What actually destroyed the Library of Alexandria?
Caesar's fire, Aurelian's war, the Christian destruction of the Serapeum and a caliph's order have all been blamed for the loss of the ancient Library of Alexandria.
7 established, 3 disputed, 2 debunked, 2 unresolved. We do not pick an answer; the evidence places each claim. How we decide
46 citations from 12 independent sources - 34 echo the same voices and count once. Graded B1-D1.
Added 29 Sept 2026
What the four states mean
- Establishedsupported, uncontested
- Disputedcredible sources disagree
- Debunkedrefuted by the evidence
- Unresolvedno settled answer
Established 7supported, uncontested
Books were burned in Alexandria during Caesar's war there.▰▰▰▱▱ very likely4 points
Supports- 700,000 books, brought together by the unremitting energy of the Ptolemaïc kings, were burned in the Alexandrine war, when the city was sacked under the dictator Caesar.Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae 22.16 (Loeb translation, LacusCurtius) primary
- many places were set on fire, with the result that the docks and the storehouses of grain among other buildings were burned, and also the library, whose volumes, it is said, were of the greatest number and excellence.Cassius Dio, Roman History 42.38 (Loeb translation, LacusCurtius) primary
- Forty thousand books were burned at AlexandriaSeneca, Of Peace of Mind (De Tranquillitate Animi) 9, trans. Aubrey Stewart (Wikisource) primary
- During the combat orders were issued to set fire to the royal fleet, which by chance was drawn on shore. The flames spread to part of the city and there burned four hundred thousand books stored in a building which happened to be nearby.Orosius, Histories Against the Pagans 6.15 (attalus.org) primary
Not very much was left in the library for the Arabs to destroy when they conquered Egypt.▰▰▰▱▱ likely3 points
Supports- I do not believe that when the Arabs conquered Egypt there was very much left in the library for them to destroy.Hugh Lloyd-Jones, reply to Bernard Lewis, The New York Review of Books (27 September 1990) analysis
- There is good evidence that the library itself was destroyed long before the Arabs arrived in Egypt.Bernard Lewis, 'The Vanished Library', letter in The New York Review of Books (27 September 1990) analysis
- both the Great Library of Alexandria and the Mouseion were likely long gone by then.Wikipedia, 'Library of Alexandria' summary
Strabo's description of the Mouseion does not mention the Library.▰▰▰▱▱ likely2 points
Supports- Why does Strabo not mention the Library?Roger S. Bagnall, 'Alexandria: Library of Dreams', Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 146.4 (2002) analysis
- Despite mentioning the Mouseion, Strabo does not mention the Library separatelyWikipedia, 'Library of Alexandria' summary
Under Aurelian, strife in Alexandria destroyed the city's walls, and the city lost the greater part of the district called Bruchion.▰▰▰▱▱ likely2 points
Supports- under the rule of Aurelian, the quarrels of the citizens turned into deadly strife; then her walls were destroyed and she lost the greater part of the district called Bruchion, which had long been the abode of distinguished men.Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae 22.16 (Loeb translation, LacusCurtius) primary
- During the course of the fighting, Aurelian's forces destroyed the Broucheion quarter of the city in which the main library was located.Wikipedia, 'Library of Alexandria' summary
At the request of Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, the emperor ordered the city's pagan temples demolished, and Theophilus destroyed the Serapeum.▰▰▰▱▱ likely3 points
Supports- At the solicitation of Theophilus bishop of Alexandria the emperor issued an order at this time for the demolition of the heathen temples in that city; commanding also that it should be put in execution under the direction of Theophilus.Socrates Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History 5.16 (New Advent) primary
- Then he destroyed the SerapeumSocrates Scholasticus, Ecclesiastical History 5.16 (New Advent) primary
- In retaliation, the Christians vandalized and demolished the SerapeumWikipedia, 'Library of Alexandria' summary
The earliest source for the story of the library burnt with 'Umar's permission is 'Abd al-Latif, a Baghdadi physician who was in Egypt in 1203.▰▰▱▱▱ likely1 source
Supports- The earliest source is a Baghdadi physician called ‘Abd al-Latif, who was in Egypt in 1203, and in a brief account of his journey refers in passing to “the library which ‘Amr ibn al-‘As burnt with the permisison of ‘Umar.”Bernard Lewis, 'The Vanished Library', letter in The New York Review of Books (27 September 1990) analysis
Papyrus rolls are attested remaining in use for a century and some for two or three hundred years, and Alexandria's climate was humid enough to be detrimental to books.▰▰▱▱▱ likely2 points
