Pagans, Jews, Moslems and Christians all lived together in the great city of Alexandria. But who burned its library?
The first person we will look at is one of the most famous people in history, none other than Julius Caesar. In 48 BC. Caesar wrote of starting a fire on the docks of the harbor at Alexandria. He was at war, cut off by the Egyptian fleet at sea and outnumbered by the enemy on land. In his accounts Caesar never mentioned the burning of the Library. That however does not prove anything since he was not in the habit of including anything that did not make himself look good while writing his own history. On the other hand Caesar had no lack of people who would relish at any chance to take him down a notch or two. If he were solely to blame for the disappearance of the Library it is very likely these people would have wrote about it with great zeal and any documentation on the affair would exist today.
The second individual to get blamed for the destruction can be contributed to Edward Gibbon's "The Decline and fall of the Roman Empire". Theophilus was Patriarch of Alexandria from about 384 to 412 AD. During that time he converted the Temple of Serapis into a Christian Church and destroyed many of the manuscripts and other scholarly items contained within the temple. The Temple of Serapis was estimated to hold about ten to fifteen percent of the overall Library of Alexandria's documents. After his death, his nephew Cyril became Patriarch. Shortly after that, riots broke out when Hierax, a Christian monk, was publicly killed by order of Orestes the city Prefect that led to the burning of the library. Immediately after the death of Hierax a group of Jews who had helped instigate his killing lured more Christians into the street at night by proclaiming that the Church was on fire. When the Christians rushed out the largely Jewish mob killed many of them. After this there was mass havoc as Christians retaliated against both the Jews and the Pagans one of which was Hypatia. The story varies slightly depending upon who tells it but she was dragged through the streets and murdered by the Christians. Some people blame Theophilus for destroying the last of the scrolls from the Temple of Serapis prior to making it a Christian church. Still others have confused both incidents and blamed Theophilus for murdering Hypatia and destroying the Library, but that is not the case since Theophilus died sometime prior to Hypatia.
The final story of the Library's destruction can be contributed to the Moslem Caliph Omar. In 640 AD the Moslems took the city of Alexandria upon learning of a place containing all the knowledge of the world. Amr, the conquering general, supposedly asked Caliph Omar for instructions. The Caliph has been quoted as saying of the Library's documents, "they will either contradict the Koran, in which case they are heresy, or they will agree with it, so they are superfluous." So the documents were allegedly used as tinder for the bathhouses of the city. Even then it was said to have taken six months to burn them all. But these details, from the Caliph's quote to the six months it supposedly took to burn all the documents, weren’t written down until 300 years after the fact. These facts condemning Omar were written by Bishop Gregory Bar Hebraeus, a Christian who spent a great deal of time writing about Moslem atrocities without much historical documentation to support what he wrote.
Who did burn the Library of Alexandria? Could Plutarch who blamed Caesar be right or Edward Gibbons a staunch atheist who blamed Theophilus and Orestes or perhaps Bishop Gregory an anti-Moslem who blamed Omar all had an axe to grind and consequently must be seen as biased.
Probably everyone mentioned above had some hand in destroying some part of the Library. The real tragedy is not the uncertainty of knowing whom to blame for the Library's destruction but that so much of ancient history, literature and knowledge were lost to all of mankind forever.
Thu Aug 17, 2006 5:24 am
ghost
Joined: 06 Nov 2005
Posts: 2828
Location: MIA
thanks eire! lol, i was right about the poem then...
regards
ghost _________________
MIA
Thu Aug 17, 2006 6:00 am
DarkChyldesKiss Site Admin
Joined: 29 Mar 2005
Posts: 3381
Location: Inner Sanctum
Eire,
Again thank you for the history lesson! Always up for it!
Again thank you for the history lesson! Always up for it!
Hugs
Jan
Dark,
Thanks for the wonderful reply...hope your ready for more to come.
Eiregirl
Sat Aug 19, 2006 4:15 am
Ellen_Degeneresisawsome
Joined: 05 Dec 2004
Posts: 385
Location: Oregon
wow eire thanks i love this stuff i dont know what i didnt notice this forum until now _________________ I do swear that I’ll always be there.
I’d give anything and everything
and I will always care.
Through weakness and strength,
happiness and sorrow, for better,
for worse, I will love you with every beat of my heart
shania twain
Fri Dec 01, 2006 7:53 pm
SensualSilverPearl
Joined: 25 Aug 2006
Posts: 43
Location: third rock from the sun
quote:Originally posted by Ellen_Degeneresisawsome:
wow eire thanks i love this stuff i dont know what i didnt notice this forum until now
Ellen sweetie...that just means you will have to visit it from time to time to see what is new
Hugs to you
Eiregirl _________________ All poems and stories posted by Eiregirl are
Copyright 2005 - 2008 Aoibhegréine
These literary works are my property under copyright. If you wish to use my work for any purpose please ASK FIRST.
quote:Originally posted by SensualSilverPearl:
Definately a thought provoking article.
Sensual,
Thank you very much
Eiregirl _________________ All poems and stories posted by Eiregirl are
Copyright 2005 - 2008 Aoibhegréine
These literary works are my property under copyright. If you wish to use my work for any purpose please ASK FIRST.
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