Who destroyed the Library of Alexandria? The influence of the Alexandrian library on scientific ancient knowledge.

Modern encyclopedia

The largest collection of handwritten books in antiquity (from 100 to 700 thousand volumes). Founded in the beginning 3rd century BC e. at the Alexandria Museion. part of the Library of Alexandria burned down in 47 BC. e., part destroyed in 391 AD. e., remains in the 7th-8th centuries... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Library of Alexandria- ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY, the largest collection of handwritten books in antiquity (from 100 to 700 thousand volumes) at the Alexandrian Museum. Part of the Library of Alexandria burned down in 47 BC; part was destroyed in 391 AD, the remains in the 7th-8th centuries... ... Illustrated encyclopedic Dictionary

The largest collection of handwritten books in antiquity (from 100 to 700 thousand volumes). Founded at the beginning of the 3rd century. BC e. at the Alexandria Museion. Part of the Library of Alexandria burned down in 47 BC. e., part destroyed in 391 AD. e. during the internecine... encyclopedic Dictionary

The most famous library in antiquity, founded in Alexandria (See Alexandria) at the Alexandria Museion (See Alexandria Museion) at the beginning of the 3rd century. BC e. under the first Ptolemies. Headed by A. b. major scientists: Eratosthenes, ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

This is the greatest and most famous book depository ancient world founded by the Egyptian king Ptolemy II Philadelphus (see this next). Already under the first Ptolemy Soter, the Athenian Demetrius of Phalerum collected about 50 tons of books or scrolls, and during the greatest... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Ephron

Library of Alexandria- the most famous and largest library of the Ancient world. Basic at the beginning of the 3rd century. BC. in Alexandria (Egypt) during the reign of the Greek Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty. Was part of one of the chapters. scientific centers of the ancient world of Alexandria... ... Pedagogical terminological dictionary

Library of Alexandria- Events associated with the founding of the museum and library, and their consequences In the previous chapter, we showed a series of mutations in the traditional way of life of man and their reflection in new philosophical movements, and also mentioned the emergence of new centers ... Western philosophy from its origins to the present day

ALEXANDRIA LIBRARY- ALEXANDRIAN LIBRARY, one of cultural institutions Hellenistic era. Founded in Alexandria of Egypt at the beginning of the 3rd century. BC e. It contained about 700 thousand papyrus scrolls, which included works of ancient Greek literature and... ... Literary encyclopedic dictionary

Library of Alexandria- this is the greatest and most famous book depository of the ancient world, founded by the Egyptian king Ptolemy II Philadelphus. Already under the first Ptolemy Soter, the Athenian Demetrius of Phalerum collected about 50 tons of books or scrolls, and during the greatest ... ... Complete Orthodox Theological Encyclopedic Dictionary

Books

• Book of Rastafarian Wisdom / The Lost Bible of Rastafarian Wisdom and Faith from Ethiopia and Jamaica. Bibliotheca Alexandrina Series, Kebra Nagast. 192 pp. This book is the first Russian edition the famous sacred book of the ancient Abyssinians, dating back to the Old Testament and telling about the dynasty of Ethiopian kings (the founder of which, according to...
• Alexandrian philology and Homeric hexameter, V.V. Faier. Library of Alexandria Ptolemaic times - the birthplace of European philology. Zenodotus, Aristophanes and Aristarchus, who headed it in the 3rd-2nd centuries, were primarily engaged in textual criticism...

Orenburgsky State University

Ilyina L. E., Orenburg State University, teacher, department of Romance philology and methods of teaching the French language, associate professor

Annotation:

This article is devoted to the analysis of the role of the Library of Alexandria in the formation of ancient scientific knowledge. At the first stage of the study, the creation and structure of the library was described. At the second stage, the principles and methods of the Alexandrian School and its subsequent influence on the scientific linguistic knowledge of subsequent centuries were derived.

This article is devoted to the analysis of a role of the Alexandria library in the formation of scientific knowledge of antiquity. At the first investigation phase creation and the structure of library was described. At the second stage the principles and methods of the Alexandria school and its subsequent influence on scientific linguistic knowledge of the next centuries were output.

Keywords:

linguistics; Alexandrian Library; ancient scientific knowledge; library; antiquity; antiquity; historical facts; Demetrius of Falersky

linguistics; Alexandria library; scientific knowledge of antiquity; library; antiquity history facts; Demetry Falersky

UDC: 81-119

The Library of Alexandria is the most famous of the ancient libraries, built in Alexandria - the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt. Her idea was the preservation and transmission of knowledge to subsequent generations, continuity and dedication. Therefore, it is no coincidence that libraries existed in the most developed cultures of antiquity. The libraries of the Egyptian pharaohs, kings of Assyria and Babylon are known. Collections of sacred and cult texts at ancient temples or religious and philosophical communities, like the brotherhood of Pythagoras, used to serve as libraries.

