The Lost Secrets of the Ancient Library of Alexandria
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Khalid Al Mansoor
- . February 16, 2026
- . Update: February 16, 2026 7:02 pm
The Great Library of Alexandria is one of the greatest intellectual riddles in history. This mythical seat of education, located in Alexandria in Egypt, is said to have a collection of between 40,000 and 700,000 scrolls of knowledge in science, medicine, literature, astronomy and philosophy. The Library of Alexandria, Egypt, came into being during the Ptolemaic dynasty and worked together with the Museion, aresearch laboratory comprising lecture halls, gardens and communities of scholars.
A Treasure House of Global Knowledge
The ancient library at Alexandria was very active in accumulating books from Greece, Persia, Syria and India. Ships arriving at the harbour had to hand over books to have them copied, and in certain instances, originals were retained. Researchers such as Eratosthenes and Callimachus made contributions of a revolutionary nature in this field of research, which contributed to the development of mathematics, geography, and literary cataloguing. The ancient library of Alexandria was the representation of the first large effort of humanity to collect all the universal knowledge under a single roof.
The Mysterious Fate and Lasting Legacy
The doom of the Library of Alexandria was marked by the gradual destruction of the library. The decline of the Colosseum was caused by a fire in the campaign of Julius Caesar in 48 B.C., later wars, and natural catastrophes. By 642 A.D., it had disappeared completely. The real destruction of the ancient library of Alexandria is the fact that there are no more works, which were lost: plays of ancient times, theories of ancient science, and historical materials that could have rebuilt our perception of the ancient world.
FAQs
1. Who had constructed the ancient library of Alexandria?
The Ptolemaic dynasty was the first to establish it, probably under the reign of either Ptolemy I or II.
2. What was the number of scrolls in the library?
It has been estimated that there were between 40,000 and 700,000 scrolls of papyrus.
3. What was the reason the library was burned down?
It was destroyed progressively and included fires, wars, political struggles, and natural catastrophes throughout the centuries.
