What was lost when the Library of Alexandria burned? - DOCUMENTARY
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Kings and Generals' historical animated documentary series on the history of Ancient Civilizations and Ancient Greece continue with a video on the Library of Alexandria, as we ask what was lost when the library burned.
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Demosthenes: • Demosthenes: Greatest ...
Ancient Greek Politics and Diplomacy: • Ancient Greek State Po...
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Ancient Macedonia before Alexander the Great and Philip II: • Ancient Macedonia befo...
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The video was made by animator Waily Romero and illustrator Simone González, while the script was researched and written by David Muncan. This video was narrated by Officially Devin ( / @offydgg & kzhead.info/tools/79s.html....
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@@Cherry-sg4zg It's a measurement that they define in like the next 30 seconds
This may not be possible, but could you do a similar video on what was lost in the Library of Baghdad, which was destroyed with the city in 1258 by the Mongols.
@@chrysanth267 Al Andalusian Libraries Too
@@Cherry-sg4zg Hey TRT bot. You are everywhere 🙂.
cool
I've been interested in the Library at Alexandria for decades. All ships entering Alexandria harbor were searched for scrolls which were then copied and the copy returned to the owner. There was a warehouse at the harbor to store scrolls to be copied and to be shipped. When Caesar set the harbor ablaze to escape, it was this scroll warehouse that burned, destroying 20,000 to 30,000 scrolls. There does not seem to be evidence (other than legend) that the main library was ever burned. Unlike paper, papyrus scrolls had to be recopied every hundred years or so before they deteriorated beyond saving. In the centuries after the Greek height of the library, it's likely that this essential recopying was done less and less under Roman, Christian, and Muslim rule. On a visit to Alexandria I toured the excavation of underground chambers with mysterious niches carved in the walls. The archeologist suggested that valuable scrolls may have been stored there after they were no longer safe in the library. ... and on a different note, it's my understanding that most of the saved material from Greek and Roman times came to us via the House of Wisdom Library in Baghdad, and from there to copyists or merchants in Constantinople (and from there to Renaissance Italy). I LOVE your channel, and the comments show how much your viewers appreciate your work to bring the past to life~
Thanks for sharing this, it was quite interesting read!
Baghdad was burnt too
@@nomooon All of Bagdhad was destroyed by the Mongols (1280?). It's said that for two weeks the Tigris ran red with the blood of its citizens and black with the ink of the House of Wisdom's books. Fortunately books from Bagdhad had spread to other parts of the world before its destruction. Like with the Library of Alexandria, we have no way of knowing what was lost in the House of Wisdom.
@@sgarrigan As a descendant of Hulagu Khan, I’m really sorry about that. There was no need to destroy the House of Wisdom, I still can’t understand his reasoning for it.
Awesome!! For sure the knowledge made its way to Constantinople as the Byzantines lasted for 1000 years before the Ottoman conquest of that amazing city. And then as your say to the Italian renaissance after the Middle Ages. Crazy!!🤪
A worse feeling than losing something, is not even knowing what you've lost.
great economy of words!
Humanity has conquer a vast amount of work pieces, in every field, and beyond imagination, during its small part of time-existence in the universe. And it is through the creation of civilization that all this become real. On the contrary, it is unthinkable to see humanity itself to proceed in a self-amputation by leaving ruins of its achievements to the next generations, who will lament about for ages. There is a greek word that is really difficult to translate because it doesn't exist in english : σοφόμωρος / sophomoros. It 's composed by two words: σοφός / sophos which means wise and μωρός / moros which means foolish. -To be wise and foolish at the same time. Unfortunately this is something that characterize man. A dramatic scene, taken from the Agora movie (December 2009) showing someone called Hypatia of Alexandria who is based in real life person (brilliant mathematician and philosopher renowned for her natural beauty, high intelligence and moral standards as well as for her rhetoric and teaching skills) among scholars of the Library of Alexandria (the largest and most famous library of the ancient times,collecting all the worlds knowledge ) and the siege of the Library of Alexandria by the Christian mob (one of the 3 main stories of the Librarys destruction), probably in the beginning of the 4th century. It is to be noticed that Hypatia died young in a dreadful manner when she was torn to pieces by monks in 415 in Alexandria (during the reign of Theodosius II).Famous for her excellence in philosophy (neoplatonist) and sciences (mathematician, astronomer), her brilliant mind, fine manners and exceptional beauty. Some count her as the last Head Librarian after Aristarchus.
The gross miseducation of the present generation, in which none but the self-taught or Ivy League students study the humanities, is creating an entire culture which has no idea what it has lost. Hofstadter was prophetic in Anti-Intellectualism in American Life.
Just wanted to say how much I appreciate this channel. Listen to this more than anything. You have a clear voice and you move things along. Great narrator.
I think you speak for all of us 😂
I agree
Well said. Legit what I listen too in traffic, during dinner prep, breaky, you name it. Cheers man.
channel toldinstone is also good
542
It was a regrettable event to be sure, as regrettable as Archimedes's death by a Roman soldier and Apollodorus of Damascus's death by Hadrian's temper tantrum.
Who was appolodorus?
