The Burning of the Great Library of Alexandria Isn’t What You Think

Settling common misconceptions about the Great Library

(Public domain)

The Burning of the Library of Alexandria is an event that exists in most peoples’ minds. Every so often people will shake their head and say “what a shame that such a great repository of knowledge was destroyed.” In the minds of most people, the Burning of the Greate Library of Alexandria was a singular event that torched thousands of scrolls in one go. But that is not how events unfolded. The Libraries of Alexandria were not burned once, nor twice, but multiple times.

The great repository of knowledge that people mourn in their heads was slowly whittled away rather than vanishing in one glorious event. Fire, intellectual purges, and invasion damaged the library until it reached a point of no return. Yet, the library remains a part of mythical fascination, and there are a number of misconceptions attached to the building and its ultimate fate.

• The library was not destroyed by Julius Caesar.
• The library was not destroyed by Muslims.
• The library was not destroyed by accident.

So what exactly happened?

No single person is responsible for destroying the Great Library of Alexandria, but that doesn’t mean that some people are more culpable than others.

Greatness Misplaced In Time

Many people seem to think that the Library of Alexandria reached the peak of its prowess during the Roman Period. (In fact, the Romans actually cut funding for the library and left it to languish.) But that is actually not the case. Alexandria was a hub of learning in the 2nd and 3rd centuries BCE, which is far earlier than many people think. Most of the greatest work that took place within the library, and indeed in Alexandria itself, took place hundreds of years before the birth of Julius Caesar. The Great Library saw its fortunes, and prestige, begin declining by the end of the 2nd century BCE.

In 146 BCE, Ptolemy VIII Physcon, ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt, ordered a purge of troublesome liberal intellectuals from the city of Alexandria. The library was emptied of scholars, and many were persecuted. The head…