What happened to the ancient Library of Alexandria? / edited by Mostafa El-Abbadi and Omnia Mounir Fathallah ; with a preface by Ismail Serageldin.

• Superior document: Library of the written word ; v. 3. The manuscript world ; v. 1
• TeilnehmendeR: El-Abbadi, Mostafa.; Fathallah, Omnia Mounir.
• Year of Publication: 2008
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Library of the written word ; 3.; Library of the written word. Manuscript world ; v. 1.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (281 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

In adopting the theme of What Happened to the Ancient Library of Alexandria? this book aims at presenting afresh, a highly specialized discussion of primary sources related to the diverse aspects and episodes of that long disputed question. The book covers a wide range of topics, beginning with an initial presentation of different Ancient Egyptian types of library institutions, with a special focus on the later Coptic Nag Hamadi Library. It then deals with the troubled times under later Ptolemies and Romans, when the Royal Library, the Daughter Library and the Mouseion, came under a succession of threats: Caesar’s Alexandrian War in 48 B.C., and during the tragic developments in the third and fourth centuries which ultimately culminated in the destruction of the Serapeum that housed the Daughter Library. A discussion of the intellectual milieu during the fourth and fifth centuries, follows, as well as the conflicting attitudes within the Church with regard to classical learning. An analysis of historical and new archaeological evidence confirms the fact that Alexandria continued to be a city of books and scholarship centuries after the destruction of the Library. Finally, the late medieval Arab story of the destruction of the Library by order of Caliph Omar, is fully considered and refuted through textual analysis of the original sources. Contributors include: William J. Cherf, Dimitar Y. Dimitrov, Maria Dzielska, Mostafa A. El-Abbadi, Jean-Yves Empereur, Fayza M. Haikal, Georges Leroux, Bernard Lewis, Grzegorz Majcherek, Mounir H. Megally, Birger A. Pearson, Lucien X. Polastron, Qassem Abdou Qassem, and Ismail Serageldin.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Materials / M. El-Abbadi , O. Fathallah and I. Serageldin -- Introduction / Mostafa El-Abbadi -- À La Recherche De La Systématisation Des Connaissances Et Du Passage Du Concret À L’Abstrait Dans L’Egypte Ancienne / Mounir H. Megally -- Private Collections And Temple Libraries In Ancient Egypt / Fayza M. Haikal -- Earth, Wind, And Fire: The Alexandrian Fire-Storm Of 48 B.C. / William J. Cherf -- The Destruction Of The Library Of Alexandria: An Archaeological Viewpoint / Jean-Yves Empereur -- Demise Of The Daughter Library / Mostafa A. El-Abbadi -- Ce Que Construisent Les Ruines / Lucien X. Polastron -- The Nag Hammadi ‘Library’ Of Coptic Papyrus Codices / Birger A. Pearson -- Learned Women In The Alexandrian Scholarship And Society Of Late Hellenism / Maria Dzielska -- Synesius Of Cyrene And The Christian Neoplatonism: Patterns Of Religious And Cultural Symbiosis / Dimitar Y. Dimitrov -- Damascius And The Collectio Philosophica A Chapter In The History Of Philosophical Schools And Libraries In The Neoplatonic Tradition / Georges Leroux -- Academic Life Of Late Antique Alexandria: A View From The Field / Grzegorz Majcherek -- The Arab Story Of The Destruction Of The Ancient Library Of Alexandria / Qassem Abdou Qassem -- The Arab Destruction Of The Library Of Alexandria: Anatomy Of A Myth / Bernard Lewis -- Bibliography / M. El-Abbadi , O. Fathallah and I. Serageldin -- General Index / M. El-Abbadi , O. Fathallah and I. Serageldin.