How Europeans And Arabs Destroyed The Greatest Library Of The World In Egypt (History)
October 06, 2020 1286
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Since the first time
Europeans encountered Africans, there has been an animosity towards Black
people. Asides from their intentions to rule and loot, they have had a long-lasting
desire of erasing Black history.
The Library of Alexandria
in Kemet (Egypt), was not a place that held just ancient Black knowledge, it held knowledge
and secrets from other parts of the world. But it is obvious that the vast
knowledge it held was a threat to certain people, and so they wanted it gone.
To fully understand this account
of bitter history, we need to first narrate to you how the city of Alexandria
in Egypt came to be.
The original Egyptian name of the town on which Alexandria was built was "Rhakotis". Upon Rhakotis, the city of Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great, in 332 BC, when he conquered Egypt. After 9 years, Alexander died in battle in Babylon and the Great City of Alexandria was claimed by one of his lieutenants, Ptolemy.
Before Alexander's death, the capital of Egypt was Memphis; but all that changed
after Ptolemy became ruler of Alexandria. Alexandria was then made the capital
of Egypt. And by that move, Alexandria rose to become of the largest cities in
the world.
Since the people of Ptolemy were not Egyptians, they did not originally practice the style of rulership the Black Egyptians practiced. They needed their rule and dynasty to last, so their kings adopted the Pharaonic system of rulership.
To make their
rule legitimate, they also founded the Graeco-Roman cult of Serapis. It was the
influence of the cult of Serapis that resulted in the creation and building of
the Library of Alexandria.
For centuries, the Library
of Alexandria was magnificent and important to learning for scholars of the
ancient world. The mysteries and origins of many races and people were stored
and learned in the library. Great thinkers, mathematicians, scientists, and
poets came to the library from all over the world. It is recorded that the library
had from as much as 700,000 to over 1 million scrolls on its shelves.
The destruction of the library
is one of the biggest tragedies that befell humanity. More so, it is a tragedy
that befell the Black man, because if the Library and its scrolls were still
standing, the science of old would not have been lost to many African ethnic nationalities.
There are various accounts of the destruction of the library. And historians have argued which of the accounts is true. Below we are going to narrate the various accounts of the destruction of the library.
First Theory: Destruction by Julius Caesar
It is accounted that in 48 BC, Rome was at war, and Julius Caesar was chasing Pompey into Egypt. His assault was halted by an Egyptian fleet at Alexandria. The odds were against Julius as he was heavily outnumbered and surrounded by the enemy’s fleets. He ordered that the ships at the harbor be burnt, and that fire became massive that it spread and destroyed the Egyptian fleet.
But the fire did not stop
there. It spread into the city and burnt down part of the city, which was the
same area that housed the Library of Alexandria. In an account by Plutarch, in
his book titled 'The Life of Julius Caesar', he said that "When the enemy
tried to cut off his (Julius Caesar’s) fleet, he was forced to repel the danger
by using fire, and this spread from the dockyards and destroyed the great
library."
But one confusion which
historians have encountered is that the Museum (or Muoseion) which was beside
the library was not burnt. This fact was mentioned by the historian Strabo,
about 30 years after Julius Caesar attacked Alexandria. But one thing that was
certain was that Strabo's account indicts Julius as the person who burnt down
the Library.
Second Theory: The Destruction By The Christians
The account of the Christian
invasion of Egypt lays credence to their contribution to the destruction of the
library. The emperor Theodosius, in 391 AD, made a decree that banned pagan
practices. He imposed the Christian religion on the territories which they had
conquered. The temple of Serapis in Alexandria, which was the citadel/library
of learning was considered a pagan outfit and was in turn burnt and converted
into a church. Although the Temple was not the main library, it held ten
percent of the documents and scrolls of the library of Alexandria.
At this time in the
history of Alexandra, the city was inhabited by Christians, Jews, and pagans.
The three groups inhabiting the city created an atmosphere of political rivalry
and violence. The violence led to the death of a Christian monk, Hierax. His
death was said to have been influenced by a woman called Hypatia, who was the
last Head Librarian at the Library of Alexandria.
The Jews also deceived
the Christians, bringing them into the streets and killing them in their
numbers. In a revenge attack, the Christians killed the Jews and the Pagans.
Hypatia was among those killed. Many have said that it was at this point that some
part of the Library was destroyed.
One fact we have
discovered from research and account of ancient historians, it that it is clear that the
library of Alexandria was not a particular building. It was more than one
building that housed different classes of scrolls.
Third Theory: The Destruction By The Muslims
The involvement of the Muslims
in the destruction of the library of Alexandria is the last account about the
Library. When the Moslem Caliph Omar laid siege and conquered the city of
Alexandria in 640 AD, they dealt the final blow to what was left of the library.
The story goes that the general who conquered the city asked the Caliph what
they were to do with the library which he described as "a great library containing
all the knowledge of the world". The Caliph replied that "they will
either contradict the Koran, in which case they are heresy, or they will agree
with it, so they are superfluous." So for the next six months, they used
the scrolls and books as tinder for the bathhouses.
Conclusion
After reading the various
accounts of the destruction of the Library of Alexandria, one thing that every
unbiased mind should take home is that the world wanted what belongs to Africa
so bad that it did everything in its power to replace Africa's glory with
foreign faces.
Many people would support
this wickedness on the theory of war and conquest, but it is much more than
that.
For over 1,000 years,
Europeans and Arabs had their turn in dismantling the glory of ancient Kemet (Egypt).
And even when cities were built by other foreigners on Egyptian soil, the eyes
of the rest of Europe and Arabia still gazed jealously on Egypt. They wanted
Egypt - even though it came in ashes.
Today, Africa and indeed the rest of the world has lost a great deal of knowledge through the destruction of the Library of Alexandria.