How would the world be different if the Library of Alexandria never burned down?
Probably not that different
>>18430348we would have a few more greek poems that nobody except historians would care about lol
>>18430348The Library of Alexendria was a dilapidated ruin long before it was destroyed
Usual answers aside I do wonder if the library contained any records of the earliest human civilizations. Not Atlantis schizo shit. I mean actual historical documentation of the beginning of agriculture and organized human settlements etc.
We would probably have the complete hellenic epic cycle.
>>18430576I mean it was in Egypt, one of the earliest civilizations, and they had contact with the sumerians supposedly, so maybe?
Which destruction? There were at least three events. Bookended by Muslims feeding the public bath fires for a few months with what remained, by their own report.Anyways probably very different.Most people dramatically underestimate what happens culturally when a library with priceless and irreplaceable manuscripts that might not have copies elsewhere is burnt. They don't have context, it's like staring into a chasm where buildings used to be, you might not have any idea there was ever anything there. The effect this has can be seen in all sorts of places, but it can be hard to notice because you're looking at the empty place where history used to be. It's because of this that these events don't get much attention.Imperial China and the cultural revolution, the burning of Mayan codex's, the dissolution of the monasteries, losses to WW2 bombings, the destruction of the old Vatican secret archive during the sack of Rome in the 16th century (the one we have now was pieced together after an almost total catastrophic loss by drawing on international Catholic resources like their monasteries), the libraries of Constantinople during the 4th crusade, Baghdad at the hands of the Mongols, John Dee's extremely impressive archive (widely considered to be one of the most important in early modern Europe even at the time), Royal Library of Burma due to British, the libraries of Madrid at the hands of anarchists, national library of Serbia vis a vis Nazis with honorable mention of Warsaw, and of course what the communists did in Russia, ISIS, etc.Downplaying these events historiographically betrays one's tendency to ignore survivorship bias and a kind of unconscious rejection of the existential angst of realizing that what is written is a tiny fraction of what happened, and that of this fraction of that which has survived to the present day is even smaller.
>>18430348The Library of Alexandria was not destroyed in a single event but rather through neglect over centuries and most of its contents already had copies elsewhere. There are at least three “points of destruction”:>The first one happened due to Julius Caesar (though by accident and not intentionally). While chasing Pompey, Caesar set fire to his own ships to prevent them from being captured by Ptolemy XIII’s forces. The fire spread and destroyed parts of Alexandria and a portion of the library.>The second one happened during the crisis of the third century as Aurelian and Diocletian engaged in battles that devastated Alexandria, likely damaging any remaining facilities of the great library.>The third and final one happened due to Emperor Theodosius (curse be upon him). He ordered the destruction of many pagan temples and one of them was the Serapeum which functioned not just as a temple to Serapis, but also as a “daughter” library to the great one and held a significant portion of the city’s literary treasures, especially after the original main library fell out of use.
