Hypatia And The Great Fall Of Alexandria | Alexandria | Timeline
Once the biggest and most influential city on the planet, founded by Alexander the Great and home to Cleopatra, Archimedes and the largest library in the world. How did this shining beacon for civilisation and knowledge meet its classical demise?
Featuring stunning visualisations from the major movie Agora, acclaimed historian Bettany Hughes looks at Alexandria past and present, unearthing archaeological gems and following in the footsteps of Hypatia, the city’s last great female philosopher and guardian of great Library of Alexandria - whose murder would bring down the curtain not just on an era but on the ancient world as a whole.
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That was a Great documentary about a Great ancient city ... I find Bettany Hughes enthusiastic charisma deliciously contagious ! : )
edarchive.org/details/DebatesOfAliSina
@@dalina25 No they werent.
Max Breadman ohh yes they were and Greek were the minions from Crete island Anatolia Turkish dna
Mama& Aurora You can’t say things and not show reliable sources
The destruction of the Library of Alexandria set Mankind back 1000 years. All that knowledge needed to be rediscovered. What a loss.
It was sad to lose such a valuable set of knowledge 🤦, if only people played it right we could of living in advance space and technology lol
It was a great tragedy. Because of ignorance and prejudice we can only have a proximate idea of ancient knowledge. And the murder of Hypatia was unforgivable.
@@harrietharlow9929 Not to mention the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman culture. Sorry I also should include the Chinese. While many consider Western culture to be the most advanced, we have created new and interesting ways of destroying each other. I'm not saying that we shouldn't defend ourselves, but we don't need to have the capacity of destroying Earth 7 times over. That said, I believe that humanity has advanced to the point that our technology is farther along than our maturity as a race. Just saying.
@@harrietharlow9929 not only that Ms. Harlow but if Putin has his way chances are humanity won't see the end of 2030! And the kicker is that THE WAR IN UKRAINE IS OVER...religion...
Also University of Nalanda in ancient India was destroyed by Bakhtiar Khilji the notorious muslim ruler.
I remember being crestfallen as a child when I read of this. The library, for me, was the repository of all knowledge and to know something as wonderful as that was destroyed, was inconceivable.
Me too, the little bookworm I was (and still am) who loves to learn and could never have enough was so sad that the library and all the knowledge it hosted disappeared and I could never visit.
Ain't religion great?
not true...the demise of the library began beneath the Christians, its burning may have been accidental, Arabs transferred scrolls to Baghdad which began their science renaissance and burnt the rest...watch Alexandria: The Intellectual Capital of Antiquity on KZhead
It makes me sad too Ms. Palmer...
I could spend my entire life there excavating history and never get bored!
Do you know how long it takes to excavate a site? You could spend most of your life on one site.
PogO
With ya brah
Justin Martin thats fine as long we were there.
Go on then
I found the last several lines of narration in this documentary very interesting. She compared the ancient library of Alexandria with today's internet. How its ambition to caretake all knowledge was too perfect to last, and how it ultimately failed, and that we should take note of that. The internet today is similarly ambitious, but it has unleashed a reactionary force on society as well - one that perhaps mirrors the chaos that led to the library's destruction, and society's slide into the dark ages.
Yup MAGA!
History doesn't repeat. It reflects.
Just wonderful, thank you. I have read a book just called ‘Hypatia’. She was quite a woman with an incredible mind. So sad her end came because of uneducated, biased people full of hate for anyone who doesn’t believe as they do. The same can happen today, we must be vigilant. Thank youn🙏🙏🙏🙏🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺
Those people were. MEN
I can see by some of the comments, the ignorance that destroyed the library is still alive and well.
I thought it was the Romans @Georgios The Greek
It was purged three times over the centuries. Plenty of blame, ignorance and hate to go around Generally, when people (classicists) refer to the burning of the Library, they are referring to the Roman destruction during Ceaser's time period.
So you are both right.
