The Royal Library at Alexandria (285 BCE)
The Royal Library at Alexandria (285 BCE)
 |
Page
11
|
 |
| The followers of Ptolomy which included Aristotle
came up with a plan for this library which was to contain the total sum
of knowledge. These Greek philosophers had fled Athens ( this is another
story) and now lived in Egypt. The original idea for the library was that
of Alexander the Great but he died in 323 BCE before it got started. Its
construction was guided by Alexander’s trusted successor Demetrius
of Phaleron (350-280BCE) in the rein of the Egyption Pharaoh Ptolemy 1st.
It was dedicated to the nine muses, daughters of Zeus: Calliope (epic poetry),
Clio (history), Euterpe (flutes and lyric poetry), Thalia (comedy and pastoral
poetry), Melpomene (tragedy), Terpsichore (dance), Erato (love poetry),
Polyhymnia (sacred poetry), and Urania (astronomy). There is a lovely story
recounted in Ovid’s metamorphoses that Pierus, king of Macedon, had
nine daughters he named after the nine Muses, believing that their skills
were as good as the Muses. He challenged the Muses to a match, resulting
in his daughters, losing and being turned into chattering magpies for their
presumption..
It has long been said that the Great library was destroyed by fire. Julius
Caesar did accidentally cause a fire there but it is now thought the library
went into slow decline through lack of funding and through the purging
of intellectuals from Alexandria by Ptolemy VIII. |