The Library of Alexandria was part of the Mouseion, a research institution in the Egyptian city of Alexandria founded under the early Ptolemaic kings, who set out to gather copies of all the books of the known world. It attracted scholars such as Eratosthenes, who estimated the circumference of the Earth, and the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace, and it became a model for later libraries. Its holdings were large by ancient standards, though the number of scrolls is uncertain. Its decline was gradual rather than a single event: fires, loss of funding, political upheavals and the departure of scholars all played a part, and the legend of one great destruction is a simplification of a longer process.
Before and after
- from 4th century BCE to 5th centuryOrigins of Tanais
- 4th century BCEElements
- from 4th century BCE to 5th centuryXiongnu
- 4th century BCEPublication of Arthashastra
- from 4th century BCE to 4th centuryFounding of Library of Alexandria
- 4th century BCEOrigins of Paris
- 300 BCEFounding of Chankillo
- from 300 BCE to 1279Chola dynasty
- from 300 BCE to 250 CEYayoi period
More in Society, economy & sport
- c. 601 BCEThe Lydians mint the first coins
- 5th century BCERise of Cynicism
- c. 320 BCERise of pyrrhonism
- from 165 CE to 180 CEAntonine Plague
- 245 CERise of Neoplatonism
- c. 330 CEKing Ezana converts Aksum to Christianity
The era
This moment belongs to the Ancient civilizations (3,200 BCE to 500 CE), writing, cities and empires.