Alexandria's founded by Alexander

Alexandria's founded by Alexander the Great (by year BC): 334 Alexandria in Troia (Turkey) - 333 Alexandria at Issus/Alexandrette (Iskenderun, Turkey) - 332 Alexandria of Caria/by the Latmos (Alinda, Turkey) - 331 Alexandria Mygdoniae - 331 Alexandria (Egypt) - 330 Alexandria Ariana (Herat, Afghanistan) - 330 Alexandria of the Prophthasia/in Dragiana/Phrada (Farah, Afghanistan) - 330 Alexandria in Arachosia (Kandahar, Afghanistan) - 330 Alexandria in the Caucasus (Begram, Afghanistan) - 329 Alexandria of the Paropanisades (Ghazni, Afghanistan) - 329 Alexandria Eschate or Ultima (Khodjend, Tajikistan) - 329 Alexandria on the Oxus (Termez, Afghanistan) - 328 Alexandria in Margiana (Merv, Turkmenistan) - 326 Alexandria Nicaea (on the Hydaspes, India) - 326 Alexandria Bucephala (on the Hydaspes, India) - 325 Alexandria Sogdia - 325 Alexandria Oreitide - 325 Alexandria in Opiene / Alexandria on the Indus (confluence of Indus & Acesines, India) - 325 Alexandria Rambacia (Bela, Pakistan) - 325 Alexandria Xylinepolis (Patala, India) - 325 Alexandria in Carminia (Gulashkird, Iran) - 324 Alexandria-on-the-Tigris/Antiochia-in-Susiana/Charax (Spasinou Charax on the Tigris, Iraq) - ?Alexandria of Carmahle? (Kahnu)

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Libraries in antiquity, a short overview

Talking about a library in antiquity, we automatically have – be it abstract – visions of the famous Library of Alexandria, Egypt. The library was, of course, not a Greek invention. However, they all kept legal and administrative documents. It is here that philosophers and occasional orators held lectures.

The oldest library (2500-2250 BC) was the one discovered in Ebla, Syria, containing a vast number of clay tablets. Of more recent dates were the clay tablets found at Mari (1900 BC) and Ugarit (1200 BC), both in Syria. As shown at Hattusa, Turkey, the Hittites were not behind, with some 30,000 tablets going back to 1900-1190 BC.

One of Turkey's more recently constructed libraries was The Royal Library of Antioch (today’s Antakya) founded in the third century BC under Antioch III.

Next comes the Library of Pergamon (modern Bergama), established by the Attalid kings between 197 and 159 BC. With its 200,000 volumes, it is second only to the Library of Alexandria. When the Ptolemies blocked the import of papyrus from Egypt, Pergamon started to use fine calfskin as alternative writing support, creating the first parchment or pergamum. The Library of Celsus in Ephesus was built in 135 AD and had close ties with Alexandria and Pergamon.

Aristotle founded the oldest Greek library in Athens in the fourth century BC, which contributed widely to the later collection in Alexandria. Next came the libraries of Cos and Rhodes and the Library of Hadrian in Athens, all dating from the first/second century AD.

The Library of Alexandria has not survived, and the few descriptions that reached us leave a lot to our imagination. Among the best-preserved and/or best-restored, we note the Library of Celsus in Ephesus and the Library of Hadrian in Athens, which will help us to recreate an overall image of these fascinating structures.

The Library of Celsus in Ephesus is an inevitable landmark to every tourist who walks down Curetus Street and is beckoning him from the onset. It is indeed an imposing building with a carefully reconstructed façade, yet it is consistent with the grandeur and wealth of Ephesus. The high Corinthian columns support richly decorated ceiling caissons and frame the statues of four goddesses on their high pedestal, i.e., Sofia (wisdom), Arete (virtue), Ennoia (intelligence), and Episteme (knowledge). Consul Gaius Julius Aquila built this Library around 105-107 AD for his father, a worthy present, no doubt. Initially, the inside walls were covered with colored marble, and they still vaguely show traces of the niches meant to hold the papyrus scrolls in partitioned wooden cupboards (armaria). The room is quite grand, measuring 11 x 17 meters, and reminds me of Ptolemy’s library, as shown in Oliver Stone’s movie Alexander.

Hadrian built his Library of Hadrian in Athens circa 132-134 AD as part of his ambitious plans for the city. He erected it close to the Roman Agora and served as a repository for the city’s official archives besides its books. The peristyle-shaped building measured 122 x 82 meters, and today it is still accessible through an impressive propylon with Corinthian columns of Karystos marble. One hundred columns of Phrygian marble surrounded the large courtyard, interrupted by several semi-circular seating spaces. A garden and a decorative pool once occupied the center. Today, we see the ruins of several basilicas from the 7th and 12th centuries. Opposite the entrance propylon and at the far end of the courtyard lies the library itself. It was composed of a central reading room flanked by an auditorium with curved seating resembling a theatre. Of additional interest are the remains of the small Agios Asomatos sta Skalia church dedicated to the Archangel Michael, built in between the Corinthian columns at the entrance and still showing traces of a Byzantine fresco.


With its high surrounding walls, this Library must have been awe-inspiring – an excellent example to imagine other libraries elsewhere since the remains are often too scant to prove it.

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