That neglects to mention that that was the second time the library was sacked and totally destroyed. The first time was in AD 391 when fanatical Christians torched the library and its collection as being heretical. The Library never fully recovered, though much of the collection had been replaced by 642.
However, the major priceless works of antiquity were destroyed by *Christians*, not Muslims. What Omar destroyed was a sad mouldering remnant of what once was.
Islamic Jihad is evil, but Christians were responsible for the major destruction of the library.
Sorry, but that appears to be incorrect.
"The actual history of the famous Museum library of Alex (which is said to have housed 500,000 rolls) goes like this:
Ptolemy Soter (Ptolemy I, 367-282bc) built a shine to the Muses (a Museion) and brought outstanding scholars to live there (BREC:177; HPW:55)
it was a communal society of men of science and letters , and was located in the royal precinct(BREC:178).
later, a smaller library (for overflow) was built OUTSIDE the palace area--called the "daughter" library. It contained less than 8% of the total holdings of the combined' libraries, and was connected to a pagan shrine (the Serapeum). [BREC:179-180]
The major library (Museion) was without peer in the 3rd century BCE (BREC:180), and probably had most extant classical works (HPW:55; HLWW:45).
Then--trouble begins: "Then, around 145 bce, the persecution of Alexandrian scholars and their disciples by [Ptolemy VII Physcon] Euergetes II resulted in an emigration of academic talent from the Museion and a loss of distinction in its librarians." (BREC:180)
"Ptolemy VIII [Lathyros, Soter II] (Cacergetes) came to the throne. Having been forced to leave Alexandria by his enemies, he returned in the course of a civil war (89-88bc) and burned much of the city. The students and fellows of the Museum were at least temporarily scattered...Though never reaching their former greatness, the Museum and its library were reconstituted and survived for several hundred years longer." (HLWW:46). Note: most of the damage to the library occurred before the birth of Christ!
Then, in 47 bc, when Julius Caesar was conquering Egypt, the Library was partially destroyed (HLWW:46; BREC:180)
In the first century AD, some of the volumes in the library were moved to Rome to replenish libraries there (HLWW:46)
Finally, the main Museum and library was destroyed in 273ad, when the Roman Emperor Aurelian burned much of Alexandria--including most of the Palace area. [HLWW:46-47; HPW:56; BREC:180].
It is possible that the Museum (already a shadow of the glory of the first one) was rebuilt "on a smaller scale." (HLWW:47).
But "A few years later, the city was completely sacked by Diocletian. The Museum, which had enjoyed long periods of renewed splendor during Imperial times and which had recently been restored once more to its old glory thanks to the notable efforts of the mathematician Diophantus, must have suffered terrible damage." (VL:87)
The small, daughter library--the Serapeum--was thought to have survived and WAS destroyed by the Patriarch Theophilis in 391, under the directives of Emperor Theodosius in 391. Note--this is NOT the famous library at all...it was a very small temple library.
The net of this is: Christians were NOT responsible for the destruction of the world's greatest library of antiquity! It was a victim of civil and national wars of Greece and Rome. The library of the small temple of Serapis WAS destroyed in the events of 391, but even this library was only a shadow of a shadow of a minor library."
However, the major priceless works of antiquity were destroyed by *Christians*, not Muslims.
This is also wrong, especially in the broader sense. Christian scribes made copies of the classical works, just the same as they did with their own scripture. Else, how would we still have them today?