The Library of Alexandria grew by confiscation.

270 BC

Galen says that under Ptolemy II every book found on ships entering the port was seized and copied; the owners got the copies and the library kept the originals.

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The event

• Library of Alexandriac. 285 BC · Alexandria. Under the early Ptolemies the Mouseion and its library were founded in Alexandria, aiming to collect every book in the known world. Scholars such as Euclid and Eratosthenes worked there, and the library became a symbol of ancient learning.

3rd century BC

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