What really happened to the Library of Alexandria? - Elizabeth Cox

2,300 years ago, the rulers of Alexandria set out to fulfill a very audacious goal: to collect all the knowledge in the world under one roof. In its prime, the Library of Alexandria housed an unprecedented number of scrolls and attracted some of the Greek world’s greatest minds. But by the end of the 5th century CE, it had vanished. Elizabeth Cox details the rise and fall of this great building.

Lesson by Elizabeth Cox, directed by Inna Phillimore.

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[RedLeader]

The loss of the Library is one of the worst things humans have ever done.

[rodrigofigo]

Tfw when you're chilling and having a good day and then you remember that the burning of the library of Alexandria delayed humanity's technological progression by at *least* one thousand years

[jy]

As a lover of history, I’m still pissed about this.

[rimasdiaa]

as a native Egyptian, born and raised in Alex I can confirm that the library burned somewhere during the later years of Cleopatra te seventh's reign. Luckily some of the ancient scrolls survived the fire and are now safely stored in the new Alexandrian library.

Fun fact: when I was younger my mom used to leave me in the children's section there when she's busy... Tutors there would teach us about astronomy and tell us stories about the history of Alex along with physical evidence which is stored in another section. high school students would often come to do their research while tourists roamed around

[categories]

If I went back in time, all the scholars would wonder why I’m taking all their books

[everydaytyrone]

In Avatar The Last Airbender, remember Wan Shi Tong’s Library and how he asks for new knowledge as payment for you to explore the library? Also how Commander Zhao burned the Fire Nation section of the library? And how Wan Shi Tong himself buried the library deep beneath the desert so humans can no longer use them to harm others? Amazing references!

[anneneville]

That’s why you should never put the most precious things in the same box...

[aspergercat]

Imagine asking someone for their assignment to copy it and then returning them the copied one. xD

[zackfair_og]

Can you imagine if we we still had the library of Alexandria? The time we would have been able to save ...

[FreediiFree]

The destruction of the Library of Alexandria is easily one of the most tragic and backwards moments in Human history. The fact that all of this knowledge, this enormous wealth of history, was feared enough to be destroyed is something remarkable on its own. To think if people saw knowledge as not something to fear and cover up but as something to use to its utmost potential, where might we be in technology and science and cultural expansion today. I actually get mad thinking about this. Like no joke...

[JD-hcsr]

Fear of knowledge, and the arrogant belief that the past is obsolete….
such a profound statement. I think everyone in 2020 needs to say this to themselves

[rennor]

Imagine just how advanced and culturally and technologically sophisticated our world would be had the entire content of this library survived intact.

[alfonsom.]

"Those who don't know their history are doomed to repeat it."
-Edmund Burke.

[impossibroo]

Honestly? Greek and egyptian aesthetics mixed together just looks sick man

[francisii]

Ptolemy:"This will be the greatest library in the world!"
Julius caesar: *was*

[carmen]

imagine all the libraries from civilizations we don’t even know existed, imagine all the knowledge lost from times and places we don’t know about. this world is so amazing and horrifying and cruel and beautiful. knowledge is the only thing that keeps the past alive and keeps the future possible. it never fails to amaze me.

[sibanimajhi]

Caesar: *Et tu, Brute?*

Brutus: Um, remember when you burned that Great Library? So yeah
* stabs for the 23rd time *

[AnanyaSingh]

I'M SO DISAPPOINTED I MISSED THE JOB OF A BOOK HUNTER!!! I CAN'T IMAGINE ANYTHING MORE BADASS

[brendang]

As a bookworm, the loss of the Library of Alexandria is perhaps one of the worst events in history.

[jannestiemes]

So essentially this would have been the perfect historical site? I guess historians just can’t have nice things