Alexandria: Reading passage, Listening passage and sample notes

Reading passage
The library at Alexandria was said to have been a marvel, the greatest collection of scholarship in the ancient world. It was founded by Ptolemy I, the general that Alexander installed as ruler of the city he named after himself. It was Ptolemy’son, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who had the vision of expanding the library to make the largest collection imaginable.

Under Ptolemy II and those who followed, the library was expanded tremendously. Ptolemy’s vision was to create a library with every Greek work ever written as well as with as many works from other parts of the Western world as could be gathered together. The number of volumen, or scrolls, in the library has been estimated at anywhere between 300,000 and 700,000.

A huge number of people were employed in preparing scrolls for the library, inasmuch as each scroll to enter the library had to be copied by hand. Manuscripts were bought or borrowed or taken from all over the western world to be copied and placed in the library (although it was rather common to copy an original manuscript and then return the copy to the owner and keep the original in the library). Ptolemy II often asked for manuscripts from foreign powers in return for traded goods, and manuscripts were often demanded from citizens to pay debts to the government. In addition, any time that manuscripts were found on trading ships in the port at Alexandria, the manuscripts were taken and copied and added to the library. It was in these ways that so many manuscripts were collected in the library at Alexandria.


Listening Passage
The great library of Alexandria no longer exists, but it is not known for sure when the library was destroyed. There’s actually considerable debate among historians about who destroyed the library and when.

One culprit who has traditionally been accused of destroying the library is Julius Caesar. It is true that Julius Caesar led an invasion of Alexandria in 48-47 B.C. and that, at that time, his forces set the fleet of ships sitting in the Alexandria harbour on fire. Some historians believe that this fire in the harbour that was set by Caesar’s forces , spread into the city of Alexandria and burned the library down, but this belief is no longer widely held today. The main reason that the theory that Julius Caesar destroyed the library at Alexandria isn’t widely believed is that there are numerous references to the library in works written long after Caesar’s death.

The conclusion that seems to be the most accepted today is that the library at Alexandria existed, at least in part, until the late fourth century, centuries after the death of Julius Caesar, so it could not have been completely destroyed by Caesar.  At that time, at the end of the fourth century, there was a large movement to destroy pagan temples and libraries. It seems likely that whatever remained of the library at Alexandria was destroyed at this time.


Ancient Library Reading notes
Main Idea: ancient library at Alexandria
MP1 --- greatest collection in ancient world
              -- founded by Ptolemy I
MP2 --- expanded by Ptolemy II
              -- Pt. wanted every Greek text ever written + other countries’
              -- had 300,000 to 700,000 scrolls
MP3 --- how scrolls were obtained
              -- from all over Western world
              -- from foreign powers in trade
              -- from citizens in payment of debt
              -- from ships in port


Ancient Library Listening notes
Main Idea: How library was destroyed
MP1 ---was thought to have been dest. by Caesar
             -- C’s army attacked Alexandria 48 B.C.
             -- C’s soldiers set fire to ships in port
             -- maybe fire spread to library
MP2 --- evidence that Caesar did not destroy library
            -- library mentioned in literature up to 4th cent., long after Caesar died
            -- movement to destroy temples and pagan texts in 4th century (probably library destroyed then)

Alexandrian library sample essay
In this set of materials, the reading passage describes the ancient library at Alexandria, and the listening passage discusses how and when it was destroyed.

The reading passage informs us that the library at Alexandria was the greatest in the ancient world, with the largest collection of books existing at that time. It was founded by Ptolemy I and expanded under Ptolemy II. Ptolemy wished to gather not only a copy of every book ever written in Greek, but also works from other countries. As a result the library was said to contain hundreds of thousands of books. The books were acquired in various ways. Some were bought, some were obtained through trade, some taken from citizens in debt to the state, and otheres from ships in Alexandria harbour.

In the listening passage, we are informed that the library no longer exists and that there is debate about its fate. Traditionally, Julius Caesar was blamed for the destruction of the library. He attacked Alexandria in 44 BCE and it was thought the library was burned down during the assault. However, scholars now feel that this was not so. The library was mentioned in works written hundreds of years after Caesar’s death, and these references continued up to the 4th century CE. It seems that around this time the people of Alexandria started to destroy non-Christian temples and books, and it is considered likely that the library was destroyed at this time. (241)