@@bernardoheusi6146 Apollodorus of Damascus was a Nabataean architect and engineer from Damascus, Roman Syria, who flourished during the 2nd century AD. As an engineer he authored several technical treatises, and his massive architectural output gained him immense popularity during his time. He is one of the few architects whose name survives from antiquity, and is credited with introducing several Eastern innovations to the Roman Imperial style, such as making the dome a standard. He build Trajan's Forum.
@@darthvenator2487 why did Hadrian kill him?
@@rueisblue Cassius Dio reports that Apollodorus offended Hadrian by dismissing and ridiculing the emperor's forays into architecture, which led to his banishment and death
@@darthvenator2487 you know, I'm starting to think maybe hadrian had a bit of a temper issue. Pretty neat way to die though, making fun of the emperor for sucking at a hobby
You guys did what the History Channel failed to do: provide documentaries on a diversity of subjects. I'm happy I found this channel by looking up the Battle of Tsushima and subsequently watching the great documentary with its detailed graphics on that battle. I can't wait to see what this channel will have achieved in the next two years as it has a lot going for it. I think a great series to do in the future is the South American wars in the 19th century, especially in Brazil and Argentina. Best regards, the 19th Century.
I recommend checking out Drachinifel's channel for his take on the 2nd Pacific Squadron's journey and obliteration at Tsushima. He is very solid on covering various bits of naval history - even had a episode where he made traditional seafaring food such as hardtack.
I must have the basic history channel. Only thing I see is fake shows like American pickers, and pawn stars
So true, on History you are only going to find Nazi German 😂
@@markolekic2504 My dad only liked the History channel because of its Nazi documentaries.
History channel failed to provide any real history. Its just a reality tv vehicle or a platform for kooks.
Many of the old Greek Plays were lost as well. Also, Julius Caesar is credited for the invention of books, as scrolls were too cumbersome on campaign.
library of alexandria was nothing compared to the house of wisdom in bagdad
@@ashrarhussain the house of wisdom in bagdad ia nothing compared to /pol/
@@RockBrentwood THAT possibility only exists in make beleive bad sci fi land. Give me a break.
@@reubennelson4086 do indians really?
@@amienabled6665 ???
"There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them" - Joseph Brodsky
Very true.
literally who
Plus some of them like war and peace can be used as bullet proof shield.
THICC
@@darthvenator2487 I saw a bible in a museum that saved a soldier by stopping a bullet the thing went in about 3/4 the way through and bulged the back of it out a bit. I can't remember if it was from WW1 or WW2 though.
That's a shame that these great works didnt survive , hope for another episode for the baghdad library
@@dariusghodsi2570 not only persian , but arabic ,greek ,indian ,chinese etc
Even more sad is that, the last great fire of library happened in 1900, that fire burned tens of millions of books (no exaggeration, its the largest royal academy in China, began collecting books since 14th century), to illustrate how devastating the fire is, one major lossess in the fire is the Yongle Dadian, an 11000 volume encyclopedia compiled in late 14th century, with only 64 volume found after the fire, along with many other unique manuscripts, and the original of another encyclopedia the Sikuquanshu, which not only contains the entirety of Yongle Dadian but vastly expanded its contents with all the new information gathered in the span of 500 years (though both have a copy stored elsewhere, the original were uncensored and contains high historical values, now we can only work with the censored version, which is a big loss).
@@zakariaalami1491 many ancient Indian texts could be hidden somewhere in the UK
Humanity has conquer a vast amount of work pieces, in every field, and beyond imagination, during its small part of time-existence in the universe. And it is through the creation of civilization that all this become real. On the contrary, it is unthinkable to see humanity itself to proceed in a self-amputation by leaving ruins of its achievements to the next generations, who will lament about for ages. There is a greek word that is really difficult to translate because it doesn't exist in english : σοφόμωρος / sophomoros. It 's composed by two words: σοφός / sophos which means wise and μωρός / moros which means foolish. -To be wise and foolish at the same time. Unfortunately this is something that characterize man. A dramatic scene, taken from the Agora movie (December 2009) showing someone called Hypatia of Alexandria who is based in real life person (brilliant mathematician and philosopher renowned for her natural beauty, high intelligence and moral standards as well as for her rhetoric and teaching skills) among scholars of the Library of Alexandria (the largest and most famous library of the ancient times,collecting all the worlds knowledge ) and the siege of the Library of Alexandria by the Christian mob (one of the 3 main stories of the Librarys destruction), probably in the beginning of the 4th century. It is to be noticed that Hypatia died young in a dreadful manner when she was torn to pieces by monks in 415 in Alexandria (during the reign of Theodosius II).Famous for her excellence in philosophy (neoplatonist) and sciences (mathematician, astronomer), her brilliant mind, fine manners and exceptional beauty. Some count her as the last Head Librarian after Aristarchus.
They did survive. They took what was important then destroyed the place
After this, the histroy repeated itself when the Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1258 and what happened to the Great Library of Alexandria happened to the House of Wisdom. This goes to show that the Age of Ignorance never truly left humanity alone.
We're still living in it 😅
@@crosswiz6 You are indeed correct.
