The Library of Alexandria Found!!!!

Archaeologists beleive that they have found the site of the Library of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world ( Source ). The library housed the works of the greatest thinkers of its time from Aristotle to Plato.

The question is will they find works that make us question what we currently think of the ancient world?

news.bbc.co.uk...

Probably not.

Although it's unclear who burned the library and when it burned (one common set of sources say it was the Christians, destroying the pagan literature and the female (pagan) librarian named Hypatia), all sources say that the library was burned.
www.ehistory.com...

The knowledge on the papyrus and lambskin scrolls was lost. There are partial catalogs of what was there, including some of the great plays and works of early literature and treatises on medicine and science.

This was the early start of the Dark Ages in Europe, when the area of land turned excessively religious and people with "forbidden knowledge" (astronomy, math, chemistry) were killed or driven out. Remember, though, that this bias never hit Turkey and Afghanistan and Morocco and the like and scholars found a home in those regions. While Europe stumbled around in ignorance, the technology and knowledge from Alexandria was built on in the Middle East and continued to flourish until they in their turn became ultra-religious.

So... no, no flying machines, no cures for cancer, no floating stones around with crystals (if anyone had done these things, the technology would have quickly spread and we'd see it everywhere.)

Although we'd love to find a basement with scrolls intact, y'know?

Byrd,

You are more than likely correct in your propositon, however I would be more than estatic if any works of the ancient world were found. I am just holding out hope that they will find that fabled basement.

*Me with my fingers crossed*

I thought that the Library was burned...
But, even if this library isn't the Great Library, it could
still hold some pretty interesting stuff hopefully ::crosses fingers::

Im accustomed to knowing whats what, so I'm a little surprised to be taken by surprise here. I didn't know there was any debate as to who burned it.
I've always read that the Library of Alexandria was burned in 31 AD by the Romans because Marc Anthony divorced Octavian's sister to be with Cleopatra. After Cleopatra retreated from the first battle with her navy, Octavian's army caught up with her at Alexandria, burnt the Egyptian navy in port, and the fire then spread to the library. Am I buying a completely unsubstantiated version of history?

What should we expect? Don't underestimate antiquity; Piri Reis taught me that (his map shows an ice-free antarctica, which shouldn't have existed after 4000BC). You must know about that, but you can ask me.
Of course, everyone knows what goes in the basement though: crap that nobody uses anymore. Even crap could be good though. Outdated engineering papers that prove interaction with certain cultures? Flawed maps containing important gems of accuracy? Failed inventions betraying mastery of concepts none-the-less? For that matter just something that familiarizes us with the language could be good. Simple linguistic barriers kept the identity of the hyksos invaders in doubt for quite a while.

Whoa! Great article! Very interesting.

Byrd, although, as you say, the knowledge of Alexandria continued in Middle East, I doubt that ALL knowledge survived. It is very likely that some of it was lost forever, specially historical documents, records of the past. A lot of what we think we know about Egypt is only a speculation, outdated 19th century theories, a few glyphs. As far as I know, library in Alexandria contained detailed records of the past. I am not sure now where I read this, it could have been one of Hancock's books....

So if the library was found. Almost none of the magnificent scriptures that once laid on the shelves of the library exist. The real treasure here are the papyrus scrolls that were in the library.

While 'Hope' is good and it would be great 'if' anything substantial was found at the site of the destroyed Library of Alexandria, I am almost in agreement with Bryd on this. Another observation is that I think, even with a 'hidden basement', that whatever was saved, which would be minimal at best, was moved out during the fire, and with due haste.
The Destruction of the Great Library at Alexandria

IMHO, I have often pondered at the amount of ancient knowledge that was destroyed and how it possibly could be used or be useful today. Terrible. Likewise, I have often wondered at just 'what' was saved or possibly saved, and 'who' has such 'saved' knowledge(s).



seekerof

I have the library of Alexandria in my room...


The Magic: The Gathering card!

I'm not really sure if I trust that source, kinda sounds like a bigfoot siting.

The great library of alexandria held more than scrolls, it also held working models of inventions, engineering schematics, electrical prototypes, many other inventions collected by the romans in their conquests.
Hypatia is a fascinating woman in History; brilliant scholar, inventor, philosopher, mathematician, etc. Her inventions frightened people enough that they killed her.

The library was found, but nothing reportedly was found inside. Just empty rooms in a school/lecture hall type layout.

To my understanding the Romans burned the library down.

[Edited on 24-5-2004 by d1k]

I know its really a seperate subject, but does anyone here know much about the hall of records? Is this just an occult idea that may or may not even exist, or is there certainly one lost somewhere. I ask because ultra-sounding has supposedly revealed a chamber beneath the sphynx, and popular legend has it that the know-how and tools which built the pyramids and sphynx are under it.

Quote: "This was the early start of the Dark Ages in Europe, when the area of land turned excessively religious and people with "forbidden knowledge" (astronomy, math, chemistry) were killed or driven out. Remember, though, that this bias never hit Turkey and Afghanistan and Morocco and the like and scholars found a home in those regions."

-Don't forget Spain!!!

Wow what a Role Reversal!!! But then its was the Muslims who were the Scholars & knew about Astronomy & Math & Medicine & Chemistry - The "Christians" back then were Animal like "Heathens" - Now we have a total Role-Reversal - Latin\English is the Language of Science & Medicine - the Greek Alphabet is used in Calculus - My how the Mighty have Fallen - but to be fair it is Fanatical Extremism in General (In Islam - Christianity & Judaism) that leads to Disaster - its better to stay Cool, Calm & Collected.