Library of Alexandria discovered

Originally posted by truth_seeker3
This is fascinating, after all we thought all the documents were lost.

Actually, they probably weren't. The collection was lost but copies of these books were in other places around the world and in other royal libraries. But no other royal library had books from other countries.

In 2004 and no follow up? There is something going on. They found something. Something BIG.

Someone jumped the gun and said it was the Library. It apparently wasn't. If they are excavating Cleopatra's palace grounds there should be a number of large buildings and compounds on the estate. The exact location isn't known, and since the date of destruction is uncertain (and water would quickly destroy paper scrolls), it may be hard to find the real Library. One clue would be the inscriptions on the wall (described by Plutarch, I think)... if you could find the wall with the inscriptions.

We should know about this. The World's first generation of history was contained there.

They did have plays, books on mathematics and the science of that time. The only people doing histories (other than religious lists of "this king begat that king), were the Romans and they didn't start doing histories until 200 BC or so. They may have had some Greek histories, but that's kind of doubtful.

How do we know THIS? Well, a number of Greek and Roman writers used the Library and they (as scientists) referred to information they got from these books. So we have some idea of what was in there, because it was valued information used by the Mediterranean world.

If they'd had something about Atlantis or Older Civilizations, references would have showed up in their writing.

(added missing end quote tag)

[edit on Sat Dec 27 2008 by Jbird]

Originally posted by infinite
reply to post by The time lord

 

Do you have an education system in your nation?

The Islamic Caliphate was respectful and nonchalant on converting the population to Islam. Ancient historical sites and governmental systems were not altered drastically- Sharia Law was very liberal in Egypt. Just like Jerusalem, the Islamic government protected religious sites.

It was the invasion of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798, which damaged ancient temples and hieroglyphs. Then the British occupation from 1804 was destructive when the population was forcefully converted to Christianity.

Did you know, Thomas Jefferson had his own personal Qu'ran?

Do you have an education system in your nation?

Yes we do but they never taught about these things at my Catholic school and I did not take up history either. So my education is through investigation that is what universities teach, to do it your self.

Well before Islam was a Islamic Caliphate you can read from the Koran scriptures that anything un-Islamic had to be destroyed on their conquests when Islam was established, this is why today the attitude is the same in throwing out non Islamic history and closing anything up that is Islamic like some fortress even though certain areas are of Biblical Christian origins regardless of what spiritual rights the rest of the world has. Prove anything that is in the Bible like great events and it’s a threat to every Muslim that is why there are cover-ups and no go areas for non-Muslims alike.

Did you know, Thomas Jefferson had his own personal Qu'ran?

Even if he did then it’s probably due to the Ottoman Empire and the Islamic pirate raids that kept his interest alive because they were such a threat to America, I don’t think it was because his heart was in Islam it was educational, America was being ruined by the Islamic forces in the Barbary War.

en.wikipedia.org...

This is education, finding the truth through reseach.

Well, since the OP was about finding the remains of the original Library of Alexandria, i thought this was relevant.
They've built or rebuilt something of a Library near the the original spot where the Library of Alexandria once stood.
Currently houses the Internet Archive.

Somehow, i'm really not surprised that this news was buried. Come on, you really think they would want us to find something so important to our history, especially a history that may or may not been largely fabricated by Roman and Vatican scholars.....

I'm not the type to be pessimistic, but i figure if they find or have found anything that would dispute the current historical teachings, they would squash it, just like the electric Car.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Eh? Buried?

There was at least one or two specials that I'm aware of on the Library.
Theve rebuilt and commemorated a new Library near the believed location of the old one.
It's not popular though, so you don't hear about it as much.

Originally posted by Anonymous ATS
This is an absolutely amazing find, do you know if they found anything else?

Yeah lots! It's all beneath the ocean. I think one of the discoveries is allegedly the 9th wonder of the world, the fabled light house of Alexandria.
Anyone been to an aquarium and walked through those under water tunnels where the fish/sharks/sting rays swim above you will know what they have in mind for this underwater site. Tourists will be able to see it all..

Also in unrelated news, they've found the previous city which Alexandria was built upon.

Originally posted by The time lord
Well before Islam was a Islamic Caliphate you can read from the Koran scriptures that anything un-Islamic had to be destroyed on their conquests when Islam was established...

But the Library was burned two to three centuries before the Muslims took over Alexandria.

The ancient historians all say that a mob of Christians, offended that the Librarian (a pagan woman named Hypatia who was a leading mathmetician of the time) was teaching classes in philosophy and logic and teaching women. They dragged her out of the library and flayed her alive (according to all ancient historians.)
en.wikipedia.org...

There is evidence that they destroyed Royal Library. There's no reference to it after her time.

I agree there are differences in these stories, I have gone down a certain path of research and come to the only knowledge I have explained so far to help in adding to this threads expansion. I am interested in so much that sometimes it hard to keep up with things, never too subborn to learn just takes time.






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[edit on Sun Dec 28 2008 by Jbird]

Originally posted by Byrd
But the Library was burned two to three centuries before the Muslims took over Alexandria.