Ignorant still alive our are right in fact ignorance has grown emensley like 95 percent of the world I say this becuase most of what's being taught to all of the world never happened at least not the way they teach it example they tell us that during Egypts time they were not as advanced as we are today but 50 present of all the plans to as lol the toys we use today they from escevading Egyptian tombs yes most of the blue prints were in those tombs why do u think rich people and universities would finance archeologist millions upon millions to escevade tombs in Egypt
@@wilfredostretz3350 get a friend who can speak english to write your comments for you
What is the most amazing is how Alexandar has managed to build this city with the most significant library, when his exsistance is less than 30 years. Even for todays technology this is amazing achievement. The most important thing is the idea of collecting the knowledge from everywhere in the world. Every ship that arived at Alexandria had to bring a book of knowledge, which was translated and mutilplied. This is the begining of a new culture, - the culture of the science and knowledge.
Alexander is not responsible for the greatness of Alexandria. He founded multiple cities called Alexandria, from Afghanistan to Egypt. Only one became a great city and for that, the credit goes to Ptolemy and his descendants
I bet someone on one of there ships armed their ship with heavy weapons and be like oh you want to take our scrolls ok come and get lol
The greatest catastrophe in the world's history. Yet, one of the greatest stories in history, at the same time.
Truly truly is. What we’ve lost is immense! 🤭
Agree. 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺
The greatest catastrophe in history was ww2
@@freckleheckler6311 No, because WW2 didn't stop progress. The worst catastrophe in history is the Bronze Age Collapse, which is actually terrifying.
Destruction of Alexandrian Library was various: 1.) Julius Caesar - 48 B.C.E., 2.) Coptic Pope Theophilus - 391 C.E. and finally 3.) Islamic Conquest - 642 C.E. No matter where the blame should primarily be placed, the loss of those texts in Alexandria is tragedy without question.
Joel Everett same
Actually, by the time the Islamic conquest took over Egypt, The library of Alexandria had NONE of the original contents dating back to the past 391 C.E. What's left at that time was essentially just common books and scrolls you could find everywhere around the world. Also the Muslims never did anything to the Library of Alexandria, it's a common myth with no historical backing.
Joel Everett that we know one of the three groups destroy books statues Nd cultural then and today makes figuring out who destroyed it completely pretty easy to deduce. Here is a hint stuck on stupid since 622ad
iwonnatube the greater questions is what was the wisdom inside!? Free energy and levitation surely
Use bc and ad
I've viewed many a Timeline episode. This one is one on Alexandria is both thrilling and immensely sad. Thank you very much for posting. I've given up viewing network and so-called entertainment television. When I have the time to relax in the evening, I'm usually viewing a Timeline episode or other historical or scientific documentary.
I feel what you are saying, but I do not get that sad for things that happened thousands of years ago :D
mountainmanws Same 😊👍🏼
Tropical Terrarium has
Me too. I often wonder what it would have been like back then. To visit the library if only for a day.
Its also full of cliches
The scene in the film Agora when the Library of the Serapeum was destroyed by the Christian mob had me wanting to hurl my chair at my television screen.
Monotheist fanatics... go figure.
that scene reminded me of the current state in the USA -- mobs tearing down statues -- as if only their opinion counts.
Tony Uminski are you comparing the taking down of the greatest library of its time to taking down confederate generals statues? I sincerely hope not.
How come
@@PomegranateStaindGrn They took down a statue of Abraham Lincoln like 4 days ago.
One of humanity’s tragic and greatest lost is the great library. It’s unforgivable how it was just destroyed into dust from greed and ignorance and religious dogma.
Religion is the enemy of humanity
Surprised that Caessarium is still there where Hypatia was lynched, This is a city I would love to visit this year . There's so much in history to learn from
I am an Alexandrian and i never new that about my city 😍😍 so proud to be from Alexandria
Go and please share this video with your other alexandrian friends (BTW I'm from India 🇮🇳🙏🏻🕉️)
Well it has misled you and is not true, Nero burned Alexandria and blamed the Christians, there was no Roman Catholic church in Christ time, Catholics are not Christians, shock I know!
