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…