[Kerberos]

"The library was later destroyed, possibly by Julius Caesar who had it burned as part of his campaign to conquer the city."

I understood that it happened when Cesar was in Egypt, making time with Cleopatra, and there was an uprising within his legions. Caesar burned his fleet to prevent the insurgents from capturing them, and therefore being able to use them against Cesar, and unfortunately much of the library also caught on fire.

However I am not positive if that was the only fire that ever occurred at the Alexandria library.

[KellyAdmirer]

If Caesar hadn't burned it, the Muslims surely would have, so I don't blame him regardless.

[Destro]

It was not the only fire - and what ever was left of the library was done in by the Arabs - they used the books to heat their baths for months.

[E Rocc]

I understood that it happened when Cesar was in Egypt, making time with Cleopatra, and there was an uprising within his legions. Caesar burned his fleet to prevent the insurgents from capturing them, and therefore being able to use them against Cesar, and unfortunately much of the library also caught on fire.

However I am not positive if that was the only fire that ever occurred at the Alexandria library.

It wasn't. In 391 AD, the Roman Emperor Theodosius, a Christian zealot, permitted the Patriarch of Alexandia, another zealot, to burn the "pagan" materials in the Library.

In 646 AD the Muslims burned what was left of the Library for similar reasons.

-Eric

[aruanan]

"The library was later destroyed, possibly by Julius Caesar who had it burned as part of his campaign to conquer the city."

I understood that it happened when Cesar was in Egypt, making time with Cleopatra, and there was an uprising within his legions. Caesar burned his fleet to prevent the insurgents from capturing them, and therefore being able to use them against Cesar, and unfortunately much of the library also caught on fire.

However I am not positive if that was the only fire that ever occurred at the Alexandria library.


The museum and library survived for many centuries but were destroyed in the civil war that occurred under the Roman emperor Aurelian in the late 3rd century AD; the daughter library was destroyed by Christians in AD 391.

The Alexandrian library and museum were founded and maintained by the long succession of Ptolemies in Egypt from the beginning of the 3rd century BC. The library's initial organization was the work of Demetrius of Phaleron, who was familiar with the achievements of the library at Athens. Both the museum and the library were organized in faculties, with a president-priest at the head and the salaries of the staff paid by the Egyptian king. A subsidiary “daughter library” was established about 235 BC by Ptolemy III (Euergetes) in the Temple of Sarapis, the main museum and library being located in the palace precincts, in the district known as the Brucheium.
--The Encyclopedia Britannica