Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1922-02-11
DESTRUCTION OF ALEXANDRIA
LIBRARY.

II Is by all events certain that the
libraries Of Alexandria, Egypt, were
tn" mast important as they were the
most celebrated Of the ancient world.
Hinder thr enlightened rule Of the
Ptolcm:cs, a society OF scholars and
men of science was attracted to their
capital 1t seems pretty certain that
PtoIemy Softer had already begun to
collect books. hut il was in the reign
of Ftoicmy PhiadclDhus that the IL
hrar;es were properly organized and
established IN separate buildings.
Ptc!cmy Ph;lahelDhus sent into every
part Of Gre.re ana Asia tc secure
the most valuable WORKS, and no cX-
crtions or eXepnsc we're spared III
cnrching the collection. PtolemV Ed
crrctcs, his successor. IS said to
nave caused all books brought into
Egynt by foreigners to be seized for
the bcrcft Of the library while IN"
owners had to be content with recev-
in~ COPIES of them in exchange. Nor
did the Alcxandrian scholars exhibit
the usual Hellenic exclusiveness, and
many of the treasures OF Egyptian
ana even Of the Hebrew literature
were by their means, translated into
Greek.
There were two libraries in Alex
andria the larger, in the Brn"hium
quarter, was in connection with the
r1uscum n sort of academy. while tire
smaller was placed in the Serapcum.
The number of volumes IN those IL
hrarioe was very large, although 1t IS
difficult TO attain any certainty as to
the real numbers amongst the widely
varying accounts. According to =
scholium Of TzetZcs (whO appears 20
d~a,v his information from the au-
thoritv of Callirla hus. an EratoS-
themes who had nrcn librarian at Al
rvandria) Their" were $4,000 volumes
or rolls in the Serapcum and 10000"
in the Eruchium. This cnUm,"ation
gems to refer to the Guardianship "i
Call;machus himself under PtoIemy
Eucrmrt"S. I'm any case the figures
:..rcc tl,cr:hly we'll with those given
by Arlus Ccllino (700.000) ami Scne-
on (iO0.GGO 1t should he observed
shat. as the ancient roll or volume us
rSaily contained Il much smaller GUAM
ii:v Of matter than q modern bnal:-Go
that the history Of Herndotus might
form nine 'b0okS" or volumes. and the
Had of Homer twenty-four. these
numbers must be discounted for the
purDuoscs Of comnarison with modern
collection. The series = the first
five librarians at Alexandria appears
to be pretty well established rs fol-
lows:-Zcnodolus Callmachus. Era
tosthcncs. ADollovius, and Aristo-
phavps ana their octivity covers a
period Of about Il century.
r. The first experiments in EblhG-
5raphv appear to have been made III
producing catalogues or the Al""2n-
drjan libraries. Among other lists
two catalogues were prepared by or
der of Ptnlcmy Philadelphus one al
thn trarcdics the other IF tho COM
cdjes contained in the collections, the
pjnakkes of Callimachus formed q
catalogue of aIl the principa! books
arranged in 100 classes.
When Caesar set fire 70 the fleet
~ the harbor OF Alexandria, the
flames accidentally extended to the
larrcr library of the Bru.hium and it
was destroyed. Anthony endcavered
to repair the loss by presenting to G'e-
oratra the library from Pergamus.
This was properly placed in the Hru-
chium as this continued 20 be the IL
brary quarter of Alexandria until
tbn time Of Aurelian. Then the Ser
anrm became the principal library.
Tho usual statement that from the
datc Of the restoration Of the Bru-
chium under Cleonatra. the libraries
continued under Furnishing condition
nnt;I they were destroyed after the
conquest Of Alexandria by the Sara
Gems in GlO A. D. can hardly be sup
nortcd After all these had been de-
stroycA there were hardly any left for
tl;c soldiers Of Orma to contlscate.
Margaret French