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Alexandrian Library

a remarkable collection of books, the largest of the ancient world, was founded by the first Ptolemy, and fostered by his son.

It quickly grew, and already in the time of the first Ptolemy, Demetrius Phalereus had 50,000 volumes or rolls under his care. During its most flourishing period, under the direction of Zenodotus, Aristarchus of Byzantium, Callimachus, Apollonius Rhodius, and others, it is said to have contained 490,000, or, according to another authority, including all duplicates, as many as 700,000 volumes. During the siege of Ale Alexandria by Julius Cæsar, this part of the library was destroyed by fire; but it was afterward replaced by the collection of Pergamos, which was presented to Cleopatra by Mark Antony. When Theodosius the Great permitted all the heathen temples in the Roman empire to be destroyed, a mob of Christians wrecked the temple containing the library (391 A. D.). In 641 Arabs under the Caliph Omar completed the destruction of the library treasures.