We could be living in the year 3024, here’s why we’re not...

Imagine for a minute what the world would look like in the year 3024… That could have been a reality if the cataclysmic event of the burning of the Library of Alexandria had not happened. Built around 300 BC, it held anywhere from 40,000 to 400,00 scrolls and books, each one with extensive knowledge of the mysteries of the ancient world! (N, 2019)

Illustration of the ancient Library of Alexandria, Egypt. Fine Art Images/Heritage-Images/age fotostock

Information on literature, music, history, medicine, mathematics, natural science, philosophy and miscellany all from Assyria, Greece, Persia, Egypt, India, and many other nations was translated and housed by scholars. In a sense, the library was a database, similar to how to Internet is to us. (Mostafa El-Abbadi, 2019) As the library continued to grow, so did Alexandria’s reputation as a city of academics and scholars however, in 48 BC when Julius Caesar was cut off by a large fleet of Egyptian boats. He ordered them to be burned unfortunately, the flames quickly spread into the city of Alexandria and eventually to the library, where over half a million scrolls and books were lost. (Chesser, 2019) This number is often disputed; some historians even claim that the fire set humanity back 1,000 years! (Raskauskas, 2022) Although, put simply the library was the sum and destination of combined wisdom, intelligence and education, the progression of humanity halted by the fire.

What is even more interesting is the amount of knowledge the library held on architecture, for instance, it is theorized that information on how the pyramids of Giza were built could have been held in the library. Architects and historians are still puzzled to this day by how they were constructed and what their purpose was, so one can only imagine what our world could look like, had we not needed to rediscover the knowledge they had. What magnificent constructions could we have? And how different would architecture be?

Modern-day view of the Library of Celcus in Ephesus, Turkey, 117-132 CE. (Photo: Stock Photos from Pixels_Poet/Shutterstock)

The burning of the Library of Alexandria proves to us that it is important to appreciate everything we have and to understand that nothing is permanent. In the 21st century, we tend to believe that nothing can hold humanity back anymore. That we have taken over the world and there is nothing that will halt us however, when we look at this example we realise that even something as small as a fire can spread and become a monster affecting humanity in ways we may never understand.

Bibliography:

Mostafa El-Abbadi. (2019). Library of Alexandria | Description, Facts, & Destruction. In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Library-of-Alexandria

N, J. (2019, December 20). Historical Libraries: The Library of Alexandria | Mid-Continent Public Library. Www.mymcpl.org. https://www.mymcpl.org/blogs/historical-libraries-library-alexandria

Chesser, P. (2019). The Burning of the Library of Alexandria | eHISTORY. Osu.edu; The Ohio State University. https://ehistory.osu.edu/articles/burning-library-alexandria

Raskauskas, J. (2022, March 20). Did Humanity Lose 1000 Years? Medium. https://medium.com/@jonathanraskauskas/did-humanity-lose-1000-years-cd2fe8864849

Image Credits:

Cover Image: Bolwell, A. (2018, June 20). Everyday Life in the Future. Medium. https://hpmegatrends.com/everyday-life-in-the-future-385347c26ceb

‌What Happened to the Great Library of Alexandria? Learn What Happened. (n.d.). Mymodernmet.com. https://mymodernmet.com/library-of-alexandria/

‌Mostafa El-Abbadi. (2019). Library of Alexandria | Description, Facts, & Destruction. In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Library-of-Alexandria

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