Bibliothēca
（
βιβλιοθήκη). A library.
1. Greek
The large libraries of the Assyrian and Egyptian monarchs were unknown to the Greeks till
the time of the Ptolemies. We do indeed hear of a library formed by Pisistratus (Aul. Gell.
vii. 17), which Aulus Gellius calls “the first public library”; of
another by Polycrates, the tyrant of Samos (Athen. i. 3); and among private collectors we
hear of Nicocrates of Cyprus, Euclid the Archon, Euripides (Athen. i. 3), Euthydemus
(
Memor. iv. 2), and Aristotle (Strabo, xiii. 1). But it was the Macedonian
rulers of Alexandria who first created a public library on a large scale. Ptolemy
Philadelphus collected books from all parts of Greece and Asia, the larger number of which he
deposited in the
Museum (q.v.), a building in the
Bruchium quarter of Alexandria, and the rest in the Serapeum. Zenodotus was the first
librarian, after him Callimachus (who made a catalogue called the
Πίνακες), then Eratosthenes, then Apollonius, and then Aristophanes. The number
of volumes in the two libraries seems to have been between 500,000 and 600,000. Books in
foreign languages were brought to Alexandria and translated for the purpose of being placed
in the library, and the Septuagint version of the Old Testament is said to have been made in
this way. Galen tells us that the autograph original copies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and
Euripides were procured for the library.
This priceless collection suffered considerably in the siege of Alexandria by Iulius
Caesar, in the destruction of the Bruchium quarter by Aurelian (A.D. 273), and by the edict
of Theodosius for the destruction of the Serapeum (A.D. 389). It is said to have been
destroyed by the Arabs in A.D. 640 (Gibbon, ch. 51), but this tradition is now largely
discredited.
A rival library to that at Alexandria was started by the kings of Pergamus, but was
transported to Egypt by Antony, who made a present of its 200,000 volumes to Cleopatra. By
the second or first century B.C. there seem to have been libraries in most Greek towns. (For
bibliography, see below.)
2. Roman
The first public library in Rome was that founded by Asinius Pollio (
Plin. H. N. vii. 30), and was in the Atrium
Libertatis on the Aventine. Iulius Caesar had projected a grand Greek and Latin library, and
had commissioned Varro to take measures for the establishment of it; but the scheme was
prevented by his death (
Iul. 44). The library of Pollio was followed by that
of Augustus in the Temple of Apollo on the Palatine Hill (
Suet.
Aug. 29), another, the Bibliotheca Octaviana (so called from
Augustus's sister Octavia), forming part of the Porticus Octavia. There were also libraries
on the Capitol, in the Temple of Peace founded by Vespasian, in the palace of Tiberius,
besides the Ulpian Library (so called after its founder, Trajan), which was the most famous
(
Gell. xi. 17; Dio Cass. lxviii. 16). This library was attached
by Diocletian, as an ornament, to his
thermae.
Private collections of books were made at Rome soon after the Second Punic War, sometimes
from the spoils of Grecian or Eastern conquest. Thus Aemilius Paulus brought to Rome the
library of Perseus, king of Macedonia; Sulla , that of Apellicon of Teos; Lucullus, the
extensive one of the kings of Pontus, to which he gave the public free
access. The zeal of Cicero, Atticus, Varro, and others in increasing their libraries is well
known. Serenus Sammonicus possessed a library of 62,000 books. Towards the end of the
Republic it became, in fact, the fashion to have a room elegantly furnished as a library, and
reserved for that purpose. However ignorant or unstudious a person might be, it was
fashionable to appear learned by having a library, though he might never even read the titles
of the books. Seneca (
De Tranq. An. 9) condemns the rage for mere
book-collecting, and rallies those who were more pleased with the outside than the inside.
Lucian wrote a separate piece to expose this common folly.
We read of provincial libraries at Milan, Comum, Tibur, and Patrae.
A library generally had an eastern aspect (Vitruv. vi. 7). In Herculaneum a library, fully
furnished, has been discovered. Round the walls, it had cases containing the books in rolls,
and a rectangular case occupied the centre of the room: these cases were numbered. It was a
very small room—so small that a person by stretching out his arms could touch both
sides of it; yet it contained 1700 rolls. The cases were called either
armaria, loculamenta, foruli, or
nidi. Asinius Pollio had set
the fashion in his public library of adorning the room with the portraits and busts of
celebrated men, as well as statues of Minerva and the Muses. This example was soon followed
in the private libraries of the rich. The
librarii a bibliotheca or
bibliothecarii, who had charge of the libraries, were usually slaves or
freedmen. See
Liber.
Bibliography
On ancient libraries, see Ritschl,
Die alexandrinischen Bibliotheken;
Birt, Das antike Buchwesen (1882); Egger,
Callimaque et
l'Origine de la Bibliographie; Polybius, xii. 27; Lipsius,
De Bibliothecis
Syntagma in Opera, vol. iii.; Becker-Göll,
Gallus, ii.
418-424; Séraud,
Les Livres dans l'Antiquité, chap. x.;
Taylor, The Transmission of Ancient Books (1875); Bernhardy,
Röm. Litter. p. 65; Castellani,
Delle Biblioteche nell'
Antichità (Bologna, 1884); and the interesting chapter on the
subject in
Lanciani, Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries
(1888).
