Download or read book Libraries before Alexandria written by Kim Ryholt and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-07 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The creation of the Library of Alexandria is widely regarded as one of the great achievements in the history of humankind - a giant endeavour to amass all known literature and scholarly texts in one central location, so as to preserve it and make it available for the public. In turn, this event has been viewed as a historical turning point that separates the ancient world from classical antiquity. Standard works on the library continue to present the idea behind the institution as novel and, at least implicitly, as a product of Greek thought. Yet, although the scale of the collection in Alexandria seems to have been unprecedented, the notion of creating central repositories of knowledge, while perhaps new to Greek tradition, was age-old in the Near East where the building was erected. Here the existence of libraries can be traced back another two millennia, from the twenty-seventh century BCE to the third century CE, and so the creation of the Library in Alexandria was not so much the beginning of an intellectual adventure as the impressive culmination of a very long tradition. This volume presents the first comprehensive study of these ancient libraries across the 'Cradle of Civilization' and traces their institutional and scholarly roots back to the early cities and states and the advent of writing itself. Leading specialists in the intellectual history of each individual period and region covered in the volume present and discuss the enormous textual and archaeological material available on the early collections, offering a uniquely readable account intended for a broad audience of the libraries in Egypt and Western Asia as centres of knowledge prior to the famous Library of Alexandria.
Download or read book Ancient Libraries written by Jason König and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-25 with total page 501 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The circulation of books was the motor of classical civilization. However, books were both expensive and rare, and so libraries - private and public, royal and civic - played key roles in articulating intellectual life. This collection, written by an international team of scholars, presents a fundamental reassessment of how ancient libraries came into being, how they were organized and how they were used. Drawing on papyrology and archaeology, and on accounts written by those who read and wrote in them, it presents new research on reading cultures, on book collecting and on the origins of monumental library buildings. Many of the traditional stories told about ancient libraries are challenged. Few were really enormous, none were designed as research centres, and occasional conflagrations do not explain the loss of most ancient texts. But the central place of libraries in Greco-Roman culture emerges more clearly than ever.
Download or read book Libraries Before Alexandria written by Kim Ryholt and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2019-08-15 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The creation of the Library of Alexandria is widely regarded as one of the great achievements in the history of humankind - a giant endeavour to amass all known literature and scholarly texts in one central location, so as to preserve it and make it available for the public. In turn, this event has been viewed as a historical turning point that separates the ancient world from classical antiquity. Standard works on the library continue to present the idea behind the institution as novel and, at least implicitly, as a product of Greek thought. Yet, although the scale of the collection in Alexandria seems to have been unprecedented, the notion of creating central repositories of knowledge, while perhaps new to Greek tradition, was age-old in the Near East where the building was erected. Here the existence of libraries can be traced back another two millennia, from the twenty-seventh century BCE to the third century CE, and so the creation of the Library in Alexandria was not so much the beginning of an intellectual adventure as the impressive culmination of a very long tradition. This volume presents the first comprehensive study of these ancient libraries across the 'Cradle of Civilization' and traces their institutional and scholarly roots back to the early cities and states and the advent of writing itself. Leading specialists in the intellectual history of each individual period and region covered in the volume present and discuss the enormous textual and archaeological material available on the early collections, offering a uniquely readable account intended for a broad audience of the libraries in Egypt and Western Asia as centres of knowledge prior to the famous Library of Alexandria.
Download or read book Books on Fire written by Lucien X. Polastron and published by Lucien X. POLASTRON. This book was released on 2007-08-13 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Almost as old as the idea of the library is the urge to destroy it. Author Lucien X. Polastron traces the history of this destruction, examining the causes for these disasters, the treasures that have been lost, and where the surviving books, if any, have ended up. Books on Fire received the 2004 Societe des Gens de Lettres Prize for Nonfiction/History in Paris.
Download or read book Inside Roman Libraries written by George W. Houston and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2014 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inside Roman Libraries: Book Collections and Their Management in Antiquity
Download or read book What Happened to the Ancient Library of Alexandria written by Mostafa el- Abbadi and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2008 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book aims at presenting a new discussion of primary sources by renowned scholars of the long disputed question of "What Happened to the Ancient Library of Alexandria"? The treatment includes a brilliant presentation of cultural Alexandrian life in late antiquity.
Download or read book The Library of Alexandria written by Roy MacLeod and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2005-01-14 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Library of Alexandria was one of the greatest cultural adornments of the late ancient world, containing thousands of scrolls of Greek, Hebrew and Mesopotamian literature and art and artefacts of ancient Egypt. This book demonstrates that Alexandria became - through the contemporary reputation of its library - a point of confluence for Greek, Roman, Jewish and Syrian culture that drew scholars and statesmen from throughout the ancient world. It also explores the histories of Alexander the Great and of Alexandria itself, the greatest city of the ancient world. This new paperback edition offers general readers an accessible introduction to the history of this magnificent yet still mysterious institution from the time of its foundation up to its tragic destruction.
