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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: epicure who wrote (15966)1/9/2002 6:15:19 PM
From: Climber  Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 281500
 
It was reported to have been destroyed several times.

"Originally built to house the massive collection of books accumulated by the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt, the library had been devastated by fire several times. During Julius Caesar's Alexandrian campaign in 47 B. C., Caesar set fire to ships in the port. The fire spread to the library, which was called the Museum at that time.

In A. D. 391, riots instigated by fanatical Christians damaged the collection heavily. During the years between disastrous events, the library collection had been gradually restored.

In 641, the Caliph of Baghdad exhibited the same spirit of religious fanaticism in ordering Amrou to burn the books stored there. The loss of the library at Alexandria was a particularly grievous blow because the works of so many Roman scholars, literary geniuses, and historians were destroyed."

mediahistory.umn.edu

Climber



To: epicure who wrote (15966)1/9/2002 7:24:35 PM
From: maceng2  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 281500
 
It was finally destroyed in AD 272 in the civil war under the Roman emperor Aurelian

It's the same 'ol story, he took some books out and forgot to take them back. The "late return" fees built up, rather then cough up he stirred up a civil war...

Library fines, and non payment of late return fees, explain a lot of history -g-