Facts about Library of Alexandria
- 08
Eratosthenes served as head librarian of the Library of Alexandria in the 3rd century BCE and calculated Earth's circumference to within 50 miles of the actual measurement.
- 07
Four major fires, including one in 48 BCE during Julius Caesar's civil war, progressively destroyed the Library of Alexandria's collection over several centuries rather than a single catastrophic event.
- 06
King Ptolemy III enacted a decree requiring all ships entering Alexandria's harbor to surrender their books for copying before departure, significantly expanding the library's collection.
- 05
Scholars visiting the Library of Alexandria could request copies of any text in its collection, with the institution's scribes producing duplicate manuscripts for distribution throughout the Mediterranean region.
- 04
Callimachus, a 3rd-century BCE poet and scholar, created the first systematic catalog of the Library of Alexandria's collection, organizing thousands of scrolls by subject and author.
- 03
The Library of Alexandria employed a head librarian called the Bibliothecarius, a prestigious position that made the role one of the most important academic posts in the Hellenistic world.
- 02
Ptolemy II funded the Library of Alexandria's expansion in the 3rd century BCE, employing hundreds of scribes to copy texts and systematically acquiring manuscripts from across the Mediterranean world.
- 01
Around 700,000 scrolls were housed in the Library of Alexandria before its destruction, making it the largest repository of knowledge in the ancient world.