The large libraries of the Assyrian and Egyptian monarchs were unknown to
the Greeks till the time of the Ptolemies. We do indeed hear of a
library formed by Peisistratus (Aul. Gel.
; Athen. 1.3
Aulus Gellius calls “the first public library;” of another
by Polycrates, the tyrant of Samos (Athen. 1.3
); and of private collectors we hear of Nicocrates
of Cyprus (Athen. 1.3
), Euclid the
Archon (Athen. 1.3
), Euthydemus (Xen.
4.2), and, Aristotle (Strabo,
13.1; Athen. 1.3
). (See ARISTOTLE in Dict. of Biog,
But it was the Macedonian rulers of Alexandria who first created a
public library on a large scale. Ptolemy Philadelphus collected books
from all parts of Greece and Asia, the larger number of which he
deposited in the Mouseion (or Museum), a building in the Bruchium
quarter of Alexandria, and the rest in the Serapeion. Zenodotus was the
first librarian, after him Callimachus (who made a catalogue called the
), then Eratosthenes, then
Apollonius, then Aristophanes. The number of volumes in the two
libraries seems to have been between 500,000 and 600,000 (Tzetzes,
Schol. in Aristoph.;
; Sen. de Tranq. An.
9; Josephus, J. AJ 12.2
). Books in foreign languages were
brought to Alexandria and translated for the purpose of being put in the
library, and the Septuagint version is said to have been made in this
way. Galen tells us that the autograph original copies of Aeschylus,
Sophocles, and Euripides were procured for the library.
This priceless collection suffered considerably in the siege of
Alexandria by Julius Caesar, in the destruction of the Bruchium quarter
by Aurelian 273 A.D., and by the edict of
Theodosius for the destruction of the Serapeion 389 A.D., until it was finally destroyed by the Arabs, 640 A.D.
(See Gibbon, 100.51.)
(On the Alexandrian Library, see Ritschl, Die Alexandrinischen
Bibliotheken; Opusc. Phil.
i. ; Parthey, Das
Birt, Das Antike
A rival library to that at Alexandria was started by the kings of
Pergamus, but was transported to Egypt by Antony, who made a present of
its 200,000 volumes to Cleopatra (Plut. Ant.
. On the library of Pergamus, see Wegener, De Aula Attalica
). By the 2nd or 1st cent. B.C. there
seem to have been libraries in most Greek towns. (Egger,
Callimaque et l'origine de la bibliographic;
The first public library in Rome [p. 1.298]
founded by Asinius Pollio (Plin. Nat.
; Isid. Orig.
6.5), and was in the atrium
Libertatis on Mount Aventine. Julius Caesar had projected a grand Greek
and Latin library, and had commissioned Varro to take measures for the
establishment of it; but the scheme was prevented by his death. (Suet. Jul. 44
.) The library of Pollio was
followed by that of Augustus, in the temple of Apollo on the Mount
Palatine (Suet. Aug. 29
; D. C. 53.1
), and another, Bibliothecae
Octavianae (so called from Augustus's sister Octavia), forming part of
the Porticus Octavia. (D. C. 49.43
; Plut. Marc. 30
.) There were also libraries
on the Capitol (Suet. Dom. 20
), in the
temple of Peace founded by Vespasian (Gel.
), in the palace of Tiberius
), besides the Ulpian library
(so called after its founder, Trajan), which was the most famous (Gel. 11.17
; D. C.
). This library was attached by Diocletian, as an ornament,
to his thermae.
Private collections of books were made at Rome soon after the Second
Punic War, sometimes from the spoils of Grecian or Eastern conquest.
Thus Aemilius Paulus brought to Rome the library of Perseus, king of
Macedonia ; Sulla, that of Apellicon of Teos; Lucullus, the extensive
one of the kings of Pontus, to which he gave the public free access.
(Plut. Aem. 28
6.5, 1.) The zeal of Cicero, Atticus, Varro, and
others in increasing their libraries is well known. (Cic. Att. 1.7
; ad Quint.
3.4; Gel. 3.10
Sammonicus possessed a library of 62,000 books. (Cap.
18.) Towards the end of the republic it became, in
fact, the fashion to have a room elegantly furnished as a library, and
reserved for that purpose. (Cp. Vitr. 6.7
However ignorant or unstudious a person might be, it was fashionable to
appear learned by having a library, though he might never even read the
titles of the books. Seneca (de Tranq. An.
the rage for mere book-collecting, and rallies those who were more
pleased with the outside than the inside. Lucian wrote a separate piece
to expose this common folly (πρὸς ἀπαίδευτον
καὶ πολλὰ βιβλία ὠνούμενον
We read of provincial libraries at Milan and Comum (Plin. Ep. 1.8
; Orelli, Inscr.
1172), Tibur (Gel. 9.14
), and Patrae (Id. 18.9).
A library generally had an eastern aspect (Vitr.
). In Herculaneum a library fully furnished was discovered.
Round the walls it had cases containing the books in rolls [LIBER
]; a rectangular case
occupied the centre of the room: these cases were numbered. It was a
very small room,--so small that a person by stretching out his arms
could touch both sides of it; yet it contained 1700 rolls. The cases
were called either armaria
] (Plin. Ep. 2.17
8), or loculamenta
(Seneca, de Tranq. An.
9), or foruli
). Asinius Pollio had set the
fashion in his public library of adorning the room with the portraits
and busts of celebrated men, as well as statues of Minerva and the
Muses. This example was soon followed in the private libraries of the
rich. The librarii a bibliotheca
who had charge of the
libraries, were usually slaves or freedmen. (Orell. 40, 41; Frontin. and
M. Aurel. Ep.
4.5; Isid. Gloss.;
35.2; Cic. Fam. 7.2. 3
Suet. Tib. 70
; Mart. ix. Ep.
Lipsius, De Bibliothecis Syntagma,
in Opera, vol. iii.; Becker, Gallus,
Göll, 2.418-24; Séraud, Les Livres dans
ch. 10; Bernhardy,