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This, small and unpretentious work
gives a close view of the private and public libraries
established in Greece and the Roman empires from the third
millennium down to the break-up of the Roman hegemony, the early
Byzantine period, 4th and 5th century AD when the spread of
Christianity and Islam had changed the course of history. The
portion dealing with the destruction of libraries by militant
Arabs in the Eastern Empire is most illuminating. The study
demonstrates a first-class meticulous scholarship in identifying
the ancient Roman and Greek libraries by using closely the
archaeological and literary evidence. The notes, covering 17
pages, give vital information on the places and personalities
connected with the libraries. They are copious but, regrettably,
there is no bibliography. Nor is there a concluding chapter
summing up the author's research-findings on the subject.
A library is
not a mere building but a place which provides a variety of
books to the readers for their delight, instruction, and what
Francis Bacon calls ornament. The ancients were quite conscious
of the space problem for the libraries which even faces us
today. That is why the libraries were built on a grand scale as
to give to the readers' sufficient place, away from the
book-shelves in order to provide it for, their best use.
According to
the author, the practice of writing existed in Egypt and
Mesopotamia before 3000 BC which the Sumerians were to perfect
later. In the libraries there was an extensive use of clay
tablets in Mesopotamia, Syria, Asia Minor, Persia, Greece and
Crete which broadly remained in use from the half-a-millennium
down the beginning of the Christian era. The clay tablets
referred to myths and religious rites, and there existed a few
catalogues giving some idea of the holdings. This first library
was set up by Tiglath, Assyrians great ruler, 1115 to 1077 B.C.
which was extended by Asharbanipal, Assyria's last important
ruler (668-627).
The Greeks had
a deep and abiding interest in intellectual endeavour, and threw
up a galaxy of outstanding poets, philosophers and dramatists.
By the middle of 5th century BC Athens became a cultural centre
of Greece. Reading was common by the end of 5th century, and
Homer's poetry was popular. By the end of this century, a public
library was set up in Athens. Aristotle had the unique
distinction of owning a personal library, and he taught the
kings how to build a library and organise it. But the most
glorious of libraries was that of one public library established
in Alexandria around 200 BC, the greatest of its kind promoting
anti-disciplinary studies. Casson states that it was due to the
initiative of the Ptolemies that quite a number of leading men,
writers and scientists settled in Alexandria including Euclid,
Strato, the foremost physician Hippocrates, Eratosthenes, the
distinguished geographer, and even Archimedes. By this time a
striking change had occurred in the library system, switching
from the clay tablets to rolls for the use of readers. The rolls
in the main Alexandria library totalled 4,90,000 and in the ‘daughter
library’ 42,800. The first director of the public library in
Alexandria was Zenodotus, a pioneer in library science who
introduced the classification system by arranging books
author-wise which became the basis of cataloguing in libraries:
It was during his tenure that several Homer's texts were
prepared. The next director, Callimachus's ‘Tables of persons
eminent in every branch of learning together with a text of
writers’ filled no less than 120 books. There was a special
focus in the library on literature and languages from the first
half of the 3rd century. Casson shows how the advancement of
learning had led to the expansion and consolidation of
libraries. Glossaries and annotated editions of standard works
began to be prepared. Dionysius presented just in 50 pages a
succinct survey of the Alexandrian scholarship. The public
library in Alexandria was in active use, though partly
destroyed, in Julius Caesar's times but its end came probably in
AD 27 or so when Emperor Aureolius suppressed the insurgency of
the kingdom of Palmyra government which resulted in bitter
fighting. These developments took place until Rome's occupation
of Egypt which brought in reign of the Ptolemies to a close.
The Greek
empire known as Hellenistic, lasted until the end of 1st century
BC by which time the Romans had finished swallowing it up. The
Seleucides had set up the empire at Antoch with a library at
which Mark Antony had donated 2,00,000 books. There were
enlightened views in the air and reading habits were fast
developing. A catalogue of books in alphabetical order was
prepared.
Casson gives
detailed information about the existing libraries during the
ascendancy of the Roman Empire. The upper class Romans had a
passionate love of Greek literature and history. Towards the end
of the 3rd century BC, Plautus adopted at least 50 comedies from
Greek literature. Polybius, a great military and political
leader, compiled a lengthy history of the Romans on the Second
Pubic War (218-202 BC). Literary exchanges between the Greeks
accentuated the use of libraries. Before his assassination in 49
BC, Julius Caeser had made the decision to build a public
library one of Greek books, and the other of Roman, both as big
as possible, but his assassination finished off this grandiose
project.
After the end
of the civil war Angustus Caeser became the unquestioned ruler
of the Roman world and he built the public libraries. The most
important and popular of these was the Palentine library close
to the temple of Apollo. The Romans provided spacious reading
rooms for the reading public in congenial surroundings, and the
books were kept out of their way. In Rome 20 libraries were set
up by 35 AD Augustus Caeser appointed well-trained librarians to
do the job. Rome had become by then the centre of excellence for
learning, and it drew writers, men of letters, scholars and
students and teachers and the like. The author throws light on
the way books were acquired, classified, arranged and made
available to the readers. For Latin the best place was Rome, and
for serious study of Philosophy and Science, it was Alexandria.
Literacy was widespread and pervasive as in the Greek speaking
parts of the empire, and school masters were teaching elementary
classes in all major towns. But there was a striking change in
the mode of keeping the reading material and this was due to the
switching from rolls to the codex system. This took place before
the end of the 4th century. By 400 to 500 AD codex rise to 90
per cent of the acquisition, though it took time to getting used
to them. The change from rolls to codex was a revolutionary
step, and had a profound effect, and its ease and spread of
research is comparable to that of the introduction of the xerox
copies of our day. Casson makes illuminating comments on the
Roman official Pliny who had lived in 1st century AD when the
books existed in the 'form of rolls' Pliny wrote so much on a
massive scale—including an encyclopaedia as well as other
lengthy works. By this time a new method was evolved of
integrating new-acquisitions in codex form with the rolls in the
shelves.
By the end of
the 5th century the Roman Empire was split up into Ravena or
Milan as its capital in the west, and Constantinople in the
east. Casson provides a vivid portrait of how the libraries in
the western part were destroyed by the invasion of the Goths,
Vandals and others. The eastern empire lasted until 1453 with
the Arab conquest of Constantinople which had been founded in
324. The Roman Empire had established numerous libraries in the
past, especially in Constantinople, and professional chairs too
in various disciplines were set up. But the celebrated library
and the museum at Constantinople were gone by 270. All this
occurred due to the Arab invaders. Caliph Omar's remarks when
approached not to allow the destruction of the library are
pertinent. He said: "If these writings of the Greeks agree
with the book of God, they are useless and need not be
preserved, but if they disagree, they are perverse and ought to
be destroyed." And destroyed they were at the command of
Omar!
This work
closes with a brief account of the way the Christian literature
amounting to 30,000 volumes was kept exclusive of the
'pagan-works' at Jerusalem. In our country we know little of the
state of ancient learning and far less about the libraries, this
outstanding work of the ancient libraries of western and eastern
Europe may serve as an excellent model for undertaking such a
venture for our benefit.
NOTE: Henceforth, this column
has been scheduled for the first week of every month.
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