The ancient historians all say that a mob of Christians, offended that the Librarian (a pagan woman named Hypatia who was a leading mathmetician of the time) was teaching classes in philosophy and logic and teaching women. They dragged her out of the library and flayed her alive (according to all ancient historians.)
en.wikipedia.org...

I see nothing directly about the Library here; the quote from Socrates says they dragged her from her chariot. The library theory seems to be something put forth solely by Carl Sagan.

I agree, however, that the Muslim story seems to be highly apocryphal. There is still more evidence that the destruction of the library, or, it might be better to say, the destruction of the knowledge contained in the library, was lamentably connected with the rise of Christianity.

Originally posted by Quiintus
Anyone been to an aquarium and walked through those under water tunnels where the fish/sharks/sting rays swim above you will know what they have in mind for this underwater site. Tourists will be able to see it all..

Also in unrelated news, they've found the previous city which Alexandria was built upon.

that would be a great addition to everything else Egypt has to offer in the way of tourism, they could also make a underwater roller coaster ride for the kiddies. but i hope that some of the lost lore can be recovered from the waters.

reply to post by infinite


Uh Dude, hate to rain on your parade but the Muslims knocked the nose off of every statue in the Middle East, since they had a prohibition against graven images of all kinds. Ever wonder why the noses are missing from all most all statues from antiquity?

By the way, the drawings made by the artists in Napolean's Army clearly show that the Sphynx was noseless before Napolean got there.

I would also point out that the Muslim regional governor al-Mamoun invaded and looted the Great Pyramid in the 9th Century. He heard that the Pyramid was full of valuables. He claims that the Pyramid was empty and that he found nothing of value. We will never know, but we do know from later archaeology that the Great Pyramid had never been penetrated prior to the Mamoun looting. That's because the main entrance was not discovered until the 19th Century and the seals were still in place. Other than the main entrance and the Mamon tunnel there are no other entrances to the Great Pyramid.

Here's a link to the history:www.gizapyramid.com

I think that it is clear from the historical record that Mamoun was not interested in conserving history nor did he have any respect for the ancient religions of the Egyptians.

I think the point a bout the Muslim comments is that it's hard to say Muslims did it and not make it sound like you're implying they are all in on it. I prefer to look at it as individuals that make choices. Doesn't matter what religious background they come from.

The first book in the "Danger Boy" time travel series, "Ancient Fire," is set in Alexandria, and its library. In fact, one of the recurring characters is the daughter of the last librarian of Alexandria.

Originally posted by Eleleth
I see nothing directly about the Library here; the quote from Socrates says they dragged her from her chariot. The library theory seems to be something put forth solely by Carl Sagan.

It was the Patriarch Theopholis, on order of Emperor Theodosius:
wiki.answers.com...

I agree, however, that the Muslim story seems to be highly apocryphal. There is still more evidence that the destruction of the library, or, it might be better to say, the destruction of the knowledge contained in the library, was lamentably connected with the rise of Christianity.

Well, we do know it was there after Julius Caesar left because of Anthony's gift to Cleopatra of scrolls for the library... or at least there was *a* library.

Now... I did find an interesting page that's well researched that listed the librarians and the two sections of the library: the palace library and the Serapeum. This author's claim is that Caesar destroyed one warehouse of books or the Palace Library but not the Serapeum... and that the Christians destroyed the Serapeum.
www.bede.org.uk...

It's a really well written page, and although I think Caesar's innocent (and the library was in the royal compound) it's got some great info on it.

In this one, the author goes over the ancient texts (yay!) and does exonerate the Muslims. After researching old letters and ancient archives, the earliest mention of "the Muslims did it" appears to be 1200 AD, VERY long after the fact:
www.bede.org.uk...

This map (loads slow) shows the proposed area of the library and the Serapeum... note that this is actually just some educated guess since they're not certain where the library was:
www.planetware.com...

Wikipedia said that some of the area in the royal quarter sank due to earthquakes (will look that one up) and much has been built over:
en.wikipedia.org...

The floor of the Serapeum still exists, as do the scroll storage chambers underneath. You can see pictures here:
www.sacred-destinations.com...

reply to post by theufologist

Well I personally think that as the archaeologists disseminate the estimated tens of thousands of mostly Aramaic written books belonging to the great library of Timbuktoo we may find that a number of these are copies of the Alexandria library books and manuscripts as well as much arabic and saharan sources of knowledge. Currently the USA and a number of other countries are in the process of creating a repository for the world's scholars to research and study these in this former major trading centre and centre of learning in Mali, that fell into disrepair and decay several hundred years ago.
from George Lancaster

An interesting thought. I was doing some more research (reading up on Cleopatra, actually) and found some small details on what was in the Royal Library. It does seem that the first history books were there and at least one of the was about Egypt.

Others referred to it.

reply to post by Byrd


Would that have been the Aegyptiaca?

Originally posted by Hanslune
reply to post by Byrd

 

Would that have been the Aegyptiaca?

I have no idea. The scholarly book I'm reading on Cleopatra mentioned "a history of Egypt" and I confess I didn't look at the footnotes because I'm more interested in compiling a record of Cleopatra presenting herself as Isis.

reply to post by Byrd


I did a bit more research and I think it was, the book is the famous one by Manetheon and has the kings lists in it.