Great Library of Alexandria - Essay Example

Renee Karacsony Dr. Slane History 325 13 October 2007 Great Library of Alexandria The Great Library of Alexandria is situated in Alexandria, Egypt and has been considered to be one of the largest libraries of the world in the historic times. There is historical evidence that the Great Library of Alexandria, also known as Royal Library of Alexandria was established in the starting of 3rd century BC. At this time, the reign was of Ptolemy II of Egypt. The Great Library of Alexandria was founded after Ptolemy II of Egypt’s father had established the first part of the whole Library complex, the temple of the Muses or Museion – English word for museum. The Great Library of Alexandria has time and again been destroyed by a spate of fires and this eventually left the Library management at risk of having to save the handwritten manuscripts, original scriptures and the like since they required a lot of time to devise these artistic pieces. There has been a considerable amount of controversy related with the reasons as to how the fires broke out every now and then within the Great Library of Alexandria and there are differing viewpoints in the wake of the establishment of a single consensus. Moving on in time, the Bibliotheca Alexandria was opened up in the year 2003 which lied in close vicinity of the old Library site. When one tries to understand the historical significance and related attachments of Great Library of Alexandria, there are a series of misconceptions and false notions linked with the Library. The scholars have presented disagreements with the bases of its fires, establishment regimes and so on and so forth and thus the Great Library of Alexandria is a problematic situation for the people who have tried to comprehend this Library.1 (Sagan, 1999) The Great Library of Alexandria has more or less served as a research institution for the people since its heritage is profound and has done its bit at providing an in-depth and incisive know-how related with the past. The Great Library of Alexandria was organized by the Demetrius of Phaleron initially. Demetrius used to be a student of Aristotle and hence the relational basis. The Great Library of Alexandria served as a museum in the yesteryears since it provided for research to the different scholars and the like. The Great Library of Alexandria was also thought of as a research center more than a library itself as is true from the depiction that it was thought of to be a museum in essence. The primary objective was to edit different texts which came under the fold of the Great Library of Alexandria. This accounted for different texts coming directly under the auspices of the Great Library of Alexandria and thus getting corrected by the people at the helm of affairs within the library. There is solid evidence as far as the textual editing is concerned in the olden times as there used to be a number of different versions for the same text at different institutions and research centers. All this required serious editing changes which had to be in line with the related epoch as well as the authors who penned down the same from time to time. Thus it meant that quality and veracity differed within the texts that were undoubtedly similar but had textual edits comprised within them as it was the need of the hour more than anything else. It is because of these editing changes within the texts that the editors present within the Great Library of Alexandria were famous for their works that they did on Homeric texts. The editors who were more reputable and senior in stature held positions like head librarian, junior librarian and so on and so forth. The Great Library of Alexandria was in effect a learning center which provided for research basis on a consistent basis. What this means is that the Great Library of Alexandria entailed within it a huge amount of geographical diversity within it and this is something that holds significance here. It was in the year 2004 that a Polish team discovered a library while they were in the process of carrying out excavation work in the Bruchion region. It was during this excavation activity that the archaeologists found out thirteen different lecture halls each of which contained a central podium. All the rooms that have been uncovered by now, according to Zahi Hawass, the President of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities have the capacity of seating more than 5000 students. This suggests that the Great Library of Alexandria was indeed a massive institution which came under the auspices of research of the time. With that, there is proper evidence of the Great Library of Alexandria having a number of buildings within its fold. The main book depositories were connected to the oldest building which was the Museum as well as a small library in the Serapeum, which existed as a temple that was exclusively dedicated to the god Serapis. However there is a lot of confusion related with the destroying of the Great Library of Alexandria as to how and when the same happened in history. It is also a problematic question to answer as to who actually played a huge role at destroying the Great Library of Alexandria. This suggests that there has been some mystery related with the Great Library of Alexandria and proper research and evidence has yet to be found. As far as the destruction of the Great Library of Alexandria is concerned, the ancient as well as the modern sciences have given four different occasions for the same. These include the Caesar’s conquest in 48 BC, then the attack of Aurelian in the 3rd century, after this the decree of Theopilus in 391 and lastly the Muslim conquest in 642. What all these occasions meant was that there was a lot of confusion related with the actual destruction process of the Great Library of Alexandria. Hence the suspicion comes from the scholars’ end which is somewhat puzzling to state the least.2 (Hannam, 2007) There seems to be an endeavor to place the blame game on the