Humanity has conquer a vast amount of work pieces, in every field, and beyond imagination, during its small part of time-existence in the universe. And it is through the creation of civilization that all this become real. On the contrary, it is unthinkable to see humanity itself to proceed in a self-amputation by leaving ruins of its achievements to the next generations, who will lament about for ages. There is a greek word that is really difficult to translate because it doesn't exist in english : σοφόμωρος / sophomoros. It 's composed by two words: σοφός / sophos which means wise and μωρός / moros which means foolish. -To be wise and foolish at the same time. Unfortunately this is something that characterize man. A dramatic scene, taken from the Agora movie (December 2009) showing someone called Hypatia of Alexandria who is based in real life person (brilliant mathematician and philosopher renowned for her natural beauty, high intelligence and moral standards as well as for her rhetoric and teaching skills) among scholars of the Library of Alexandria (the largest and most famous library of the ancient times,collecting all the worlds knowledge ) and the siege of the Library of Alexandria by the Christian mob (one of the 3 main stories of the Librarys destruction), probably in the beginning of the 4th century. It is to be noticed that Hypatia died young in a dreadful manner when she was torn to pieces by monks in 415 in Alexandria (during the reign of Theodosius II).Famous for her excellence in philosophy (neoplatonist) and sciences (mathematician, astronomer), her brilliant mind, fine manners and exceptional beauty. Some count her as the last Head Librarian after Aristarchus.
You know what is strange is that I know of the Mongols and where they came from based on the name, but nobody really knows where the Huns came from. I know where they ended up in HUNgary. They say they come somewhere east of the steppes into Russia. Uralic mountains some say. I am half Hungarian, and reading the DNA has my blood over there but also in N Macedonia, Turkey. So based on Ottoman empire invasions, other migrations and wars it is so hard to tell. I know the Magyar and Estonian language is most closely related to ancient sumerian language which really blows my mind.
This was nothing in comparison to the destruction of the Nalanda University in India and its library. It is said, the library housed so many scrolls and texts and what not, the Muslim fanatic bakhtiyar khalji took almost 3 months took almost 3 months to burn the entire library to the ground. God knows what happened that time around 1200
Chrysippus died from laughing at one of his own jokes. Now THAT is a true comedian.
True comedians don't laugh at their own jokes.
@@mountainhobo That's not true, true comedians have to understand the jokes they tell can be amusing even to them as it would be to others.
@@EmptyMan000 I don't think you understand. Of course they understand the humor, but the professionals do not laugh at own jokes. The audience does. You can smile, but you do not laugh. That the craft of delivery.
I really like this type of video, because you talk about things that are hard to find on the Internet! Keep it up!
Well there no longer hard to find on the INTERNET because now this is here
@@theromanorder they're*
I like that you talked about how the decline of the Mouseion was not a single destructive event (or even two) but a gradual process, caused mainly by neglect. I believe that the channel Quill and Ink History made a good in-depth video about this subject, although it was long since I've watched it. Also, do you think that some of the works though to be lost with the Library of Alexandria could have really been lost in 1258 with the fall of Baghdad?
@@supremercommonder what was in Alexandria’s library was preserved in “the house of knowledge” aka Cairo’s library. Nothing left Egypt, even the knowledge that was in Bagdad was relocated in Cairo during the Fatimid era. All was lost later when “Saladin” destroyed, and burned the house of knowledge during his years as a Fatimid vizier (1169 - 1174).
@@alfredospautzgranemannjuni5864 no they are not, they are just poor and uneducated, i never heard anyone calling scientific facts "heretical" while quran orders people to learn. In islam You become a martyr if you die while doing science for the good of the people and muslims.
@@KouNagai no where in the ahadith does it say, if a man dies while doing science (learning, inventing and developing) does it make you a martyr, not at least in the sunni tradition
@@themanwithnoname3145 Idk where it says anything about martyring but general opinion (held more so in the olden days) was that scientific thought and acts were akin to religious devotions in Islam. But then Christians like Aquinas would have agreed with that too. Now neither of the modern versions of these two great faiths seem to accept that. The leaders have become scared of knowledge.
@@michaelthomas5433 again no proof that researching would make you a martyr, there are prerequisites to become a martyr that need to be followed, and studying science is not one of them.
I've been in modern Alexandria and the new Library, no doubt there is a sense of immense loss though it is a charming place to be and must go for anyone that can do it. Other major Libraries, such as in Pergamon, suffered also major losses, the fact that knowledge lost its mojo in late Roman Empire plus the many wars and collapsing societies, created a vaccum that was only minimized by the thousands of manuscripts copied later one by Muslin...that managed its way back to Europe in the Middle Ages. Sad but it is what it is, History is made of advances and losses...unfortunately, we may never know how much Humanity lost with the destruction of Alexandria's Library....
Lucky Perserve by Byzantine and persian
How did you watch it a day before release?
Estimates are a million plus titles in the libraries of the antique world. The scrolls also needed permanent copying because they rotted quickly, that was probably the greatest factor leading to the loss of almost everything through the dark ages following Rome's self-destruction.
My guess is…a lot.
We can know.
"Knowledge is power, and the only way to centralize that power, is to eliminate all other sources of knowledge and monopolize it. There in the ashes of that wake, you become the most powerful ruler of the world" - Crimson Emperor John Forbath, Crimson Obsidian
This is exactly why the Communist Chinese government has to destroy Taiwan and the Free World.
@@CS-in3pg Once they can do that, they will become the ultimate authority. While they haven't done it through war yet, in some places they have been doing it with money, influence, and fear.
:)
@@CS-in3pg Megacorporations are much closer to achieving this than any world government
Or... dillute information with misinformation so much that people start to doubt reality... like in the USA far right and far left extremist groups.
This was good. I'm fascinated by the library of Alexandria. Just imagine what secret ancient knowledge that was lost there.
@@xunqianbaidu6917 Correct. Told in Stone, another channel explains this well. Actually I think Kings and Generals pinched alot of his material.
@@aaron6178 I love that channel!
Humanity has conquer a vast amount of work pieces, in every field, and beyond imagination, during its small part of time-existence in the universe. And it is through the creation of civilization that all this become real. On the contrary, it is unthinkable to see humanity itself to proceed in a self-amputation by leaving ruins of its achievements to the next generations, who will lament about for ages. There is a greek word that is really difficult to translate because it doesn't exist in english : σοφόμωρος / sophomoros. It 's composed by two words: σοφός / sophos which means wise and μωρός / moros which means foolish. -To be wise and foolish at the same time. Unfortunately this is something that characterize man. A dramatic scene, taken from the Agora movie (December 2009) showing someone called Hypatia of Alexandria who is based in real life person (brilliant mathematician and philosopher renowned for her natural beauty, high intelligence and moral standards as well as for her rhetoric and teaching skills) among scholars of the Library of Alexandria (the largest and most famous library of the ancient times,collecting all the worlds knowledge ) and the siege of the Library of Alexandria by the Christian mob (one of the 3 main stories of the Librarys destruction), probably in the beginning of the 4th century. It is to be noticed that Hypatia died young in a dreadful manner when she was torn to pieces by monks in 415 in Alexandria (during the reign of Theodosius II).Famous for her excellence in philosophy (neoplatonist) and sciences (mathematician, astronomer), her brilliant mind, fine manners and exceptional beauty. Some count her as the last Head Librarian after Aristarchus.
Serapis and the serapeums are always an interesting topic for me, since I live close to the ruins of one serapeum, in Northeastern Portugal. Here, at the ruins known as _Panóias_ (probably from the Latin "Pannonia"), you can still visit rocks with latin and greek inscriptions, methodically explaining how the rituals to Serapis were to be executed. The patron of such endeavour is also identified there, some prominent official from the Eastern provinces. Small temples foundations are still there, carved in the rocks, and on the biggest one pits were excavated, where a curious initiatic ritual was carried on, by "enterring" the aprentice there, where he or she would spend the night, to wake up to the light of a new life the day after... This was the main center of this region, along with _Aquae Flaviae_ , modern day city of _Chaves_ , with the gold mines of _Tresminas_ midway between them. Largest village nearby is even called _Constantim_ , but as far as I know, there's no connection with emperors named Constantine - although a local author erroneously concluded that it might be so, in honor of Constantine II, after winning the Battle of Mursa, in Pannonia (because there's also a town some 20 km away from here called _Murça_ , and the name of the region was also Pannonia).
Who built it ?
Well I do not know much about Portugal but I think I can enlighten a bit the mystery about the name. Emperor Otho, the emperor that general Vespasian(future 1'st Flavian Emperor) swore loyalty to came from Portugal. Vespasian became emperor because Emperor Vitellus killed Emperor Otho. Emperor Constantine called himself a Flavian Emperor, he build his triumphal arch right in the middle of the Flavian monuments. You could say he was the 4'th Flavian emperor. Emperor Domitian, the 3rd Flavian emperor escaped by disguising himself as a worshiper of ISIS when Vitellus troops were hunting him down in Rome. Isis is an Egyptian goddess of fertility, resurrection and the cosmos. Seraphis is the Greek morphing of the Egyptian god Osiris which is the brother and husband of Isis. Future emperor Vespasian was governor of Egypt and was loved and respected by everyone there. The Flavian Dynasty main powerhouse was Egypt with the financial backing of the Alexanders of Egypt who were Jewish-Greco-Egyptian. Given all this historical connections. I would assume one of the Flavian emperors build the area in question. If i had to take a guess, probably Emperor Domition started it since he was a builder emperor and Isis did save his life. Then probably rebuilt or refurbished later under emperor Flavius Constantine(4'th Flavian emperor) because he loved being associated with the Flavians and building right next to their buildings. Just a fun fact; The Colosseum in Rome is one of the wonders of the world and it's original name was "The Flavian Amphitheater". Vespasian Flavius (first Flavian emperor) built it and so it is reasonable that everything the Flavians built will have Flaviae in their name.
