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The Library of Alexandria

Constructed and established in the 3rd century BC, The Royal Library of Alexandria located in Alexandria, Egypt was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. It was dedicated to the nine goddesses of the arts known as the Muses.

Throughout the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty the ancient library flourished and became a major center of scholarship and included many collections of works, lecture halls, meeting rooms and gardens it was also part of a larger research facility called the Musaeum of Alexandria, here many of the most famous thinkers of the ancient world studied.

Sadly the library is arguably most famous for having been burned down, this resulted in the mass loss of ancient texts including many scrolls and books. It is not known what exactly was kept in the library but it is thought that we as humans lost a significant amount of ancient knowledge as a result.

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  2. According to Lazypedia, ‘Ancient and modern sources identify four possible occasions for the partial or complete destruction of the Library of Alexandria: Julius Caesar’s fire during his civil war in 48 BC; the attack of Aurelian in AD 270 – 275; the decree of Coptic Pope Theophilus of Alexandria in 391 AD; and the Muslim conquest of Egypt in (or after) AD 642’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_the_Library_of_Alexandria

    I would put my money on Christian mercenaries destroying what was left, particularly the ‘Serapeum’ (daughter library).

    It is the greatest tragedy in Literary, Cultural, Historical and Philosophical history; Shows what bigots, fanatics and extremist maniacs are capable of. The reason I suspect the Christian sect(s), is that in philosophy there is a ‘dark ages’ where between Boethius’ ‘Consolation of Philosophy’ (about 500 AD ) up until the 15th and 16th Centuries where the Renaissance, The Scientific Revolution, The reformation and the invention of the printing press gave rise to a resurgent challenge to the 1000 year stranglehold the Church had on literary freedom (At least in Western society).

    The only exceptions might be Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’ and a few other scattered works, but the majority of works churned out by the Roman Catholic Church were scholastic, self flagellating, cringe-worthy treatises full of praise to the ‘Almighty’. Take a bow into a bucket of horse shit.

  3. All the lost books must be the saddest thing that ever happened to humanity (other than a war or genocide).

  4. I love how they forgot to cut the end of the documentary, and it still says: ‘enter text here’ – so funny, given the subject of the movie ?☺️