For all
Kitabi Keedas like us, books are the essence of life…books are the oxygen that
we breathe. In fact we cannot imagine a World deprived of books, our very first introduction to the world of
knowledge!!
Can you,
then, imagine a library, etched in the pages of ancient history, as one of most
extensive, exhaustive & well-stocked libraries being burnt down to ground
due to countless invasions?? Of scrolls & parchments, texts &
scriptures, so priceless, burnt completely & lost forever because some
fools bent on conquering pieces of land, ignored the value of these books that were housed in the great Library of Alexandria & burnt it down
completely.
The Library
of Alexandria (Egypt), is one of the oldest known libraries of Ancient
Civilisations of the World!! It was established by Alexander’s successor, Ptolmey
II in 283 BC as a “shrine of knowledge”. Ptolemy II Soter’s vision was to make
the Royal Library of Alexandria as a centre point for all ancient civilisations
of the world!! He used to send ships to these civilisations with requests to
send over their prized literary pieces that could be housed under the vast roof
of Alexandria.
Some historians define the library as a
huge palace that housed over 100 scholars, whose job was to maintain the
library with proper documentation. The precious pieces of literature were
collected from civilisations like India, Greece, Assyria, Egypt, Persia etc.
& were painstakingly translated in the local dialect as a copy. These were
then housed in an orderly fashion & further copies were generated &
housed so that the works can be made available to more people. The library was
also a seat of knowledge, with proofs to show that classes of literature were
held in its huge premises. The library, supposedly, housed over half a million
scrolls from all over the world…some of these works so valuable & priceless,
that they were not made accessible to everyone.
The Library
was designed as a reader’s delight with the middle area divided into plush
gardens with fountains & a zoo area as well. The idea was to create an
ambient atmosphere for a reader to be lost in the vast sea of knowledge!!
THE GREAT DESTRUCTION STORY:
The Library
of Alexandria was ravaged four times (as recorded in history). The first to
destroy this library was none other than Julius Caesar in 48 BC. In his pursuit
of Pompey, who had fled to Egypt, Caesar was cut off by Egyptian fleet in his
attempts. As a military strategy Caesar ordered the Egyptian fleet of ships to
be burnt. The fire spread wild & burnt some nearby houses, including a vast
section of this ancient library!! 235 years of precious work lost in the flames
of destruction!! The precious works of ancient learned men, lost forever from
the face of this world. The secrets of almost all major ancient civilisations
lost over Pompey & Caesar. Only a book lover can understand the pain of
this destruction…it is not for war leaders, whose only aim in life was to annex
pieces of land!! (what a waste..and we remember them as legends).
Over the
years, it is claimed many other factors further contributed in complete
destruction of this shrine of knowledge.
A civil war
like situation between, Emperor Aurelian & Queen Zenobia of Palmyra in 3rd
century AD, which resulted in a damage of this library & its contents;
Then Emperor
Theodosius in 391 AD, who wanted Christianity to spread in Egypt, and banned
Pagan worship, considering all Pagan temples (including this library that was
designed as a temple), to be heathen establishments and ordering them to be banned
and closed down. In fact Socrates recorded this event as follows:
At the
solicitation of Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, the emperor issued an order
at this time for the demolition of the heathen temples in that city; commanding
also that it should be put in execution under the direction of Theophilus.
Seizing this opportunity, Theophilus exerted himself to the utmost to expose
the pagan mysteries to contempt. And to begin with, he caused the Mithreum to be cleaned out, and exhibited to
public view the tokens of its bloody mysteries. Then he destroyed the Serapeum, and the bloody rites of the Mithreum
he publicly caricatured; the Serapeum also he showed full of extravagant
superstitions, and he had the phalli of Priapus carried through the midst of the
forum. [...] Thus this disturbance having been terminated, the governor of
Alexandria, and the commander-in-chief of the troops in Egypt, assisted
Theophilus in demolishing the heathen temples.
—Socrates; Roberts, Alexander; Donaldson, James
(1885), "Socrates: Book V: Chapter 16", in Philip Schaff et al., Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers, II II
Thus, converting a portion of the library into a church, caused further
destruction of the library & its treasures.
The last known & recorded destruction was in 642 AD supposedly. In
that year Alexandria was invaded by Arabic ruler Amr ibn al Aas. On his &
Caliph Omar’s orders, the remnants of a now struggling Library of Alexandria
were completely destroyed. Whatever the library was struggling to hold onto, as
a remnant of its past days of glory, was finally lost forever.
Today, historians can argue over many reasons behind this destruction,
but the fact of the matter is, that due to the foolishness of some men, who
considered violence & annexation a far greater virtue than knowledge, the
World at large is deprived of the untold & invaluable treasures of the
Royal Library of Alexandria.
The LAMENT shall continue till Civilised Humans choose to exist!!
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