Main entry:

Canfora, Luciano, author. aut

Title & Author:

The vanished library / Luciano Canfora ; translated by Martin Ryle.

Edition:

California edition (corrected translation).

Publication:

Berkeley ; Los Angeles : University of California Press, 1990
©1987

Description:

ix, 205 pages : plans ; 23 cm

Series:

Hellenistic culture and society ; 7

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Chronology -- Part I. -- 1. The Pharaoh's Tomb -- 2. The Sacred Library -- 3. The Forbidden City -- 4. The Fugitive -- 5. The Universal Library -- 6. "I leave my books to Neleus" -- 7. The Symposium -- 8. In the Cage of the Muses -- 9. The Rival Library -- 10. Reappearance and Disappearance of Aristotle -- 11. The Second Visitor -- 12. War -- 13. The Third Visitor -- 14. The Library -- 15. The Fire -- 16. The Dialogue of John Philoponus with the Emir Amrou Ibn el-Ass while Amrou prepared to burn the Library -- Part II. The Sources -- 1. Gibbon -- 2. The Dialogues of Amrou -- 3. Revisions of Aristeas -- 4. Aulus Gellius -- 5. Isidore of Seville -- 6. Livy -- 7. Conjectures -- 8. Hecataeus -- 9. The Elusive Library -- 10. The Soma of Rameses -- 11. Kadesh -- 12. Strabo and Neleus -- 13. Library Traditions -- 14. Conflagrations -- 15. Epilogue.
Translated from Italian.

Summary:

"The Vanished Library: The Library of Alexandria, one of the wonders of the Ancient World, has haunted Western culture for over 2,000 years. The Ptolemaic kings of Egypt--successors of Alexander the Great--had a staggering ambition: to house all of the books ever written under one roof, and the story of the universal library and its destruction still has the power to move us. But what was the library, and where was it? Did it exist at all? Contemporary descriptions are vague and contradictory. The fate of the precious books themselves is a subject of endless speculation. Canfora resolves these puzzles in one of the most unusual books of classical history ever written. He recreates the world of Egypt and the Greeks in brief chapters that marry the craft of the novelist and the discipline of the historian. Anecdotes, conversations, and reconstructions give "The Vanished Library" the compulsion of an exotic tale, yet Canfora bases all of them on historical and literary sources, which he discusses with great panache. As the chilling conclusion to this elegant piece of historical detective work he establishes who burned the books. This volume has benefited from the collegial support of The Wake Forest University Stadium" -- Provided by publisher.

ISBN:

0520072553 (paperback)
9780520072558 (paperback)
0520073045 (hardcover)
9780520073043 (hardcover)

Subject:

Aliksāndrīnā (Library)
Alexandrian Library
Bibliothèque d'Alexandrie.
Libraries Egypt Alexandria History To 400.
Civilization, Classical.
Libraries.
Medicine, Ancient.
History, Ancient
Civilization history
Libraries history
Bibliothèques Égypte Alexandrie Histoire Jusqu'à 400.
Civilisation ancienne.
Bibliothèques.
Médecine ancienne.
libraries (buildings)
Antiquities
Intellectual life
Libraries History To 400.
Alexandria (Egypt) Intellectual life.
Alexandria (Egypt) Antiquities.
Egypt
Alexandria
Alexandrie (Égypte) Vie intellectuelle.
Alexandrie (Égypte) Antiquités.
Egypt Alexandria
Alexandria (Egypt) Libraries.

Form/genre:

History

Added entries:

Ryle, Martin H., translator.
Hellenistic culture and society ; 7.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 188355
Call No.: ID Z722.5.C3513; ID:90-B6489
Status: Available

Location: Library main 188356
Call No.: ID Z722.5.C3513; ID:90-B6489
Status: Available