@@jeffvella9765 really nice piece of info! Chaves, in Trás-os-Montes region, Northeastern Portugal, was founded by the Romans as Aquae Flaviae, thus being an homage to Emperor Vespasian - literally meaning "Waters of the Flavians", since this is a thermal place, where hot waters springs still exist. In the Roman Bridge that still exists there, which was part of the VIA XVII that went from Bracara Augusta (Braga, Portugal) to Asturica Augusta (Astorga, Spain), there are still two stone standards, one of which is locally known as _Padrão dos Povos_ (People's Standard), dedicated to Vespasian, Tito and Domitian, though the last one's name was carved out after his damnatio memoriae. The second one is dedicated to Trajan - an emperor born in Hispania. The People's Standard has a comprehensive description of who built the bridge: the Legio VII Gemina, stationed no far away in Castra Legionis (León, Spain), with the help of all nearby tribes (thus, the People's Standard), which is very cool, since with the help of a Spanish Historian's work I founded out that my forefather's tribe was likely to be one called Interamici. The inscription: IMP(eratori) CAES(ari) VESP(asiano) AVG(usto) PONT(ifici)/ MAX(imo) TRIB(unicia) POT(estate) X IMP(eratori) XX P(atri) P(atriae) CO(n)S(uli) IX/ IMP(eratori) VESP(asiano) CAES(ari) AVG(usti)F(ilio) PONT(ifici) TRIB(unicia)/ POT(estate) VIII IMP(eratori) XIIII CO(n)S(uli) VI[I]/ (...)/ C(aio)CALPETANO RANTIO QUIRINALI/ VAL(erio) FESTO LEG(ato) AVG(usti) PR(o) PR(aetore)/ D(ecimo)CORNELIO MAECIANO LEG(ato) AVG (usti)/ L(ucio) ARRVNTIO MAX(imo) PROC(uratori) AVG(usti)/ LEG(io) VII GEM(ina) FEL(ix)/ CIVITATES X/ AQVIFLAVIENSES AVOBRIGENS (es)/ BIBALI COELERNI EQVAESI/ INTERAMICI LIMICI NAEBISOCI/ QUERQVERNI TAMAGANI _Emperor Caesar Vespasiano Augusto, Pontifex Maximus, with the Power of Tribunes for the tenth time, Emperor for the twentieth, Proconsul for the ninth, Father of the Homeland, Consul for the ninth; Emperor Vespasiano Caesar Augusto's son*, Pontifex, with the Power of Tribunes for the eighth time, Emperor for the thirteenth, Consul for the sixth(seventh)_ then it was Domitian's part, carved out _Caio Calpetano Rantio Quirinal Valerio Festo, Legat and Propraetor of the Augusto; Decimo Cornelio Maeciano, Legat of the Augusto; Lucio Arruntio Maximo, Procurator of the Augusto; VII Legion Gemina Felix; Ten Civitates: Aquiflavienses, Avobrigens, Bibali, Coelerni, Equaesi, Interamici, Limici, Naebisoci, Querquerni, Tamagani_ *Tito, since Domitian's part was erased.
@@danielconde13 Thanks for the information. I am always happy to learn more about the Flavians and their works.
@@jeffvella9765 Chaves unhabitants are still called _flavienses_ .
Something many modern libraries should remember the tradition of libraries as places where intellectuals gathered to discuss and demonstrate ideas as well as being a massive archive of written works... far too many now discourage people to hang out at the library and are prone to disposing of older material.
Thats been replaced with forums and formal places of education. This is an evolution imo. As for discarding... its old copies that are either no longer relevant or damaged beyond salvage. The originals are archived. Now they have digital archives as well.
They also used to cut up corpses and sometimes live animals and even people to discover how bodies work but nobody is cool enough to bring that back
@@jonathancampbell5231 body farms, autopsies, animal testing....
@@talyn3932 Do we do those in libraries?
@@jonathancampbell5231 ahh. You were meaning in libraries. Gotcha.
"Died laughing at one of his own jokes" I'm pretty sure this is how I'm going to go.
Not the worst way
Idiotic .
@@RD-ij2sz Churlish and unnecessary
Dying laughing A professor of the medical Faculty of the University of Milan died from laughing while reading DE USU ET METHODI CULUMPEDOTHERAPIAE from a certain Lanfranco de Clariis .Publ Madulaini Rhaetorum A.D. MXCLXXII (1972)
One thing I've wondered about is what we've lost of Aristotle's works too. He wrote many texts other than the ones we have today, which are more lecture notes than what he intended for public consumption.
"Never forget that this place is permitting us to be here, and never forget to respect it. Lest Alexandria could doom us all."
@@thegamingwolf5612 HAHAh! its from the SCP FOUNDATION which is SCP 4001 called [Alexandria Eternal]
Ali learn your history not the history of your enemies
@@HardCore_Islamist Huh?!
@@HardCore_Islamist who is the enemy?
@@mattylovesallll the pagan empires of the west and including the filthy crusaders
“Knowledge is a weapon. I intend to be formidably armed.”― Terry Goodkind
You are one of the very few people who can talk about history without making it boring. Ty ver much.
Great Video as always - and the fact that it ends on a positive note, really made my day
I'm a grown man. I'm a big adult. I won't cry. Sees this video: *cries*
Extra meme: What happened? The library of Alexandria burned. What did it cost? Everything
Implying grown adults can't get sad over things they emotionally invest in. People forget being adults does not mean being a stoic robot.
Another great video, I was surprised by how many of those texts and authors I have actually heard about before, so this was quite enlightening.
