Question for the Day: Oldest Library
Jan. 5th, 2008 12:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
james_davis_nicollWould anyone out there know offhand which is the first library to have been established?
james_davis_nicolljames_davis_nicoll
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Date: 2008-01-05 09:53 pm (UTC)My fave is Pergamum, in modern-day Turkey. The library was so good that the Egyptians stopped selling papyrus to Pergamum, prompting the creation of parchment (called "pergamum" after the city). Mark Antony is said to have given Cleopatra all of the volumes of Pergamum as a wedding gift, looting the library and emptying its shelves.
I saw the facade of the Celsus Library at Ephesus (Turkey) last May; it was opened sometime in the 100s AD. It paled by comparison with its neighbor Pergamum, but even the 2000-year-old ruin was stunning. (The library was immediately across the main avenue from the most notorious bordello of the city...a juxtaposition that had us giggling the rest of the way through the marble ruins. "Just going down to the library to...study...dear. Back in a couple of hours!")