What eventually became of the Library of Alexandria?
SB: One version holds that it burned when Julius Caesar fought Ptolemy XIII in 48 BCE. Caesar ordered the torching of the royal fleet, but the fire spread throughout the city and may have consumed the library. Another version blamed Christians who supposedly destroyed both the main library in 272 CE and the secondary one, in the Serapeum, in 391— part of their effort to rid the city of all pagan influences. A final account credited Arabs with the library’s destruction after they conquered Alexandria in 642. The caliph Omar, when asked about books in the imperial treasury, was quoted as saying, If what is written agrees with the Book of God, they are not required. If it disagrees, they are not desired. Destroy them. So for six months, scrolls supposedly fueled the baths of Alexandria: But no one knows which version is true. The more likely explanation is that as Egypt was confronted with growing unrest and foreign aggression, the library became victim to persecution, mob violence, and m
