ROMAN LIBRARIES
churches, springing as they did almost directly from these synagogues doubtless also had their church libraries and, as a matter of fact, as soon as they begin to have buildings of their own, the little cupboard in the wall or "armarium," reminding of the niches in the walls of the public libraries of Roman times, begin to appear. It is fairly beyond question, therefore, that the seven churches of Asia and the churches of Corinth, Rome, and elsewhere had their little liturgical collections, at least, even from the very beginning of their existence as actual organizations.
The libraries of Pergamon and Alexandria and the earliest libraries of Athens have already been discussed. Those of earlier Alexandria were probably still existing in apostolical times and the later Nanian and Hadrian "libraries" were extant in Biblical times, if these times are extended to include the lifetime of persons
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