by Egypt", as
25575-608: Was mostly uninjured by the conquest and a new palace called Tarawus was erected in the eastern part of the city, later known as Qasr Faris, "fort of the Persians". Although the Byzantine emperor Heraclius recovered it in 629, in 641 the Arabs under the general 'Amr ibn al-'As invaded it during the Muslim conquest of Egypt , after a siege that lasted 14 months. The first Arab governor of Egypt recorded to have visited Alexandria
25740-402: Was moved to the Serapeum by the end of the second century AD and that a library is attested there until the Serapeum was destroyed along with the books it contained. The Suda , a tenth-century Byzantine encyclopedia, calls the mathematician Theon of Alexandria ( c. AD 335– c. 405) a "man of the Mouseion". According to classical historian Edward J. Watts, however, Theon was probably
25905-415: Was not affiliated with any particular philosophical school; consequently, scholars who studied there had considerable academic freedom. They were, however, subject to the authority of the king. One likely apocryphal story is told of a poet named Sotades who wrote an obscene epigram making fun of Ptolemy II for marrying his sister Arsinoe II . Ptolemy II is said to have jailed him and, after he escaped and
26070-603: Was not the first library of its kind. A long tradition of libraries existed in both Greece and in the ancient Near East . The earliest recorded archive of written materials comes from the ancient Sumerian city-state of Uruk in around 3400 BC, when writing had only just begun to develop. Scholarly curation of literary texts began in around 2500 BC. The later kingdoms and empires of the ancient Near East had long traditions of book collecting. The ancient Hittites and Assyrians had massive archives containing records written in many different languages. The most famous library of
26235-470: Was one of the largest and most prestigious libraries of the ancient world, but it was far from the only one. By the end of the Hellenistic Period, almost every city in the Eastern Mediterranean had a public library and so did many medium-sized towns. During the Roman Period, the number of libraries only proliferated. By the fourth century AD, there were at least two dozen public libraries in
26400-481: Was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world . The library was part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion , which was dedicated to the Muses , the nine goddesses of the arts. The idea of a universal library in Alexandria may have been proposed by Demetrius of Phalerum , an exiled Athenian statesman living in Alexandria, to Ptolemy I Soter , who may have established plans for
26565-484: Was only off by less than a few hundred kilometers. Eratosthenes also produced a map of the entire known world, which incorporated information taken from sources held in the Library, including accounts of Alexander the Great's campaigns in India and reports written by members of Ptolemaic elephant-hunting expeditions along the coast of East Africa . Eratosthenes was the first person to advance geography towards becoming
26730-456: Was organized in alphabetical order , making him the first person known to have employed alphabetical order as a method of organization. Since the collection at the Library of Alexandria seems to have been organized in alphabetical order by the first letter of the author's name from very early, Casson concludes that it is highly probable that Zenodotus was the one who organized it in this way. Zenodotus' system of alphabetization, however, only used
26895-593: Was out of this mixed heritage of both Greek and Near Eastern book collections that the idea for the Library of Alexandria was born. Following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, there was a power grab for his empire among his top-ranking officers. The empire was divided into three: the Antigonid dynasty controlled Greece; the Seleucid dynasty , who had their capitals at Antioch and Seleucia , controlled large areas of Asia Minor, Syria, and Mesopotamia; and
27060-475: Was produced there. The early Ptolemies kept it in order and fostered the development of its museum into the leading Hellenistic centre of learning ( Library of Alexandria , which faced destruction during Caesar 's siege of Alexandria in 47 BC), but were careful to maintain the distinction of its population's three largest ethnicities: Greek, Egyptian and Jewish. By the time of Augustus , the city grid encompassed an area of 10 km (3.9 sq mi), and
27225-427: Was written between 63 and 14 BC, as saying that the fire started by Caesar destroyed 40,000 scrolls from the Library of Alexandria. The Greek Middle Platonist Plutarch ( c. 46–120 AD) writes in his Life of Caesar that, "[W]hen the enemy endeavored to cut off his communication by sea, he was forced to divert that danger by setting fire to his ships, which, after burning the docks, thence spread on and destroyed
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