Did anything from the Library of Alexandria survive?

Did anything from the Library of Alexandria survive?

Between 270 and 275 AD, the city of Alexandria saw a Palmyrene invasion and an imperial counterattack that probably destroyed whatever remained of the Library, if it still existed at that time….

What destroyed the Library of Alexandria?

On his pursuit of Pompey into Egypt in 48 BCE, Caesar was cut off by a large fleet of Egyptian boats in the harbor of Alexandria. He ordered the boats to be burned. The fleet was destroyed, but the flames spread to the city and the library. It’s not known how much of the library was destroyed.

Was anything recovered from the Library of Alexandria?

Since there are no archaeological remains left, we only have ancient texts to try and rebuild its history.

How much was lost in the burning of the library of Alexandria?

It is believed that nearly 10 percent of the building went up in flames that day, although the specifics of what was burned and the extent of the damage are unknown. It was the first time the library — a grand church of universal knowledge and scholarship the likes of which the world had never seen — was attacked.

What do we think was in the library of Alexandria?

3) The books at the library were divided into the following subjects: rhetoric, law, epic, tragedy, comedy, lyric poetry, history, medicine, mathematics, natural science, and miscellaneous. The library is believed to have housed between 200,000 and 700,000 books, divided between two library branches.

Did we actually lose knowledge from the Library of Alexandria?

Not really. In overall terms it didn’t really set European culture back at all: it was a single incident in a very large world, and there were many other good libraries around the Roman world. You’ll notice the Roman Empire went on expanding for another few centuries afterwards.

How much history was lost in the Library of Alexandria?

Few first class works survived, like Euclid, Apollonius and Archimedes, but there is a lot of evidence that this is just the tip of the iceberg. For example, almost all writings of Hipparchus, “the father of astronomy”, are lost. We know about them from the account of C. Ptolemy who lived 3 centuries later.