The Great Library of Alexandria

Today on Far Future Horizons we will wander through the halls of the Great Library of the Ptolemaic-Egyptian city of Alexandria. It was once the greatest centre of research and learning of the ancient world and served as the home of the greatest minds of classical civilization. Hipparchus, Euclid, Galen and Hypatia strolled through its magnificent galleries and made use of its fantastic collection of half a million papyrus scrolls encompassing the knowledge of classical antiquity.

The Library of Alexandria was the citadel and epitome of the Ionian Awakening that held the promise of creating a brilliant scientific civilization two thousand years ahead of schedule. But, alas it was not to be, for it had fallen victim to the ignorance and intellectual decay that destroyed the great civilizations of classical antiquity and plunged the western world into a dark age lasting a thousand years. And, it was the rediscovery of much of this lost knowledge that would usher in the Renaissance and the great age of enlightenment that would give rise to the modern scientific age we live in today.

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Ancient Mysteries - The Library of Alexandria

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Carl Sagan on The Great Library of Alexandria and Hypatia 

Hypatia was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher in Roman Egypt who was the first well-documented woman in mathematics. As head of the Platonist school at Alexandria, she also taught philosophy and astronomy. She taught and studied at The Great Library of Alexandria and furthered her works in mathematics and astronomy.

Carl Sagan on The Great Library of Alexandria and Hypatia from The Great Library Of Alexandria on Vimeo.


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