Islam

[DrHenley]

Originally Posted by TLE2

However, most of that knowledge was destroyed when the Library at Alexandria was burned...by fanatic Christians. European scholars had to rediscover most of that knowledge because of that act.

Just FYI.

The Library at Alexandria was mostly destroyed by Julius Caesar when he burned his fleet and the fire spread to the Library. Buildings that had housed parts of the collection were destroyed at various times. You are referring to the destruction of the Serapeum, which was a pagan temple that had housed part of the collection at one time, by the archbishop of Alexandria, Theophilus. It is not known whether the Serapeum even had any books in it when it was destroyed.

The final destruction of what was left of the library was by Caliph Omar when Alexandria was captured by the Muslim army of 'Amr ibn al-'As.