Womens education flourished

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Womens education flourished

• The Bibliotheca Alexandrina had girl students,
  and some of them excelled
• The last known scholar of the Bibliotheca was the
  famous Hypatia, martyred in 415 AD

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200BC- Girl studentwriting in the
Bibliotheca Alexandrina
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Little remains physically but it lives in the
minds of all people
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When was it destroyed?

• Contrary to popular myths it was not destroyed by
  the Arabs in 646 AD, but had already disappeared
  centuries earlier
• It was destroyed in stages, with three major
  events/periods of destruction

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48 BC
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30 BC-200 AD

• Egypt becomes a Roman Province (Octavian/Augustus
  30 BC)
• Emergence of Christianity, St. Marc preaches in
  Alexandria mid 1st C AD
• Persecution of Christians in Egypt
• Riots, fires, civil strife in late second and
  early third centuries

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Queen Zenobia of Palmyra (Tadmur) conquered
Alexandria in 269/270 AD but lost it back to Rome
a year later
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Roman attacks on Alexandria

• 215 AD Caracalla sacks the city, degrades
  Museum, cuts its revenues and expels foreigners
• 270-275 AD -- Aurelian restores order
• 297-298 AD -- Diocletian puts down revolts and
  reestablishes imperial authority
• 305-311 AD -- Galerius persecutes Christians

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200-300 AD

• Burning of the Bruchaeon and probable destruction
  of whatever remained of the main library
• Learning and scholarship move to Daughter
  Library in the Serapeum

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200-300 AD
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391- 415 AD

• Edict of Emperor Theodosius
• Campaign of Patriarch Theophilus
• Accession of Cyril (412 AD)
• Mobs and riots between Christians and
  non-Christians

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Manuscript showing Bishop Theophilus destroying
the Serapeum(Kunsthistorishes museum, Vienna)
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Death of Hypatia

• 415 AD -- Death of Hypatia, first woman in
  mathematics, Astronomer, philosopher, daughter of
  Theon, (last recorded scholar of Alexandria ?)

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391- 415 AD

• Destruction of the Daughter Library at the
  Serapeum (probably 391 AD)
• and
• 415 AD Death of Hypatia, marks the end of
  Alexandrian world-class scholarship

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391- 415 AD
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48 BC
200-300 AD
391- 415 AD
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The Old Bibliotheca Alexandrina

• For six centuries (from 3rd BC to 3rd AD) the
  center of world learning
• The best in the world came there Euclid,
  Eratosthenes, Archimedes
• Gave us, inter alia, the name museum
• Oldest recorded complaints
• Spending on research and scholarship
• The role of expatriates

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Greek or Egyptian?

• Greek culture was central and Greek was the
  language of knowledge for the period
• Hellenistic culture involved Greek, Asian and
  Egyptian
• It was Alexandria that was the center of world
  learning
• So, both can be proud of it!

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What is left today?

• Fragments of the past
• A dream for Tomorrow

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The New Library of AlexandriaGoals
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Recapturing the Spirit

• The Revival of the
• Bibliotheca
• Alexandrina

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The NewBibliotheca Alexandrina

• Window on Egypt for the world and the region

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The NewBibliotheca Alexandrina

• Window on Egypt for the world and the region
• Window on the world for Egypt and the region

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The NewBibliotheca Alexandrina

• Window on Egypt for the world and the region
• Window on the world for Egypt and the region
• The challenge of the digital age

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The NewBibliotheca Alexandrina

• Window on Egypt for the world and the region
• Window on the world for Egypt and the region
• The challenge of the digital age
• A vibrant center of intellectual debate a space
  of freedom, for dialogue between individuals and
  civilizations

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Much more than a library

• A library for 4-8 million books
• A center for Internet connectivity
• A conference center with 3000 seats
• A Planetarium
• Three Museums
• (Antiquities, sciences and Manuscripts)
• Several research and documentation Institutes
• and so much more