Alexandrian Library

The greatest library of antiquity, founded in Alexandria probably by Ptolemy I Soter (reigned 323–283 BC) and greatly augmented by his son Ptolemy II Philadelphus (see PTOLEMIES). At its head was placed a series of distinguished scholars, Zenodotus, Apollonius Rhodius, Eratosthenes, Aristophanes of Byzantium, Apollonius the Eidograph, Aristarchus; the poet Callimachus also worked there. It is variously said to have contained 100, 000 to 700, 000 volumes. It is also said that Ptolemy II purchased the library that Aristotle had formed; and that Ptolemy III appropriated the official copies of the texts of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides (see LYCURGUS 3), forfeiting the large deposit he had paid when borrowing them from Athens. The library became the great centre of literature in the Hellenistic world and the practice of its copyists was probably decisive in the forms of book production. Callimachus made catalogues (pinakěs) of its contents. There was keen rivalry between the kings of Alexandria and Pergamum in the enlargement of their respective libraries. According to Plutarch, in 47 BC when Julius Caesar was in Alexandria the main library was burnt, but more probably it was a storehouse of books accidentally destroyed. Later legend magnified this episode. The true destruction happened in the late third century AD, when parts of the city were laid waste after rebelling against Rome.