different actors more or less. What is common in all these events is the common ground that there were historical problems related with all these dates and events. Caesar’s conquest in 48 BC had little evidence for the destruction of the Great Library of Alexandria. The decree of Theophilus in 391 is not backed by any authors and thus deductions have been made according to Edward Gibbon in reference with the Serapeum. The Muslim conquest in 642 does not have any such documentation to back it up and there seems to be no contemporary source available for the same, however there is some evidence that has been arisen which suggests that the final destruction process of the Great Library of Alexandria in essence happened in the same epoch. As far as the collection of the library is concerned, there is a story connected with the same. This is in relation with the decree of Ptolemy III of Egypt which suggests that at the time all the visitors who happened to be in the city were asked to surrender their books and scrolls and no such possessions were allowed to be have with them. What happened thereafter is that all these writings were secretly scribed by the official scribes and thus the collection within the Great Library of Alexandria grew so enormous. At times it was also the case that the copies were precisely close to the originals which meant that the originals were kept within the Great Library of Alexandria and the copies were given back to the owners. This process created a reservoir of books within the city and eventually within the Great Library of Alexandria. The city was new and it did not contain any such books at the time and this activity proved to one and all how the same could have improved and hence this surrendering of books did not actually turn out to be an exercise in futility as one and all could see.3 (Sadek 2003) Furthermore, as far as the collection within the Great Library of Alexandria is related, the Ptolemies were pretty active at collecting collections and additional materials from the different areas which were situated in vicinity of the Mediterranean Sea as well as areas from Rhodes and Athens in Greece. The collection at the Great Library of Alexandria in those times was renowned and so was the case in the years that passed by. What this meant was that the Great Library of Alexandria was famous for its books and pieces of writing texts and this made it stand in its own league when the talk went out loud regarding the collection of novel books and the like. However an ironic point was that it was never ascertained exactly as to how much was the collection size at that time. If it had been counted for in the ancient times, it would have become easy for us to understand the amount of books and written texts that were edited within the realms of the Great Library of Alexandria. The collection however comprised of papyrus scrolls but was later replaced by parchment codices. The parchment codices were made use of as a writing material after the year 300. It is a fact that a single piece of writing actually took up a number of scrolls and when this division was judged from the angle of collection of books with the same, it comprised of a major part of the editorial work. It is believed that King Ptolemy II Philadelphus set 500,000 scrolls as his objective and this could make for an interesting belief related with the written texts on all accounts. With the passage of time, it was believed that Mark Antony gave Cleopatra more than 200,000 scrolls for the Great Library of Alexandria in the mark of respect as a wedding gift. Furthermore, Carl Sagan stated that the Great Library of Alexandria comprised of more than one million scrolls but there have been conflicting reports as far as this figure is concerned and some historians argue that the figure is much lesser than was mentioned by Carl Sagan. At the present, no index within the Great Library of Alexandria is existent and this is representative of the fact that one cannot know for sure how many books and written pieces of text were within the library and how diverse was the collection at that time. One thing however is for sure that if the scrolls were in millions then it is necessary that the copies were in the highest quantity since they were produced by the scribes when the books and written texts were asked to be surrendered by the people. In the end, it is important to state that the Great Library of Alexandria has been a hallmark in the field of historical significance and great landmarks of the olden times. It has existed for such a long time that the historical basis is made stronger with each passing day. The attachment of the historians and researchers is increased by the day and this is one aspect that creates surprise within the new and upcoming researchers. They want to seek more and more about the Great Library of Alexandria and find out the mysteries that surround its very basis and the destruction that seems to be an unknown event yet a known fact. However what is more important in time is to know that by the 8th century the Great Library of Alexandria ceased to exist as a library and its institutional basis was foiled. Also there is proper evidence the Alexandria was not a resource for the Muslims and it was never such in the past as well. However there seems to be confusing stories and the like popping up every now and then which raises quite a few eyebrows. All said and done, what the Great Library of Alexandria has given to the heritage is something that is not only overwhelming but also enticing to read and understand and probably gain a few things with its visit. It is only with additional help from historians and researchers that one gets to know so much about the Great Library of Alexandria every now and then. Bibliography Hannam, James. “The Mysterious Fate of the Great Library of Alexandria”. 28 September 2007. . Sagan, Carl. “The Library at Alexandria”. . 11 January 1999. Sadek, Samir. The Mouseion Revisited. 17 December 2003. . Read More