I heard story of the library in Alexander, Egypt. And how it caught on fire burning everything in it including the building itself. I've always wondered what was in there. I can understand scrolls from other countries. Or they had info about other countries. Does that count as Egypt's history as well? I really don't know what they had inside of the library before it burned down. Does anyone have any info on it?

Edit: Sorry for the mispelling. Mod, if you come by. Please correct my spelling for me. Thank you.

If you type in Alexanderia's Library at Google you'll get pages of information. The Romans are blamed for the loss of the library by fire...which is debateable for historians.
It's hard to say what the library housed - it's all gone and no record of the lost records have been detailed. Unfortunately.

its called the library of Alexandria
heres wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_alexandria

Thank you for the link, Apollyon.

Sorry that I mispelt it.

when I was a kid I thought Alexandria was married to Alexander

The Library at Alexandria held the most complete collection of knowledge known to man at the time. Anytime a scroll was brought into the city, it was copied, and the library would add it to its archives. Everything from shopping lists to treatises of philiosophy were housed there. Often the library would even keep the originals and return copies to the traveller who brought the scroll with them. At least thats what my history prof taught last semester...........

Thank you for the information, Sergestorm.

I've been interested in this library for a long time now. Ever since I first heard about it.

your history prof has a sense of humour

The Royal Library of Alexandria was founded by Ptolomy II Soter, It formed part of the Museum which was located in the Bruchion or palace quarter of the city of Alexandria. This great ancient city, occupying a spit of land on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, had been founded by Alexander the Great in his flying visit to Egypt and became the capital of the last dynasty of Pharaohs descended from Alexander's general Ptolemy. The Great or more properly Royal Library formed a part of the Museum but whether or not it was a separate building is unclear.


Alexandria was the publishing capital of the planet. Of course, there were no printing presses then. Books were expensive; every one of them was copied by hand. The Library was the repository of the most accurate copies in the world. The art of critical editing was invented there. The Old Testament comes down to us mainly from the Greek translations made in the Alexandrian Library. The Ptolemys devoted much of their enormous wealth to the acquisition of every Greek book, as well as works from Africa, Persia, India, Israel and other parts of the world. Ptolemy III Euergetes wished to borrow from Athens the original manuscripts or official state copies of the great ancient tragedies of Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides. To the Athenians, these were a kind of cultural patrimony -- something like the original handwritten copies and first folios of Shakespeare might be in England. They were reluctant to let the manuscripts out of their hands even for a moment Only after Ptolemy guaranteed their return with an enormous cash deposit did they agree to lend the plays. But Ptolemy valued those scrolls more than gold or silver. He forfeited the deposit gladly and enshrined, as well he might, the originals in the Library. The outraged Athenians had to content themselves with the copies that Ptolemy, only a little shamefacedly, presented to them. Rarely has a state so avidly supported the pursuit of knowledge.


Link- Library of Alexandria

His point was more that they copied EVERYTHING for their own records,....whether they actually kept all that stuff
i doubt it

Library was great indeed ... if i could do Anything in the world... i would go back in time and just read lol.... would spend every moment of my life reading all that this great library had to offer


for those that dont know library has been rebuilt
or Another library has been built with same name lol





their site
http://www.bibalex.org/English/index.aspx

Oh. I love the shape of the library. :3

Still it can't replace the old library in ancient times.

yeah i wish i could read some of the stuff lol... translated of course eheheh

P.S. interesting fact ....
Marc Anthony gave a 200 scrolls(books, notes, letters) as a wedding gift to Cleopatra... all of that was burned too

Just the same old story, as they say.
(quote): Stephen B Cox:"The Egyptian library to which we are referring here is not however the libraries of known antiquity, as for example that which Solon long visited at Sais, or the library of Heliopolis which the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great destroyed prior to his building his own library and cultural centre at Alexandria".

Alexanders library houses alot of information of Greeks and Egyptians

Alot of the books in the Alexandrian library were lost forever. By the way, The Ptolemy dynasty founder was a general and friend of Alexander's. Some people speculate Ptolemy was Alexander's illegitimate half brother. Perhaps the most famous and LAST member of the dynasty was Cleopatra.

maybe that information was meant to be lost maybe it was to important or maybe secrets of some kind

Oh. Thank you, Lion of Judah. Somehow I kinda figured that. But wasn't sure.

i think burning down the library which contained quite alot of information brought man to it's knees . bringing us back.

Carl Sagen spoke of a book known to be in that library that was about Noah and the Ark. That would an interesting read indeed.

I don't know why that it was there either

Thats the new 'Library of Alexandria', right next to the sea?! Hopefully for them an earthquake doesn't lead to a tsunami 'cause that looks way to easy for a wave to destroy it.