Wow. That is the proof how islam is from stone age
I'm proud my ancestors built a great city. Would love to visit someday.
Yes, but how much of Islam has been shoved down your throat instead? If that library was still, in existence today, it would be one of the top, priceless, treasures of the Entire World. A priceless gift to the Whole of Humanity, Worldwide. You could possibly, be the Intellectual Navel of the Entire Planet. The Crown Jewel of Learning and Enlightenment, Worldwide. Early Christianity ripped that from you, now Islam keeps you in this sad, ignorant, place. All hail the glory of mindless, backward, religion. My Best. Out.
Thousands of years in history and knowledge all lost to religion practically that threw us back to the stone age if we could compare it to something so sad.
I just love Bethany Hughs...her voice is very beautiful to hear ,she is amazing at telling the tales and facts of history...like a awesome story teller. Plus her intelligence is phenomenal!
She's the best history presenter of this pre-LIDAR pre-experimental era of archaeology. However a lot of content in these 2000s docs needs to be re examined with later discoveries & experiments. Our understanding of Sparta, of the megalithic structures of Egypt, of Angor Wat, of Bronze Age collapse, of Canaan, of the earliest gathering places like Gobelki Tepe, of the "Dark Ages", of Scythians and Scandanavian, of the "Gospels" is all quite different today than in the 20th century. For good reason, we are still shedding Victorian and colonial myths created by the early explorers.
I totally agree ~ She's the best woman on the internet. AND She's beautiful and aging gracefully. I could talk to her for ever ~
I grew up near Alexandria, Virginia. It has a replica of the Alexandrian lighthouse built by the local mosaic lodge in early 19th century as a memorial for George Washington, who lead that chapter. I’m not sure how true to the original lighthouse in Alexandria Egypt it is but it is a pretty impressive beacon to the Enlightenment’s ideals that the founding fathers strove for. The “lighthouse” was in part of the film the “National Treasure “ and some Dan Brown books. It was also in the Discovery channels documentary on the Masons.
"ideals that the founding fathers strove for" if only they had pondered the morals and ethics of enslaving other human beings!
@@RobertSlover Who said they didn’t? For one reason or another they didn’t that on that fight. I’d assume they decided just organizing a new country and government from wild differing regions and beliefs took precedence. George Washington’s will wished to free his slaves after Martha’s death but it wasn’t honored. There is speculation that several of Jefferson and Sally Hemmings kids may have been sent North to live as whites. She was 3/4 white and the half sister of his late wife. It was complicated then and race relations are now. We still haven’t gotten it right despite there being a simple solution. Treat everyone fairly and kindly.
Fall of the library of Alexandria seems so much similar to the fall of Nalanda University. Please make a documentary on Nalanada and it's fall. Both these mishaps have set the world centuries behind 🙏
i could only imagine the knowledge lost to that day i wonder what those books and scrolls held and what the could of told us i wish i could go back to that age and save it and bring it back to the modern era and translate and decode it i would make it my life's work if i had the chance
they could even have knowledge and discoveries that we still don't know yet today. or theories that could be helpful to modern day science.
Maybe a secret recipe for the ultimate pizza lol
We could be an interstellar civilization right now, if the christianity didn't take over.
It’s all in the Vatican
@@maxwellbolzman7077 🙄
In the movie National Treasure, when they find the treasure room and the actress gasps that she is holding scrolls from the library at Alexandria..... my skin shivers for a second... IF ONLY!
as a little kid, i learned about Alexandria and Hypatia from Carl Sagan's "Cosmos." a fascinating place and a fascinating woman, so sad that religious fanatics destroyed both.
Liberalism is a religian and it's adherents are extremist fanatics.
