The Great Library of Alexandria

The Library of Alexandria was established in the capital of Egypt by the Ptolemaic dynasty, the last dynasty of pharaohs. The original idea was proposed by Ptolemy I and executed by Ptolemy II. The library attracted scholars from all over the Mediterranean and made Alexandria the Western intellectual center of its time. The following pharaohs continued to grow the book collection until the library fell on a date that was not very clear. It is said to have been destroyed by Emperor Aurelian in his war with Zenobia in 272 AD, Diocletian in 297 AD, Christian Zealots in 391 and 415 AD, or Muslim Arab invaders in the 7th century. The real reason for its fall was the lack of funding after the reign of Ptolemy VIII and the subsequent disinterest of the Romans. By the 7th century, when the Muslim Arabs arrived, there was no evidence that those books or buildings still existed in Alexandria.