The Rise and Fall of Alexandria

What happened to one of the most renowned intellectual havens in history?

Founded in c.331 BCE by Alexander the Great, the city of Alexandria in northern Egypt was home to some of the intellectual centres of the ancient world. It was well known for its famous Great Library, which was built in c.295 BCE to collect all of the world’s knowledge under one roof. The Great Library was filled with tens of thousands – possibly hundreds of thousands – of scrolls and attracted scholars from far and wide, becoming a centre of Hellenism.

However, in 48 BCE, Julius Caesar laid siege to the city and set its harbour fleet on fire, the flames spreading and destroying at least part of the Great Library. We know that some of the Library’s collection was also held at a library at the Serapeum, but this was torn down in 391 CE. As for the city itself, Alexandria was home to Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Jews and it could be a volatile place to live, with tensions running high and violent riots often erupting.

In the wake of Hypatia’s tragic murder, many philosophers of the Greek and Roman traditions fled to Athens, while many future Neoplatonists became even more critical of Christianity. Her death is often cited as the turning point for when Alexandria’s status as a city of learning began to decline, but it’s worth noting that Alexandrian philosophical tradition did continue, for example with philosophers such as Hierocles of Alexandria and Olympiodorus the Younger.