fuckyeahgothicmakeup: Th
Th
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cemeteryvult: Feels like home
Feels like home
tremblingcolors: Francois Barois (1656-1726) Vénus callipyge....
Francois Barois (1656-1726) Vénus callipyge. Louvre Museum
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arkaimcity: "Demolition of the Idolatrous Temples at...
"Demolition of the Idolatrous Temples at Alexandria, and the Consequent Conflict between the Pagans and Christians."
- Socrates Scholasticus
In 391, Bishop Theophilus of Alexandria and his army of mad monks burnt down the Great Library of Alexandria. All its books, around 700,000 of them - on history, science, literature and philosophy - were destroyed.The Library of Alexandria
There were many great collections of books in the ancient world. Most were open to any scholar from anywhere in the world. None of them survived the Christian Dark Age.
The most famous, of course, was the Library at Alexandria. In fact, there were at least three different libraries coexisting in the city.
The main or 'Royal Library' was in the Brucchium (northeast sector of the city), close to the palace grounds and forming part of the Museum, a 'temple' dedicated to the nine Muses (in the style of Plato's Academy, Aristotle's Lyceum, Zeno's Stoa and the school of Epicurus). The library was surrounded by courtyards, gardens, and a zoo. The gathering of books and scrolls had begun with Ptolemy I Soter (304 - 284 BC) using the Greek scholar/politico Demetrius as his agent. Works were translated into Greek, most famously the Septuagint – Jewish scripture – supposedly the labour 72 rabbis. (Letter of Aristeas, 9 -10 (180 -145 BC) Ptolemy's ambition had been to possess all known world literature.
Scholars – perhaps as many as a 100 – were invited to residency at the Museum and to analyse critically observations and deductions made in mathematics, medicine, astronomy, and geometry. They were fed and funded initially by the royal family, and later, during the Roman period, by public money. Most of the western world's discoveries were recorded and debated there for the next 500 years.
The evidence of Plutarch, Gellius and Seneca strongly indicates the Royal Library had suffered considerable fire damage at the time of Julius Caesar's expedition when Caesar torched the fleet of Cleopatra's brother and the fire spread to the harbour area.
Plutarch informs us that Mark Anthony, making good the loss, gave Cleopatra the entire contents - some 200,000 rolls - of the rival Pergamon library as a gift.
A 'daughter Library' was located in the nearby temple of Serapis in the south-western quarter (Epiphanius of Cyprus (c. 402 AD) Weights and Measures). The Serapeum – in honour of the new god – had begun with Ptolemy II Philadelphus and was completed by his son.
The Emperor Claudius, in the mid-1st century, set up the Claudian Library to be a centre for the study of history. Hadrian, following a visit to Alexandria in 130, restored the city and founded a new library in the Caesareum. Sophists, such as Dionysius of Miletus and Polemon of Laodikeia, where attracted to the city in what was a second century revival of Alexandrian scholarship. This brief flowering ended with the "rapine and cruelty" which Caracalla visited upon the eastern provinces early in the third century.
We may never know precisely the fate of reputedly 400 - 700,000 priceless scrolls. The civil commotions of the 260s and 270s, when much of the city was damaged, would not have been happy days for the libraries.The cutting off of imperial revenue by 4th century Christian Emperors sent the Museum into terminal decline. Writing early in the 5th century, Orosius, Christian author of History against the Pagans, admitted fellow Christians had plundered temples and emptied book chests. Gibbon was in no doubt:
"The valuable library of Alexandria was pillaged or destroyed; and near twenty years afterwards, the appearance of the empty shelves excited the regret and indignation of every spectator whose mind was not totally darkened by religious prejudice." (Chapter 28).
Gibbon placed the blame squarely at the door of Theophilus. That Bishop Theophilus had led the destruction of pagan temples, most famously the Serapeum, is certain. Socrates Scholasticus reports the following:
"Demolition of the Idolatrous Temples at Alexandria, and the Consequent Conflict between the Pagans and Christians.
At the solicitation of Theophilus bishop of Alexandria the emperor issued an order at this time for the demolition of the heathen temples in that city; commanding also that it should be put in execution under the direction of Theophilus.Seizing this opportunity, Theophilus exerted himself to the utmost … he caused the Mithreum to be cleaned out… Then he destroyed the Serapeum… and he had the phalli of Priapus carried through the midst of the forum. … the heathen temples… were therefore razed to the ground, and the images of their gods molten into pots and other convenient utensils for the use of the Alexandrian church … "
statue-porn: || Seated Female Satyr, Joseph-Charles Marin, c....
|| Seated Female Satyr, Joseph-Charles Marin, c. 1790
spiritvs-evropa: Mérovée, King of the Franks, who gave his name...
ra-vi: Capri - Italy
Capri - Italy
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degeneratelowlife: lacrima Mosa….by ArtMoon
lacrima Mosa….by ArtMoon
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blackpaint20: Death tips his hat to his bleed-through, from the...
Death tips his hat to his bleed-through, from the Google Books scan of The Tomahawk, June 1870.
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