Imperial Library of Constantinople
This article's factual accuracy is disputed. (March 2022) |
The Imperial Library of
History
In ancient Greece, the written word and most literature was transcribed onto
Agathon
Agathon the Reader was the first Reader, then the Librarian at
Contents of the library
Those working on the transfer of the ancient papyrus texts to parchment dedicated a great deal of time and attention to prioritizing what warranted being preserved. Older works like
For papyrus texts that were not translatable, the group attempted to preserve them from decay by encasing them in parchment.[citation needed]
The destruction of the library
Over the centuries, several fires in the Library of Constantinople destroyed much of the collection. The library was burnt in the year 473 and about 120,000 volumes were lost.[9] However, the attempts of Themistios and Constantius were not fruitless, as some works were saved and recopied and circulated through other texts.[10] Consequently, modern knowledge of Ancient Greek literature is greater than would be the case if not for their efforts.
After the fall of Constantinople on 12 April 1204, the library was allegedly destroyed by the Franks and Venetians of the
While there were many reports of texts surviving into the Ottoman era, no substantive portion of the library has ever been recovered. Joseph Dacre Carlyle was provided access in 1800 to the Seraglio, the supposed repository of post-Ottoman conquest surviving texts, but no texts from the Imperial Library were located.[15] A notable exception is the Archimedes Palimpsest, which surfaced in 1840, was translated in 1915 and was unaccountably found in a private collection and sold in 1998.
Existence of a single Library of Constantinople
Whether there was a single Imperial Library of Constantinople, resembling those of classical Rome and Alexandria, remains questionable. The historian Steven Runciman notes that no public libraries existed in Constantinople after the 5th century, although there were numerous church and monastical ones.[16][failed verification] While it is probable that scholars were given access to at least some of these, their content would have been mainly theological. The Byzantine Empire was a highly literate society by medieval standards but the lay libraries that remained in existence were privately owned collections.
See also
- Magnaura
- Destruction of libraries
- Monastery of Stoudios
- University of Constantinople
Bibliography
- Notes
- ^ ISSN 2159-3159.
- ^ Harris 1999, p. 75
- ^ "Preserving The Intellectual Heritage – Preface".
- ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology edited by William Smith v. 1, page 66 [1] Archived 2011-05-14 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Conciliorum Nova Collectio a Mansi, vol. xii. p. 189
- ^ Christian, Albany James (1867), "Agathon (4)", in Smith, William (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, Boston, p. 66, archived from the original on 2011-05-14, retrieved 2010-10-04
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b "Preserving The Intellectual Heritage—Preface – Council on Library and Information Resources". www.clir.org. Retrieved 2016-02-28.
- ISBN 978-1510733329.
- ^ Harris 1999, pp. 72–73.
- ^ Harris 1999, p. 72.
- ISBN 9781602397064.
- ISBN 9780838906095.
- ISBN 9780826429902.
- ^ Donald Queller, The Fourth Crusade, n. 19 p. 291
- ^ "近年の葬儀|家族葬が増えている理由".
- ^ Steven Runciman, page 82 "Byzantine Civilisation", Library of Congress CCN: 56-6570
- References
- Harris, Michael H. (1999). History of Libraries of the Western World (1999 ed.). ISBN 9780810877153. – Total pages: 159