In ancient times there were very extensive private collections of books, such as the library of Euripides, which he used to write his own works. More famous is Aristotle's library, which was created largely thanks to the donations of the famous Alexander the Great. Despite this fact, the importance of the library many times exceeds the importance of the books collected by Aristotle. And yet, the creation of the Library of Alexandria became possible precisely thanks to Aristotle. After all, the followers and students of Aristotle were all those who were involved in the creation of the Library of Alexandria.

A follower of Aristotle, the immediate founder and first head of the Library of Alexandria was Demetrius of Phalerus and Strato, who were the founders of the Alexandrian Museum. And Strato’s pupil Ptolemy Philadelphus applied great effort, showing great concern for the development and prosperity of the Library of Alexandria.

Purpose of the study: to study the history of the Rise and Fall of the Library of Alexandria.

Object of study: Alexandrian schools.

Subject of research: the influence of the Alexandrian schools on the development of scientific knowledge of the Ancient World.

The objectives of the research are realized through solving the following problems:

1. Study the origins of the Library of Alexandria.
2. Identify surviving works and documents from the last fire of the Library of Alexandria.

Research methods:

1. Analysis of scientific literature.

The creation of the Library of Alexandria is closely related to the Museum of Alexandria, which was founded around 295 BC, on the initiative of Demetrius of Phalerum and Strato. Demetrius was also a key figure in the development of plans for the device.

Unfortunately, reliable information about appearance and the internal structure of the library premises has not been preserved. Several finds suggest that handwritten scrolls were kept in special chests arranged in rows. Each scroll had a clay tablet on which the author and title were indicated.

The library did not have reading rooms, but it did have jobs for scroll scribes. From the “Letter of Aristeas” we learned that Demetrius of Phalerum was given the task of “collecting, if possible, all the books of the world.” He highlighted the directions of formation of the library’s book fund: poetry (epic and works of Homer), tragedy and comedy (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides), history, law, oratory and philosophy.

It should be noted that from the very first years of its existence, the Library of Alexandria was also interested in the books of other peoples in order to ensure effective leadership of a multinational state. The need to write legislation and establish a general way of life made people interested in religion, legislation and the history of the peoples living in Egypt.

The “Letter of Aristaeus” talks about ways to form a library collection, the main ones being the buying and rewriting of books. According to this letter, the books that were brought by ship to Alexandria were sold by the owners to the Library of Alexandria or handed over for copying. Sometimes a copy was returned to the owner - while the original book remained in the library. This share of library books was called the "ship's library."

The activities of the Library of Alexandria contributed to the development of research in the field of language, as manuscripts from all over the world were acquired for the library.

In conditions of multilingualism, the Alexandrian school arose, which absorbed the traditions of Greco-Latin science and the teachings of antiquity. The largest representatives of this school were: Zenodotus from Ephesus, Lycophron, Alexander of Aetolia, etc. It was here that grammar was formed as a branch of philology.

The principles for describing language developed in this school are defined as the “Alexandrian grammar system.” She identified various branches in grammar - prototypes of modern phonetics, morphology, syntax.

The Alexandrian school developed a doctrine of language at all levels of its structure, starting with letters. Vowels, consonants and semivowels were distinguished acoustically and articulatory. Syllables and punctuation marks were also studied. The word was the smallest part of coherent speech, which has the property of articulateness. The Alexandrian philologist Dionysius of Thracia identified 8 parts of speech: name, verb, participle, member (interjection), pronoun, preposition, adverb, conjunction. In defining parts of speech, linguists of the Alexandrian school were dominated by grammatical features in combination with semantic ones, for example, Dionysius of Thracia defined: “a verb is a caseless part of speech, taking tenses, persons and numbers and representing action or suffering.”

A lexicographic tradition arose here that influenced vocabulary work in Europe, especially glossaries, etymological, dialect and other dictionaries of such lexicographers as: Zenodotus of Ephesus, Aristophanes of Byzantium, Apollodorus of Athens.

Grammar terminology used in modern grammar textbooks and scientific essays in linguistics, in some of its essence goes back to the terminology of the Alexandrian school.

Thanks to the activities of the first successors of Demetrius of Phalerum, the library stored approximately 700 thousand books. A little later, a “daughter” library was even created. However, there is a known case when competition turned out to be saving for the Library of Alexandria. It was a gift of 200 thousand. volumes from the collection of the Pergamon Library, presented to Cleopatra by Mark Antony after the fire in 47 BC. This happened when Caesar, during the Alexandrian War, ordered the fleet in the harbor to be set on fire. Flames engulfed the library's coastal storage areas. For a long time it was believed that this fire destroyed the entire collection of the main library.

