n The library at Alexandria was said to have been a marvel, the greatest collection of scholarship in the ancient world. It was founded by Ptolemy I, the general that Alexander the Great installed as ruler of the city named after himself. It was Ptolemy’s son, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who had the vision of expanding the library to make it the largest collection imaginable.
n Under Ptolemy II and those who followed, the library was expanded tremendously. Ptolemy II’s vision was to create a library with every Greek work ever written as well as with as many works from other parts of the Western world as could be gathered together.
n The number of volumen, or scrolls, in the library has been estimated at anywhere between 300,000 and 700,000.
n A huge number of people were employed in preparing scrolls for the library, in as much as each scroll to enter the library had to be copied by hand. Manuscripts were bought or borrowed or taken from all over the Western world to be copied and placed in the library (although it was rather common to copy an original manuscript and then return the copy to the owner and keep the original for the library).
n Ptolemy II often asked for manuscripts from foreign powers in return for traded goods, and manuscripts were often demanded from citizens to pay debts to the government.
n In addition, any time that manuscripts were found on trading ships in the port at Alexandria, the manuscripts were taken and copied and added to the library. It was in these ways that so many manuscripts were collected in the library at Alexandria.
