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Life and Fate of the Ancient Library of Alexandria
El-Abbadi, Mostafa
250 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 1, 2019
[Disclaimer: this review was written some time after my completion of the book. Please judge accordingly.]
I read this as part of my research for an academic paper on this topic. Much of the information of this book is useful and helpful for the subject. Despite its fame, there actually aren’t a huge number of recent academic books in this area. I have found some anthology editions useful, namely The Library of Alexandria: Centre of Learning in the Ancient World and Ancient Libraries, which are honestly more important scholarship than this, but this is still a useful ‘bridge’ between general understanding of the Library and a deeper consideration.
The actual scholarship and consideration of the issue is valid scholarship, and in particular I liked that he was willing to draw direct connections to the libraries of the Caliphate (which, I feel, have been overlooked as successors, despite being the most obvious examples of the Library’s impact). However, as other reviewers have noted, he does get carried away in some chapters nearing the end with romanticism: El-Abbadi seems attached to the topic of the tragic demise of the Library, given the focus of his other book, What Happened to the Ancient Library of Alexandria?, which I felt weakened the book as an academic texts. Perhaps breaking into monologue would be more passable in a pop history book, which, given the regular citation of sources and approach to the topic, does not seem to be the aim here. It also seems counterproductive to his cause: to feel the weight of the Library’s tragic destruction, we have to understand what it actually was and what was so valuable about it in the first place.
It’s fine for writing to be clear and straightforward, but that doesn’t mean the ideas have to be. He ended up going for a speculative and simplistic view towards the end, but returns to a more rational approach in the epilogue, when he looks at the remains of the Library and their treatment by Arab peoples in the later period. He manages to redeem the book by bringing it back to the factual basis towards the end while not losing his enthusiasm. However, despite his own cultural background, I hope he can understand that it’s possible for the Arabs to have both played a part in destroying the library and in taking inspiration from it to create their own versions of the institution; in fact, this paradoxical habit of condemnation and destruction in parallel with imitation is something I hope to begin investigating myself.
I read this as part of my research for an academic paper on this topic. Much of the information of this book is useful and helpful for the subject. Despite its fame, there actually aren’t a huge number of recent academic books in this area. I have found some anthology editions useful, namely The Library of Alexandria: Centre of Learning in the Ancient World and Ancient Libraries, which are honestly more important scholarship than this, but this is still a useful ‘bridge’ between general understanding of the Library and a deeper consideration.
The actual scholarship and consideration of the issue is valid scholarship, and in particular I liked that he was willing to draw direct connections to the libraries of the Caliphate (which, I feel, have been overlooked as successors, despite being the most obvious examples of the Library’s impact). However, as other reviewers have noted, he does get carried away in some chapters nearing the end with romanticism: El-Abbadi seems attached to the topic of the tragic demise of the Library, given the focus of his other book, What Happened to the Ancient Library of Alexandria?, which I felt weakened the book as an academic texts. Perhaps breaking into monologue would be more passable in a pop history book, which, given the regular citation of sources and approach to the topic, does not seem to be the aim here. It also seems counterproductive to his cause: to feel the weight of the Library’s tragic destruction, we have to understand what it actually was and what was so valuable about it in the first place.
It’s fine for writing to be clear and straightforward, but that doesn’t mean the ideas have to be. He ended up going for a speculative and simplistic view towards the end, but returns to a more rational approach in the epilogue, when he looks at the remains of the Library and their treatment by Arab peoples in the later period. He manages to redeem the book by bringing it back to the factual basis towards the end while not losing his enthusiasm. However, despite his own cultural background, I hope he can understand that it’s possible for the Arabs to have both played a part in destroying the library and in taking inspiration from it to create their own versions of the institution; in fact, this paradoxical habit of condemnation and destruction in parallel with imitation is something I hope to begin investigating myself.
December 18, 2025
I like the way he writes. Best historical, non-fictional book about the Library of Alexandria
December 21, 2016
This book was very nice and informative until chapter 5 "The fate of the Library and the Mouseion". It was clear, rich and was written rather simply which was nice and quick to read. But then, the historian became a simple man. Being a historian means that one has to put all passions aside and focus on facts. He let his personal ideas and judgements out: the writting somehow became full of bitterness and reproach which was really annoying. It was as if the author was angry at anyone who had dared to suggest that part of the Library may have been destroyed by the Arabs (as if they hadn't done worst things during their conquests than burn books). Then he seemed to put all the blame on 'christian fundamentalists'. That became a bit ridiculous. But before that it was nice. So 2 stars.
August 3, 2014
The first chapter of this book was the perfect opening and setting. It was also short and very interesting. The second chapter, however, was very long and I felt it had more names of people as well as reference and talk about Greece and barely any points related to the Library of Alexandria. This chapter was very heavy and complete bore!
I did not entirely finish the book to be honest - the second chapter put me off.
It is a study, but I felt that much of the second chapter in particular was irrelevant to the topic.
I did not entirely finish the book to be honest - the second chapter put me off.
It is a study, but I felt that much of the second chapter in particular was irrelevant to the topic.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews