posted on Apr, 22 2016 @ 03:04 AM
originally posted by: AVtech34
I know the Romans in their zealotry burned down the library of Alexandria. I don't know where I'm going with this...
The Library of Alexandria was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. Famous for having been burned, thus resulting
in the loss of many scrolls and books, it has become a symbol of "knowledge and culture destroyed." Although there is a tradition of the burning of
the Library at Alexandria, the library may have suffered several fires or acts of destruction, of varying degrees, over many years. Different cultures
may have blamed each other throughout history, or distanced their ancestors from responsibility, and therefore leaving conflicting and inconclusive
fragments from ancient sources on the exact details of the destruction. Experts differ on when books in the actual library were destroyed. Manuscripts
were probably burned in stages over eight centuries.
Ancient and modern sources identify four possible occasions for the partial or complete destruction of the Library of Alexandria: Julius Caesar's fire
during his civil war in 48 BC; the attack of Aurelian in AD 270 – 275; the decree of Coptic Pope Theophilus of Alexandria in 391 AD; and the Muslim
conquest of Egypt in (or after) AD 642.