Historical Library of Alexandria

Historical Library of Alexandria – According to the information obtained, the Library of Alexandria is the world-famous ancient library that was founded by the Ptolemaic Dynasty in the city of Alexandria in Egypt at the beginning of the 3rd century BC.

The Alexandria Library was built as part of a large research institute known as the Alexandria Museum. It is one of the most important cultural structures built in human history. According to ancient sources, it was recorded that 150 thousand volumes of manuscripts were collected here.

The city of Alexandria is among the most important cities of the world with the legacies it left for the history of humanity. The city was founded in 332 BC by the Macedonian Emperor Alexander the Great. At the end of the disintegration of the empire with the death of Alexander the Great, it passed into the hands of Ptolemy I Soter, the son of one of his commanders, Lagus. Ptolemy, who does not like war and fighting, has never been enthusiastic about expanding the borders of his country. With his fondness for science and literature, he won the love of the people by adopting the customs, traditions and religions of the Egyptians.

Historical Library of Alexandria

Ptolemy established a new country by making Alexandria the capital. Much loved by the Egyptians, Ptolemy was considered the new Pharaoh of the country. The new pharaoh completely repaired and expanded the city of Alexandria, making it the most famous capital of that period. The most important work he created here is the museum and the library he established accordingly.

A very beautiful place around the palace was chosen for the construction of the Alexandria Museum and Library. In this building that was built, there was a sample of animals and plants from all the countries known at that time. In addition, an observatory was established together with the botanical garden. An anatomy hall was opened for the study of the human body through autopsy. In this science site, houses were built for the knowledge of physics, chemistry, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, literature and physiology.

The Library of Alexandria was the library with the largest collection of Antiquity, with 900,000 manuscripts. There was also a large staff of staff working in the library. It is stated that the works were written on papyrus and stored in the form of rolls. This library, which was supported by the king, also served as a publishing house. This library has also hosted great scientists. Names such as the mathematician Euclid, the mechanical scientist Archimedes, the medical scientist Herophilos, the astronomer Eratosthenes, and Ptolemy worked in this library.

The most important part of the museum was its library. The director of the library had the authority to take any written work he could find. Every book that entered Egypt had to be brought here. A copy of the book was made here and given to its owner, while the original was kept in the library. On the other hand, the officials sent abroad would buy and bring the books they found in other countries. Thus, works belonging to many sciences, which were scattered and doomed to disappear until then, were gathered in a safe place.

The general belief is that this library was burned by the Christians during the destruction of ancient Pagan temples and structures due to various fanatic views. According to this view, in 391, the Eastern Roman Governor of Egypt, Theophilos, gave the Christians a plot of land in the temple of Osiris in Alexandria, which belonged to the ancient religions of Egypt, to build a church. During the foundation excavations of the church to be built here, a stone with inscriptions belonging to the old religion was found. Christians made it a mockery. This event angered the Pagan believers, who were very crowded in the city, and eventually a religious uprising broke out in Alexandria. The two sides clashed, the people were massacred en masse. The area where the Library of Alexandria was located was razed to the ground. When Emperor Theodosius I asked the governor why the old religion was still so alive in Alexandria compared to other big cities, he suggested the books of the Alexandria Library that continued the old pagan culture. The Emperor then ordered that they all be destroyed. All the artifacts in the Library of Alexandria were distributed to the baths of the city and burned, thus destroying this scientific and cultural treasure of human history.