The Burning of the Alexandria Library

One of Ancient Greece's most well-known manifestations of its influence and dominance in the ancient world was the Library of Alexandria. Scholars from all over the world flocked to the Alexandria Library to browse the books and scrolls of antiquity.

The knowledge that Alexander the Great had amassed during his career of conquest and exploration persisted after his death in 323 BCE. It inspired a movement to exchange and preserve knowledge on a much larger scale than had previously been done. Demetrius of Phaleron, a disgraced Athenian politician who later served as the advisor to King Ptolemy I Soter, was instrumental in the creation of the library.

Between 200,000 and almost a million original manuscripts, according to estimates, were gathered from all over the world and kept in this knowledge center until it was destroyed in 48 BC. Many times, the Muslim Army has been held responsible for the precise cause of the Library of Alexandria's fire. Actually, though, it was just a wartime mishap. Julius Caesar supported Cleopatra when the Egyptian civil war broke out between her and her brother Ptolemy XIII. As a result, Ptolemy and his army besieged him in the vast harbor. The Library of Alexandria and its hundreds of thousands of ancient writings, nearly all of which are now lost forever, were destroyed as a result of Caesar and his forces destroying portions of the harbor and igniting a fire that later spread throughout the area.