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WonderHistory fact

The Great Library of Alexandria did not burn down in a single night. It faded over centuries of neglect and lost funding.

Historical scholarship

History

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Popular legend blames one dramatic fire, usually the one started during Julius Caesar's siege of Alexandria in 48 BC. That blaze more likely destroyed books stored in warehouses near the harbour, and scholars were still working at the library decades later. The real decline was political. Around 145 BC King Ptolemy VIII drove foreign scholars out of the city, and under Roman rule support was patchy. The Serapeum, a temple that had housed a smaller daughter library, was destroyed in AD 391 during religious conflict. With no single culprit or date, the library seems to have thinned out over several centuries until nothing recognisable was left.

Türkçe oku
Büyük İskenderiye Kütüphanesi tek bir gecede yanıp yok olmadı. Yüzyıllar boyunca ihmal edildi, desteği kesildi ve yavaş yavaş söndü.

Yaygın efsane, kütüphanenin sonunu tek bir büyük yangına bağlar; genellikle de MÖ 48'de Iulius Caesar'ın İskenderiye kuşatması sırasında çıkan yangına. Oysa o yangın büyük olasılıkla limandaki depolarda duran kitapları yaktı; kütüphanede onlarca yıl sonra da bilginler çalışıyordu. Asıl çöküş siyasetten geldi. MÖ 145 dolaylarında Kral VIII. Ptolemaios yabancı bilginleri kentten sürdü, Roma döneminde de kütüphaneye verilen destek kesintili oldu. Bir zamanlar kütüphanenin küçük bir kolunu barındıran Serapeum tapınağı ise MS 391'de dinî çatışmalar sırasında yıkıldı. Ortada tek bir suçlu ya da tarih yok. Kütüphane yüzyıllar içinde eridi ve sonunda ondan tanınır bir şey kalmadı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Library of Alexandria
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