Supports- We have plenty of evidence for papyrus rolls remaining in use for a century, and some for survival as long as two or even three hundred years. But that is about the limit, as far as we can see.Roger S. Bagnall, 'Alexandria: Library of Dreams', Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 146.4 (2002) analysis
- It has a Mediterranean climate, not a Saharan one, with humidity enough to be detrimental to books.Roger S. Bagnall, 'Alexandria: Library of Dreams', Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 146.4 (2002) analysis
Disputed 3credible sources disagree
Modern scholars disagree over whether the ancient figures for the number of volumes lost in the Alexandrine war deserve credence.▰▰▰▱▱ likely2 against6 points
Supports- the unanimous testimony of ancient records declares that 700,000 books, brought together by the unremitting energy of the Ptolemaïc kings, were burned in the Alexandrine warAmmianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae 22.16 (Loeb translation, LacusCurtius) primary
- 400,000 volumes were destroyed in the Alexandrine war.J. C. Rolfe, translator's note 258 to Ammianus 22.16 (Loeb Classical Library, LacusCurtius) analysis
- modern scholars, with a bent for gigantism, have suspected this of being an error for 400,000Roger S. Bagnall, 'Alexandria: Library of Dreams', Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 146.4 (2002) analysis
- See J. C. Rolfe’s note in the Loeb Ammianus (2:302 n. 1), confidently and precisely informing us thatRoger S. Bagnall, 'Alexandria: Library of Dreams', Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 146.4 (2002) analysis
Against- In sum, the ancient figures for the size of the Library or the number of volumes lost in the Alexandrine War do not deserve any credence.Roger S. Bagnall, 'Alexandria: Library of Dreams', Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 146.4 (2002) analysis
- It is reasonably obvious that the ancient sources thought the libraries were enormous but had no good figures to work with.Roger S. Bagnall, 'Alexandria: Library of Dreams', Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 146.4 (2002) analysis
The Library disappeared through the end of the interest that created it and a lack of sustained maintenance, rather than through a single destructive event.▰▰▰▱▱ roughly even chance1 against2 points
Supports- It is hard to give up villains, but it looks as if we must abandon the search for some individual or small group to blame. The disappearance of the Library is the inevitable result of the end of the impetus and interest that brought it into being and of the lack of the kind of sustained management and maintenance that would have seen it through successive transitions in the physical media by means of which the texts could have been transmitted.Roger S. Bagnall, 'Alexandria: Library of Dreams', Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 146.4 (2002) analysis
Against- If the Mouseion and Library still existed at this time, they were almost certainly destroyed or damaged during the attack.Wikipedia, 'Library of Alexandria' summary
One interpretation holds that the 'Umar story served to justify Saladin's breaking up of the Fatimid collections.▰▰▰▱▱ unlikely2 against5 points
Supports- One of Saladin’s first tasks after the restoration of Sunnism in Cairo was to break up the Fatimid collections and treasures and sell their contents at public auction.Bernard Lewis, 'The Vanished Library', letter in The New York Review of Books (27 September 1990) analysis
- The myth provided an obvious justification.Bernard Lewis, 'The Vanished Library', letter in The New York Review of Books (27 September 1990) analysis
- According to this interpretation, the message of the myth was not that the Caliph ‘Umar was a barbarian because he destroyed a library, but that destroying a library could be justified, because the revered Caliph ‘Umar had approved of it.Bernard Lewis, 'The Vanished Library', letter in The New York Review of Books (27 September 1990) analysis
Against- According to Diana Delia, "Omar's rejection of pagan and Christian wisdom may have been devised and exploited by conservative authorities as a moral exemplum for Muslims to follow in later, uncertain times, when the devotion of the faithful was once again tested by proximity to nonbelievers".Wikipedia, 'Library of Alexandria' summary
- An answer sometimes given, and certainly in accord with a currently popular school of epistemology, would see the story as anti-Islamic propaganda, designed by hostile elements to blacken the good name of Islam by showing the revered Caliph ‘Umar as a destroyer of libraries.Bernard Lewis, 'The Vanished Library', letter in The New York Review of Books (27 September 1990) analysis
Debunked 2refuted by the evidence
A story holds that the great library of Alexandria was destroyed by the Arabs after their conquest of the city, by order of the Caliph 'Umar, its books used to heat the furnaces of the city's bathhouses.Refuted by
these originate centuries after the fact and are surely fiction.
