In 295 BC, the Egyptian Ruler Ptolemy I Soter, commissioned the
construction of the Great Library of Alexandria (one of the cultural
wonders of the ancient world). In the following years, local scientists
traveled through the region to purchase books for the library. The
Library held many copies of important books of the ancient world as
well as the originals of Euripides and Sophocles.
All human knowledge of the ancient world was stored in the Library,
not just of Egypt or the Greek territories, for Ptolemy I sent his
representatives throughout the known world to collect reference
works.In 48 BC, the Library and at least 40,000 scrolls were burnt when
Julius Caesar attacked the city (during the Alexandrian war) and a huge
fire swallowed up the ancient Library
It would seem that this was the end of the fabled library and thus the
end of a legend, but 2,000 years later, after 10 years of planning,
the Egyptian government and UNESCO have combined their efforts in
order to revive the ancient Library. The Alexandria Library has now
risen from the ashes of antiquity so that it might once more lead the
world as a cultural center and a focal point for knowledge not only in
Egypt, bur for the world as a whole.
As part of the library, a new and very important antiquities museum has
been created in order to highlight the history of Alexandria across
the ages. It specifically highlights the cultural era of the
Hellenistic world, providing exhibits related to knowledge and the
arts.
The museum was ceremonially opened in January 2003. It now contains
rare artifacts from the Pharaonic, Greek, Roman, Coptic and Islamic
eras. These artifacts are displayed in chronological order,
representing the evolution of writing, the birth of scholarship and
librarianship, and the ancient arts with informative displays
presenting mosaic, portraits, glassware, pottery, coins, textile and
much more.
The museum is housed in section B1 of the Library complex on the
ground floor of the main building. After passing through the security
gate of the Library, take the stairs that lead down to the ground
floor. On the right side of the stairs is the ticket office. General
admission costs 10 LE for foreign tourists, and 4 LE for Egyptians.
The admission charge includes the services of a guide, who will
conduct a tour through the long corridors. The guides are proficient
in English, French and German (and of course, Arabic).
Within the museum, one will immediately be astonished by the
noticeable harmony between the interior design of the museum and the
displays within. Finely coordinated exhibits are well lit and
aesthetically pleasing.
The moment one steps inside the museum a beautiful Tableau hanged on
the wall catches the eye. It is of a school girl, who sits on a stool
copying out her lesson with a wooden stylus on a waxed tablet. It says
of the statue that, "Education for girls as well as boys flourished at
the ancient Library of Alexandria as attested by this Terra cotta
statue dated circa 200 BC".
Lets explore the museum and see what sort of ancient wonders reveal themselves.
Pharaonic Antiquities
In the halls dedicated to ancient Egyptian artifacts, displays teach
us particularly about the development of writing. Here, we find various
statues of ancient Egyptian scribes and there, a collection of
writing tools from the Pharaonic period. There are displays devoted to
papyrus with an illustrated history of its use in Egypt as well as
documentation on the evolution of writing through the period.
Alexandria's Sunken Antiquities
There is also space provided for Alexandria's sunken antiquities. It
is believed that, due to a series of violent earthquakes, the northern
parts of the city were lost to the Mediterranean sea. Archaeological
exploration to recover these antiquities actually began in the gulf of
Abu Qir in 1933 and in the Royal district (eastern harbor) in 1961,
when the Egyptian Kamal Aboul Sadat reported seeing sunken monuments in
the depths of the eastern port area, which faces Qaitbey Fort.
At first, divers retrieved a few pots, but soon they were also bringing
up gold coins dating to the Byzantine period. Then they discovered a
granite statue of Isis measuring 7.5 meters in height, spurring
additional interest. In 1968, the Egyptian government requested
assistance from UNESCO in the development of a map of the sunken
antiquities in the eastern port area. UNESCO responded positively and
the resulting map became the guiding reference for current work in the
area.
In 1993, The European Marine Institute, a French expedition under the
direction of famed under water excavator Frank Goddio, began work in
both the eastern port area and at Abu Kir. The expedition was comprised
of thirty Egyptian and French divers, and their work revealed
thousands of items in the shadows of the Qaitbey Fort, including
Pillars, crowns and statues. Jean Yves Empreur, one of the French
archeologists, explains that the finds were almost certainly the
remains of the ancient Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria, which was one
of the wonders of the ancient world, toppled by one of Alexandria's
ancient earthquakes.
Many of the artifacts from these underwater excavations are now in the
museum's collection. These artifacts require special treatment due to
their submergence in salt water which results in salt accumulations
in the epidermis (skin) of the stone. After being removed from the sea,
they are immediately placed in water tanks with the same solution of
sodium as in the seawater. Then the sodium solution in the tank is
gradually reduced, which results in the sodium within the artifacts
slowly being released into the fresher water. Eventually, after about
six months, the artifact is cleansed of its salt content and the
process is complete. Only then can the piece be exposed to the open
air without damage.
