Marily n's Photos - Aug 6 2026 - The Library of Alexandria

 

There's an address for the Library of Alexandria in Egypt.  It is located at 6W49+PQ7, Al Azaritah WA Ash Shatebi, Bab Shar', Alexandria Governorate 5423021, Egypt. There's a myth that the library was destroyed in a single fire and that event plunged humanity into the Dark Ages.  Wikipedia tells me a different story: Ceasar's Fire in 48 BC burned thousands of scrolls in a warehouse at the docks.  In the 3rd Century the Romans damaged the royal quarter where the main library stood.  Then Christian leaders destroyed the Seapeum temple in 391 AD. The Islamic Conquest Myth was that the Arab leader burned the books to heat baths - this is considered a false story.   There's a legend that we would be centuries ahead in our technological world if the library had remained.  Now, historians don't think that the library held secret advanced knowledge to prevent the Dark Ages or propel us sooner into space with advanced technologies and scientific knowledge. The prevailing theory is that the library decayed over centuries due to lack of interest, reduced funding and shifting politics: Egypt became a Roman province, moving political power and funding away.  There was a shift from classical pagan scholarship toward Christian theological debates by the 4th century AD, and commercial survival predominated over an expensive, royal research archive. I see a parallel today.  Trump and the MAGA movement in the U.S. today have an anti-education, anti-science, anti-intellectual bias that can dismantle all the education and technology institutions.  This doesn't seem that unlikely many centuries later.  How long does it take to now for something to fall into decay and disappear? The size and scale of the library is so substantial. Somewhere between 400,000 to 700,000 papyrus scrolls is the estimate of the collection - containing famous epic poetry, the ancient Greek plays, science, mathematics, astronomical charts, engineering and medical information, philosophy and history and even foreign translations of Persian, Hebrew and Indian works.  Absolutely nothing remains of the Library.  No architecture, columns, foundations.  It is believed that the library is beneath modern Alexandria or submerged in the harbour.  There are no intact scrolls or documents.   But that doesn't mean that the works were all lost.  Ancient texts were regularly copied and shared with other locations - Constantinople, Rome and others.  That is the most predominant explanation for why historians consider the world would be similar to what it is today with or without this ancient library.   The address above?  It is the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria.  It does seem comforting to know there is a physical place for this legend. I don't have any images tagged with library, and only a few with book.  I did like this picture - a blank slate moment. Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.com