Love your channel ! I love Ancient History. I’m always looking for some knowledge and you have a great selection enough to listen to for awhile so glad I found your channel
im so thankfull for this channle and all the other channels about history! thank you so much kings and generals for the videos!
there are other channels who try to copy yours. but yours is definitely the best one. your narration voice, and the pictures, editing, is really good work.
You know you are a booklover when you are still sad about the library of Alexandria 😭
It still stands (in my heart)! 😭
You're only sad about the library of Alexandria until you read About the library in Nalanda and then you totally want to die. Ugh this heartbreak.
@@sam-vh2vm Damn every barbarian pillager throughout history who ever destroyed knowledge and places of learning!
You guys do an absolutely amazing service to history. I have watched almost everyone of your creations. Thank you. Keep doing what you do!
Great video! Really appreciate this channel and all that I have learned from it. Also this was a wonderful video. The topic was unanticipated but a great one nonetheless!
I cannot even fadom the extensive and impressive human discoveries and inventions that we're lost on those days. RIP
"that we're lost" -- Yeah, like grammar.
For me the greatest loss of knowledge was the burning of hundreds of Maya texts by the Spanish. Much of what was in Alexandria was also copied elsewhere, but we'll never recover the vast majority of Mesoamerican literature, to the point where we have basically no idea what we've lost.
Dam Christianity
@Francisco Pelaez I'm not American and I agree that letting museums be looted sucks. You're right that the Spanish also recorded and preserved native culture and provided some education to natives, some of whom would then write invaluable material on the history and culture of their people. However, they also burned books and art they considered idolatrous, and melted artwork down for ease of transport. Diego de Landa, who recorded Maya knowledge, also burned dozens of codices by his own admission. And I wouldn't give the Spanish credit for saving these cultures, considering that the Spanish were the reason they became threatened in the first place. The Spanish both eradicated knowledge and preserved it, depending on the situation and the Spaniard in question. Two historical trends can exist at the same time.
Gona have to go with Oxtocoatl on this one. Spanish destroyed much more than they preserved. From the pandemics to the destruction, burning and looting. There already were universities in the Americas. Aztecs had universal elementary and secondary education...though I think it was only for males (like the spanish universities). As Oxtocoatl suggests, we will never know what was lost to Spanish conquest...the ability to read Andean Khipus, all of the collective learning destroyed. Doesn't take away from the modern day atrocities that are still taking place, but...the technologies that we lost to the Columbian Exchange are off the charts.
Keep up the good work K&G! love the content :D
You make a great point at the end, that often knowledge is lost by degrees; and that it's usually the failure to spread/copy it that causes things to cease existing, much less so due to sudden disasters.
One of the lost wonders of the Ancient World. What a wonder it must of been.
Anyone that watches the History Channel knows that the exact location of Atlantis, Lemuria, and the emerald city were lost in the destruction of the library.
Which is why the aliens with space lazers torched it right? 🙄
@@talyn3932 the Roman's were odd and funny looking but i doubt they were aliens
@@talyn3932 Some people are hopeless.
shame they lost the location of your meds too
@@anonymous-rb2sr woosh
It always lightens up my heart to hear the seikilos of tralles music in the background of your videos.
Been always fascinated by the Great Library of Alexandria, and your video is quite captivating. Please do more.
I remember watching Carl Sagan’s Cosmos & there was a part where he was walking around this library whilst lamenting the knowledge that was lost. It peaked my interest. So thanks for this interesting video.
what's more heartbreaking is that dar el hekamah was built in cairo once again and was a good successor for both beit elhekmah in baghdad and alexandrei's library, its books still exists today, but as time passed and egypt returned to the dark ages, its books today remain as lost, ignored by the majority of people and the government and most of it remains undescovered. sad story, sad time.
*Thanks fot uploading this!*
Fascinating stuff. Great work!
It is so sad to know how much we’ve lost: forgotten history and discoveries NEVER to be recovered 😢
Science and discoveries can by their nature be reproduced, and therefore rediscovered, so nothing in the long term is lost. It’s the history I mourn, generations of people and nations erased as if they never existed.
@@sirrathersplendid4825 couldn’t have said it better myself. Fully agree
This is one of the few reasons I hope time travel is invented, so we can observe the past.
One idea, is that someday aliens will reveal themselves, and have proof or some sort of videos to show us what happened in the past, clearly they are mentioned ALOT in the past, in writings, paintings and unusual possibilities like the pyramids
most of it was copied, most of the things that were forgotten was probably not important enough to copy so maybe we did not lose very much
You did not mention the greatest mathematician of ancient times, a man who submitted his work to the library of Alexandria: Archimedes of Syracuse. The Archimedes Codex is a good introduction.
And whom taught Archimedes Alchemy? Not the ancient khemitians??
@@omaricomas433 LOL
Because most of his work survived the decline of Alexandria, unlike the people listed in this video
The greatest physician an mathematican was imphotep domt mention him right all the math is wrong all from slave owners that why the world is off
@@moutsatsosa I know what a slave is I also know what far knowledge is an who stole it
I enjoyed that Civ soundtrack playing in the background. ☺️
Thank you for this.
It is astounding to me how smart the ancient greeks were. Thanks so much for a video on one of my favourite topics.