That was a Great documentary about a Great ancient city ... I find Bettany Hughes enthusiastic charisma deliciously contagious ! : )
Bettany Hughes, the most watchable history teacher ever!
Congratulations, an amazing piece, taking us truly to Alexandria in the best way possible.
Greetings from Alexandria💙💙💙💙
hi
@@REn385a hi how are you?
Greetings from Chicago
Laura Egeav I am doing okay just very lonely with no one to talk to how are you doing
@@REn385a Hi Rene I am quite good, I would like to talk with you but I dont know how. You can see in your place where you live on internet Eventbrite, or Meetup. You can meet there your new friends. Perhaps are these meetings now.
I absolutely love your channel !! Keep up the good work!
Bettany could be teaching me anything literally that woman is gorgeous
Seriously. Wow. She sure is.
I totally agree her smile though BAE
A model and a historian😍 total wife material
I wish she would zip up that jacket. I can't concentrate...
Now I know how my future wife would look like
May Hypatia be at peace, the peace which was denied at her end.
Yes RIP my dear .
Amen dear sister; too bad it was my co-religionists who did this evil to her.
It's ironic how no one will remember anyone in that Lynch mob . But you my dear hypatia will be remembered for all time. Thus making you immortal.
Its the human lust for power and greed that makes this kind of catastrophe take place over and over again in different cultures, religions and civilizations.
Lust for power and gready ambition was driving force for creating the library in the first place, and it was rightfully so destroyed.
At least they didn’t incite others to violence and destruction.
You mean men’s lust for power and greed. Women don’t generally kill and destroy for power. I feel it’s important to point that out since it’s been men running the planet for thousands of years.
not to mention intolerance for others ideas and lifestyles different from ones own
They should of embraced the vibrant culture they each had learning and discovering things
Thats a very good documentary about Alexandria, I wish Timeline produce more documentaries about Alexandria in more details. Well done Bettany Hughes
This is a great documentary. One of the best I've ever watched
Destroying the library of alexandria what a loss for this world.Mad religious people.😞😞
@Ratin Rahman, they destroyed it to keep the world from knowing the true history of the world so they could put themselves at the head and take the Realhistoryww.com out of the people minds same as they are doing now.
@@hakapeszimaki8369 it was julius caesar
It wasn't religious people. It was the Romans (Julius Caesar) who burned the library and had his troops ransack the city shortly after Marc Antony and Cleopatra were caught.
@anonymous one That's not what I read, I read that it was the known world's center of knowledge, and that people would visit to impart, and learn knowledge, that it was active up until Julius Caesar sacked the city. Seems like a political move, Alexandria being Alexander the Great's city. Tsk... Roman foreign policy. Would like to see your source though, anything and everything is quite interesting from that era.
@anonymous one yes it was neglected but it still housed many books and was home to knowledge that would be invaluable today. edit: also the library's stocks were being replenished as the old ones were ruined. Marc antony gifted 200,000 scrolls to cleopatra for the accidental fire by julius caesar.
Alexandria, the greatest city (Ancient Egypt Documentary) is gorgeous! I truly did appreciate it so much! Thanks a lot for sharing!
Love Betthany and Salima. Both very interesting and passionate about what they do
Very very beautiful Bettany. Thanks for the great work.
Bettany Hughes you are my favourite historian - and the best looking one ❤️🔥
Need more Bethany Hughes narration. Love this lady. Love her voice and cadence of speech. I hope to see her more in documentaries.
Excellent!...and, on a number of levels.
That was so fascinating! Really enjoyed it
Just finished watching Agora. Couldn’t believe she died like that 😔
damn, this soft spoken narrator is drowned out by everything, music, wind...
I love history and with Bettany telling is even better
Thanks so much for posting this
Thank you. We must never forget...
I would have Loved to have visited AND learned everything, and read every thing! WOW
It's easy to visit and it's safe. It's my home city.
