In ancient cultures, libraries were special places where a large number of selected and carefully preserved manuscripts, symbolic representations, and maps, written or engraved on different materials, were stored. They were usually part of a much larger separate complex within the city center for which we do not have a unique name today. These kind of universities, besides numerous archive rooms, also included classrooms, laboratories, temples, observatories, parks, and other auxiliary as well as residential spaces. They were true places of learning where numerous fields of knowledge were constantly revived, enriched, and deepened.
The Library of Ashurbanipal
The Library of Ashurbanipal was named after Ashurbanipal, the last great ruler of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. It contained thousands of clay tablets and fragments with texts from the 7th century BC, including the Epic of Gilgamesh, a masterpiece of Babylonian poetry.
According to the British Museum, at the archaeological site In ancient Nineveh, on the outskirts of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, nearly forty thousand clay tablets written in cuneiform Akkadian script were found. Asurbanipal was renowned not only as a military commander but also for his scholarship. He sent scribes to all areas of the Neo-Assyrian Empire to collect texts and tablets, primarily from Babylonian sources, which were then copied by Assyrian scientists and writers.
According to Persian and Armenian traditions, Alexander the Great, upon seeing Asurbanipal’s great library in Nineveh, was so inspired that he desired to create something similar himself. However, due to his premature death, Ptolemy, one of Alexander’s most loyal generals and friends, carried out this endeavor on his behalf, overseeing the beginnings of the construction of the Library of Alexandria.
The Library of Alexandria, also known as the Royal or Great Library, flourished as the foremost center of learning in the ancient world during the reign of the Ptolemaic dynasty, the last Egyptian pharaohs. The Great Library of Alexandria was founded by King Ptolemy I Soter in the 3rd century BC, based on the idea of Athenian Demetrius of Phaleron, who was also the first director of the Library. King Ptolemy II Philadelphus expanded the Library with valuable books and scrolls in Greek, as well as Greek translations of Egyptian, Jewish, Babylonian, Persian, and Indian works. It is estimated to have contained anywhere from 500,000 to over 700,000 scrolls. The architectural plan of the Great Library remains unknown, but it is believed to have been divided into ten spacious rooms corresponding to different fields of knowledge. It was located in the Macedonian-Greek district of Alexandria, within the royal palace, and connected to a related institution – the Museum (Greek: Mouseion), dedicated to the Muses. The Museum functioned as a philosophical school and a major research center, where its members, learned individuals of the ancient world, could dedicate themselves to study and research. Throughout the existence of these dazzling institutions of human knowledge and creativity, it is assumed that there have been several destructions – both unintentional and intentional, as well as those caused by earthquakes. About the almost irreparable damage caused by the fire that engulfed the Great Library in 47 BC, which was actually unintentionally caused by Julius Caesar burning the ships in the port of Alexandria, Plutarch, Seneca, and others write. Probably as compensation for the damage done, the military leader Mark Antony presented Queen Cleopatra VII with as many as 200,000 books-scrolls from the Pergamon Library.
But is the treasure of the Library of Alexandria truly completely lost? H.P. Blavatsky writes about this in The Secret Doctrine: …a large portion of the original manuscripts, considered the most precious and not duplicated, was stored in the house of a librarian. (…) In fact, hundreds and thousands of the most valuable copies were safely stored in his own house, as well as in the houses of other scribes, librarians, students, and philosophers… Nalanda Monastery
The northeastern Indian state of Bihar, on the border with Nepal, is considered one of the most important cultural hubs of the ancient world. The Nalanda University in that region was the main center of higher education from 472 to 1197. Its remains are located approximately 90 km southeast of Patna (formerly known as Patliputra). At its peak, the University attracted teachers and students from India, Tibet, China, Greece, and Persia. It was also one of the world’s first residential universities, with over ten thousand students and two thousand teachers. With its ten temples, meditation halls, and classrooms, surrounded by high walls, lakes, and parks, it is considered an architectural masterpiece. Its libraries, known as Dharmaganja (Treasury of Truth) and Dharmaghunj (Mountain of Truth), housed hundreds of thousands of texts, and were famous for having the largest collection of Buddhist literature in the world.
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