I just want to take a moment and, like others, appreciate KnG helping to dispel the myth that a singular event is what destroyed the Library. Caesar wrongfully gets a lot of flak for what may've been minor damage during THAT fire. And though the library WAS damaged by it, it continued to exist for a long while. . even though time chipped - and different factions - chipped away at it.
Always great content, thanks! Should have 100m subs by now
Just imagine that all the data on the internet was suddenly lost forever How much of it would never be known again?
Waowwwww!!!! Been waiting for this
Fun fact: the modern Library of Alexandria, in keeping with tradition, copies the entirety of the internet onto its servers every day.
THIS IS THE BEST CHANNEL ON YOU TUBE. THANK YOU !!!
I enjoyed this video as it Is right up my alley! I love libraries! I could even live in one. The videos make this sort of history come alive! 👍🤔🏫📚✏️🗞️📰🖥️⌨️📀🎥📽️🎭🎨🖌️🥇🧭🎧❤️❗
Hey, could you do a video on Alexander`s lost tomb? That would be interesting
Truly one of the greatest disasters of humanity. There might have information in there about the Egyptians, Babylonians and those that came before them. Now, all we have is evidence left by those cultures themselves, which are often times very hard to verify and make out. In contrast, in the library, there perhaps were many texts that explained everything about all the questions we today have about those ancient cultures.
Something similar happened with Nalanda University in India and one in Bhagdad.. so much loss 🙏
0:15-0:20 so true. We are taking everything for granted which is so unfortunate and saddening! But im not taking your channel for granted as i am learning ao much from you!
Burning a big library is like burning the internet or even at least Wikipedia
But Wikipedia still worked after the Fire. It was the general apathy and lack of funding that doomed the building
More like deleting everything because it supposedly violates TOS.
PS "Burning" Wiki would be awesome, pity it'll never happen.
The Memoirs of Alexander the Great and his conquest by Ptolemy was also lost.
TO THE BOAED OF EDITORS OG 'KINGS ABD GENERALS', your efforts to bring to your viewers the stories of great plunders, destructions and conquests aren't the only history, the history of conquest/spread of knowledge is also an important part of history, but to you it seems to take aback stage. I wish you make further efforts to the spread of knowledge, which is a rich chapter of human endeavor, more important than killings and conquests. Thank you for your efforts.
Great work as usual. Greetings from Chile, South America. Im here because the movie "Cleopatra" (1963) talk about this tragedy.
Ironic that Caesar, who was also well versed in the arts of rhetoric and philosophy damaged the main house of rhetoric, philosphy and knowledge of the ancient world. I wonder what his reaction was when he learned that his assault damaged the library, i'm betting on "oh shit".
For clarity I would like to point out that Eratosthenes' measurement yielded the circumference of the Earth as measured through the poles. Of course, since Earth is pretty much completely spherical this detail makes no difference to the graphic shown, but I have always been puzzled by how Eratosthenes could use two cities on the same longitude to determine the length of Earth's equator-that is why.
Measure the time that it takes for stellar objects to transit the sky and then calculate how long that that same object takes to travel between two points relative to the time of day. Then use that all to figure out how many leagues would be needed to add to your own fixed distance. In simple terms. Object x is over city a at y time. Object x is over city b at u time and has travelled d miles. Say its 1 hour and 1600 miles so then figure out 24 hours x 1600 miles and you get a ballpark distance. You would also need a knowledge of how to calculate time and what not... which they had. Sailors could keep time with home ports even though what we know as timezones changed.
@@talyn3932 Eratosthenes knew that at a certain time the sun would shine directly downward in one city at noon. Knowing that the other city was at the same longitude, he could use its shadow to calculate Earth's curvature. That is how he did it.
@@orktv4673 very cool, man. Thanks for the info. :)
Love when you guys cover ancient cultural issues
Loved this so much
Great video!. Hope to see a similar video on Baghdad House of wisdom.
I remember an episode of the Cosmos series where Carl Sagan wonders the marvelous works that were lost there... And there is the movie AGORA that show it's destruction and the death of Hypatia of alexandria...
it teaches us the importance of creating and storing backups.
I've always been fascinated about this topic. Who knows how different our story would've been if we had access to the scrolls 📜 This is indeed a huge loss, for every human being on this planet.
"What knowledge don't we know about." Am I the only one thinking of something like this?
Considering that it's been calculated (don't know by who, or what metric was used) that roughly 93% of human history has been lost, no, you're not the only one.
@@eldorados_lost_searcher If more than 90% of human knowledge gained throughout history was recorded and used at large, humans would have conquered the solar system by now.
*"My Dog Ate My Homework."* Many of these stories are fancy versions of that line. With no actual evidence (2,000 years after the fact) we're dealing with stories that are tantamount to myths.
.... At least that's what my great, great, great (x50) grandpa wrote down when he was working at the Library of Alexandria with Eratosthenes.
When I was in school everyone was taught that the shape of the Earth was "discovered" around colombus' day.... Wth people sailing off the edge... and Etc. Now they say everyone knew the Earth was a ball 2,000 years ago (though there is no record of this). Personally I believe the ball-Earth theory is more recent. I find it hard to believe that ancient people thought they were on a spinning ball WAY before an apple made Newton think up gravity.
