Since this question seems to be getting some play in the comments section below, I’ll provide a couple of links to some good sources that deal with the Alexandrian library, and with the treatment of classical literature by early Christians in general. First, the library at Alexandria as the question is addressed by a trained historian, since this one involves a good deal of anti-Christian myth-making. read the whole thing, because it’s actually quite interesting to see the sources involved. To make a long story, short, however, the most likely culprit behind the destruction of the main library at Alexandria appears to be Julius Caesar, whose capture of the city in 47 BC may have accidentally ignited a conflagration which burned the library. Sorry, but the Christians didn’t burn it down.
To address a couple of other modern myths that are usually entertained by historically ignorant secularists,
It can safely be said that the story of Christians destroying the Serapeum library was originated by Edward Gibbon in the late eighteenth century when he read too much into his sources and this story has been repeated ever since. Alexandria Rediscovered by Jean-Yves Empereur, Cosmos by Carl Sagan and From the Holy Mountain by William Dalyrymple are just three recent books to combine this myth with the earlier loss of the Royal Library while even scholars such as Luciano Canfora and Alfred Butler have tried to interpret the evidence to support Gibbon.
The sad part is, as seen elsewhere in the article, that Gibbon wasn’t even really being honest with his sources. Secular humanists such as Carl Sagan have merely been repeating historical rubbish uncritically because it suits their agenda. Another myth is also exploded,
Hypatia of Alexandria, the female mathematician, has become a romantic heroine, a feminist icon and an archetypal victim of religious intolerance. Charles Kingsley of The Water Babies fame published his novel, Hypatia, in 1853 and it was this that started her modern cult. However the sources for her life are scanty to say the least. Socrates is embarrassed to have to report her murder, John of Nikiou revels in it and the Suda gives a few more details that need to be treated with the same caution as everything else in that Byzantine encyclopaedia. The Christian bishop Synesius of Cyrene was a pupil of hers and despite her paganism wrote her adoring letters asking for advice. Modern myths about her include that she was a Librarian of the Great Library and that she worked at the Museum. Neither have any basis in fact or the sources and there is nothing to connect her to the Royal or Serapeum libraries at all.
Now, on to the question of the Christian treatment of classical literature in general. Glenn Miller does a quite good job of addressing this matter. Again, I encourage our readers to set some time aside and read the whole thing. A good general summary, however, is this,
This is a good and thoughtful question. And, as with many questions (still!), I was at first slightly ‘afraid’ of what my research might uncover. I am generally concerned about trying to defend the acts of the post-Constantine institutional church, and this sorta fell into that arena. I was frankly surprised to find out that the church–both East and West– actually was the main preserver of classical literature during these difficult times in world history.
That rather overturns the secular narrative, now doesn’t it?
Enjoy! And please, consider this to be a Sunday afternoon open thread.
Tags: Christianity, History, Religion
