The Library of Alexandria: Centre of Learning in the Ancient World
£14.99
A book lover s book - The vanished Library of Alexandria was one of the greatest cultural achievements of the ancient world. Comprising many thousands of scrolls of Egyptian, Greek, Hebrew and Mesopotamian learning, it drew the greatest scholars of its time, and its loss has been lamented ever since. The nine essays in this book examine various aspects of the founding and functioning of the Library, and are fascinating for the general reader as much as for the scholar. This said, the essays will be of varying interest to any reader. I am not especially bothered about the methods of transmission of Aristotle s scientific works, or whether medical doctors held especial prestige within the Library. I am, on the other hand, very interested in the Mesopotamian antecedents of the Alexandrian library, and in a sort of travellers guide to Ancient Alexandria, as well as in the legacy left by the institution, and all of these are more than amply covered here. And who can resist the charms of the final piece in the book, where John O. Ward considers the legacy left by Alexandria to the greatest medieval library that never existed, the one in Umberto Eco s The Name of the Rose, which manages to be equally enlightening for both the fictional and the historical foundations.