You'll get more out of your smart phone
@@JM-fo1te humbug
Beautiful and thorough documentary :)
Bettany, you could stop my heart! Pulchritude extraordinaire!
Thank you for creating this documentary. I think it is one of the best and most interesting that I have ever watched. I truly love the subject of history. I am so saddened by the loss of the works through thr destruction of the Ancient Library of Alexandria. I am aware of the fact that I am no expert in any way about the Library but I like to only think that the methods of construction used to build the worlds enormous structures that are mind boggling to many people even of the Great Pyramids themselves may have been stored within the Library of Alexandria, and destroyed through it's destruction. That's just what I like to think.
Documentary? It's historical revisionism.
Her voice is Hypnotic
Despite its inaccuracies, Agora is still one of my favorite movies.
thanks
If Bettany Hughes is talking, I'm listening! (y)
ikr was so happy to see she was narrating this. beautiful and intelligent!
Me too!
7:39 this scene reminds me of an American young mom picking new house and talking about curtains, carpets etc..
i luv listening to your channel while i’m at work... very informative and well put together
I could watch documentaries like this all day.
It is written by ancient scribes that on exceptionally clear nights, people in Italy and Sicily could see a faint flicker of the Pharos Lighthouse in (Alexandria) Egypt across the Mediterranean. The lighthouse fire was so large and high it sometimes shown across the sea.
Bettany Hughes may be seen as a spiritual descendant of Hypatia. Hypatia is her spriturual ancestress
*May the Divine Ancestors and their Descendants be forever highly favored and their truth be known* 🙏💞
@NINE OF OWLS, our ancestors are doing to the Greek people today what there ancestors did to ours in the pass but not as bad, so we could say, the Greeks are paying for the sins of there ancestors for the genocide of the Egyptians.
I like Bettany's dramatic delivery.
His father Phillip (the second) was the truly great one. Alexander walked tall upon the backs of better men, I think he knew this and fought the harder for it!
It’s impossible to take your comments seriously with your ID. Your friends in middle school may think it’s cleaver, but it’s just rude.
@@stroys7061 it's not supposed to be"cleaver" , mayhap the bold Alexander could've called his sword that, but I doubt it. My name makes trolls hesitate!
One of my favorite presenters! AWEsome documentary on Alexandria, I get so excited hearing how the great philosophers congregated and shared their wisdom. It must of been an exciting time to be alive. I sure do dream of returning to that craving of knowledge and wonder. It seems there is a cap on knowledge, when it comes to many of our sciences. Reluctant people that claim they already figured stuff out and ostracize folks that bring other findings to the table.
Love watching documentaries like this.
Great presentation.
Alexander the Great was a straight up BOSS!!!!
I’ve known many Cyrils in my time.. but this one was by far the biggest trouble causer
the cancel culture is one big Cyril
Bethany is Avery good and knoladgeble historian I like to watch her history programs a lot
Sadly, the background noises (ocean, city, etc.) is so loud, one cannot comprehend a word Bettany is saying. Maybe your sound production could give this one a work-over?
I wouldn't watch this episode because the quality was so poor, but I heard that that fire set us back 500 years.
@alison webster Get ready for another 5000, 'Ally'.
This video is off visually. It seems as if it's been zoomed in on and part of the picture cut off, also at times shaky. Like someone recorded this on one device while it was playing on another.
Love bettany..ancient history queen!!!
Very beautiful documentary, well done .
Incredible video and Awesome job too..Impressive information..Thank you so much
That scene used at the beginning of the video is actually from the movie Agora
Incredible Documentary 🔥🔥
She really is as smart as she is beautyful! Very sympathic too. A pleasure to watch.thx darling
I almost heard a word the narrator said over the background noise. Brilliant!
Oh my gosh is she beautiful! Her eyes are just so captivating. The accent is icing on the cake. What was this show about again....lol..Human history I find so interesting and these ancient cities and communities are just mind blowing. It would be cool if we could watch a period of time back then and drop a cell phone or something into the scene.