Download or read book Libraries in the Ancient World written by Lionel Casson and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2001-01-01 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The unexpected murder in the little Cotswolds town of Colombury has everyone guessing. Before the answers are found more lives are threatened.
Download or read book The Vanished Library written by Luciano Canfora and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1990-08-29 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recreates the world of ancient Egypt, describes how the Library of Alexandria was created, and speculates on its destruction.
Download or read book The Library of Alexandria written by Kelly Trumble and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2003-11-17 with total page 85 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Library of Alexandria was the largest library of its time and a major center for learning and scholarly research, particularly in the fields of astronomy, geography, mathematics, and medicine. Caesar and Cleopatra, Erastosthenes and Euclid, Archimedes and Alexander the Great are just a few of the famous people connected to its story. Today, historians still argue about how the library was destroyed, and no one knows exactly what it looked like, yet there is no question that the library continues to fascinate and intrigue us. This extensively researched look at what we do know about the Library of Alexandria features Kelly Trumble’s short, accessible chapters, and richly detailed full-color paintings by Robina MacIntyre Marshall. Together, they tell the story of one of the wonders of the ancient world, and show how its influence as continued long after its destruction. Glossary, suggested reading, selected bibliography, index.
Download or read book Libraries before Alexandria written by Kim Ryholt and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-07 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The creation of the Library of Alexandria is widely regarded as one of the great achievements in the history of humankind - a giant endeavour to amass all known literature and scholarly texts in one central location, so as to preserve it and make it available for the public. In turn, this event has been viewed as a historical turning point that separates the ancient world from classical antiquity. Standard works on the library continue to present the idea behind the institution as novel and, at least implicitly, as a product of Greek thought. Yet, although the scale of the collection in Alexandria seems to have been unprecedented, the notion of creating central repositories of knowledge, while perhaps new to Greek tradition, was age-old in the Near East where the building was erected. Here the existence of libraries can be traced back another two millennia, from the twenty-seventh century BCE to the third century CE, and so the creation of the Library in Alexandria was not so much the beginning of an intellectual adventure as the impressive culmination of a very long tradition. This volume presents the first comprehensive study of these ancient libraries across the 'Cradle of Civilization' and traces their institutional and scholarly roots back to the early cities and states and the advent of writing itself. Leading specialists in the intellectual history of each individual period and region covered in the volume present and discuss the enormous textual and archaeological material available on the early collections, offering a uniquely readable account intended for a broad audience of the libraries in Egypt and Western Asia as centres of knowledge prior to the famous Library of Alexandria.
Download or read book Introducing the Ancient Greeks From Bronze Age Seafarers to Navigators of the Western Mind written by Edith Hall and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2014-06-16 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Wonderful…a thoughtful discussion of what made [the Greeks] so important, in their own time and in ours." —Natalie Haynes, Independent The ancient Greeks invented democracy, theater, rational science, and philosophy. They built the Parthenon and the Library of Alexandria. Yet this accomplished people never formed a single unified social or political identity. In Introducing the Ancient Greeks, acclaimed classics scholar Edith Hall offers a bold synthesis of the full 2,000 years of Hellenic history to show how the ancient Greeks were the right people, at the right time, to take up the baton of human progress. Hall portrays a uniquely rebellious, inquisitive, individualistic people whose ideas and creations continue to enthrall thinkers centuries after the Greek world was conquered by Rome. These are the Greeks as you’ve never seen them before.
Download or read book Library An Unquiet History written by Matthew Battles and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2011-02-07 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Splendidly articulate, informative and provoking....A book to be savored and gone back to."—Baltimore Sun On the survival and destruction of knowledge, from Alexandria to the Internet. Through the ages, libraries have not only accumulated and preserved but also shaped, inspired, and obliterated knowledge. Matthew Battles, a rare books librarian and a gifted narrator, takes us on a spirited foray from Boston to Baghdad, from classical scriptoria to medieval monasteries, from the Vatican to the British Library, from socialist reading rooms and rural home libraries to the Information Age. He explores how libraries are built and how they are destroyed, from the decay of the great Alexandrian library to scroll burnings in ancient China to the destruction of Aztec books by the Spanish—and in our own time, the burning of libraries in Europe and Bosnia. Encyclopedic in its breadth and novelistic in its telling, this volume will occupy a treasured place on the bookshelf next to Baker's Double Fold, Basbanes's A Gentle Madness, Manguel's A History of Reading, and Winchester's The Professor and the Madman.
