The Vanished Library: A Wonder of the Ancient World, (a Wake Forest University Studium Book)

I just couldn't put it down. The first chapters are puzzling and one wonders why Canfora chose this unusual structure for his book. But like a suspense writer, he gives the reader one clue after an other and suddenly everything makes sense. In retrospect one even beliefs that this study could not have been written in a more succinct and lucid way. I finished the 200 pages in five hours and felt like I had read a whole library.

Almost certainly, no other ancient institution has caught the modern imagination so much as has The Library of Alexandria. Begun around 300BC, this remarkable establishment became _the_ center of learning and scholarship in the Mediterranean world for hundreds of years thereafter. Our debt to the great library is incalculable; to it we owe the Septuagint (the Greek translations of the Old Testament), the standardization of Homer and Hesiod to their final forms, and the survival of the great Greek thinkers (Plato, Aristotle) to modern times. The beginnings of modern thought -- science, philosophy, mathematics, medicine -- can all be traced to this unique collection and the people who were a part of its scholarly society. It was the home to writers and thinkers that we are familiar with (Polybius, Appollonius Rhodius) and to far more that we are not but should (Theophrastus, Neleus). And its demise ranks as one of the greatest tragedies in Western history.In The Vanished Library, Luciano Ganfora (translated here by Martin Ryle) gives a popular account of the history of the Library, from its founding and shadowy beginnings, all the way up to its decline and destruction centuries later. But what makes this book interesting is that Ganfora resists the temptation to slip into the academic spouting of facts, figures, and theories at every opportunity. Rather, his aim is to not only show the reader the library, but to give one a feel for what it was like to _be_ there, to work among the thousands of scrolls, and to live the life of the ancient Greek scholar. His research is grounded firmly in the original sources, many of which he discusses at length in the book's appendix and several of which he quotes at length. The book sometime feels like a novel, because Ganfora frequently adopts a storyteller's tone in order to illustrate some aspect he wishes us to explore. Occasionally, Ganfora also digresses into some of the more controversial areas of the Library's history; he argues, for instance, that Caesar's sacking of Alexandria during the Roman Civil Wars did not destroy the library as many scholars insist, but rather destroyed an annex that was used to house finished scrolls meant for export across the Mediterranean (the Library being also a major source for the dissemination of literary works across the known world). But none of this detracts from the book itself. It does a very good job of introducing one to the subject of the Library and what we know about it, and makes for a rather delightful read along the way.This is not to say that this is the best introductory book on the subject out there; in my opinion, that would have to go to Derek Adie Flower's The Shores of Wisdom. Ganfora does skip over whole areas of the Library's history that Flower does not, and goes more in depth than Ganfora on some of the academic arguments surrounding such subjects as the Library's demise and its impact on Western culture. But Ganfora's book is easier t

I found this book both informative, as well as, a joy to read. That is because most of it reads more like a novel than a formal academic study. This is done to put the reader into the overall cultural mindset of Alexandria and the library at various points in it's almost 1000 year history.Having done my own research on this topic in college I can vouch for the accuracy and completeness of the author's research. The truth is that there is very little surviving hard data about this institution (and absolutely no surviving archeological evidence.) There is however an original revelation that the layout of the Museum may very well have imitated that of the Ramesseum at Thebes. This is due to the fact that the Greek rulers of the Ptolemaic period adhered closely to classical Egyptian forms- at least in a superficial and material manner.This book clears up some popular misconceptions. First of all, there was no "library" as a separate institution or structure. It was always an inseparable part of the overall Museum. Secondly, the Museum was in no sense a secular institution. It was truly a temple to the Muses, and Holy Wisdom, with sacred functions. Even under Roman control it continued to be administered by a priest.Finally, it would seem that the Romans had nothing to do with the burning of the Museum, indeed there was no damage during the Roman conquest. The greatest damage is shown to have been done in late antiquity at the hands of Christian fanatics- like so many simular of cases of the mindless destruction of our classical heritage.

This is not a work for the person who likes watered-down beer. It is a critical examination of some aspects of the history of the Library of Alexandria, its strengths and weaknesses, its destruction, its relation to other libraries in Egypt and beyond. Along the way, Canfora offers a solution to the riddle of the library of Ramses II, and he roughs up some historians who badly need it -- like Diodorus Siculus and Gibbon, and he offers imaginative reconstructions of events.Several interesting points are explored: the political tilt of Hecataeus (accounting for his view that ancient law-givers of Greece got their laws from Egypt); the fabrications of Diodorus Siculus; etc.Diodorus is revealed as the scamp he was. Though claiming a methodology from Polybius (he even cadged Polybius' introduction, word for word), Diodorus never made any of the trips he claimed to have made -- with the exception of Egypt. There, he weaves in Hecataeus' description of Ramses II's temple (including its vagaries), and presents it as his own observation, based on representations from the Egyptian priests there. Of course, Diodorus' history is one long cadging, as Pliny pointed out, but this episode brings into question whether he ever used priests as informants -- he has the priests telling him that Egyptians colonized all the Mediterranean and even Babylonia, and that Ramses II fought in Bactria (Afghanistan!!). This one-ups Hecataeus' politically inspired fabrications. The relationship to the more extreme current Afrocentric views is obvious, because Diodorus is one of their linchpins. Even Diodorus' description of the palace at Alexandria doesn't contain a description of the Museum (and thus, not the library) -- was this because he was relegated to the daughter library of the Serapeum, or because he wanted to obsure the fact that he was writing (contra to his Polybian assertions) a library dissertation built exclusively on the work of others?A real treat, from a first-class scholar.

From the beginning of this book, we are treated to historical references [in order of their occurrance] to the famous Library at Alexandria, with an eye toward clearing up the fundamental mysteries surrounding it: where was the Library located? What was its place in ancient culture? And, finally, when and how many times was it really destroyed?An enjoyable and profound read, part history, part mystery; a refreshing change from the dry texts of collegiate studies. A book that engages the imagination as well as the intellect. An excellent piece of detective work.I loved it.