Some parts of the library's collection existed until the 7th century. AD However, after the capture of Alexandria by the Arabs in 640 AD. A large-scale trade in scrolls from the Muzeion collection developed in the city. The final verdict on the library was pronounced by Caliph Omar, who said that if the contents of the scrolls are consistent with the Koran, then they are not needed, and if they do not agree, then they are undesirable. Therefore, they should be burned in any case."

Thus, we can conclude that the Library of Alexandria played a huge role in the development of ancient scientific knowledge, the collection, preservation and dissemination of generalized data and records historical facts, as well as scientific research. To this day, the history of the heyday and death of the library has attracted the attention of linguists, philologists, historians, philosophers and filmmakers.

Bibliography:

Reviews:

07/13/2014, 11:50 Zakirova Oksana Vyacheslavovna
Review: The attempt made in the article to show the influence of the Library of Alexandria on scientific ancient knowledge seems, in our opinion, not sufficiently justified. The material needs to be improved.

4.08.2014, 19:06 Sereda Evgeniya Vitalievna
Review: The article presented to our attention offers an interesting historical and cultural overview. This is a good abstract work that meets the objectives that were stated at the beginning of the study. At the same time, there is no scientific novelty in this work and interesting observations did not lead to special conclusions that were not previously discussed. The value of this work would increase if the author summarized in tabular form (or presented in the form of diagrams) the correspondences available in different sources, or narrowed the topic and considered the features of the library formation (composition of authors, topics, selection principles, etc.). In this form, the article cannot be recommended for publication in a scientific journal. After revision, it is recommended that it be included in the “Cultural Studies” or “History” sections (depending on the direction of work chosen by the author for revision). Best regards, E.V. Sereda

The Library of Alexandria was one of the largest in the Ancient World. Founded by the successors of Alexander the Great, it maintained its status as an intellectual and educational center as early as the 5th century. However, throughout its long history were there time after time the mighty of the world this, trying to destroy this beacon of culture. Let us ask ourselves: why?...

Chief Librarians

The Library of Alexandria is believed to have been founded by Ptolemy I or Ptolemy II. The city itself, which is easy to understand by its name, was founded by Alexander the Great, and this happened in 332 BC.

Alexandria of Egypt, which, according to the plan of the great conqueror, was destined to become a center of scientists and intellectuals, became, probably, the first city in the world built entirely of stone, without the use of wood. The library consisted of 10 large halls and rooms for researchers to work.

There is still debate about the name of its founder. If we understand by this word the initiator and creator, and not the king who reigned at that time, the true founder of the library, most likely, should be recognized as a man named Demetrius of Phalerum.

Demetrius of Phalerum appeared in Athens in 324 BC as a tribune of the people and was elected governor seven years later. He ruled Athens for 10 years: from 317 to 307 BC. Demetrius issued quite a lot of laws. Among them was a law that limited the luxury of burials.

In his time, Athens had 90 thousand citizens, 45 thousand admitted foreigners and 400 thousand slaves. As for the personality of Demetrius of Phalerum himself, he was considered a trendsetter in his country: he was the first Athenian to lighten his hair with hydrogen peroxide.

He was later removed from his position and went to Thebes. Demetrius wrote there great amount works, one of which, having strange name− “About a Beam of Light in the Sky,” as ufologists believe, was the world’s first work about flying saucers.

In 297 BC, Ptolemy I persuaded him to settle in Alexandria. That's when Demetrius founded the library. After the death of Ptolemy I, his son Ptolemy II exiled Demetrius to the Egyptian city of Busiris. There the creator of the library died from the bite of a poisonous snake.

Ptolemy II continued to work on the library and was interested in the sciences, mainly zoology. He appointed Zenodotus of Ephesus as the keeper of the library, who performed these functions until 234 BC. The surviving documents allow us to extend the list of the main custodians of the library: Eratosthenes of Cyrene, Aristophanes of Byzantium, Aristarchus of Samothrace. After this, the information becomes vague.

Over the centuries, librarians expanded the collection, adding papyri, parchments and even, according to legend, printed books. The library contained simply priceless documents. She began to have enemies, mainly in Ancient Rome.

The first plunder and secret books

The first plunder of the Library of Alexandria was carried out in 47 BC by Julius Caesar. By that time it was considered a storage facility secret books, giving almost unlimited power.

When Caesar arrived in Alexandria, the library contained at least 700 thousand manuscripts. But why did some of them begin to inspire fear? Of course, there were books in Greek, which were treasures classical literature, lost to us forever. But there shouldn't have been any dangerous ones among them.

But the entire legacy of the Babylonian priest Berossus, who fled to Greece, could well have alarmed him. Berossus was a contemporary of Alexander the Great and lived into the Ptolemaic era. In Babylon he was a priest of Bel. He was a historian, astrologer and astronomer. He invented the semicircular sun dial and created theories of the addition of solar and lunar rays, anticipating modern works by light interference.