Download or read book The Library of Alexandria written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by . This book was released on 2017-01-26 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures depicting important people, places, and events. *Includes ancient accounts about the Library of Alexandria and its destruction. *Includes a bibliography for further reading. "When I wrote 'The Alexandria Link,' I discovered that we are only aware of about 10 percent of the knowledge of the ancient world. In the ancient world, most of the knowledge was destroyed." - Steve Berry In the modern world, libraries are taken for granted by most people, perhaps because their presence is ubiquitous. Every school has a library, large libraries can be found in every major city, and even most small towns have public libraries. However, the omnipresent nature of libraries is a fairly recent historical phenomenon, because libraries were still few and far between before the 19th century. For centuries in the Western world, during what is known as the Middle Ages, written knowledge was guarded closely and hidden away in private repositories, usually by the religious classes, and hidden away in private repositories. The lack of libraries in the West has helped contribute to the popular imagination of the ancient Library at Alexandria, and all the myths and legends that have come to be associated with it, but the Library of Alexandria deserves its reputation. Before the Middle Ages, Greek scholars carefully collected and inventoried books and other written materials in the Library of Alexandria, which truly made it a sort of precursor to all modern libraries. In fact, the Library of Alexandria proved to be one of the greatest institutions created in the ancient world because it influenced the minds of countless people in profound ways for centuries. The Library not only inspired the imaginations of artists but gave birth to new research methods, which proved to provide the basis for many considered common-place today. The Library of Alexandria was one of the few libraries in the ancient Greek world, which helped ensure that mathematicians, scientists and other scholars from across the Mediterranean traveled to Egypt to study there, and it was so impressive in its size and influence that it left an indelible mark on the world that still reverberates today. While the exact nature of the Library remains murky, it functioned for at least several centuries and is believed to have housed hundreds of thousands of books, most written as scrolls on papyrus, and it essentially became the culmination of two ancient literary and cultural traditions converging: the Greek and Egyptian. Of course, the most controversial aspect of the Library of Alexandria is its destruction, which is still a topic of debate today. Several ancient historians attributed its destruction to the Roman conquest of Egypt during the 1st century B.C., with some like Plutarch specifically citing Julius Caesar's soldiers as the ultimate cause of its destruction. The Roman writer Seneca wrote that 40,000 books were lost in the fire. However, other ancient historians claimed to have gone to the Library of Alexandria after Caesar stayed in the city, and all of these claims might be muddled by the fact that there was more than one library in the area. It's possible that the Library of Alexandria or some version of it survived until the 7th century A.D., but either way, the destruction of the library is often viewed as one of the reasons the Middle Ages were "Dark". Nobody knows for sure how much knowledge was lost in the Library, nor how it affected what Western societies knew and didn't during medieval times. The Library of Alexandria: The History and Legacy of the Ancient World's Most Famous Library looks at the history of the library in an attempt to separate fact and fiction. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Library of Alexandria like never before.
Download or read book The Life and Fate of the Ancient Library of Alexandria written by Mostafa El-Abbadi and published by UNESCO. This book was released on 1990 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thoroughly researched study on the history of both the Museum and the Alexandria Library, showing the important role they played in the transmission of Greco-roman civilization. The tragic fate of both institutions have long been of great fascination for both writers and readers.
Download or read book Narrative Literature from the Tebtunis Temple Library written by Kim Ryholt and published by Museum Tusculanum Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents ten narrative texts written in the demotic script and preserved in papyri from the Tebtunis temple library (1st/2nd century AD). Eight of the texts are historical narratives which focus on the first millennium BC. Four concern prince Inaros, who rebelled against the Assyrian domination of Egypt in the 7th century, and his clan. One is about Inaros himself, while the other three take place after his death. Two other narratives mention Necho I and II of the Saite Period. The story about Necho II is particularly noteworthy, since it refers to the king as Nechepsos and, for the first time, provides us with the identity behind this name. Nechepsos is well supported as a sage king in Greek literary tradition, above all, in relation to astrology. Of the two final historical narratives, one belongs to the cycle of stories about the Heliopolitan priesthood and the other concerns the Persian occupation of Egypt in the 5th or 4th century. The volume further includes a prophecy
Download or read book The Library in Alexandria and the Bible in Greek written by Nina L. Collins and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2000-06-16 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancient evidence reveals that the earliest, written translation of the Bible in Greek was completed in Alexandria in 281 BCE, probably by seventy-one scholars, invited especially from Judaea by Ptolemy II. The work was organised by Demetrius of Phalerum, the trusted librarian of Ptolemy II, and the translation was made despite Jewish opposition and the project's high cost. Ptolemy wanted the translation to increase his famous library, to attract scholars to Alexandria and to start his reign with an impressive event. The date of the translation, early in the reign of Ptolemy II, shows that the library was built by Ptolemy Lagus, and that Demetrius of Phalerum was first placed in charge.
