September 17: “Research” of Bishop Gregory Bar Hebræus

The 17 September 642 is the reported date on which the Arabs destroyed the Royal Library of Alexandria. On three previous occasions, the library had been partially destroyed. The library had been founded by either the first or second king in Ptolemaic Egypt (c. 283 BCE).

The first story of the destruction involves the siege of Alexandria by Julius Caesar in 48 BCE. In this case, the burning was accidental. Caesar had set fire to his own ships and the fire had spread to the library.

The second story is that the library was destroyed when Emperor Aurelian who ruled from 270-275 CE took control of the city while fighting against Queen Zenobia of Palmyra. During the fighting, much of the city was destroyed.

The third story is that the Royal Library of Alexandria was closed and destroyed by Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria in AD 391 after he had made paganism illegal.

The fourth story is that the final destruction of the library commenced on 17 September 642 when Amr ibn al `Aas destroyed the library because he was told by the Caliph Omar of Damascus that if the books disagreed with the Quran they were heretical and if they agreed with the Quran there was no need for them.
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James Hannam writes that “Stories about its [the library’s] demise have been circulating for centuries and date back to at least the first century AD. These stories continue to be told and embellished today by those who wish to make a moral attack against the alleged vandals.” Preston Cheeser observes that the “facts condemning Omar were written by Bishop Gregory Bar Hebræus, a Christian who spent a great deal of time writing about Moslem atrocities without much historical documentation.”

Unfortunately, some “histories” are more interested in politics than facts. Therefore, while September 17 goes down as the anniversary of the destruction of the Royal Library of Alexandria, it is unlikely that the events described by Bishop Gregory Bar Hebræus actually took place.

Cheeser observes that “The real tragedy of course is not the uncertainty of knowing who to blame for the Library’s destruction but that so much of ancient history, literature and learning was lost forever. “

–Steven L. Berg, PhD

Photo Caption: Bishop Gregory Bar Hebræus

Posted on September 17, 2013 by stevenlberg
Categories: World History: Ancient
Tags: Alexandra, Egypt, library, religion, war

6 Responses

Emmanuel Crayton says:

17 September 2012 at 9:23 am

Reading this article I have come to the fact that all the stories are different. No one knows for sure what happen, so it seem like everyone is just offering a opinion. It is intriguing that their is four different stories it really makes me wonder which is true. The destruction of the Royal Library actually happen, making it the only fact in the article. The way it happen is unsure, to get a better understanding I’ll personally do a broader research for my knowledge. Truly we may never know what actually happen, but we do know that the history lost in the Royal Library is priceless.

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Clarissa Berg says:

17 September 2012 at 10:15 am

When reading this article, I am quite curious in who originally came up with each story. (although it will probably be impossible to find) In general, the uncertainty of why certain events happen is what makes me so interested in history altogether. (which is the main reason why I took this class) If only there were some type of artifact(s) left behid for people to look at in a museum today or even a picture taken of one.

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The Rev. David Grant Smith says:

17 September 2012 at 12:17 pm

I feel a certain level of sorrow and shame over the loss of the Royal Library of Alexandria. From my studies of history of the time, it seems the most plausible of the stories is that of the Christians destroying it in an effort to suppress certain so-called Pagan influences on society at the time. The fact that Christian historians have tried to cover up such acts of violence is repugnant to this priest of the Church! Although the certainty of which story is the “most true” may never be known, there is some probability that this is a blight on the face of Christian history that will remain there forever. Christianity (especially in its westward expansion) did a lot to eliminate history, culture, art and literature of its various predecessors throughout much of its own history.

Though the exact details of that period of Alexandria are still blurry to our hindsight, there have been some great things that have evolved from contemporary considerations of that time and place. One of those is the movie *Agora*; it is described in this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agora_(film)

In the movie *Agora*, the destruction of the Royal Library is included (though it isn’t central to the movies plot – though very significant). The word *Agora* is a Greek word meaning “market place” or “public square.” It was in the public square (both literal and figurative) that the ancient people of Alexandria tried to find a balance between the two groups of those who were seeking to gain power, as well as to preserve what they saw as being important and germane to their religious, political, philosophical, and cultural survival. It is an excellent film that depicts very well the kind of struggle which ultimately brought about the ruin of this ancient repository of priceless ancient culture.

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Christina S says:

17 September 2012 at 9:43 pm

After I have read the article I feel that it is terrible that someone felt the need to destroy a piece of history like that. It appears that the christians tried to cover up their tracks and destruction but what was done is done and we can’t change things now. Since their are so many different variations in stories it its hard to tell what is fact and what isn’t. One thing that we know and that is obvious is that the library was destroyed and that it took four attempts to do so. One interesting fact that I found when I did some research on the date of September 17th was that George Washington was known for stealing books out of libraries and never returning them. So as of September 17th about 50 years ago, George Washington would have racked up a library bill of over $300,000.

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Austin Henson says:

17 September 2012 at 11:44 pm

Not only have societies used flames to burn buildings down but fire has been used as capital punishment by many societies. Death by burning at the stake was for many reasons including heresy, stealing, witchcraft, treason, prisoners of war, adultery; the list goes on. It was seen by the Roman Catholic Church as the main punishment for heresy because the victim would have no body to be resurrected in the afterlife. Burning has been associated with afterlife in many ways. Such as Christian views on heaven and hell. Hell is made out to be a place of fiery pits where the body of the inhabitant will constantly burn but never perish. Even the devil is portrayed as a fiery being. However many cultures believe that burning bodies of the deceased was a pure way to honor their life. Hinduism believed that “Cremation is an extremely important ritual for Hindus. They believe it releases an individual’s spiritual essence from its transitory physical body so it can be reborn.” (http://factsanddetails.com/world.php?itemid=1343&catid=55&subcatid=354)

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Hannah Weaver says:

18 September 2012 at 9:12 am

While reading theis article, the desire to research further into one of the theories of how the library was destroyed came about. I was curious about what Julius Cesar might have done.In 48 BC, Caesar went to Egypt when he was suddenly cut off by an Egyptian fleet at Alexandria. Greatly outnumbered and in enemy territory, Caesar ordered the ships in the harbor to be set on fire. The fire spread and destroyed the Egyptian fleet, but it also destroyed some of the town including the library. Caesar wrote of starting the fire in the harbor but neglected to mention the burning of the Library. He was not in the habit of including unflattering facts while writing his own history. But Caesar was not without public detractors. If he was solely to blame for the disappearance of the Library it is very likely significant documentation on the affair would exist today.

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