The Fate of the Library of Alexandria

American Thinker ^ | May 02, 2010 | John O'Neill

[cripplecreek]

What, then, of the destruction of the Alexandrian Library? Were the Arabs responsible? The evidence indicates overwhelmingly that not only did the Arabs destroy the library or libraries of Alexandria, but they simultaneously put to the torch all secular learning

If true, they set the whole world back possibly a century or more.

[Da Coyote]

For science, WIKI can at least be read and checked.

For anything else, WIKI’s about as believable as CNN.

[Cicero]

An excellent summary. Worth a close reading, and not just on the Library of Alexandria.

There never was a golden age of Islamic civilization. There were merely short periods during which the Mohammedan masters squatted in ancient cities and permitted dhimmis and slaves who were formerly members of these conquered civilizations to continue producing science, art, and poetry. But not usually for very long.

Basically, they conquered a whole series of great ancient civilizations, and destroyed them all. Nothing good has ever come from Islam itself, which is a religion for bullies, rapists, and destroyers.

[vladimir998]

Worthwhile article

[grey_whiskers]

*PING* to archaeology meets Islam...

Cheers!

[GoDuke]

pfl

[max americana]

I knew more about the Alexandria from the search for Alexander’s tomb in Egypt. A true wonder of modernity in the backdrop of backward Islam.

[Tolsti2]

wikipedia is HORRENDOUS on this stuff. Almost any science or math article has insane islamic leanings. Basically everything modern came from them if you go by wikipedia.

They’re a bunch of jackasses of the worst lying kind.

[GenXteacher]

I always thought the library was destroyed by Caesar....

[Jacquerie]

Islam is as important to civilization as reverse gear is to an aircraft.

[SatinDoll]

I want to encourage people to go to the following website:

http://www.assyriatimes.com/engine/modules/news/

The Assyrian Christians of Mesopotamia were the earliest Christians, converted by St. Peter circa 40AD. These were the people who developed astronomy, mathematics and engineering in the Middle East. It was their knowledge of the ancients and tecnology that the Arabs seized and claimed as their own.

Let me clarify this for everyone: the desert Bedouin tribes of the Arabian penninsula did not have a history of sophisticated architecture, mathematics, or science. The Bedouins were a pastoral people with a rich cultural literary treasure of their own, but they were not tecnologically sophisticates as were the Assyrians and Persians whose highly organized and bureaucratic civilizations were destroyed when over run by Arab Muslims.

This is not to slam or belittle Arabs or their culture. It is only that the truth is important.

[Eternal_Bear]

Actually the Libray and Museum of Alexandria was pretty much gone by the time of Arab conquest but I won’t argue that the Islamics destroyed more than they saved. Baghdad had a great library but that was destroyed by the Mongols. Crusaders and later Turks destroyed the cultural legacy of Constantinople. There is blame to be shared by all.

[MrChips]

Well, it was. Oops! Cleopatra was not ammused. But, not completely and permanently. It was rebuilt. No doubt much was lost during that first major destruction. But, probably not as much as we might imagine. The larger Greco-Roman world around the Mediterranean had many libraries preserving the same texts.

[Kleon]

It’s highly unlikely that what remained of the Library in 5th century Alexandria would be continually restocked with pagan works.

[mick]

ping

[hinckley buzzard]

There never was a golden age of Islamic civilization

I have always been skeptical--it just sounded too pat. An occasional doctor here and there, or a mathematician.

The great claim to fame was an allegedly islamic University at Cordoba but Cordoba was a Roman capital long before the muzzies seized it. Anything that came out of there likely was due to the existing intellectual infrastructure of a once great city.

It is an underappreciated fact of history that the sweep of empire has largely been a great civilizing force, eg Greece, Rome, the British Empire. The Moslem empire may be a stark exception. They did more harm than good and left little but debris behind.

[rabidralph]

I thought this would be an article about the library in Alexandria, Virginia.

[cripplecreek]

Let me clarify this for everyone: the desert Bedouin tribes of the Arabian peninsula did not have a history of sophisticated architecture, mathematics, or science. The Bedouins were a pastoral people with a rich cultural literary treasure of their own, but they were not technologically sophisticates as were the Assyrians and Persians whose highly organized and bureaucratic civilizations were destroyed when over run by Arab Muslims.

There would have been little reason for bedouins to pursue the sciences. They were nomadic and would have had little time to waste on sciences that would have had no purpose in their lives. I suspect they had a decent working knowledge of the stars but that was useful to them.

My personal feeling is that most of the tribes of north America were in a similar position and lived pretty primitive lives as a result. The more technologically advanced tribes were the ones who lived more sedentary lives with some farming.

[Alkhin]

Muslims are the Borg.