Destruction of the Library in Alexandria

[Philhellene]

It is well-known that Alexandrian bishop Theophilus is accused of the destruction of Serapeum. Paulus Orosius indirectly proves that when he`s talking about "emty book shelfs of Serapeum" (VI, 15, 31). We don`t know whether the whole library was burnt or not, but if Orosius saw book shelfs, I think some of the books were still there or they would have been burnt together with the books under Theodosius, because Christians turned Serapeum into the church, they didn`t need many book shelfs there. And I found the refference that the whole building of Serapeum was definitely burnt little later, in 452, at the time of public disorders. This story is told by Evagrius:

Edited December 10, 2006 by Philhellene

[M. Porcius Cato]

Not "accident" but "criminal negligence", I think, is the concept you're looking for. And how fitting that Caesar and the Christians--who together more than anyone made way for the collapse of classical civilization--should have destroyed the Library as well. That it was an "accident" in both cases is even worse: the bastards didn't even know what they were doing.

[Philhellene]

Cato never liked Caesar.

[Segestan]

I have to disagree with Attempting to blame the Christians for the burning of Rome without historical merit. The burning assumption of the Library of Alexandria having burned by a bishop of the faith, by whomever or reading things into documents that need not apply, is also without historical merit.

Like so much Western History that has been white-washed over the centuries , The library was destroyed during the Reduction of Egypt , AD 638-640 by the invaders.. Amrou the Mussulman Commander of the Invading Islamist , having fought in the Syrian Campaign , now boldly , at the command of 4,000 Arabs , took Pelusium and Memphis. The siege lasted seven months with the city falling by assault; and it

[M. Porcius Cato]

I have to disagree with Attempting to blame the Christians for the burning of Rome without historical merit.

No one's arguing that the Christians burned Rome. They intolerantly drove out the pagan religion, sucked up the resources of the empire to build worthless new churches and monasteries, and much later burned heretics at the stake while they were busy reminding everyone of what holy martyrs they were, BUT they were absolutely innocent of burning Rome itself.

 

The burning assumption of the Library of Alexandria having burned by a bishop of the faith, by whomever or reading things into documents that need not apply, is also without historical merit. ...The library was destroyed during the Reduction of Egypt , AD 638-640 by the [islamic] invaders.

 

Then how do you explain the evidence that Philhellene cited? And if the Christians were so eager to preserve higher learning, how do you explain the Christian mob that tore the philosopher Hypatia to pieces? To me, those Christians sound like carbon copies of today's Taliban.

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

Then how do you explain the evidence that Philhellene cited? And if the Christians were so eager to preserve higher learning, how do you explain the Christian mob that tore the philosopher Hypatia to pieces? To me, those Christians sound like carbon copies of today's Taliban.

 

Hmm...sounds like any typical mob back then, so comparing them to the Taliban would kind of be unjustly.

 

Also Porcius, those Churches and monasteries may be worthless then, but now are historical treasures.

[CiceroD]

Didn't Coptic Christians carry out a wholesale slaughter of Egyptian pagan priests?

Wasn't that why no one could read hieroglyphs until the rosetta stone?

 

Segestan you have to remember that the Christians of the era were in a slugmatch with the established world! It was a world that they saw as unholy. Therefore they had no time for philosophers (who they believed were being led astray by Satan) and their assertions that the world was round

[M. Porcius Cato]

Hmm...sounds like any typical mob back then, so comparing them to the Taliban would kind of be unjustly.

 

The mob that murdered Hypatia was no typical mob. Typical mobs cheer for Green to beat Blue. Only religious fanatics murder women for their mathematical ability. If you don't think that's Taliban-like, what is???

[Aurelianus]

The mob that murdered Hypatia was no typical mob. Typical mobs cheer for Green to beat Blue. Only religious fanatics murder women for their mathematical ability. If you don't think that's Taliban-like, what is???

 

IMO early christians were responsible for the loss of many great philosophical works, and that christian mobs were unbelievably hypocritical. I don

Edited December 11, 2006 by Aurelianus

[M. Porcius Cato]

The Christians could have treated the old pagan buildings a whole lot worse than they did, and perhaps, could have been expected to, given their persecutions and repression.

 

Am I correct to assume that you mean the persecutions and repressions COMMITTED by the Christians?

[Primus Pilus]

Meh, without the church of Santa Maria dei Martiri you would have no Pantheon to treasure.

 

Huh? If it wasn

[Maladict]

The Christians could have treated the old pagan buildings a whole lot worse than they did, and perhaps, could have been expected to, given their persecutions and repression.

 

Am I correct to assume that you mean the persecutions and repressions COMMITTED by the Christians?

 

No, that's not what I meant.

The Pantheon reference threw me off topic, I was referring to Rome rather than Alexandria.

[Pantagathus]

The Pantheon reference threw me off topic, I was referring to Rome rather than Alexandria.

Hence the reason why I sent my exchange with Maladict in regards to the Pantheon and other pre-Christian materialities to Tartarus; it was driving the thread a bit off topic.

[Segestan]

Rather than individual replys: I

[Philhellene]

I would argue that after the destruction of the Library by the invading Islamist fanatics; Those who ruled took possession of the knowledge held their for centuries.

 

Those who ruled in Egypt after Byzantines destroyed so many things from classical heritage of ancient Greeks ad Romans... An I`m not talking about Christian churches, but about ancient paintings and statues. But they hardly destroyed the remains of Alexandrian library, because it was already destroyed. By the way, the story about caliph Omar was told by Egyptian Arabian writer of XII or XIII century, it`s kind of legend.