Wait. But is the Newton story real? This has got me thinking. We hear these stories but they could all be made up. We'll never be able to verify their veracity, especially w/o evidence. I would just sit and obey, but Pluto isn't a planet anymore, is it? That's another one. How can we trust the Illuminati after that?
Absolutely excellent. Thank you.
Another awesome video!!
Loved the video! Only thing is that your map of Egypt and the placement of the Nile are super off! You guys always make incredible videos and are always super accurate, so this oversight surprised me!
The region has changed a lot in 2k years. If you look up lba geographic maps a lot is changed due to grazing erosion and climate changes. They could be using an older source map.
It’s interesting to see the parallels. There are people today that find history to be problematic and information needing to be snuffed out. We were doomed to repeat this
Thought-provoking & fascinating. Thank you so much. 🤔💙😎
Loved this episode, a lot of stuff I didn't know...
I tried but I can’t watch this to the end. Learning what we lost of important works just hurts too much
Please can you do a video about battle of Didgori and Georgian Golden age? I know these parts of Georgian history, but hearing it from you, would make us Georgians very happy and would be able to share our story to the world.
Well done K&G!
I think I remember reading somewhere that Marc Antony compensated Cleopatra for what was burned during Caesar's campaign. So at that time at least texts were in circulation anf they had a catalog. That or he just gave sfuff equal to what was lost
good video but none of the five accounts (Christian and pagan) of the destruction of the Serapeum mention the destruction of any kind of library, let alone a library that was the last remnants of the library of Alexandria and Ammianus Marcellinus, who wrote in 378AD, speaks of the library in the Serapeum in the past tense so the library no longer even existed by the time a mob supposedly destroyed it in 391AD.
Kings and Generals---You did an excellent job of laying bare the loss humanity suffered when the Great Library of Alexandria became no more. Does anyone have any theories as to what would've happened had the Great Library stayed around?
I bet our "tech" would be further, our knowledge of aliens might have been better, the mathematics could have been better, the recipes for unknown power like Greek fire. Who knows how the world would be today if we had thoes thousands of years worth of knowledge and history
@@tripclipgt6573---thanks for responding
Humanity has conquer a vast amount of work pieces, in every field, and beyond imagination, during its small part of time-existence in the universe. And it is through the creation of civilization that all this become real. On the contrary, it is unthinkable to see humanity itself to proceed in a self-amputation by leaving ruins of its achievements to the next generations, who will lament about for ages. There is a greek word that is really difficult to translate because it doesn't exist in english : σοφόμωρος / sophomoros. It 's composed by two words: σοφός / sophos which means wise and μωρός / moros which means foolish. -To be wise and foolish at the same time. Unfortunately this is something that characterize man. A dramatic scene, taken from the Agora movie (December 2009) showing someone called Hypatia of Alexandria who is based in real life person (brilliant mathematician and philosopher renowned for her natural beauty, high intelligence and moral standards as well as for her rhetoric and teaching skills) among scholars of the Library of Alexandria (the largest and most famous library of the ancient times,collecting all the worlds knowledge ) and the siege of the Library of Alexandria by the Christian mob (one of the 3 main stories of the Librarys destruction), probably in the beginning of the 4th century. It is to be noticed that Hypatia died young in a dreadful manner when she was torn to pieces by monks in 415 in Alexandria (during the reign of Theodosius II).Famous for her excellence in philosophy (neoplatonist) and sciences (mathematician, astronomer), her brilliant mind, fine manners and exceptional beauty. Some count her as the last Head Librarian after Aristarchus.
Thank you for this content. Sad, so very sad. I don’t know why… but this hits hard.
A great video! Can you make a video on Nalanda university and what have we lost after its destruction.
What a profound summary! The foes of knowledge aren't so much fire and flood as apathy and a dogmatic disregard for wisdom. The last six years in the USA show that no matter how enlightened we feel we've become there are always reactionary voices of ignorance and fear threatening to set us back to darker ages.
This is one of the saddest videos on this channel. So much progress was lost it's honestly depressing. Imagine how much we could've achieved by now had this knowledge been preserved somehow.
Wow. I think I just found my new favorite channel. The art and the narration are second to none. Watch out infographics lol.
I love this channel so much
We need such videos 😍😍😍😍
16:01 This is a bit misleading. By the time the Serapeum was destroyed, there almost certainly no library left. Ammiaus Marcellinus writing in 378 mentions libraries in the past tense, implying they were no longer there. All of the ancient sources that describe the destruction of the Serapeum don't mention any libraries.
I cant begin to imagine the amount of possible and more accurate knowledge we could have had today. Its lost now.
I leaned one lesson from loosing valuable pictures on my external drive- always keep at least 2 copies
This makes me unreasonably depressed, it’s difficult to imagine how the world might have advanced if the Library and its contents had survived the tests of Time.
Burning of Nalanda University was also another sad movement in history so was burning of Baghdad.
I never thought watching a history video could cause me emotional pain
These ppl were amazing, i can't even begin to understand how ancient ppl came up with their theories on the universe, medical knowledge of the human anatomy, or even mathematic equations to solve problems of the time. Truly amazing ppl to do this with nothing to go to just start from scratch. My brain would literally explode. Would love to know how far we would be had the library not been burned.