Who Destroyed the Library of Alexandria?

Rounding up the prime suspects

Photo by abdullah ali on Unsplash

The Great Library of Alexandria was one of the most important centers of learning in the ancient world. When it was destroyed, we can only imagine how much progress we lost.

Unanswered questions persist concerning the library’s destruction. Who was responsible? Was there a fire? Invading troops? Religious fanatics who could not bear the spread of knowledge?

Maybe it was a combo of all of them. It might surprise some of us to learn that the library’s devastation wasn’t a one-off event. Is it possible to determine who destroyed the library? According to the historical sources, the library suffered devastation at various times, but we can narrow it down to three major perpetrators.

Julius Caesar, Theophilus, and Caliph Omar are the prime suspects. Let us examine each of the accused’s involvement in the library’s destruction.

Before we discuss the roles of the people accused of destroying the library, we need to know a few facts about the ancient world’s fount…