[pistola]

The Library of Alexandria reopens this week, after a 'period' of renovation due to fire damage.

[denydenydeny]

Hey, the Greeks got everything they knew from that library. Just ask Cornel West.

[Lysander]

And Bob Dole donated both of his books to the library. One of them had not even been colored in yet.

[Billthedrill]

Well that explains the letter I just got in the mail.

Dear Mr. Billius Drillius:

Our records show that the papyrus scroll you checked out in Augustus, AD 402, is overdue. Please remit the amount of 342,953 denari...

Dang it. The dog ate it in 1253, too...

[Eala]

Its southern-facing, windowless wall of granite carries engraved letters of most of the world's alphabets

Hm. Wonder if it includes Hebrew...

[hosepipe]

Do they allow women into that library to actually;
LEARN SHIT!...

[Between the Lines]

[jiggyboy]

Ironically, the original library saw its demise in an era of religious zealotry similar to that which greets its rebirth.

Philosopher and mathematician Hepatia, the library's last scholar, became an early martyr to learning when a Christian mob killed her in 415 AD as a symbol of a hated pagan era.

As with 99% of uses of "ironically" in modern reporting, he should have used its opposite, "coincidentally", instead. It was a nuthouse then, it's a nuthouse now, and it's been a nuthouse the whole time. Nothing approaching a surprise reversal here.

Be that as it may, this is perhaps a perfect example of a "half truth". From the quite accessible book "Fermat's Enigma" by Simon Singh: A few precious copies of the most vital books survived the Christian onslaught and scholars continued to visit Alexandria in search of knowledge. Then, in 1642, a Moslem attack succeeded where the Christians had failed. According to some historians, when asked what should be done with the Library, the victorious general, Omar, commanded that those books that were contrary to the Koran should destroyed, and furthermore those books that conformed to the Koran were superfluous and they too must be destroyed. The manuscripts were used to stoke the furnaces that heated the public baths, and Greek mathematics went up in smoke...

[PsyOp]

I wonder how many copies of Mein Kampf they ordered for the the shelves. I hear its really popular reading in the middle-east these days.

[RightWhale]

This is great. Sounds very modern as well as well as multicultural. Kind of surprising for a country that supposedly is under the thumb of a repressive religion.

[Consort]

After 1600 years, the late fees are going to be astronomical.