refuted2 against4 pointsThe claim rested on- the story of how the great library of Alexandria was destroyed by the Arabs after their conquest of the city in 641 AD, by order of the Caliph ‘Umar.Bernard Lewis, 'The Vanished Library', letter in The New York Review of Books (27 September 1990) analysis
- The books in the library, the story continues, were accordingly distributed among the four thousand bathhouses of the city, and used to heat the furnaces, which they kept going for almost six months.Bernard Lewis, 'The Vanished Library', letter in The New York Review of Books (27 September 1990) analysis
Refuted by- these originate centuries after the fact and are surely fiction.Roger S. Bagnall, 'Alexandria: Library of Dreams', Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 146.4 (2002) analysis
- By far the strongest argument against the story, however, is the slight and late evidence on which it rests.Bernard Lewis, 'The Vanished Library', letter in The New York Review of Books (27 September 1990) analysis
Caesar's fire destroyed the great library of Alexandria.Refuted by
There was certainly still some substantial library in Roman Alexandria.
refuted3 against4 pointsThe claim rested on- when the enemy tried to cut off his fleet, he was forced to repel the danger by using fire, and this spread from the dockyards and destroyed the great library;Plutarch, Life of Caesar 49 (Loeb translation, LacusCurtius) primary
Refuted by- There was certainly still some substantial library in Roman Alexandria.Roger S. Bagnall, 'Alexandria: Library of Dreams', Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 146.4 (2002) analysis
- he provided for having the libraries, which were destroyed by fire, renewed at very great expense, seeking everywhere for copies of the lost works, and sending scribes to Alexandria to transcribe and correct them.Suetonius, Life of Domitian 20 (Loeb translation, LacusCurtius) primary
- The damage done by Caesar has been greatly exaggerated.J. C. Rolfe, translator's note 258 to Ammianus 22.16 (Loeb Classical Library, LacusCurtius) analysis
Unresolved 2no settled answer
A library may have survived in the Serapeum until the Serapeum itself was destroyed.▰▰▰▱▱ likely2 against5 points
Supports- In this were invaluable librariesAmmianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae 22.16 (Loeb translation, LacusCurtius) primary
- Neither Caesar’s fire nor Aurelian’s destruction would necessarily have affected the Serapeum; thus a library could have survived in Alexandria until the destruction of the Serapeum itself.Roger S. Bagnall, 'Alexandria: Library of Dreams', Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 146.4 (2002) analysis
- in some of the temples there remain up to the present time book chests, which we ourselves have seen, and that, as we are told, these were emptied by our own men in our own day when these temples were plunderedOrosius, Histories Against the Pagans 6.15 (attalus.org) primary
Against- Whether an actual library still existed at this point, and if so how extensive it was, is not recorded.Wikipedia, 'Library of Alexandria' summary
- sources probably written after the Serapeum's destruction speak of its collection of literature in the past tense.Wikipedia, 'Library of Alexandria' summary
Aurelian's recapture of Alexandria from the Palmyrenes in 273 was probably the occasion of the major destruction of the Palace Library.▰▰▰▱▱ roughly even chance1 against3 points
Supports- Recently there have been signs of a consensus in formation that the most likely date ofRoger S. Bagnall, 'Alexandria: Library of Dreams', Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 146.4 (2002) analysis
- major destruction for the Palace Library is 273, with Aurelian’s recapture of Alexandria from the Palmyrenes the occasion.Roger S. Bagnall, 'Alexandria: Library of Dreams', Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 146.4 (2002) analysis
Against- But there is no direct evidence concerning the Library in the ancient sources for this; the argument, rather, is that the palace area was devastated at this time and the great Library was probably a victim of this larger destruction.Roger S. Bagnall, 'Alexandria: Library of Dreams', Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 146.4 (2002) analysis
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