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Library of Alexandria

Type Object Region Egypt Time c. -300–-48

The Library of Alexandria, founded by the Ptolemaic dynasty in Alexandria, Egypt around the early 3rd century BCE, was one of the ancient world's mos…

Timeline

  1. c. -300–-280Alexandria · EgyptThe Ptolemaic kings funded the library and the Mouseion, expanding holdings by purchase, copying, and even confiscating books from ships docking in port, forming a systematic collection of ancient texts.
  2. c. -280–-100Alexandria · EgyptThe library became the most important scholarly center of the Hellenistic world, where scholars pursued geometry, astronomy, geography, and textual collation, interacting closely with knowledge networks across the Mediterranean.
  3. c. -48Alexandria · EgyptA fire broke out in Alexandria during Caesar's civil war, traditionally held to have caused major losses to the library's holdings; thereafter the institution's influence gradually declined, with some functions possibly transferred to other scholarly centers.

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