But in some of his works Berossus wrote about something very strange. For example, about the civilization of giants and either about aliens, or about an underwater civilization.

The library of Alexandria also contained full meeting works of Manetho. The Egyptian priest and historian, a contemporary of Ptolemy I and Ptolemy II, was initiated into all the secrets of Egypt. Even his name can be interpreted as “the favorite of Thoth” or “the one who knows the truth of Thoth.”

This man maintained relations with the last Egyptian priests. He was the author of eight books and collected 40 carefully selected scrolls in Alexandria, which contained hidden secrets. Egyptian secrets, including, probably, the “Book of Thoth”.

The Library of Alexandria also contained the works of the Phoenician historian Mocus, who is credited with creating the atomic theory. There were also extremely rare and valuable Indian manuscripts. Not a trace remained of all these manuscripts.

It is known that before the destruction of the library: there were 532,800 scrolls. It is known that there were departments that could be called “Mathematical Sciences” and “Natural Sciences”. There was also a general directory, which was also destroyed. All these destructions are attributed to Julius Caesar. He took some of the books: he burned some, and kept others for himself.

Thomas Cole, The Way of Empire. Destruction" 1836

There is still no complete certainty about what exactly happened then. And two thousand years after the death of Caesar, he still has both supporters and opponents. Supporters say he did not burn anything in the library itself; Perhaps a number of books burned in the port warehouse in Alexandria, but it was not the Romans who set them on fire.

Caesar's opponents, on the contrary, claim that a huge number of books were destroyed deliberately. Their number is not precisely determined and ranges from 40 to 70 thousand. There is also an intermediate opinion: the fire spread to the library from the quarter where the fighting was taking place, and it burned down by accident.

In any case, the library was not completely destroyed. Neither Caesar's opponents nor supporters talk about this, nor do their contemporaries; stories about the event that are closest to it in time are still two centuries away from it. Caesar himself does not touch upon this topic in his notes. Apparently, he “removed” individual books that seemed most interesting to him.

Coincidences or “men in black”?

The most serious of the subsequent depredations of the library was most likely carried out by Zenobia Septimia, queen of Palmyra, and the Emperor Aurelian during their war for dominance over Egypt. And again, fortunately, things did not come to complete destruction, but valuable books were lost.

The reason why Emperor Diocletian took up arms against the library is well known. He wanted to destroy the books that contained the secrets of making gold and silver, that is, all works on alchemy. If the Egyptians were able to produce as much gold and silver as they wanted, then, the emperor reasoned, they were capable of arming a huge army and defeating the empire.

Emperor Diocletian, who destroyed alchemical manuscripts

The slave's grandson Diocletian was proclaimed emperor in 284. He seems to have been a born tyrant, and the last decree he signed before abdicating on May 1, 305 ordered the destruction of Christianity.

A major rebellion broke out in Egypt against Diocletian, and in July 295 the emperor began the siege of Alexandria. He took Alexandria, however, according to legend, the emperor’s horse stumbled while entering the conquered city. Diocletian interpreted this incident as a sign from the gods commanding him to spare the city.

After the capture of Alexandria, a frantic search for alchemical manuscripts began, and all those found were destroyed. Perhaps they contained the main keys to alchemy, which are now missing to comprehend this science. We do not have a list of destroyed manuscripts, but legend attributes some of them to Pythagoras, Solomon, and even Hermes Trismegistus himself. Although this, of course, should be treated with a certain degree of skepticism.

The library continued to exist. Despite the fact that it was destroyed over and over again, the library continued to work until the Arabs completely destroyed it. And the Arabs knew what they were doing. They have already destroyed both in the Islamic Empire itself and in Persia many secret works on magic, alchemy and astrology. The conquerors acted according to their motto: “No other books are needed except the Koran.”

In 646, the Library of Alexandria was set on fire. The following legend is known: Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab in 641 ordered the commander Amr ibn al-As to burn the Library of Alexandria, saying: “If these books say what is in the Koran, then they are useless.”

Burning of the Library of Alexandria in 391. Illustration from 1910.

French writer Jacques Bergier said that books perished in that fire, possibly dating back to a pre-civilization that existed before the current human one. Alchemical treatises, the study of which would have made it possible to truly achieve the transformation of elements, perished.

Works on magic and evidence of the meeting with aliens that Berossus spoke of were destroyed. He believed that this whole series of pogroms could not have been accidental. It could have been carried out by an organization that Bergier conventionally calls “men in black.” This organization has existed for centuries and millennia and strives to destroy knowledge of a certain kind.

The few remaining manuscripts may still be intact, but are carefully preserved. secret societies from the world.

Of course, it may very well be that Bergier simply allowed himself to fantasize, but it is possible that behind all this there are some real, but difficult to rationally interpret, facts.

Valdis PEIPINSH