Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/408

402 LIBRARY that of the Ramesseum, a temple founded in Thebes by Rameses II., in honor of his father Seti I., the Osymandias of Diodorus. Accord- ing to Hecatseus, one of its rooms was the de- pository of the histories and records of the priests, a statement which seems to have been substantiated by the researches of Egyptolo- gists. Another great library existed at an ear- ly date in Memphis, but the most famous of all ancient libraries was that founded early in the 3d century B. C. by the Ptolemies in Alexan- dria. (See ALEXANDRIAN LIBEAEY.) Layard discovered in the ruins of the palace of Koyun- jik the library of the Ninevite kings, consist- ing of a large number of tablets of clay, im- pressed before burning with inscriptions in cuneiform characters ; they had originally been paged and preserved in cases. Several thou- sands of these tablets are now in the British museum. The Hebrews preserved their sacred writings in the temple. The kings of Persia also had collections of books and of archives. According to Aulus Gellius and Athenseus, the first library established in Greece was found- ed at Athens by Pisistratus ; but Strabo says that Aristotle's collection was the first* The former library is said to have been carried ^o Persia by Xerxes, and finally restored to Athens by the emperor Hadrian ; the latter was pur- chased by Ptolemy Philadelphus and added to that of Alexandria. Polycrates also formed a library at Samos at an early date. Next to the Alexandrian library, that founded by Eume- nes II., king of Pergamus, was the most cele- brated of antiquity. Plutarch says it contained 200,000 volumes, and it probably continued to increase in numbers and value until the time of Mark Antony, who transported it as a present to Cleopatra to Alexandria, where it became a part of its more famous rival and finally shared its fate. About 167 B. 0. Pau- lus JEmilius carried to Rome a library, the spoil of his campaign in Macedonia ; but to Asinius Pollio belongs the honor of founding the first Roman public library, in the atrium libertatis on Mount Aventine. Sulla carried from Athens to Rome the library of Apel- licon the Teian; Lucullus made a large col- lection, and his galleries and porticoes be- came a favorite resort for conversation ; Varro, Atticus, and Cicero were enthusiastic collectors of books. One of the unfulfilled projects of Caesar was the formation of a pub- lic library which should contain all the works in Greek and Latin literature. Augustus estab- lished the Octavian and Palatine public libra- ries, the latter of which continued until the time of- Pope Gregory I. More important was the Ulpian library, founded by Trajan. At a later period 28 public libraries are mentioned as existing in Rome, besides many valuable pri- vate collections. All of these perished in the barbarian invasions. The library of Constan- tinople, founded by Constantino, and enlarged by Julian and the younger Theodosius to the number of 120,000 volumes, was partially burned by the iconoclasts in the 8th century under Leo the Isaurian. This disaster was re- paired by Constantine Porphyrogenitus, who restored and enlarged the collection. After the fall of the Byzantine empire it was pre- served by the command of Mohammed II. in the seraglio, and was either destroyed by Amurath IV. or perished by neglect. Libra- ries were founded from the 9th to the llth century, especially by the imperial family of the Comneni, in the cloisters on the isl- ands of the archipelago and on Mt. Athos. When Christian Europe was plunged in igno- rance, the Moslems cultivated letters with as- siduity, and made large collections of books. They had an important library in Alexandria and another in Cairo. The latter, which is said to have been the largest in the Moham- medan dominions, is . said by some of the Arab writers to have numbered 1,600,000 vol- umes. Other great Arabian libraries were at Bagdad, Tripoli in Syria, and Fez. Under Moslem domination Spain possessed 70 public libraries; that at Cordova contained 400,000 volumes. In the West, after the fall of the Roman empire, learning was confined to the monasteries, and almost all libraries, up to the 14th century, belonged to ecclesiastical institu- tions. They were generally small, comprising only the wreck of the collections dispersed by the barbarians. Among the cultivators of learning in the dark ages the Benedictines stood foremost, and to their careful reproduc- tion of manuscripts the world is indebted chief- ly for the preservation of the classics. At Monte Casino, Bobbio, and Pomposia in Italy ; Cluny, St. Riquier, and Fleury in France ; Mar- burg, Sponheim, Reichenau, and Korvei in Ger- many ; St. Gall in Switzerland ; Canterbury, Croyland, Yarrow, Bury St. Edmunds, Whitby, York, Durham, and Wearmouth in England, and other monasteries, were collected valuable libraries which became the nuclei of the great collections of later times. With the revival of learning began a new era in the history of libraries. The fall of Constantinople sent num- bers of learned men into the West, who brought with them many valuable manuscripts. A zeal for the collection and preservation of books arose. Scholars traversed Europe and parts of Asia and of Africa in search of literary trea- sures, and in a few years most of the classic authors now known were to be found in the libraries of the great cities of Italy, Germany, and France. Several of the largest of the Eu- ropean libraries date from this period, among them those of Prague, Paris, Vienna, the Vati- can, and the Laurentian of Florence, founded by Lorenzo de' Medici. The splendid collec- tion made at Buda by Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary, which is said to have numbered 50,000 manuscripts, and that of Frederick, duke of Urbino, belong to this time. The former, which was scattered at the capture of Buda by the Turks in 1526, has been almost entirely lost, only about 125 of its treasures