Lost Knowledge Of The Ancients

Few images of the ancient world evoke the destructive nature of humanity and how easily we can be lured into barbarism than the legendary destruction of the Library of Alexandria. We hear of an enormous collection of books, a mission to collect all the knowledge of the world, a centre of scholarship and discovery. And then it all goes up in smoke – destroyed, maliciously or not, when other concerns took precedence. But there are many versions of that tale, so which is mostly likely to be true and what was really lost from Alexandria?

First we need to look at the city itself. Why was it even a candidate for housing so much information and attracting so many of the great minds of the age? It has a lot to do with geography and cultural trends. Alexandria, one of many cities by this name established by Alexander the Great during his conquests, was established in 331 BCE on the Nile Delta, a vibrant trading hub that made it easily accessible to the Mediterranean world. After Alexander’s death and the breakup of his empire among four of his top commanders – Cassander, Ptolemy, Antigonus and Seleucus – Alexandria was chosen as Ptolemy’s capital as he took over the line of pharaohs.

Under Ptolemy, the influence of Greek culture expanded in the city and across Egypt. “The Ptolemaic Dynasty were Greek, and they