She is definitely beautiful and i love her history documentaries ..but...its insane to be going around Alexandria with its temperatures in a leather coat!
@@julianciahaconsulting8663 it gets chilly there in the winter. I was there in January, you definitely need a warm layer, even if you're used to a cold climate.
I enjoyed it very much beautiful narrator, lovely voice .
Sadly, we still witness the same greed today that the one in the second century BC. Excellent documentary, very well presented!, Thank you
Much of the engineering of the causeway used in creating the Pharos harbor connection was pioneered in the conquering of Tyre, a once impregnable fortress island on the Lebanese coast.
I've always wondered how they did it without any modern technology. 2000+ years later and i have no idea.
Ptolemy is the one who actually built and made Alexandria into the world class city
No, it was founded by Alexander the Great, hence it's name.... do a little research.
@@jeffthomas3707 What did Alexander do for the city besides rename it and go out to the oasis for his oracle visit? It was his General Ptolemy who started the Hellenistic dynasty of Egypt.
@@UncannyRicardo Ptolemy established the library and he was popular by the people because he respected the gods of Ejyptians and recognised them
True 😎
Very clear and clean voice with very very very attractive speaking style.
This Australian snuck in to Alexandria before it was closed to international travel . It must have blown there minds to hear an Australian talking instead of Egyptian . It is a safe city and I saw a city that looks out for each other.
*Jesus literally preaching about love, tolerance, and hope* *Christians flaying a woman alive*
jesus preached tolerance? you are joking.
In Islam And Judaism Jesus isn’t a god, or you know any of the other thousands of religions and denominations.
Orthodox Roman Albania Big difference between Man and Humans!
Seiko Yushu Jesus was not a Christian!!!
You’re comment is ignorant. Humans, no matter what group they’re in have a tendency to do evil, especially because of ignorance. Just like your comment, ignorant.
This city was safer and cleaner 2 thousand years ago
What has this got to do with American cities?
Indeed, and so were a lot of other places.
Well duh
Ok I didn’t expect my fav Dr. Salima Ikram would be appearing in this doc. Two great woman working together love that!
This is the longest movie trailer that I’ve ever seen!
If I could be in a room with the person responsible for the destruction of that library I would unleash fury
Well you can be sure it was not just one person. More than likely the poor were been used badly by the rich & they revolted.
It was a mob more than likely.
A sign of the future of oppression of women, still oppressing women's voices today. For Ms. Surya M. we still remember you and hold you in our hearts for ever
This is really interesting.
Explain why the astrolabe is attributed to Apollonius of Perga and not who they say in this documentary. The astrolabe was in use 500 years before Hypatia was born.
I heard a Stargate was excavated from The Egyptian Tombs.
A big thank you to ancient Greeks. Aristotle, Plato, Socrates and Alexander.
okeanos36 alexander is not greek though
@@mkd2239 yes he is
@@DimitrisGenn no he is not. That is greek lies.
@@mkd2239 historians agree that he was.
@@mkd2239 kzhead.info/sun/qMOzfKaCmKhsh40/bejne.html kzhead.info/sun/m6eSl5WMrXaDaJE/bejne.html kzhead.info/sun/erOJkpFvpJR7iKM/bejne.html
I wonder if Hypatia ever researched prickly pear cacti which were apparently in Alexandria at her time, but not before or since (until after 1492).
This breaks my heart...
'Assassins creed origins' brought me here. This is a very interesting documentary.
Same here!!!
Nowadays : a CLOSED city !! That is an added tragedy for Alexandria !!
Why CLOSED ? I was planning to visit it later this year
@@parshiwal887 do some research before making plans to visit this place.
@@catholiccrusader5328 I visited last month
Wow I had a dream I was in the building in thumbnail And it was also located not to far away from Egypt. That's cool that brass wheeled globe was there too .