Comments on: Based on ancient sources, What is your assessment of the items in the Great Library of Alexandria?

By: Palin

Palin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:42:59 +0000

The Great Library of Alexandria was not like the libraries of today. The idea of copies is in fact what the Great Library contained and many originals of other civilizations now lost to the rest of mankind. It was full of technologies I'm sure, advanced for their time, medicines that today we still search for, it was the history of all humanity forever lost to all. Think of the civilizations we will never know of that at one fleeting moment in time existed now forever gone. One can only hope fragments of these things are scattered through out the world and once again will come together so all people may glance back in time with amazement. As for making copies, you answered your own question in a way. Knowledge is power and was not meant to be shared by all at that point in history.
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By: Tanks

Tanks — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 07:59:59 +0000

Sources indicate that there may have been as many as 400,000 scrolls in the library, that's an awful lot to copy by hand. It is almost certain though that there were copies of many of the items elsewhere, but much will have been lost over the centuries. It is quite possible that there are still scrolls and books waiting to be discovered.
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By: Ian H

Ian H — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 07:52:59 +0000

It probobly contained just about every written thing ever, either in original form or a copy. Topics and information that these writing covered was probobly just about anything you could want. I would image they were texts on philosophy, mathematics, early sciences, astronomy, histories, encyclopedias, and maybe even texts that taught translation because everything was probobly written in many different languages.
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By: Wounded Duck

Wounded Duck — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 07:27:59 +0000

Just a bunch of scrolls.
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