The library of Alexandria was located in Alexandria Egypt.
It was one of the biggest and most important libraries in the world.
It was the focal point of knowledge and learning during ancient times.
It’s a common belief that the library of Alexandria was destroyed once, but that is
actually false.
The library gradually deteriorated over the course of hundreds of years.
But regardless of how long it took to actually destroy the library completely, there are
those who believe that ancient knowledge and artifacts could have been destroyed during
its demise.
So what if the library of Alexandria was never destroyed?
That’s the question we’re asking right now on life’s biggest questions.
Hello and welcome back to life’s biggest questions, the channel that asks the fundamental
questions of life, I’m charlotte dobre, hit that like and subscribe for more daily
questions that will have you asking more questions, and make sure you stick around until the end
of the video where we respond to users comments.
Before I get into this video, I should tell you that Its actually a myth that the library
of Alexandria was destroyed in one fire.
It took quite a while for the library to be destroyed completely.
Named after alexander the great, At the height of its glory, its believed it housed over
half a million documents and scrolls.
100 staff maintained the library and its contents.
It was a research center and somewhat resembled a modern day university.
It had lecture halls, dining halls, meeting rooms and libraries.
It also housed the first medical school ever.
In 145 BC, the library’s decline began with the purging of intellectuals.
Then, most famously, Julius Caesar accidentally burned the library and part of its collection
during his civil war in 48 BC.Julius Caesar set fire to his own ships, then the fire ended
up spreading to the waterfront and then the library.
Historians don’t know how much of the contents of the library were destroyed as a result
of this.
But according to First century AD roman playwright and stoic philosopher, Seneca the younger,
the fire started by Caesar destroyed 40 thousand scrolls from the library of Alexandria.
Plutarch and Cassius Dio also wrote that Caesar destroyed the library.
But other historians say that the fire only destroyed the fleets and some of the houses
near the sea.
Whatever happened, the library of Alexandria was not completely destroyed by Caesar.
The library either survived party or was rebuilt shortly after because there are records of
scholars having access to it in around 20 BC.
During the roman period, the great library got progressively worse because of lack of
funding and support.
Between 270 to 275 AD, there was a rebellion in Alexandria which probably resulted in the
complete destruction of the library, or whatever was left of it.
It is widely believed that The destruction of the library of Alexandria could have set
back the progress of human civilization by 1000 years.
All ships that came to the harbour of Alexandria were required to hand over their books so
that scribes at the library could make copies.
Needless to say, there were a lot of important documents held at the library of Alexandria.
The library was essentially a collection of thousands of documents.
Many of the documents were historical in nature.
But how important were those documents really to civilization?
Did the burning of the library really set civilization back 1000 years?
Well, honestly, we just don’t know.
Maybe some of the documents did burn when ceasar accidentally set the library on fire
but we don’t know how many of these documents were destroyed.
It should also be noted that the library of alexandria wasn’t the only prestigious library
of ancient times.
It was the most famous, and the largest, sure, but the library of Pergamum probably housed
just as many important scrolls.
Many of the texts that were housed at the library of Alexandria probably existed in
several other libraries across the Mediterranean.
In short, there were copies of many of the important scrolls.
When the library of Alexandria was destroyed, it meant that those scrolls were no longer
as easily accessible because they weren’t all housed in one place.
But that doesn’t mean they didn’t exist elsewhere.
That being said, the library did house important ideas and medical techniques that were gathered
over thousands of years.
Modern medicine could have made its way into the hands of people around the world far sooner.
Who knows how many lives could have been saved by advanced medical knowledge that might have
been lost when the library of Alexandria was destroyed.
Furthermore, Almost all writings of Hipparchus, who was the father of astronomy are lost.
Could scrolls containing his work have existed within the library of Alexandria?
Possibly.
There’s also plenty of mathematical knowledge that has been lost as well.
Practically everything before Euclid doesn’t exist anymore.
Euclid is one of the most famous greek philosophers, and we only have 50% of his work.
Many historians think that Euclids lost works used to be housed at the library of Alexandria
and we subsequently destroyed when the library was destroyed.
How do you think the world would be different if the library of Alexandria was never destroyed?
Let me know In the comments.
For now I’m going to respond to some comments from my last video, What if earth was the
size of Jupiter.
Crash Coaster – Why does charlotte sound really depressed in this video.
cant a girl be depressed?
Jeez Cole Martin – Great video – these are
so interesting.
Glad you like them cole Jerick Mico – you should add clips or something
of you talking while commentating, facial expressions add to your jokes.
But if I show my face then I wont be an omniscient narrator anymore and you’ll see that I’m
wearing my pajamas.
Potato tina – what if I don’t use deodorant.
Ummm, I would assume you would be kinda stinky tina.
Big ol rash – how to get featured on life’s biggest questions without effort.
Just have a funny username.
And get some ointment for that rash.