Greco-Roman Antiquities
Of course, the Alexandria Library was at the center of the Greco-Roman
world, hosting both scientist and philosophers. Here, Archimedes
invented his pump still in use today and known as Archimedes’s screw.
Euclid wrote “Elements” (the base of Euclidean geometry) and “ Optics”
(a treatise of geometrical optics). They were not alone and many
famous scholars worked to, for example, isolate the function of the
heart, calculate the circumference of the earth and even develop the
concept of the leap year. In fact, the loss of the library in ancient
times basically resulted in the loss of the combined knowledge of the
ancient world.
Within the Greco-Roman section of the library we find many statues of
the most important Greek philosophers, orators, writers and historians,
together with other artifacts of the period. Here, there is a glass
cabinet which displays a collection of Golden Jewelry, rings and coins
discovered at Abu Kir (1999-2000), some of which date back to the
Greek Period.
Coptic and Christian Antiquities
Textile were the most distinguished product of Coptic Christian art.
Thousands of pieces of textiles were found in Egypt, dating back to the
Roman, Byzantine and Islamic eras. Most of them were woven of wool
and flax and were characterized by the richness of their decorations
which comprised geometric, floral designs, human figures, Christian
motifs and even scenes from mythology.
Coptic textiles had many uses during Egypt's Christian period,
including bed sheets and covers, towels, napkins, tablecloths and
carrying sacks, while in churches and other public buildings, these
decorative fabrics were used for curtains and hangings.
Most commonly, textiles during the Coptic period were used for
clothing which, during that time period, most frequently took the form
of a tunic, or rectangular shirt-like garment which was usually
fastened at the waist by a belt. Textiles were also used for belts,
cloaks and shawls. The tunics of Copts was most often made of plain
wool or linen and adorned with either a single vertical band (clavus)
that ran down the center of the garment, or two vertical bands (clavi)
that fell over each shoulder and ran down to the knee or the bottom
of the garment on both the front and back.
Islamic Antiquities
The Library of Alexandria's Museum also contains items from the Islamic
Period. This was a period when Alexandria experienced its loss of
status as the Capital of Egypt to what would eventually become Cairo.
The museum contains collections of Arabesque wooden windows, carpets,
tablets and lanterns.
Notably, in the seventh century AD, glassmaking flourished in Egypt
and glassmakers inherited many of the techniques of their forbearers in
the Byzantine and Sasanian empires. These included glassblowing, the
use of molds, the manipulation of molten glass with tools, and the
decorative application of molten glass. Islamic glass production from
the seventh through the fourteenth century was also greatly innovative
and witnessed glorious phases, such as those of superb relief-cut glass
and spectacular gilded and enameled objects, that established its
supremacy in glassmaking throughout the world.
Antiquities of the Bibliotheca Alexandrian Site
Prior to building the new Library of Alexandria, excavations were
conducted on its future site in 1993. From this archaeological
investigation, several unique Mosaic pieces immerged.
The Hall of the Afterlife
For the first time, in the Alexandrian museum, there is a hall devoted
to the mummification process which not only provides information on
ancient Egyptian mummification, but on this funerary practice in
Predynastic times and during the Greek and Roman Periods.
Currently this hall has on display three mummies from different eras
(ancient Pharaonic, Ptolemaic and Roman). One is the coffin of an
individual known as Aba, son of Ankh-hor, who was the governor of
Upper Egypt and head of its treasury. This wooden coffin is decorated
with colored designs and hieroglyphic inscriptions including the Book
of the Dead. It still retains much of its original colors. The mummy
was brought from the excavation carried out by the Belgian mission at
Asasif Necropolis (part of the Tombs of the Nobles) on the West Bank of
ancient Thebes (modern Luxor). The exhibit includes four canopic jars
that were used to preserve the organs of the deceased.
A second wooden coffin belonged to a Greek woman, who was also
mummified. It is decorated with colored representations as well,
including depictions of a winged goddess Isis. During this period, we
know that it took only forty days for the mummification process, as
opposed to the seventy days required during more ancient times.
The third mummy, without coffin, is that of a Roman woman wrapped in linen bandages and covered with five pieces of cartonnage.
There is also a collection of small funerary figures. These are often
referred to interchangeably as Shabti, Shawabti and Ushabti, though in
reality each of these terms refers to certain types of funerary
figures specific to a time frame or location.
Initially, these magical figures were believed to act as a substitute
for the deceased himself, although later they came to be regarded as
mere servants in the afterlife. Hence, at first they were sometimes
fashioned either as mummies or as living persons dressed in fine linen
garb, but in later periods their appearance changed more to that of
servants. A spell for this purpose appeared in the Middle Kingdom Coffin
Texts, and from the New Kingdom the figures were inscribed with
Chapter six of the Book of the Dead.
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