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The Ancient Library of Alexandria
In the year 283 BCE, a group of Greeks living in Egypt set out on the most audacious and ambitious goal in human history. Ever since Aristotle first began tutoring Alexander the Great, they set the stage for the scholastic prowess of Athens to give rise and way to Alexandria, along with the Library that it would come to contain. The plan of the Ptolemaic pioneers was to gather all of the knowledge in the world, together under a single roof. The idea had come decades earlier from Alexander the Great, but he died long before construction began. It was his most trusted general, and rightful successor, who actually ordered the Ancient Museum and Library of Alexandria to be built. It was developed by Demetrius of Phaleron, under the reign of the new pharaoh-king Ptolemy I. The Library was erected in the royal district of Brucheion, in the style of Aristotle’s Lyceum, on the campus of the Ancient Museum — a Classic Greek Temple, called the “House of Muses”. The Library was dedicated to the nine goddesses of the arts, or the Muses, as well as the god Serapis. This was done in honor of the now legendary conqueror Alexander the Great, by the Ancient Greek-Egyptian monarch Ptolemy I Soter.
The style of construction that was used to build the Museum and Library included Ancient Egyptian architectural influences, as well as grand Hellenistic columns, and other Ancient Greek features. Inside the decadent marble walls, there were lecture halls, classrooms, and lots of shelves for scrolls. There were ten large laboratories, off of the main hall, as well as numerous other rooms. It had a large dining hall, a reading room, and even a dissection room. The Ancient Library of Alexandria also had gardens and a zoo, with live specimens of flora and fauna, from as far away as Europe and India. There was even an astronomical observatory, among other magnificent things to behold. The Library contained lots of ornate fountains and colonnades, among other rather extravagant decorations. The dynasty spared no expense to create a citadel of consciousness, in order to foster a robust curiosity towards the cosmos, meaning the “order” of the world. As a result, the capital city in general, and the Library in particular, became a rather cosmopolitan center of culture, consisting of local Egyptians, Macedonian soldiers, Greek immigrants, and a large Jewish population, among others. Upon entering the…
